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Review
First, nice job paraphrasing the melody a bit. That gives the listener something familiar to follow. Also, you played with good intonation, so one can tell you have a facility with the bari and other woodwinds.
How one plays jazz is such a personal choice, but there are a few universals to the jazz language. One of them is time. Time can be more on top of the beat (Coleman Hawkins) or behind the beat (Dexter Gordon). But no matter, it should be consistent. What you may hear as "tentative" in your playing is an inconsistent time feel. When you are sure of your phrasing and the 'story' you wish to tell, your playing will land more solidly and swingingly within the beat and rhythm section. This will make you feel and sound more confident and melodic, as you are trying to achieve.
Let's dive into this. Listen to your note placement. Sometimes your notes are on the beat, sometimes they are behind, and sometimes out of the time. But there’s no musical consistency. The result is a kind of nervous uncertainty, or tentativeness, as you put it.
Speaking of Coleman Hawkins, listen to his great solo on Pennies from Heaven on the live Konnsethuset album. Pay particular attention to how he plays the melody. Notice the time placement being ‘in the pocket.’ I’m not suggesting you try to sound like Coleman, just that you get a better sense of a consistent sense of time and swing. Without that consistency you can’t really swing. As you listen to Coleman, don't be distracted by the flurries of note he at time played. Instead, list to how beautifully he places all his notes - slow and fast.
One exercise you can do is practice your scales using the metronome on 2 and 4. Hear the swing you can play within those two clicks. Start with somewhere around 70bpm with click on 2 and 4.
Transcribe 1:12 through 1:26 of Coleman’s solo in the recording. Practicing that to perfection will be like calisthenics for your sense of time. Start slow. The goal is to learn the notes so well that you can work on your time/note placement.
Listen to your phrases starting at 1:16 of your recording. You had some really good melodic and rhythmic ideas going. If those few phrases were played with deliberate (what I’ve been calling consistent) time, I think you’d sound like the confident and melodic player you want to be.
How one plays jazz is such a personal choice, but there are a few universals to the jazz language. One of them is time. Time can be more on top of the beat (Coleman Hawkins) or behind the beat (Dexter Gordon). But no matter, it should be consistent. What you may hear as "tentative" in your playing is an inconsistent time feel. When you are sure of your phrasing and the 'story' you wish to tell, your playing will land more solidly and swingingly within the beat and rhythm section. This will make you feel and sound more confident and melodic, as you are trying to achieve.
Let's dive into this. Listen to your note placement. Sometimes your notes are on the beat, sometimes they are behind, and sometimes out of the time. But there’s no musical consistency. The result is a kind of nervous uncertainty, or tentativeness, as you put it.
Speaking of Coleman Hawkins, listen to his great solo on Pennies from Heaven on the live Konnsethuset album. Pay particular attention to how he plays the melody. Notice the time placement being ‘in the pocket.’ I’m not suggesting you try to sound like Coleman, just that you get a better sense of a consistent sense of time and swing. Without that consistency you can’t really swing. As you listen to Coleman, don't be distracted by the flurries of note he at time played. Instead, list to how beautifully he places all his notes - slow and fast.
One exercise you can do is practice your scales using the metronome on 2 and 4. Hear the swing you can play within those two clicks. Start with somewhere around 70bpm with click on 2 and 4.
Transcribe 1:12 through 1:26 of Coleman’s solo in the recording. Practicing that to perfection will be like calisthenics for your sense of time. Start slow. The goal is to learn the notes so well that you can work on your time/note placement.
Listen to your phrases starting at 1:16 of your recording. You had some really good melodic and rhythmic ideas going. If those few phrases were played with deliberate (what I’ve been calling consistent) time, I think you’d sound like the confident and melodic player you want to be.
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