Practicing
The finishing fetish
Before a rehearsal tonight, I was speaking with a couple of friends/bandmates about some of my improvisation methods They’ve been following a few of
The benefits of practicing by ear
You’ve heard the saying about doing the same thing over and over expecting different results? It doesn’t end well.
Let’s talk about a different way to practice from what you may be doing day after day after day.
The power of articulation
A while back I wrote several posts about time, making the point that one’s sense of time and swing was more important in playing jazz than the ‘correct’ notes.
On time, practicing, and listening
A few weeks ago, I wrote a couple of posts about time and rhythm. I suggested that rhythm is a fundamental yet under-appreciated element of good jazz playing and it is one of the obvious weaknesses of less experienced jazz players.
Quick and easy mastery of improvising jazz
Okay, let me come clean that the title of this post is completely misleading. But when you first saw it, admit that you had a tinge of excitement that it could be possible. Sorry about that, but I’m trying to make a point.
Finding meaning for your jazz playing
I just read Viktor Frankl’s classic, Man’s Search For Meaning. It’s been on my reading list for a long time so my recent sojourn to the northern Arizona flower-covered mountains gave me the opportunity to finally read it.
Warm up your ear for improvisation
We are all pretty good at warming up our bodies to play our instruments. Brass players require a little extra as we limber up the vibrating mechanism called our lips. For that, we play long tones, lip slurs, tonguing, etc.

Michael Lake
Jazz/latin trombone, author, multimedia artist, marketer
The new book by Richie Beirach and me
Throughout the past year, Richie and I have been writing a book on jazz education. It is called Teaching and Learning Jazz: From tradition to
How you can play so much better right now
There is a fascinating process that I constantly see played out. Instantly, it can elevate the ability of players. They are amazed and delighted that
The finishing fetish
Before a rehearsal tonight, I was speaking with a couple of friends/bandmates about some of my improvisation methods They’ve been following a few of my lessons and