When less-experienced ensembles—vocal or instrumental—perform these tunes and similar, we seek that high a standard of swing groove. If we fail—whether on a sassy “shout” section or a whispering ballad—it’s typically because our ensemble lacks a shared concept of the swing groove; so we don’t place the downbeats and upbeats definitively within any one beat. Since all swing comes from Afro-Cuban, introducing or re-introducing the Afro-Cuban 6/8 feel can lock in that groove for anything from “Lil’ Darlin’” to “Shiny Stockings.”

If you’re reading this and are surprised to hear that all swing comes from Afro-Cuban, be assured that you’re not alone. But it’s absolutely true; and we need to spread the word because the musical benefits are immense.

I had the great pleasure recently of workshopping an ensemble that was performing a terrific arrangement that incorporated shifts from swing to Afro-Cuban styles and back. The young musicians were dedicated, talented, and extremely musical in their delivery. But though the arrangement even included points where different melodic lines were to inflect swing and Afro-Cuban styles simultaneously, the ensemble members were unaware that swing comes from Afro-Cuban. Knowing even just the most basic 6/8 Afro-Cuban rhythmic underpinnings can add worlds of maturity to your swing style. And once these fine musicians got a taste of that link, their performance of the music skyrocketed in authentic feel.

I incorporate Afro-Cuban grooves under swing tunes in my ensembles’ rehearsals whenever our swing groove is lacking. If you’ve kept these two styles separate in your own rehearsals, I invite you to read on as to how this can make a positive effect in your own ensemble.

The Prerequisite: Listen!

I believe it is the singer/lyricist Jon Hendricks to whom the following one-word poem regarding jazz is attributed: “LISTEN!” So before I go any further, I must emphasize that one cannot take for granted the importance of experiencing the swing feel before even attempting to perform it. Has every member of your group heard recordings of great instrumental and vocal groups and soloists in this tradition? It is remarkable how many ensembles I encounter in my travels that have not. And is it possible to ensure that your group hears at least one exemplary professional ensemble live in concert? If so, your musicians will grow exponentially from the experience.

A Solution

So often the only words an ensemble might hear from its leader regarding improving swing style are “don’t rush” or “lay back” or “don’t drag.” While often accurate, these instructions lack sufficient detail to communicate well with less-experienced students of the music. What if you could demonstrate to them exactly where the groove should be?

Here’s a melodic line we’ll use as a sample swing phrase for experimentation (Example 1). The top stave represents, say, the horns or vocals; and the bottom stave represents the two most critical time-keeping portions of a drum set: the ride cymbal and hi-hat. Currently the drums are playing a basic 4/4 swing pattern—but our horns or vocals are supposedly not lining up well within the swing groove.

First, let’s explore the powerful solution rooted in the history of swing: the Afro-Cuban groove known most commonly as abakwa and its triplet-feel bell pattern. Here the abakwa pattern is written as two measures of 6/8 (Example 2). Spend some time singing the upper line while tapping the bottom (hi-hat) rhythm with your hand. Feel the cross-rhythm of the upper grouping of four eighths (three notes plus a rest) played over the lower grouping of three eighths (each dotted-quarter note), as well as across the overall sum of four dotted quarters. If it takes you a while to get it right, enjoy the ride; but it’s critical that you be able to feel this cross-rhythm over the ground beat.

From this abakwa pattern comes a cymbal bell pattern that is commonly played in, say, a “2-3 son clave 6/8 feel” (Example 3). Again, spend some time singing the upper line while tapping the lower line. Feel the cross-rhythms!

Now that we’ve viewed these rhythms in their indigenous pair of 6/8 measures, let’s re-write the same sounds as in a single bar of 12/8 (Examples 4 & 5): here you see a bar of the abakwa and a bar of the bell pattern.

So now we’re set to align these four beats with the four beats of a swing tune’s 4/4 measure. Let’s start with the bell pattern now written as triplets within a single measure of 4/4. If your drummer or conga player were to play what we’ll still call the 6/8 bell pattern under the ensemble’s delivery of the swing melodic line, you’d have Example 6. Even by yourself you can experience the 6/8 influence by tapping the lowest (hi-hat) line while singing the rhythms of the upper (ensemble) line and then continuing directly into singing the middle (ride cymbal) line. By alternating melody and 6/8 groove, you can easily feel how the two are related.

Have your ensemble vamp/loop a two-bar cycle: two bars playing the melodic line over drums, then two bars drums only, repeating: with each passing cycle, you’ll hear the musicians locking in to the triplet feel of the groove.

Then make a vamp performing two bars of Example 6 followed immediately by two of the swing-accompanied Example 1 (thus horns/vocals do the same all times)—and back again to Example 6, then Example 1. The triplet-placed timing of the Afro-Cuban phrasing will influence the ensemble’s delivering the same melodic feel over the swing groove that had originally been the challenge. And you didn’t have to repeatedly request “don’t rush” or “lay back” or “don’t drag”—you let the Afro-Cuban groove speak for itself.

If your group needs a bit more detailed reinforcement, try placing the abakwa pattern (now also notated within a single measure of 4/4) under the ensemble (Example 7). Some ensembles might find the additional rhythmic attacks helpful; others might find it too much detail. But the principle remains the same: after vamping the melodic phrase over this groove, then make a vamp performing two bars of Example 7 followed immediately by two of the swing-accompanied Example 1—and back again to Example 7, then Example 1.

This is not my original idea, by any means. Long before anyone had thought about this historical link, the triplet divisions of these Afro-Cuban grooves had sown the seeds of blues and swing feel into the turn of the twentieth century—and have infused their essence into medium-tempo 4/4 swing ever since. You can even listen to African drum and mbira masters currently perform music rooted from hundreds of years ago that to the modern jazz musician’s ear clearly sounds like the inflections of swing and blues: adding the Cuban influence in later centuries only made these inflections more pronounced.

Mature rhythm sections feel these 6/8 patterns as the underlying groove between the quarter notes of a walking-bass line or a swing ride-cymbal pattern. The most modern jazz musicians still inflect the occasional middle-triplet accent in their swing solos and accompanying lines.

The Challenge of Swing Ballads

Few grooves reveal more about a jazz ensemble’s maturity than a jazz ballad with swing eighth notes. Whether a vocal or instrumental group, can the musicians place the notes in just the right spot so as to convey the feel intended?

The typical challenge for most ensembles is rushing given notes or entire phrases. This is a fairly natural occurrence because the ballads usually include a number of short quarter notes. These are easier to rush than long, legato quarters.

Allow yourself a visual metaphor: imagine your goal was to hold in the outstretched palm of your hand a dozen pencils, each fitted tightly against the next in a bunch. It would be a fairly easy task, as each pencil is aligned by its neighbor touching it.

But if your goal was to hold a dozen toothpicks—yet each spaced evenly apart at the width of the original pencils—it would be extremely challenging to keep them exactly in place: the slightest movement of your hand could easily roll one or more toothpicks off target. There’s nothing in between them, in the “dead spaces,” to assist in aligning them.

In this visual metaphor, the pencils are legato quarter notes, each smoothly connected to the next by the width of its neighbor and thus easier to maintain in place. The toothpicks are short quarters, a fraction of the pencils’ width, without supportive neighbors to assist in accurate placement and thus easily knocked off target. The typical response by most ensemble directors is “Wait for the beat! Don’t rush!” This usually generates limited and temporary results. What about a way to improve the ensemble members’ perception of the width of the beat surrounding each “toothpick”?

Filling in the Spaces

If the short quarters are rushing because there’s nothing in between them to support their placement, then a clear solution is to provide everyone with the complete picture of the divisions within the beat so that these “toothpicks” can be firmly anchored in context. And the 6/8 Afro-Cuban groove makes the perfect complement to a swing ballad for this purpose.

