Hi Glen,

Very good question. With most of the gigs listed there I read the charts. Some of them (Francois Houle, Tony Wilson) are impovised music gigs. By this I mean there is nothing written down or prepared. We just start playing and see what comes out. That can be a little scary but it sure makes you listen to the band.

A few of the gigs (Alam Libre, and Soulstream) are a little more commercial. In those cases I try and learn the tunes from the tape provided to me. We might get together once before the show or at soundcheck to run a few trickey parts. A lot of times the rehersal is with a stripped down version of the band because both groups are at least 10 pieces and it's hard to get everyone there at the same time.

I play pretty consistently with all the groups in that schedule throughout the year so it's usually just a case of a little brushing up. The weird thing is that the groups I am more involved with compositionaly (Chris Tarry Group, Junction) are usually the gigs I read the most on! It just seems like I never have enough time to memorize my own tunes...

I have a pretty bad memory so a lot of the times I'm learning tunes off a CD that I played on. It's a weird experience sitting down to learn bass parts you played at one point and have completely forgotten. That happens a lot with Metalwood. I find myself re learning the tunes before a tour or somthing and saying "I played that!" ..... "Ok, how did I do that again?".....or "Man, what was I thinking!"

Take care, and thanks for the question.
Chris

Thanks for your reply Chris.

I can't imagine playing improvised (completely) music live, partly because I'm not all that fond of the genre. I actually walked out of an Ornette Coleman show in the early eighties at the Montreal Jazz Festival. (At the time they sold full passes to all the shows and actually going to them was getting exhausting... just couldn't get with the program as far as Ornette was concerned). Playing that stuff must be interesting. I'm open to checking that style out again though... what are the top five albums I should be familiar with conceptually to able to fill in for you on the "improvised" gigs when you collapse from exhaustion this summer?

Interesting about your memory. I have the same problem and thought that would be a huge impediment in terms of doing club/jazz gigs.

Any tips (anyone?) on memorizing jazz standards? Or do you just say to heck with it and always read them...

Chris, I'd also like to know if you read very much when you are playing the fretless bass and if you have any tips for doing that. Me, I can't imagine doing that. When I was younger I managed to learn to read well enough to play with high school and All-City stage bands but I had the bad habit of having my eyes glued to the music (and this with fretted 4). Every once in a while I'd get this feeling, you know, that I should look up, and inevitably I'd see the band director leaning on one foot, body and hands facing the band but with rest of his being and spirit (and especially his angry, glaring red face) directed at me trying to get me to... PAY ATTENTION DAMMIT!

Great memories those...

Later,

Glen

Hey Glen,

The beautifull thing about the impov music gigs is that anyone can fill in at any time... Just grab someone off the street and say PLAY!!...just kidding!...(kind of)..:->

Five new music (I gues this is what they are calling it now) albums to pick up?...Hmm.. well, I would say:

Any of the Mid 90's Bill Frisell albums
Any John Zorn record
Dave Douglas and The Tiny Bell Trio albums
Any Knitting Factory (Record Label) albums
Any albums on the Spool label
any albums on the Songlines label

This kind of music is definately not my stength but I have spent time learning to appreciate it and playing it. Anything that helps push the boundaries is worth checking out

In terms of memorizing tunes I have more dificulty remembering band leaders original compositions (including my own). I run into the same trouble when I have'nt played an obscure standard in a long time. There are the certain 100 or so standards that can never be forgotton because they are called so often. To memorize a tune quickly I try and relate everything to numbers.

For example: The A section of Alone Together goes |Minor II-V into Dminor| mII-V into Gminor| Up a major third II-V | up a minor third II-V into F| down a half step II-V back home to Dminor| Ect.

By doing this I find it easier to wrap my head around a tune.. It also helps a lot when people want it in another key.

As far as reading on fretless sometimes I've practiced palying frettless along to a record in the dark. This really helps your confidence when having to play without looking at your fingerboard. Reading on fretless is a hard thing to do. I find reading CHANGES on fretless rather than NOTES is a little easier because there is a form of improvisation with changes that makes it easier to get away with a bit more.

If I drop dead from to many gigs this summer my last thought would probably be "I never did get a blues together!"

