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Originally Posted by duval  Does anybody have any tips for jazz phrasing/timing in really contemporary stuff - I tend to either have way too much swing or play it like it were latin??? Some of the modern guys get a really 'jazzy' (sorry) feel to their phrases but they seem to be playing it straight 8ths (Brecker especially) Am I right in thinking this is what Bear was mentioning when he said "I've come to notice that "being on time" is not a clear as it was say just twenty years ago."? |
It has to do with phrasing and accents. From about 1945 onwards "swing" 8th notes are not triplets, or even 3-2 or 8-5, but really straight-with accents on the "and" and a slur from the off-beat eighth note to the down beat. Ingrid mentioned John McNeil's Art of Jazz Trumpet-absolutely essential, the only only book to ever actually deal with the mechanics of "swing". He provides valuable exercises to accomplish this. But it all comes down to listening. Miles in the fifties, Art Farmer, Clifford Brown, Milt Jackson, the list goes on. You have to listen close. Try the original version of Walkin', both Miles' and Milt's solos are textbook examples of swing eighth notes.
Michael McLaughlin