Here’s a melodic line we’ll use as a sample swing ballad phrase for experimentation (Example , with the top stave representing the horns or vocals and the bottom the ride cymbal and hi-hat in still a basic 4/4 swing pattern, but slower. Those dots over most of the quarter notes in the upper line are going to invite trouble for the melody’s tempo!

Let’s talk about how such staccato markings might be interpreted. Some ensembles will perform short quarters as fifty percent of the beat or less (as in the classic rendition by the Count Basie Orchestra of “‘Lil’ Darlin’” on The Complete Atomic Basie). While dramatic and accomplished by some very experienced ensembles, this effect can be extremely difficult for a young group to master, as it takes great rhythmic maturity to hold a slow tempo amid such space between these “toothpicks.” It also subtracts much of the potential vocal quality of the melodic line, changing it from lyrical to almost purely instrumental in nature—and most ballads crave a lyrical effect from the instruments involved.

Another interpretation by many is to make each short quarter one third of the beat, an even greater challenge for a younger ensemble.

A third interpretation, which I encourage for all developing ensembles (and which is adopted by many pro groups as well) is to perform short quarters as approximately two-thirds of a beat, promoting a lyrical quality in which each note easily could support a word or syllable. In this Louis Armstrong-inspired phrasing of short notes (as in “Struttin’ with Some Barbeque” on his Hot Five recordings) the space between the notes is less than in either of the previous two scenarios above. But the challenge to most ensembles’ groove often does not entirely disappear. So how best might the group rehearse this style?

My preferred method is to play—or have a student play—on congas the “6/8” ride cymbal pattern shown atop the bottom stave of Example 9, while the drummer plays the downbeats on the hi-hat. If there’s no conga player in the ensemble, the drummer could play the ride pattern with brushes or light sticks on the ride cymbal along with hi-hat downbeats. The horns or vocals then either play the entire tune or just vamp the first one or two phrases of the tune for added focus on the groove.

One of the primary weaknesses of many swing-ballad performances is not so much the attacks but the releases of various notes and phrases. So much attention is brought to bear on beginning notes together within the ensemble that the phrase-endings are often relatively ignored. And yet a fundamental element in attacking a note in unison timing is for everyone to release the preceding note together as well, so as to prepare the next entrance.

So it is in these melodic exercises that the full benefit of rehearsing swing ballads with a 6/8 Afro-Cuban underpinning comes to light: the triplet-based conga line not only reinforces when to begin each note but also exactly where to release it.

Once everyone has experienced this unity of groove using the Afro-Cuban bell pattern, count the ensemble off on the chart as written, without congas, and note the marked improvement in the ensemble’s musicality. For when the group’s timing is together, its phrasing improves, as usually does its dynamic ability and often even its intonation!

If your group needs more swing eighth-note detail, try (as we did with the medium swing example) placing the abakwa pattern under the ensemble (Example 10), using congas or lightly sticked ride cymbal. Again, some ensembles might find the additional rhythmic attacks distracting; others will benefit from it.

If your ensemble needs assistance during a loud “shout” section of the ballad, then in rehearsal replace the swing ride-cymbal pattern completely with one or the other Afro-Cuban pattern. Played strongly, it will provide the entire ensemble with a full perspective of the width of each beat in the measure.

Full Circle

I’ll state outright that not all swing is fully triplet-based: there’s a lot of variance between the first and second eighth-notes in a given musician’s swing style. But I’ll also state that when it comes to unifying an ensemble’s attacks, releases, and overall groove for medium-swing and ballad-swing arrangements, exposing ensembles of any age to the underpinnings of 6/8 Afro-Cuban have brought the most profound and stable improvement I’ve witnessed. You’ll not only give your musicians a great tool with which to swing, you’ll reconnect them to the critical, historical link between swing and Afro-Cuban.

There’s no better way to bring an ensemble into the heart of what really makes jazz swing than delving into its Afro-Cuban roots.

Antonio J. García is an associate professor of Music, director of Jazz Studies and formerly the coordinator of Music Business at Virginia Commonwealth University. His book with play-along CD, Cutting the Changes: Jazz Improvisation via Key Centers (Kjos Music) offers musicians of all ages standard-tune improv opportunities using only their major scales. He is associate Jazz Editor of the International Trombone Association Journal, past editor of the IAJE Jazz Education Journal, network expert (Improvisation Materials) for the Jazz Education Network, co-editor and contributing author of Teaching Jazz: A Course of Study, IAJE-IL past-president, and past IAJE International co-chair for Curriculum and for Vocal/Instrumental Integration. A trombonist, pianist, and avid scat-singer, he has performed with such artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Dave Brubeck, George Shearing, Mel Tormé, Louie Bellson, and Phil Collins. Visit his web site at www.garciamusic.com.

BY LEE EVANS

Quite a few years ago, after having completed three years of undergraduate school at New York University, I was drafted into the U.S. Army and served a mandatory two-year stint. After completing four months of basic training and band training at New Jersey’s Fort Dix, I was stationed for the remaining time with the Army band at Ft. McClellan in Anniston, Ala. It was quite a culture shock, to be sure, for this Caucasian Bronx-born-and-raised young man to be shipped from a rather benign Northeast political environment to what might be described as the then Southern hotbed of racial tensions, with its train station and drinking fountain signs marked “Colored” and “White.”

I have often told anecdotes to my friends about my military “heroics,” relaying to them various amusing details of my official Army job as a glockenspiel player with the base’s marching band at parades and ceremonies. (I, a pianist by profession, was assigned to the glockenspiel because one obviously can’t play the piano in a marching band.) However, on many mornings, I also conducted our band in rehearsal in classical music literature. You see, we had quite an extensive library of music that had been transcribed from their original symphonic orchestrations to symphonic-band orchestrations – the main difference being that there are no strings in a symphonic band (those parts are instead ordinarily played by clarinets and other woodwinds).

Also, once a week, a song-and-dance fellow band member and I wheeled a small upright piano from ward to ward in the large post hospital, entertaining ill soldiers with popular songs of the day.

My military service occurred during a time of no ongoing wars, so fortunately my life and safety were never threatened, and I truly enjoyed an exuberant and fun couple of years involved in music and, happily, a long distance away from sweating over mid-term and final exams and from the supervision of my parents with whom I had been living at the time.

Meeting Phineas

Coinciding with the time of my own military service, African-American jazz pianist Phineas Newborn, Jr. (1931-1989) was stationed with the Third Army Band in Atlanta, Georgia; which was considered to be a plum musical assignment, because the Third Army Band was reputed to be among the best musical ensembles in the entire Army at that time. At some point, however, Newborn, who was evidently starting to experience mild symptoms of emotional stress, ran into some conflicting situations with his superior officers. As a result, he was expelled from that organization, and was subsequently transferred to the Army band in Anniston, where I was serving. So, for the last couple of months of my Army days I got to know, at least somewhat, this gentle and fantastically gifted man. I had even once loaned him a few bucks so that he’d have enough money to be able to travel to visit family and friends in Memphis, his home city.

Phineas and I compared musical notes on a few occasions; he informally playing some incredibly impressive bop-based jazz piano improvisations for me, and I sharing with him some of the classical piano repertoire I had been practicing at the time. Through these shared experiences we developed a good rapport and comfortable casual friendship, at least as much as can be achieved in only two months or so.

Birdland

Not long after our discharge from the military, lo and behold, I read that Phineas had been booked into New York City’s world famous Birdland jazz club. Of course, I immediately went downtown to hear him play, and received a personal warm greeting when I walked up to him to say hello.

