duval

Hi Ingrid

I love improvised music and have been playing jazz for some years now. My main concern is that I feel like everything I play sounds a little 'trady', I would love to have a contemporary sound. By this I mean hip note choice, intervals, rhythm, tone etc. What sort of things would you recommend using and working on to get that feel? People I like listening to are Tommy Smith, Randy Brecker, Roy Hargrove, Yourself, Michael Brecker, Miles, Coltrane et al.

Thanks very much,
David

jtownsend

just keep listening to them all man, it doesnt matter whther or not you should look for a contemp sound, look for your own, i love miles and roy, freddy also, listen to them all. It takes a while, you eventualy get your own sound, it takes years

gridjam

"Knowledge is happiness- if I learn something, it makes me happy" - Miles davis (said when he was in his 60's)
" This music takes a long time to get good at" - Freddie Hubbard.
(Spoken with intensity after insisting that a "funk" recording of a Monk tune by a young lion of the day, be turned off immediately!) One of my all-time favorite IAJE moments by the way!

with that in mind, be patient and enjoy the path that is yours to discover.
My path began with sound, I didn't like most of the trumpet sounds I heard when I was growing up. They seemed kind of shrill and forced. The more I sang and listened and sponged, and played and let go, the more I started to hear my own voice in the music.
Frankly David, 'some years' doesn't sound like much to me. If you can be patient and persistent. Write and study and have 'a life', you will inevitably find a unique way to express yourself. Beware of this IG (instant gratification) way of life we have been led astray into... good things take time and there is no teacher or computer program that can shorten that truth into sound bites, let-alone snippets from a forum. On that note, read and do what the forum cats say, the teachers too- then make decisions based on who you are and what you love!
Have fun...use the resources around you and get communicating.

jrpjazz

Hello, I believe that a contemporary sound can be obtained (in the long run) by applying what you've absorbed from your trumpet influences and putting that to use in contemporary musical settings. You have to experiment. Also there are certain things like excessive vibrato that can make your style sound "dated". I recently discovered Greg Adams playing "smooth jazz, or instrumental pop" and was very surprised to hear an "older mature person" playing this type of music so well and sounding very very hip, and young. Ingrid here has an amazing "contemporary" sound in a more straight ahead jazz setting. Just wanted to share my thoughts on this. Keep on playing, and like Ingrid said, have fun! All the best - James

BergeronWannabe

Wonderful!! One of the best things I've read...thanks, Ingrid.
I've been feeling a little down lately because it seems as if I'm not improving
as much (fast?) as I'd like. Sometimes I think I have "nothing to say."
Hard to find my voice when I feel mute- just need to be patient I suppose.
-Andrew

veery715

If you feel like you've nothing to say that becomes reality. It isn't really feeling, because if it was your right brain would be dominating and the creative juice would flow. It is believing in a logical, analytical sense, that there's nothing to say, that inhibits the right brain's natural expressiveness.
In the creative process, we often end up thinking too much, and we need to learn to squelch that to allow the feeling side to come forward. In an improvisational environment there really isn't all that much time to think - the right brain, the ear, and the sound coming out of the instrument need an almost direct connection, and the thinking left brain needs to get out of the way. It's a Zen thing.

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Music = Love