February 2018 – CRAIG BUHLER JAZZ

You’ll ace this one, if you’ve played through “New Ears Resolution.” If not, it may be tricky.

TEST YOUR EAR

Below is a recording of the pattern in all 12 keys. Submit a “comment” at the bottom of this post, if you need a chart to play along with the recording.

Note that this phrase traverses the first five chords of the standard “Someday My Prince Will Come,” a long-time staple of Miles Davis’s book. That “harmonic quote” was not intentional. When you start creating patterns in a “stream of consciousness” manner, elements of your repertoire tend to crop up in various guises.

Multi-instrumentalist Kevin McCartney recently taught me about the ebb and flow of tension and release created by Cuban clave patterns. In this exercise, the many accidentals create a bit of harmonic tension, which is then released through resolution to adjacent diatonic notes. Note in particular the tension created by Si, Di, and Le.

Upon further reflection today (during surgical anesthesia!), it occurred to me that this phrase uses all 17 notes in the scale: the 7 diatonic pitches, the 5 sharps, and the 5 flats. For a horn player, G# and Ab are identical. However, a symphonic violinist thinks of them quite differently.

What you hear in this recording is actually 5 clarinets. Took me about 20 takes to get 5 usable ones.

Just listened to an inspiring interview with Sonny Rollins. They asked him how he practices. He said he just picks up the horn and starts playing. They asked, “What do you play?” Sonny responded: “I guess they would be what you might call ‘cliches’. You just play those until something meaningful begins to surface.” If Sonny is not afraid to play “cliches,” then it’s probably OK. So i picked up the tenor and just started blowing over some basic slow F blues changes. After 10 minutes, this lick started to emerge from the clay. To you, it may sound like just one more cliche, but for me – as i worked through it in all 12 keys at a moderate tempo – it proved an opportunity to address some fingering and range challenges i might otherwise have missed. It’s relaxing and fun to play a lilting, swinging lick, knowing your chops are improving as you play. Kind of reminds me of working through Hanon on the piano (though i’m only on number 8!).