I remember his piano playing vividly. He sounded like a reincarnation of Art Tatum, with unending jazz musical ideas and the piano technique of a jazz equivalent to the concert pianist Vladimir Horowitz. I also will never forget Newborn’s keyboard touch at that time, which was as light as a feather. You know how some people among the general public sometimes say corny things about pianists, such as “He really tickles the ivories”? Well, Newborn was most definitely the embodiment of that expression – especially in those earlier days before his rapidly growing emotional problems were soon to cut his musical career short. He barely touched the keys, yet produce firm but gentle jazz of the most incredibly impressive inventiveness and virtuosity. To be sure, the critical consensus was that had he not succumbed to emotional instability, he would eventually be recognized as the next Tatum. Today, Newborn is only a faintly remembered cult figure to jazz keyboard aficionados, and is not known at all by the general public. But fortunately some of this jazz giant’s recordings can still be acquired, and I strongly urge jazz lovers to seek them out.

End Word

Life can sometimes be quite unfair! Several fabulous and historically significant jazz musicians have been lost to us through death at a too early age, including such luminaries as Bunny Berigan, Bubber Miley, Chick Webb, Paul Chambers, Fats Navarro, Charlie Christian, Clifford Brown, Jaco Pastorius, Scott LaFaro, Bix Beiderbecke and Charlie Parker, to name a few. Just imagine what additional contributions they would have made to jazz history if only they had survived longer and lived a normal life span! Add Phineas Newborn, Jr. to this distinguished list of immensely important jazz creators. Phineas conceivably could have reached the highest artistic peak and recognition in jazz, if only his creative life had not been tragically cut short.

Lee Evans, Ed.D., is professor of music at NYC’s Pace University. His most recent solo-piano publications for The FJH Music Company include Color Me Jazz, Books 1 and 2 for late elementary to early intermediate levels; Ole! Original Latin American Dance Music, and Fiesta! Original Latin American Piano Solos, both for intermediate to upper intermediate levels. Along with four co-authors, Evans is author/composer of the 6th and latest edition of Keyboard Fundamentals (Stipes Publishing), a formerly two-, but now one-volume beginning-piano method for adult beginners, scheduled to be published in March 2012.

December

Tri-Fi – A Tri-Fi Christmas (Tri-Fi)

Frank Macchia – Swamp Thang (Cacaphony)

Mark Colby – Yesterday’s Gardias (RCI)

January 3

Jimmy Owens – The Monk Project (IPO)

Jack Cassidy – SYMBIA (Self-Released)

January 10

Jimmy Owens – The Monk Project (IPO)

Charlie Haden and Hank Jones – Come Sunday (EmArcy)

Oscar Castro-Neves – Live at Blue Note Tokyo (Zoho)

January 17

Chick Corea / Eddie Gomez / Paul Motian – Further Explorations (Concord)

Tim Hagans

Grammy-nominated composer and trumpeter Tim Hagans is one of the more unique and influential modern voices in jazz. Hagans’ latest album, The Moon is Waiting (Palmetto Records), features his quartet performing all original compositions by Hagans.

Hagans also performs with Bob Belden, Joe Lovano, Blue Note All-Stars, Gary Peacock, Yellowjackets, and Bob Mintzer. He was nominated for Grammy awards for Best Instrumental Composition for “Box of Cannoli” from The Avatar Sessions (2010 Fuzzy Music); Best Contemporary Jazz CD for Re: Animation (2000 Blue Note) and Animation*Imagination (1999 Blue Note). In 2012 Tim Hagans will be awarded an honorary doctorate of music from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.

Additionally, he has performed and recorded with the likes of Thad Jones, Ernie Wilkins, and Dexter Gordon. For three years Hagans was a member of the Stan Kenton Orchestra. For fifteen years Timwas artistic director and composer-in-residence for the Norrbotten Big Band, traveling to Sweden to perform, conduct and arrange projects with guest artists such as Rufus Reid, Randy Brecker, Peter Erskine, and Dave Liebman.

1. The Magnificent Thad Jones, Volume 3 – Thad Jones

Thad Jones was one of the most original and in-the-moment improvisers in the history of jazz. His trumpet playing was out of this world, but Thad Jones is renowned more as a composer. I think this is because his skills as a composer and arranger were so brilliant that they overshadowed his legacy as a player. This record showcases his genius on the trumpet. (Thad Jones, Billy Mitchell, Barry Harris, Percy Heath, Max Roach).

2. Consummation – Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band

This CD is just incredible! True to its title, it is the consummate big band record. The tunes “Tiptoe,” “A Child is Born,” and “Fingers” exemplify the hipness, humor and exquisiteness that is Thad Jones.

3. The Cellar Door Sessions – Miles Davis

Six CDs: one for each night of the six nights Miles Davis performed and recorded at the Cellar Door in Washington DC in 1970. six days of wild free funk and through the roof energy. (Miles Davis, Gary Bartz, Keith Jarrett, Michael Henderson, Jack DeJohnette, Airto Moreira, John McLaughlin).

4. One Down, One Up: Live At the Half Note – John Coltrane

What can you say? The classic Coltrane Quartet going nuts! (John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones).

5. Sunship – John Coltrane

This is a studio album recorded a few months after One Down, One Up: Live at the Half Note. If you listen to the recording you can hear Coltrane’s voice instructing the band. He tells them “to keep the thing happening all through.” He’s talking about the energy, the intensity, the emotion; it’s the thing and you have to keep it happening, keep it going. (John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones).

6. Doin’ Allright – Dexter Gordon

What I love about Dexter is his behind-the-beat- 8th notes that combine with this huge broad sound. I played with Dexter in Copenhagen in the late 1970s. One night after a gig he let fall a big heavy arm around my shoulders. He started talking about all the things he had been through in his life. He looked so serious and then there was this awkward silence after he finished. I was in awe of him and I didn’t know what to say, so I said, “Was it worth it?” It sort of caught him off guard for a moment. He thought about it and then I saw that big square smile of his spread across his face and he said, “Yeaahhh.” Whenever I listen to him play I can’t help but see that magnificent smile. I find that I like to listen to Dexter in the morning; it’s great to have that sound and that smile – that are so uniquely Dexter – to welcome the day. This CD also has Freddie Hubbard on it and I love hearing them play together. (Dexter Gordon, Freddie Hubbard, Horace Parlan, George Tucker, Al Harewood).

7. The Hub of Hubbard – Freddie Hubbard

I would say this is Freddie at his absolute finest. The bar that Freddie sets on this recording is a lifetime goal for me. (Freddie Hubbard, Eddie Daniels, Roland Hanna, Richard Davis, Louis Hayes).

8. The Complete Columbia Albums Collection of Woody Shaw – Woody Shaw

I think the recordings from Woody’s Columbia period – from 1977 to 1981 – are his very best. He had refined his style to perfection. The sound, the ideas, and the compositions are extraordinary. Also, hearing Woody play over the standard tunes not included in the original releases shows the origin of his melodic and harmonic concept. (six CDs all with different personnel).

9. Out Front – Rufus Reid

The centerpiece to this CD is a three-movement suite called “Caress the Thought.” It’s outstanding. Rufus Reid is not only one of my favorite bassists, he’s one of my favorite composers. (Rufus Reid, Steve Allee, Duduka da Fonseca).

10. The Firebird: New York Philharmonic – Stravinsky

This work contains two of the greatest moments in all music. The first is when the French horn enters, leading into the second greatest moment, the breathtaking finale. Stravinsky was one of the greatest composers of all time and a constant inspiration for me. (Conducted by Leonard Bernstein)

Play-A-Longs Innovator and Jazz Camp Chief Jamey Aebersold On Decades of Simple Educational Greatness. In a small town in southern Indiana, a small publishing company called Jamey Aebersold Jazz runs quietly out of Jamey Aebersold’s basement.

The 72-year-old jazz vet lives a block from where he was born and an hour’s drive from all the places he used to give private lessons as a music school graduate. He operates his famous Summer Jazz Workshops just across the river at the University of Louisville.

