Last night I went to a sweet jam session. Had gone to that one before, but not for a little while.
The house band is really good, jazz musicians who play with real musicality.
A drummer/guitar player who was listening and I talked to outside was saying how the drummer really used finesse and didn’t just play loud like some drummers..
The house band played for a while and then they invited up the ‘young lions’ as they called it. Made a joke about the real band coming up too.
A couple of friends and I went up and another drummer joined us.
The keyboards were set up like a hammond, with one set of keys as a keyboard and one playing ‘bass’.
Two tenor saxes, the keyboard/bass combo, and drums.
First we played Cantaloupe Island, then Watermelon Man and then Mr. PC in C minor.
On Cantaloupe Island, it went all right, but I played a few funny sounding notes. That’s a song that I mostly know, but haven’t quite mastered.
Watermelon Man went better since I know it more and I liked my solo on Mr. PC the best. The house drummer played with us on PC and played around with the feel of the time during my solo which was fun.
My high school music teacher came up and played some trumpet with us on Watermelon Man too.
The session made me realize that I should really work on a few songs and not just somewhat know a bunch of tunes. Getting up and playing makes you want to get better too!
Afterward I talked to my friends about getting together and jamming in preparation for the next one.
I wish i could learn a song right through and remember it,
the closest i ever came was with lullaby of birdland.
Time is the worst killer for not practising. i should take coltranes stand and go to bed with my sax beside me.
long tones it is then.
Long tones help a lot with your sound and control.
As far as learning tunes, start with simple songs and build your way up. I bet you could learn an 8 bar blues head pretty quickly.
when i need to learn a song i get a recording of the song(just for structure) grab some headphones and work, mow the yard or even sleep letting the song just loop over and over by the time i’m done THE SONG IS MINE, no questions as to when lead guitar solo,piano solo,my solo is….chorus ,pocket work,hook,intro ,tag……..its in my head and i instantly go in or out where and when needed and don’t even have to think about it. Of course i can’t stand the piece by then ,but like a friend told me when you play a song so much that you almost hate it,that is exactly the time you perform it the best.
Good call, when you listen you really are getting the music, not just lines and dots and the structure on paper. That’s funny what your friend told you, but it’s probably true. Especially since the audience hasn’t heard it nearly as many times as you!