Listen to Midnight Dance Floor

What my trombone solo helps demonstrate and what I hope you'll get from it...

A trombone player wrote me, saying that even though he can dance, he finds improvising over Latin music more difficult for him than jazz.

He wants to play in salsa bands, and hearing that got me reminiscing about the good old days when I played salsa with Ray Barretto and others in NYC. So, I recorded about a minute of 'alto trombone heats up the dance floor' and listed a few things I did that make for a good Latin solo.

• 1

  Start with energy

  When you enter, command the room. Salsa is about energy. This is dance music and the dancers are listening to you for their groove. Don't disappoint!

• 2

  Emphasize rhythm

  Think of yourself as part percussion and part melodic player. Merge both aspects into your improvisational 'story'.

• 3

  Tell a story

  Your solo should have an arc, which means a beginning, an eventful middle and a memorable ending. Think of what makes for a good movie.

• 4

  Higher faster louder

  Especially if you are soloing above a really cooking band, salsa demands that you play with a fierce energy. Unlike most of jazz, this is one place where higher faster louder adds to the musical experience!

• 5

  Motivic repetition

  As with most music, playing a motif and then repeating it with a different rhythm or pitch is very much part of the salsa vocabulary.

• 6

  It's a dance

  This is worth repeating since the art of the solo is its groove. Don't solo as if this is jazz with its complicated lines and harmonies, with a cool laidback feel.

Here's my solo on a track called Caramba Carambita from my Grammy Nominated album called Caribbean Express. I recorded this in my 20s. Hey, it almost sounds like the same guy!