But with his ever-expanding Jazz Play-A-Long book series, which is topping 130 volumes, Aebersold has influenced several generations of jazz musicians, young and old, across the world. Virtually every jazz student has spent time in the pages of one of Aebersold’s books, working out new theory ideas and experimenting over their trusty recordings of patient rhythm sections. A lifelong jazz educator who has worked with students of all ages, Aebersold pioneered the idea of teaching students to improvise using scale and chord structures as melodic blueprints and has steadily refined his approach to the series as ages of his students have grown both younger and older. His efficient summer workshops have remained largely the same, focused boot camp-style on getting new jazz students on their feet with music theory and improvisation and, above all, learning how to listen to each other and to great jazz masters of the past. It’s a formula that’s worked for decades.

JAZZed recently had the pleasure of speaking to Aebersold from his home in New Albany, Ind. about the development of the long-trusted Aebersold approach to jazz education.

JAZZed: You’ve built a long career changing the way musicians educate themselves. How was your experience as a young musician trying to wrap your head around jazz back in the ‘50s? 

Jamey Aebersold: Coming up out of high school, I wanted to go to New York – the Manhattan School of Music, which I applied for. I waited several months until I finally got a letter back that was one sentence long. “Dear Mr. Aebersold: We do not offer the saxophone.” My dreams were crushed because at that point I’d been reading DownBeat and Metronome magazine, listening to records, and I had a little band going writing some arrangements and trying to improvise. I didn’t have any direction. So I went to Indiana University because I heard about it through my older brother, who played some trumpet and wasn’t a jazzer, but I had heard him say that they were jamming in the halls all the time at IU. I went there and then found out they didn’t have saxophone program either.

JAZZed: Did you have a preference for performing or teaching?

JA: I was going to be a jazz musician and make a record for Blue Note at some point in my life, and when I got to school I heard other people who were in music education practicing in the little rooms next to me. I never heard anybody play who I thought sounded very good. So I told everybody that I wasn’t going to be a music educator. I made sure everybody knew that, too. “I’m not going to be like these other people.”

Four years later, an oboe player named Gene Montooth came up to me in the parking lot and he said he taught privately in Seymour, Ind., about 50 miles away, every Saturday. He had a high school job that fall and he was going to stop teaching in a few weeks and wondered if I wanted to do it. Of course, immediately my mind said, “Jamey, you told everybody you would never teach!” I’m standing there in the parking lot thinking, “I’m going to get married and I could use the money. Is private teaching really teaching?” I decided it wasn’t, so I took the job. It was one of the best things I ever did.

I eventually got students who were playing well and some of them were even getting into improvising. So on certain days, instead of having three or four kids for a half-hour lesson after school, we’d have a combo. Saturdays would also be combo day. Then after while I got it down to where I didn’t really teach any private lessons at all – all I was doing was combos in my basement. Many of those people coincidentally went on to become professional musicians in New York or teaching at various colleges. They really got into it.

JAZZed: With your background in a program that didn’t have a full saxophone program, how did you hook up with the concepts being explored by people like David Baker at the time?

JA: After I enrolled, Roger Pemberton – who’s a very fine saxophone player – came there for his Master’s. They asked him to teach me the saxophone. Then, at some point, I began taking private lessons from David Baker. I’d drive up to Indianapolis for that and that was when he was studying with George Russell and played with the George Russell Sextet. So David Baker passed on the information to me and I’d try it out and come back. I was like a guinea pig for him.

JAZZed: Were you doing a lot of private lessons at the time when you developed the first Play-A-Long book?

JA: Yes and, in fact, it was through different private lessons that I found out the mantra I have – “Anyone can improvise.” Through those lessons, I found out that if you played a little background for people over one scale, they could actually improvise and play what they hear in their head. They weren’t afraid of it at all. I was baffled because I thought that in order to play jazz, you had to have a big stack of records that you listened to all the time, drink coffee, and be kind of grumpy. That was my view of jazz going through college. That’s what I saw other people doing, and I didn’t drink coffee.

JAZZed: The books are known for using the chord scale system that was getting developed back then. How did you first pick that up?

JA: I first picked it up from David Baker. He was stressing learning each scale and each chord. I’d never really thought that way before. When I played, it was kind of by the seat of my pants. I’d look at the chord symbol and if it said “G,” I kind of knew the G chord and so forth and I’d listen to the sounds on the piano or bass and it was kind of hit or miss for a long time.

Back in the ‘60s, if someone wanted to play jazz, you’d have them play the blues right off the bat. But if you play the blues scale, it’s got a couple minor thirds in there and if you’ve only gone up and down major and minor scales, to play the blues scale is kind of difficult, especially if you haven’t listened to any records. So you don’t even know what this scale sounds like.

But I tried it, and it wasn’t until I got them to play on one normal scale that it was easy and they felt some confidence. That’s how I got it going and that’s why on the Play-A-Longs Volume 1, several of the tracks are on Dorian minor scales as opposed to starting out with the blues or with “Just Friends,” or “Have You Met Miss Jones” or something like that, you know.

JAZZed: That must have felt like a revelation.

JA: Once I started centering in my saxophone on the scales and the chords – ah, there were many more possibilities. When you’re playing music that’s based on harmony and standards and blues and “I Got Rhythm” and “Cherokee” and so forth, the melodies that come to your mind are based on bits and pieces of scales and chords. Then you intersperse chromaticism, rests, leaps, held notes, repetitions – things like that to give variety to your solo. When people are just singing in their head, they’re going up and down bits and pieces of scales and chords. You can’t avoid it.

JAZZed: So right around then, you decided to make play-along records for your students to practice this method over.

JA: Yeah, it was around 1962. The Play-A-Longs came along because the students needed something to practice with at home. So I made the first record, then I said, “Oh my gosh, if someone buys this LP, they won’t know what to do with it because there’s no melody. I better write a book.” So I labored with the book for months and finally put out the first version – Volume 1: A New Approach to Jazz Improvisation. And it was new.

So I think the Play-Along records and the concept of scales and chords was not mine, but it was new back then in the late ‘50s and ‘60s. Russell is to be credited for his transcription of solos and so forth where he realized that Charlie Parker and Dizzy and Monk and Bud Powell were playing bits and pieces of scales. He got things started. That was like kindergarten. David Baker came along with his interpretation of it and gave it to me and then various other people picked up on it and next thing you know, we’re all kind of teaching similarly.

JAZZed: In addition to the large collection of Play-A-Long books, you’ve also stocked thousands of other supplemental education books along the way. What’s the general goal of the company?

JA: The main thrust of the company is to allow people to practice jazz at home on their own with the Play-A-Longs. Then with the several thousand books that we sell from other publishers, we help them understand jazz and have fun playing music. All the other books we’ve taken on little by little over the years are items that help people to understand harmony, theory, ear training, arranging, playing in a combo – everything that applies to getting a person to the point where they can get up and take a solo on something and to play the music that they hear in their head.

JAZZed: As time has gone on, have you thought of new ways to improve that system?

JA: When we got to Volume 24, I slowed everything down and made a lot of the tracks bossa nova because we learned that the bossa nova beat relaxes the left brain, which is the thinking side, and makes things appear easier to do. Educators have taken jazz down to people who are very, very young, so I’m thinking about doing a new Play-A-Long called something like “Easy Aebersold” or “Easy Jazz” and make the examples slow and not taken to all 12 keys and just make it simple and fun for people that are nine to 12 years old and maybe have never listened to a jazz record.

 JAZZed: In those early years, was it just you at the company?

JA: Basically for the first ten years, it was just me. I was still playing jobs, working at night, teaching privately after school, filling the orders as they came in. Then I got a fellow named Matt Eve and he’s still working here after about 33 years. He started when he was in high school, coming in after school. He and I just kept going and then finally we needed somebody else. Now we’re up to 7 or 8 people that work, including myself. And we’re shipping stuff all over the world.

Over these 40 years, it was never supposed to be a business. It sort of just evolved into it and at some point I realized there were other people working here and they depend on this and they’ve got families and people seem to really want this.

JAZZed: What do you find are the differences in students now and back in, say, 1967? Are they looking to accomplish different things?