Good post, Chris...
To add to the "how do you learn standards" part: I
feel that you never really know a tune 'til you
knbow the melody. Learn that and if possible the
lyrics. D'you know, I reckon this next bit will
cause some controversy, but...Linda Ronstadt's two
standards albums with Nelson Riddle are great
places to start because a) there's a lot of
standards on them and b) she sings them really
straight so the melody is easy to memorise. As a
bonus, Nelson's arrangements are absolutely
stellar, and George Massenburg engineered so it
sounds like a million bucks right there.



If you want to learn standards, and if you want to
learn how to phrase for jazz, in the words of Dave
Liebmann and many of my other instructors over the
years: Listen to Frank Sinatra. Get one of those
ridiculous "Every song Frank ever recorded on 77
CDs for seven dollars" collections and chow down.

Hey Kerry,

Wasn't it Lester Young who said that he always learned the lyrics? I find that if I know the lyrics I keep the form together much better. Then if I get to play a solo I can try to phrase as if I was singing, rather than "G minor 7th = Dorian, C 7th = Mixolydian. . . " I always tell my students to try to get at the emotional tone of a tune before they solo on it, and lyrics can clarify what that is. Some meanings aren't always obvious through the harmony (Major key = Happy, Minor key = Sad), -for example: "Makin' Whoopee" gets downright cynical in the third verse.

One problem I've gotten into though is that singers often get the words wrong, and I have a DEEP need to correct them ; ) I've since learned not to do that though...


Has everybody seen http://www.kissthisguy.com ? for misheard lyrics it's a real hoot!

Another key to learning tunes is to be able to feel four and eight bar phrases without counting. . . I'm sure everyone can remember learning "So What" and forgetting which "A" section they were on. Also important is to remember where the bridge goes (usually the IV chord, or III/VI/II/V in standard tunes), and remember any little modulations that might happen.
Laurence

Hey All:

I started to use Band-in-a-box a few days ago. This enables you to hear the melodies played fairly straight... over the chord changes. I'm hoping this program will help me on my way to being able to learn how to walk better.

I've already encountered the problem of finding three different versions of chord changes for many of the tunes. Guess you just need good ears to ferret out which version the people you are playing with are using.

Makes me think of a question for all you experienced jazzers. You're on the gig and all of a sudden the rythm section has three different versions of the song going on. Is there an accepted instrument that gets followed in this case or does the person who glares the hardest at the others win : )

Later,

Glen

Later,

Glen

Hmmm, I generally gravitate to the piano player if it sounds like they know what they are doing, but it depends. Hopefully it will settle itself after a couple of choruses, but once the solos start the changes are basically a guideline and you want to stay open to what the soloist is doing, the direction they are taking that particular time through.
Play along stuff is cool, but I would suggest trying some different things AWAY from other instruments. You want your line to be strong enough to stand on its own and still communicate the harmony, instead of leaning on a chordal instrument...

Follow the best guy.


All kidding aside...it usually means following the
guy with the worst ears. He's the one who can't
follow anyone else. That's why gigs ALWAYS sink to
the level of the weakest musician. And we don't
want to be THAT guy, do we?


Generally, that's always been my belief. You can
spot the best musician in a group 'cause he's the
guy following everyone else...even if they lead
him off a harmonic cliff like a great big
four-stringed lemming.


If it is in fact the bass player who's the best
musician in the group...


;)

As I have said elsewhere, having a good pianist on the gig obviates the need for knowing a million tunes. You won't be able to play them on as deep a level as tunes you know well, but a good ear and a willing piano player can lay things out for you plainly enough to get the root movement and most of the harmonic tension for a tune's progression.

Where I live, most of the gigs are with people you have played with before (at sessions, other cats' gigs,etc.)but don't really have a rehearsed repertoire. Or you'll be subbing with cats you may not have played with before, but they HAVE played with the person they got your number from. Those gigs tend to rely on commonly shared tunes, so the more you know the better off you are. There are a few groups that work with more or less the same personnel (but most guys fronting a band have several different "options" of players who have played the material before)and may rehearse once or twice to introduce new compositions (especially with the rhythm section)but don't tend to rehearse regularly. More common is the "session" band, a loose group of players (who may include a couple of different bass players, horn players, drummers, etc.)who play informally at apartments or rehearsal studios and work up a repertoire from this kind of consistent play, rather than more formal rehearsals.

Anybody think about the other side of this question: what is it about his playing that prompts people to call Chris for all these gigs?