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Hi 10
I agree with Knots. You did wonderful, they weren't easy tunes.
The tunes continue to get better and better. Book 2 tunes in particular really test your skills.

Nice going custard! I hear a difference from before.

Good luck to knotty's son and to Dave on their upcoming performances!

Hello Knotty or Dave

I would really appreciate if you would check my progression for Eb maj 7_C min 6.

http://www.box.net/shared/jb454hbm7ctujiq88zui

F min 7 Eb G Ab C
Bb 7 D G Ab C
Eb maj 7 Eb G Bb D
Eb maj 7 Eb G Bb D

D min7 b5 F D Ab C
G7 D F Ab B
C min 6 Eb A D
C min 6 Eb G A C

Thanks very much.
cus

looks good to me!

Thanks Knotty !
I will be practising your "Familiarisation with tonality" exercise (Scales up, arps down etc) over the next few days.

Did you find a new horn player last night ?

I wasn't sure if I should start a new thread for this or post it here. I ended up deciding that this might be the best place for it. It may be a little late, but if anyone lives within driving distance of Rochester NY and wants to catch a bunch of live jazz, sometime between now and next Sunday is the time to visit.

The Rochester International Jazz Festival started last night and runs through next weekend. Here's the artist lineup and all the places they're playing

http://www.rochesterjazz.com/artist_lineup/

Looks interesting, Lefty! Unfortunately, it's quite a long drive for me.

So custard, you're on to a new progression?

I recorded The eyes have it today:
http://www.box.net/shared/ht5595f7240ife0rcs0y

One mistake in a bad place, but really the RH part there is tricky. I could do it a hundred times and make a mistake each time in a different place. Think it's time to move on. I'm hoping I'll get some time to do a composition this week. I did have a look at lullaby of the leaves changes last week, but nothing worthwhile came to me. It was all too forced so I had to leave it.

Hey 10
Don't worry, the mistake was real minor. You are definitely ready to move on. Well done. I can hear your C min 6 tonality real well in A sections. Yup, C min 6 is my new progression (combined with Eb maj 7).

Hi Lefty Chev
You guys really know how to run jazz fests. I would love to attend tomorrow 6pm to see the Jim Hall quartet. Regretfully I have the same problem as 10.
When Jim Hall played with Sonny Rollins, their interplays were awesomely melodic and entertaining.

Hi folks, hi custard!

Now I hate to inflict this on you nice peopl, but I wrote something for the changes of lesson 2 (Joy of C). It sounds weird. I'm so close I really can't hear whether there's anything there good or not. Would appreciate a second opinion. I won't be offended if knotty or Dave say, start again, this time put it in the right key. Really, I won't. I just think I've been listening to too much Miles Davis.

http://www.box.net/shared/p0uxhd449vnazj616eit
http://www.box.net/shared/d1uox9h2u0ne2nnfzjuj

Thanks. If I know it's worthwhile I'll play it properly and give it a title and all. Just now it seems eminently scrappable.

submit, don't submit, submi...

Hi 10
Another day, another composition ! I liked your Eb min 7 section for its melody and the 8th note feel.
To my ears, it seemed that chromatics were driving your A section. Although your chromatics were nice, I would incorporate them either within a phrase or at the end of a phrase.

At the beginning I would concentrate on:
1. Mainly using 8th notes, this should help it flow. You could also use triplets for variety.
2. Making sure there is enough movement. You can use more arps/ leaps. Your Eb min 7 section began with the cool octave jump.
In other places, you could start the phrase with an arp/leap, then descend with a scale which sticks to the tonality for now.

Certainly not scrappable.

10,

Very kewl.
These will really challenge you in new ways. At least it did for me.

I agree with Cus, I would focus at first on using mostly 8th notes. 1/4 notes tend to break the flow.

As far as notes, there are really no rules of scales or anything like that on this exercise, you can let your ear be the guide. I will say that in general you want to try to find a good match of small and large interval. Here, you have almost only small intervals, so time to play with larger ones.
By larger, I mean a 3rd or more. Typically you want to incorporate more arpeggios. You can never overuse those.

This is a very short tune with a lot of repeats, so a pretty easy one to write composed solos on. Phrasing is really important. The basic idea is to use a long flow of 8th notes, followed by a nice long rest. You can experiment with this on the 8 measure A section. For example, 4 measures with only 8th notes, one or 2 measures of rest, then a short phrase. Things like that.

And only now I'm reading Cus' comment and I realize she's saying the same thing. If you want to do a second one and use some of those comments, I think it would be a good use of your time.

++

Thankyou both for your comments. I'll have another go at that one.

Edit: Here goes again. I'm happier with this one. I decided from what I did yesterday, I was basically happy with the B section and not happy with the A section. So I've kept B and rewritten A according to what you both said.

http://www.box.net/shared/8jbq606qli7iq3m0ukeu
http://www.box.net/shared/8jbq606qli7iq3m0ukeu

The phrases with crotchets I wrote yesterday have stayed with me today, and I now think they would be fine for a song, just not fine for soloing in the idiom we're aiming for here.

Tia for any comments.

Oops, sorry, you need the sound file. Not that I play it well or anything, but it gives you an idea.

http://www.box.net/shared/5zqzxnfnk0ck7r4a85zo

Nice revision 10. In particular I liked
1. Your choice of simple and effective arps
2. Where you started phrases on the upbeat especially using the altered dominant

Personally I enjoy the revision process in composition which is where I learn the most.

Hi custard, definitely the learning starts here!
Glad you liked it. I should probably practice it up. It is good practice for reading the chords without notes (only because I'm too lazy to write them).
I used an altered dominant? Ah, do you mean a flattened 9th somewhere in an arp? I remember that a couple of times.

10,

I like this one. You have a nice mix of scales and arpeggios. More 8th notes, longer phrases, repetition, some chromatic approaches. Very nice.

Keep using this recipe for the next tune. You might want to learn to play it a little better. Because that way, it's going to sink in more. It's really your own music, and very much what your improv will sound like later.

You can experiment with even longer 8th note lines. Also you can experiment with starting your lines before the first beat, which is common. Try starting on 4& or 3& sometimes.



++

All good points knotty. I suppose the work is involved in the process of going from 'here's a phrase I'm not all that happy with' to 'here's a phrase I like.' It's easy when there's time.

anytime your'e going to write a solo, there's going to be a way to write it better. You'll just have to draw the line.

Sorry for being totally unclear, I actually meant for the D min7 b5 bar, you emphasised the b5 which sounded good.

Yes I agree that the b9 sounds excellent over a dominant. It is very Sonny Rollins-esque.

Thanks for the replies!

How's everyone? Had a productive week?

I just realised this thread has had over one hundred and six *thousand* views.