JA: I think so. I do my Summer Jazz Workshops and we have 250 or 300 people in each week and we get a lot of adults. It’s amazing – the adults who listen to music want to play simple tunes like “Perdido” and “Honeysuckle Rose.” The younger students – five, ten years ago, the one that have been practicing on jazz – they want to play the more adventuresome jazz tunes, the ones that are really jazz tunes. So many people have absolutely no idea what jazz is even when they come to the camp. You have them playing and they don’t know that it would be helpful to know those scales and chords and the order of the tune.

JAZZed: How are the camps set up?

JA: The students come in on Sunday, have a quick audition, take a theory test, go eat supper to live music, hear three groups play that night, and hear the rules given to them and so forth. Monday morning, we dive right in with theory. Then we have a listening, a jazz musicianship class, then they’re in combo at 11 o’clock. They have master class at 1:30 and combo again at 3 o’clock. Then they hear three more groups that night. By the time they get to Friday and you can hear the students play, you can definitely hear improvement when each one of them stands up and takes their solo.

JAZZed: Do you feel that there’s a certain principle that’s most important to get young students something to stand on first?

JA: I think the idea of what I do is to prepare the students to become individuals. That’s the goal. Of course, if they gain independence and play with the Play-A-Long records at home, they develop the desire to play with humans.

And I think listening is the key element. If they’re not listening to records, they’re not practicing. I don’t see how they’re going to end up being a jazz player. For instance, you have people that come in and can play pretty well and play the chords and so forth. But say they’re tonguing all the notes. You’ll ask them if they’ve ever listened to Cannonball. They’ll say, “Yeah.” Charlie Parker? “Oh yeah, I’ve got several records by him.” I’d say, “Have you ever noticed that they don’t tongue every note like you’re doing? You’re playing like you’re in a marching band or a rock’n’roll band.” It’s an issue with articulation, which can be slow and difficult and exasperating, but if they make that transition, they’ll make it into the jazz arena.

JAZZed: How many students are at a typical workshop?

JA:  We have had as many as 400 a week. This last time, we had 338 the first week and about 310 the second week. Plus, we had 50 faculty and 18 staff, with students from 21 different countries.

JAZZed: How often do you reassess the way those camps are run?

JA: We’ve found the best thing to do with the camps is to just leave it the way we have it. When we started the first combo camp, me and David Baker and maybe Jerry Coker and Dan Hurley, we got together and said, “What will we do?” Someone said, “How about theory?”

I know I said this: “Ugh, no theory. We don’t need that.” For me, five and a half years of theory was the most boring class in college because they didn’t talk about anything I was interested in. It was music of 100, 200, 300 years ago. But we did agree that we needed it. As soon as we did it, my brain said, “We need more theory.” The students didn’t have an understanding of any of it, so we needed to talk about it and then turn right around and try it in Combo classes. When we set up that first session way back there, we talked things through and there have been things we tweak a little bit but it’s basically the same.

JAZZed: The general idea seems to be a classic one at this point – master the notes and study the greats, and students will be able to find their own voice.

JA: I think we have a holistic approach. No good educator is trying to make them sound like them or someone else on the record. It’s impossible. I had students at camps where you’d say, “Hey, you’ve got a nice sound there. Who do you listen to?” They’ll say, “Well, I don’t really listen much to records.” “Do you listen to Clifford Brown or Miles or Kenny Dorham?” “Well not really. I don’t want to sound like them – I want to sound like myself.”

To that, I say, “You think you can listen to a Kenny Dorham record and then you’ll end up sounding like Kenny Dorham? I think you’re making a mistake.” If it were that easy, everybody would sound like him.

by Rebeca Mauleón

Anyone who loves music, studies it and plays it for a living knows there are no shortcuts to learn. Only life-long commitment and lots of practice to get better.   If you are new to Latin music, you probably have already discovered that there are a number of differences when it comes down to how this music is “felt” as well as played.

THE BASS – First of all, bass players need to feel comfortable with the idea that, in Cuban-based rhythms, the foundation is mostly syncopated, unlike the typical walking bass feel in jazz. Most of the rhythm section in Cuban music – and therefore in Salsa and Latin jazz – puts the main accents of their respective patterns on beats 2+ and 4 (what we often refer to as the tumbao for the bass and the montuno for the piano).

THE PERCUSSION SECTION – The percussion instruments are an entire world unto themselves, with many styles often containing very subtle differences within the individual rhythm patterns. So the musician really needs to have a solid command of Cuban rhythms such as guaracha, mambo, cha-cha-chá, guajira, bolero, son, son-montuno and so on. Within the Salsa and Latin jazz family of rhythms there are also Puerto Rican styles (bomba and plena), Dominican styles (merengue and bachata), Colombian styles (cumbia and vallenato) and so many others. Brazilian music itself contains a seemingly endless number of regional styles – from samba and bossa nova to partido alto, forró, côco, maracatu, baião, chorinho and more. And often what distinguishes all of these rhythms can be as subtle as what one particular drum pattern is doing. Really, every musician interpreting this music should have a reasonable understanding of these rhythms – whether they play percussion or not!

THE IMPORTANCE OF CLAVE – As most of you may also know, Cuban-based music relies on the concept of the clave to serve as an anchor, not only for how all the rhythm patterns are “stacked up,” so to speak, but also how the arrangement is structured. In many of the tunes in this book, you will sometimes notice that the clave direction is specified several times within the song; this is because there are moments in an arrangement where an odd number of measures in a phrase will naturally “shift” the clave’s direction beginning on the next musical phrase. This idea of “three-two” versus “two-three” has its roots in the West African music that is the foundation for most of the music in the Caribbean and Latin America, and it stems from the principle role of how rhythm literally shapes the melody. Until you understand what you are hearing when these clave changes occur, you’ll be missing a big piece of the puzzle. Please see my book, The Salsa Guidebook (Sher Music), for more information on these topics.

THE BRAZILIAN VERSION – While Brazilian music does not necessarily contain the specific notion of the clave, it too is often structured around a feeling of binary patterns – a principle of tension and release that permeates much of the world’s African-influenced music. The good news is that for bass players, at least, most Brazilian rhythms tend to echo a more downbeat-oriented bass line that comes from the bass drum patterns of samba.

GETTING THE RIGHT FEEL – All this being said, the wonderful thing is you don’t necessarily need to be “advanced” as a player to grasp the basics of this music, as long as you have good, solid time and can feel comfortable in a largely syncopated environment. Perhaps the most essential ingredient of all in these genres is the improvisational nature of how the music is played. While many people think of Brazilian music, Salsa music or Latin jazz as simply a bunch of syncopated rhythm patterns, this is a language of continuous expression and improvisation.

Most of the rhythm instruments are required to maintain a fairly repetitive role as they accompany the melody, but at the same time it is important to create variations so the music doesn’t feel redundant. In other words: all players in the rhythm section should follow the principle of finding the balance between stability and variation. Make it solid for the dancers, but make it fun for yourself as a player. And if you are one of the melodic instruments, your sense of phrasing in Latin music should be crisp and right on the money, not lagging behind the time. Since Latin music is largely devoid of swing feel, your interpretation of the rhythmical aspects need to tie in with the driving percussion patterns; it’s got to fit like a glove and maintain that locked groove even when there are twists and turns in the arrangement. But the rhythm should also be flexible, not mechanical. A great way to think about “feel” in Latin music is to practice an exercise of playing three against two in 6/8 meter (as well as two against three), as written here:

This way of phrasing is common because of the prominence of compound meter and cross rhythms in West Africa, so the more comfort level you have with these rhythmical ideas, the more solid your Latin music chops will become.

Finally, there is no element more important than your own ears to get you to feel Latin rhythms. LISTEN to as much of this music as you can; take some dance lessons, learn to play a conga drum, a surdo or a cowbell. The more you immerse yourself in this world the more you will know that good rhythm is the key.

SOME NOTES TO BAND DIRECTORS – Sample bass, piano and other instrument patterns are generally given on the right-hand page facing each tune as a guideline. As mentioned earlier, it is implicit in the approach to playing Latin music that the player should evolve the patterns over time by creating variations, but beginning level players may wish to concentrate on the provided patterns first. Before running the tune, I recommend starting with the main repeated section of the song (if there is one). Try having the players lock into a groove and experiment with variations, and then allow the melodic players to take turns soloing over the chord changes. Since this portion of the song tends to be the most vibrant in terms of dynamics, it is a good strategy to let the musicians find the comfort zone of the groove before working on the overall structure of the song.

If you are working with vocalists, it is the repeated refrain of songs in the Cuban or Salsa genres that would also require tweaking, in that the lead vocalist needs to improvise in between the repeated chorus. This refrain section is also referred to as the montuno, and it is here where the ensemble will need to work on changing the comping (accompaniment) patterns to suit the mood. There are different approaches for the rhythm section depending on whether there are call-and-response vocals versus an instrumental solo, and often these changes are dictated by the timbales player (and/or drummer).

RHYTHM SECTION SUGGESTIONS – The general rule for rhythm section dynamics within a song is similar to most popular music in that the drummer(s) create subtle to wide-ranging dynamic changes between sections: softer during the verses, louder during the solos and everywhere in between. But in Cuban-based music, the timbales tend to drive the band with specific calls, fills and breaks, and there are generally three areas of the set that coincide with various sections of the songs: a) during the verses, the timbales player plays the cáscara (sides of the drums), sometimes with the clave pattern on a woodblock; b) during the call-and-response vocals, the timbales player and bongo player play an interlocking cowbell part (these patterns can be shared and also morphed into a 2-bell part played by one drummer), and c) during higher dynamic instrumental solos (trumpet, sax, electric guitar, etc…) the drummer will play the ride cymbal.

For piano and bass solos, however, the drummer typically plays the sides of the drums (cáscara), and for percussion solos the cowbell pattern is a must to anchor the time. There are certainly exceptions and variations to all of these “rules,” so it is highly recommended that all of the players listen to the recordings found on the playlists of the Latin Real Easy Book page of www.shermusic.com to hear how the rhythm section responds during each section. Drum-set players tend to try to adopt all of the traditional percussion patterns onto the set, and that can be daunting as well as slightly inappropriate, mainly because there are several ways to interpret the specific Latin music styles that are more creative and not necessarily literal. Again, depending on your particular rhythm section, the suggested approach is to be sure to lock in all of the rhythm parts before launching into playing the tune. Once the groove is solid, it will be much easier to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together. Finding the tight rhythmical “zone” is the cornerstone to all Latin music interpretation. If it feels right, the audience will want to dance!

Rebeca Mauleón is an internationally acclaimed musician, bandleader, composer, GRAMMY-nominated producer and educator. As a pianist Mauleon, has recorded or performed with an array of Grammy-winning legends including Tito Puente, Carlos Santana, Steve Winwood, Joe Henderson and Mickey Hart. She is the author of the critically acclaimed Salsa Guidebook and 101 Montunos, and is also musicological consultant and author to National Geographic, Time Life and other important institutions. In 2011 Mauleon was appointed as director of Education at SFJAZZ, and is a tenured professor of Latin American music, composition and Latin Jazz piano, as well as an internationally sought-after as a lecturer and clinician on the subject of Latin American and Afro-Caribbean music history and performance.

This DVD from Earthcds Partners features conguero Michael Pluznick’s instruction of conga fundamentals. Viewers will learn how to play traditional and original variations of many of the most popular Afro-Cuban rhythms and rhythm arrangements including Rumba, Bembe 6/8, Mozambique, Guarapachanguerro and Songo. Pluznick offers comprehensive instruction for each and every part of a rhythm, including bells and palitos. He employs group ensemble demonstrations and slow-motion sequences for hard-to-learn parts. Pluznick lived in Cuba in 1985 and 1995, studying from Cuban percussion masters, and he has 35 years of performing, recording and teaching experience.

www.earthcds.com

D’Addario Zyex Double Bass C-Extended-E String

This Zyex C-extended-E string will augment the standard Zyex set. Like the standard set, the string uses a synthetic Zyex core that provides gut-like rich and complex tone, combined with power and clarity. Pitch stability is excellent after minimal break-in time, and a thicker string diameter and an overall lower tension make this set ideal for baroque, jazz and free styles.

Zyex bass strings were developed primarily to offer outstanding pizzicato attacks and sustain, as well as superb bowing response. Zyex Double Bass sets and individual strings are available in Light and Medium tensions and ¾ size. All strings consist of Zyex core with the G string (DZ611) titanium wound, D string (DZ612) stainless steel wound, and the A string (DZ613), E string (DZ614) and C-Ext string (DZ615) tungsten wound. The Zyex Double Bass Set (DZ610) consists of standard tuning strings. Retail price: $125.

www.daddariobowed.com

A Cool Approach to Jazz Theory: A Step by Step Guide to Improvising with Scales, Chords and Progressions

New York saxophonist and flautist Erika von Kleist introduces her first instructional book, a tool designed to help kids of all ages learn the basic concepts behind jazz harmony. Kleist uses a step-by-step lesson plan on how to play chords on any instrument and decipher their symbols, understand progressions, and create improvised melodies that fit the harmony of a song. Students with intermediate ability on any instrument, know some major scales and the chromatic scale, and have had an introduction to jazz are great candidates to tackle the material in this book.

www.jazztheoryiscool.com

Learn from the Piano Masters of Pops, Blues, Jazz from the Big Band Era

From Bill Irwin’s personal collection of big band sheet music comes this valuable anthology of some of the era’s classic tunes. Including the work of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Erroll Garner, Fats Waller, Art Tatum, Nat “King” Cole and more, the book provides analysis of the style and techniques used in each piece of music.

www.halleonard.com

Martin Expanded SP Lifespan Strings

Martin has expanded the successful SP Lifespan with three new products. Extra Light Gauge 10-47 Bronze and Extra Light Gauge 10-47 Phosphor Bronze will be able to meet the demands for for smaller body guitars and cutaways, a new extra light gauge will be available in phosphor bronze or 80/20 bronze.

Since both plain and wound strings are treated with Cleartone technology, the new Martin Extra Light 12 String 10-47 Phosphor Bronze 12 string set will deliver a balanced sound that is sure to please. With the recent and upcoming launch of several new C. F. Martin baritone guitars, Martin has designed Baritone 14-17 Phosphor Bronze strings to be comfortable in both the traditional B tuning and modern C tuning, delivering a new standard in tone. Gauging is 14/20/30/42/54/70.

www.martinguitar.com

Tycoon Percussion Black Pearl Series Cowbells

Tycoon Percussion’s Black Pearl Series cowbells are professional quality bells with an outstanding combination of sound and finish. This popular lineup is made up of four different styles – the Cha-Cha bell, Mambo bell, Low-Pitched bell, and Low-Pitched Hand bell. Each cowbell is constructed with premium quality steel, which allows for a focused fundamental pitch with moderate overtones. The Black Pearl series is designed with a rounded surface for easy playing and a sign designed for live performances as well as studio recordings. Collectively, these bells create a full range of high to low tones with an appealing black pearl finish. All Tycoon Percussion series cowbells are individually handmade and tested to ensure superior sound quality and durability.

www.tycoonpercussion.com

Gretsch G612T-GH George Harrison Signature Duo Jet Guitar 

Gretsch celebrates the legacy of George Harrison with the G6128T-GH George Harrison SIGNATURE Duo Jet guitar, modeled on the instrument that Harrison referred to as his “first real decent guitar,” a 1957 Gretsch Duo Jet which he purchased secondhand in the early 1960s. These include a lightweight mid-’50s-style chambered body, all-black color scheme (arched maple top, mahogany back and sides, and back of the one-piece mahogany neck), Bigsby® B3C tailpiece with a black Phillips head tremolo arm pivot bolt, and an offset strap button on the lower bout.
Other features include three-ply body binding (white-black-white), white single-ply neck and headstock binding, 22-fret rosewood fingerboard with 12” radius and hump-block pearloid inlays, two single-coil DynaSonic™ pickups, vintage-style “rocking bar” bridge with rosewood base, silver plexi pickguard, chrome-plated Grover® V98CM Sta-Tite™ tuners, Gretsch “G” arrow control knobs, chrome-plated hardware, Harrison’s signature on the truss rod cover and a premium tweed case.

www.gretschguitars.com

Samick Greg Bennett Acoustic Guitar

The Greg Bennett GD100SCE PK guitar features new Thunderflex™ bracing that provides a loud, powerful sound. It also features a Fishman™ Isys preamp, solid Sitka spruce top, Nato mahogany back and sides, multi-ply binding, and die cast tuners. The guitar is available in vintage sunburst finish and is accompanied by a deluxe 10mm padded gig bag and easy-to-read chord chart.

www.gregbennettguitars.com

Yamaha PSR-S650 Portable Digital Keyboard

The entry-level PSR-S650 now offers MegaVoice enhanced Styles found on higher-end Yamaha arrangers. It can load sample data like Voices, drums and percussion and make it instantly available in FlashROM without reloading at each power-up. Styles with MegaVoices make non-keyboard instrument Voices (like guitars and basses) sound authentic using musical articulation previously not playable from black & white keys.

The PSR-S650 internal FlashROM Expansion can store up to 16MB of sample data, allowing users to augment the existing set of 864 internal sounds. The keyboard also offers 181 built-in Styles ready to perform with players when writing songs or just jamming, and users can also play in custom tunings, like Arabic or Pythagorean, using one of the nine preset scales or even create new ones.

Users can record songs or their performances during jam sessions to the built-in 16-track sequencer and use the PSR-S650’s USB TO DEVICE port to store songs, Styles and custom registrations on a flash drive. Create custom Styles by mixing and matching parts and sections from the internal Styles. The USB TO HOST port connects to your computer and the PSR-S650can be used as a 64-note, multi-timbral tone generator. Retail price: $649

www.yamaha.com/keyboards.

Tomas Dan Schlaeppi Sauter – The First Day of Spring (Cavi)

The Joel Frahm Quartet – Live at Smalls (SmallsLIVE)

Christian McBride – Conversations with Christian (Mack Avenue)

Elizabeth! – Brainchildren (Canopy)

Mark Weinstein – El Cumbanchero (Jazzheads)

The Temperance Seven – 33 Not Out (Upbeat)

Etta James – The Dreamer (Verve)

Dark Chocolate – Caper (Megawave)

Cameron Pierre – Radio Jumbo (Destin-E)

November 15

Michael Wintsch – Metapiano (Leo UK)

Francois Carrier/Alexey Lapin/Michael Lambert – Inner Spire (Leo UK)

Hal Galper Trio – Trip the Light Fantastic (Origin)

Michel Portal – Bailador (Universal)

Ernie Watts Quartet – Oasis (Flying Dolphin)

Antoine Lang/Rodolph Loubatiere/Vinz Vonlanthen – VLL678 (Leo UK)

Corey Wilkes – Kind of Miles (Katalyst)

Scoolptures – White Sickness (Leo UK)

November 22

Laura Dreyer – Free Flying Bird (Premium Latin)

Steve Day – Song of the Fly (Leo)

Thirteenth Assembly – Station Direct (Important)

McCoy Tyner – Sahara (Original Jazz Classics)

Tino Contreras – Jazz Mexicano de Tino Contreras (Jazzman)

Wayman Tisdale – The Wayman Tisdale Story (Rendezvous)

Flippomusic – Tao Tunes (Oppilf)

Rick Braun – Rick Braun Sings (Vinyl) (Artistry)

December 6

Various – It’s Trad Man! (A Collection of British Traditional Jazz Classics) (3CD

Gianluigi and Gianni Coscia – Frere Jacques: Round About Offenbach (ECM)

Chris West – The Surprise Trilogy Disc 3 (Chris West)

Jean Prosper – In the Moment (Prosper)

December 13

Luis Gasca – Collage (Beat Goes Public)

Cal Tjader – Agua Dulce (Beat Goes Public)

BY ANDREW HARE

Gregg Field’s recent itinerary was a doozy. He started things off with a late-summer stint in Florida with the Disney All American College Band, then he took a trip back to California to work in the studio on the new Gypsy Kings record. He took to the sea for the annual Dave Koz Jazz Cruise in Alaska, then flew to Brazil to perform at a concert with his wife, Monica Mancini, later hopping up to Buenos Aires to produce an album with Cuban legend Arturo Sandoval with Argentina’s Teatro Colon Orchestra. After a few days of down time, he caught a plane to London to record with the Shelly Berg Trio and the Royal Philharmonic.

Do you want this job yet? Field laughs it off. “It looks great on paper, doesn’t it?” he says over the phone from Los Angeles, counting the hours before his next several project deadlines. “It’s always a double-edged sword. Right now I’m wondering how I’m ever going to have time to get my records done.”

Nevertheless, Field knows that his broad career in performance, education, production, and record label management serves as a constant beacon to young jazz acolytes trying to find a foothold or two in a job market that’s more competitive than ever. The advice he gives to students all the time: find as many things as possible that you love doing and do them. Diversify. He certainly leads by example.

Field grew up in California, in the Bay Area, obsessively listening to jazz records and going over drumming patterns in his home and hanging around jazz clubs in the city to see legends perform whenever he could. He attended music camps as early as he could as a teenager and began teaching drums in high school. After a few chance encounters, he found himself working regularly as the drummer in Count Basie’s Orchestra, parlaying contacts through that gig into session jobs and, whenever possible, audio engineering assignments. He’s since performed with a long list of jazz and pop stars like Quincy Jones, Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Liza Minnelli and more.

He’s held positions at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles since 1983 and currently holds a place on the school’s board of directors, watching the its jazz program grow exponentially. In the meantime, he helped take the mantle of Concord Records from founder Carl Jefferson and turn it into one of the most widely-visible labels in the world through a partnership with Starbucks Coffee and a steadily impressive list of new releases by classic artists like Ray Charles, Cannonball Adderly, Paul McCartney, and James Taylor. In 2009, the company received a record 38 Grammy nominations. He has pioneered new techniques in recording by jumping onto digital audio workstations like ProTools when they were in their infancy, and has made waves with innovative new album concepts.

Throughout, he points to a passion for music as the only thing that continues to make any of it possible. JAZZed caught up with Field recently to talk about the lessons he’s learned while on the job and in the classroom throughout his career.

JAZZed: Great to speak with you, Gregg! Let’s start off with your work at USC, which began in ’83 right after you left Count Basie’s Orchestra. How’s the landscape changed since then, in any aspect?

Gregg Field: It’s completely different. In 1982, there never would have been a thought of a pop music curriculum and the jazz program there was pretty limited. It was still really a classical school and an opera school. Over the next ten years it started to grow a little bit, then Shelly Berg came in and everything changed really quickly in terms of the respect of the jazz school. He made vast changes and when you got ten years on, the program had really found its stride.

But the larger question I think you were asking was how things have generally changed in teaching. It’s the opportunities for working as a musician that are a challenge for us to prepare students for. The same types of opportunities just aren’t there like they were when I first started at USC. So we see that and we’re adapting our curriculum to stay ahead of the curve. Part of that is expanding the awareness of the music business outside of just being a creative instrumentalist. That’s worked wonders for me because I have a career as a music producer, musician, and business person with Concord, which keeps me really busy. I encourage students to move beyond their instruments to expand their opportunities. They might say, “Yeah, I love playing sax, but talk to me about producing,” or “What is it like to be an engineer on a session and learn ProTools?”

JAZZed: So you think the key is just getting students involved in any fields that they can?

GF: Where they’re attracted, at least. For me, opportunity comes where your passion leads you. I had a real amazing thing happen when I was a kid – I was obsessed with Count Basie’s band in junior high school and high school and I’d go see them any time they’d come to San Francisco. I would come home and practice to the records for hours and hours and hours, every song I could find on a recording of Basie. I was a senior in high school in ’73 and the band was playing in San Francisco. I found myself backstage and I got introduced to Basie. And the band’s getting onstage and Sonny Payne, the drummer, didn’t show up. And I ended up playing the concert as a senior in high school. It was incredible. The synchronicities that had to line up for me to be at that moment in time were remarkable.

But what I’ve learned is that I had a lot of passion to play that music and what I’ve learned is that wherever I find myself really getting excited and passionate over wanting to do something, I find the doors starting to open up. I wanted to work for Sinatra, wanted to work with Ella, wanted to record for Luther Vandross, wanted to work with Arturo. You can keep naming them – before I worked with them, I wanted to work with them. I was a fan. And I tell students that. You’ll find that opportunity doesn’t knock once – it’s always knocking. If your passion is there, that will drive you to opportunity and I’ve seen it over and over for many years. It’s a technique for me. If I have my sights on something, the success will come.

JAZZed: At the same time as starting out as a teacher, you were also beginning to learn the ropes in record engineering, right?

GF: They were both coming at the same time. I was always attracted to the recording process and production. In the early ‘80s, I had a little computer with a little sequencer and I would try to recreate with the sequencer hits that I was hearing on the radio. Around that time, my recording career starting taking off a bit and I was actually making R&B records. My first real record session was with Donald Byrd and the Blackbyrds. It was Wah Wah Watson on guitar and Greg Phillenganes playing piano. I was so unprepared. I was 21 years old and suddenly found myself on a big session in L.A. My drums sounded horrible and I was fired off the session almost immediately. But it was the best thing that could have happened! I learned a lot and fortunately those guys both stepped in and helped, especially Wah Wah. I was curious about recording. When the predecessor to ProTools came out, called SoundDesign, I learned it. I got it, took it home, really woodshedded it, and then would just asked engineers, you know, “How do you get this reverb to work,” or “What mic do you use on the vocal?” I was just being a curious guy and a pain in the ass to a lot of engineers!

Bit by bit I developed a little skill and was hired to produce my first record around ’83 or ‘84, somewhere in there. That led to Concord records founder Carl Jefferson and John Burk sending some producing work my way. It was a great opportunity!

JAZZed: Is that how you first got involved with Concord, then – producing? 

GF: Oh no, I actually go back with Concord longer than anybody else. Carl Jefferson, who started Concord Records back in the 1970s, was a Lincoln-Mercury dealer in Concord, Calif. – Jefferson Motors. My dad used to buy cars from him. In 1972, he did something that was so cool – he hired Louis Belson and Barney Kessel and Mill Hinn (bass player, drummer and guitar player) to do a jazz camp in Lake Tahoe for a week. They took ten drummers, ten bass players and ten guitar player students. I got to study with Louis and Grant Geissman, the great guitar player. So that started a relationship with Carl Jefferson. As time went on, the relationship kept up and I would call him once in awhile or he’d call me – he was a really wonderful guy. This went on for a long time.

JAZZed: How did you become a label owner?

GF: Concord was sold by Carl in 1994 to a conglomerate that ultimately had financial difficulty. Concord was a pretty small label at that point and came up for sale. My friends Norman Lear and Hal Gaba loved music, so I introduced them to Glen Barros and John Burk, who were running Concord.  We put together the financing and I became one of the owners. Norman and Hal along with Glen and John and our general manager Gene Rumsey, have really been responsible for the growth of Concord.

JAZZed: How did the deal with Starbucks come about?

GF: It was our chairman Hal Gaba, about the nicest guy anyone has ever met, who was at a party with Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz. Starbucks was basically selling CD compilations out of the stores. You know – music that had been released already.

Hal approached Howard and said we could do a better job with his in store CDs and Howard was intrigued. He said if we could sign Ray Charles, we’ll do a deal with you guys. We approached Ray Charles with the idea of doing an album and of course I’m sure you know the history – it sold 8 million copies, won every Grammy it was up for, and we were suddenly a real record label with serious growing pains. Everything changed at that point. We started acquiring other labels and it brings us to today, and I’m happy to say that in spite of the challenging environment we actually had our best year to date!

JAZZed: That’s not something too many labels can claim. 

GF: Yeah. One of the reasons is – we embrace artists that major labels don’t see a value in anymore. We have the new Paul Simon record. Frankly, I don’t think Warner Brothers knew what to do with him anymore. Ray Charles, James Taylor, Carole King, and Paul Simon are legacy artists that we value! That’s proved a really good formula for us. And we’re still making as many or more jazz records than we’ve ever made.

JAZZed: What do you tell students now, after getting all these serendipitous breaks – playing with Count Basie in high school, getting involved with Concord as a teenager, meeting Phil Ramone – it can’t possibly be that easy for people anymore, can it?

GF: It wasn’t that easy back then! [laughs]. I’m telling you, if you’d asked me in high school, “Who do you want to play with?” I could have named five guys instantly. I go to schools sometime and pick out a musician and go “Who’s your dream to play with? What’s your dream gig? What do you want to do?” and they don’t have an answer. That’s a problem. That’s not the passion that you need to drive the success and keep you hanging into the game. Honestly, I think the opportunities are there, but it’s sort of how you’re wired and where you put your efforts.

JAZZed: What attracts you to new artists or students?

GF: Virtuosity will certainly get your attention. I had a meeting with a singer yesterday named Barbara Padilla. She’s an opera singer who on the 2009 season of America’s Got Talent where she came in second place. 15 million people voted for her. She’s this beautiful woman who is unbelievably talented and is so excited about making a great record. And that enthusiasm has helped her get on a major television show and get a lot of attention! So the talent is one thing and then the reality of can I create a successful recording with all the external forces at play with a new artist is also a consideration. Are they in a position to tour? Do they have management and an agent, etc? It’s a combination. As for students, I look for the talent and enthusiasm and try to evaluate can I be effective in helping their development as a musician.

JAZZed: On the other hand, is it becoming more difficult to get younger artists interested?

GF: It’s a challenge. But our young artists like Christian Scott, Spencer Day – they’re working. They’re out there making noise. Listen, it’s a challenge no matter what level you are, but as long as you’re creative, you can figure out a way to be successful.

JAZZed: Does it seem like more now than ever you have to have a good business background?

GF: Absolutely. It really helps. You know if you’re a musician and you want to play a gig and you go to negotiate your salary with the club owner or label, it doesn’t hurt to have a little business background. And the other side of that is that it’s not just about what you can get out of it. It’s how you can also make it good for that guy? That’s kind of how I come into business deals. I know that if I make it a winner for the person across the table from me, then it’s usually a winner for me too.

JAZZed: What about your mentors growing up?

GF: I’m still growing up! Louis Bellson was such a mentor, not just as a drummer but as a guy – an example of a guy that was so loved and so willing to help people. I ended up producing his last three records and learned SO much watching a guy operate from a creative place in his life. He just thought differently. He used to design his own clothes. He was living life with an expanded awareness that I found that intriguing and attractive.

And then certainly from the business aspect, my good friend Hal Gaba. I really knew nothing of the business world and Hal was a huge mentor and was really helped me understand the record business and just business in general. And of course from producing, Phil Ramone. Without a doubt a huge mentor and friend! I always felt mentored by Basie. He was a really wise human being. Watching the way he would go about his life was a lesson. There have been so many lessons and I am so fortunate to have been around people that have guided and helped me along the way. I hope I can do the same!