Viewer Mail: Genki Desu Ka?

Here's a question that just came in through my facebook site:


Hey George, I was just wondering, do you practice patterns as abstract...well, patterns, put through various scales, for example, or do you pick licks that are made of patterns and apply them as you would any lick?

I feel like I am working on patterns a lot and never getting any of them out on the spot...
Sincerely,
Alexis Deighton Harrison

Alexis, it's interesting that you should bring this up. This is a very common issue, and I've dealt with similar questions here on jazztruth. I am constantly trying to figure out ways to help my students with this problem. I was thinking about doing a post on this; your letter is giving me the extra motivation.
(BTW, Harrison is a fine guitarist from British Columbia, Canada.)

The analogy I always make is comparing jazz vocabulary(which is essentially what we are trying to develop) to spoken language. Let's say you want to learn a second language. You might initially start out with a Berlitz book with "common phrases". You memorize maybe a handful of those. You might not even understand the grammar in each sentence or phrase. You have short ideas that you are trying to memorize. Hopefully, you are able to associate that phrase with the corresponding translation in your principal language. If you imagine that there is a file in your brain's "computer" that holds the English phrase "I am fine", and you are trying to learn how to say the same thing in Japanese, you would learn the phrase, "Genki Desu." Then, you would "file" that phrase in the same folder that contains "I am fine." This is because when someone asks you "Genki Desu Ka?", you will need to have the same need as when someone asks you, "How are you doing?" And in order to communicate in a natural, spontaneous way, you need to "know"the phrase and exactly what context it is used in.

Let's say you are in Japan now, and you meet five different friends throughout the day. The first time someone asks you, "Genki desu ka?", the process begins slowly. You have to hear the sounds and translate them into, "How are you doing?"Then, you have to translate "I am fine" into "Genki desu". You might not remember it at all, and you will have to pull out your Berlitz book, find the page that says "Greetings and Salutations", and then find "Genki Desu." The process will happen faster each time you meet someone and have this conversation, so that hopefully, by the fifth person you meet, you will INSTINCTIVELY say the answer to the question in Japanese at the appropriate moment.
At that moment, you won't be fluent in Japanese; however, within that microcosm of "Genki desu ka?", you will be fluent enough to be understood for that moment.

You just have to repeat this process with many different phrases over the course of months or even years to be "conversationally fluent." If you are thinking about writing a novel in Japanese, this might take a good number of years before you are able to "think" in Japanese well enough to communicate on a level that is sophisticated enough for native speakers of Japanese to understand and accept as great writing.(Let's not even get to the Japanese written language! There are three writing systems: Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana. All I can say is good luck with that!)

I'm trying to make the point that learning jazz vocabulary is very similar in the following ways. One, you have to learn one phrase at a time. When you "learn" a phrase, there are these different levels of knowing it. You want to be able to play phrases and licks INSTINCTIVELY. This takes time. Just as in language, there is the learning, the analysis, the memorization, and the application. Only then will these musical ideas become part of you.

I think at the beginning stages, just like with languages, you have to force it a bit. You work with what you know, and use the known as often as possible to reinforce it. Say you have a chapter in a Japanese language book called "Getting Around Tokyo." At the end of the chapter, you might have a sample conversation where someone asks, "How do I get to the train station?" It's a sterile conversational environment. You force the words and phrases that you learned in the corresponding chapter to fit the situation. In jazz, let's say you are working with one bar ii-7 V7 patterns. Maybe at the end of that "chapter", you would work on John Coltrane's "Moment's Notice" and fit each pattern into the chord sequence. It's sterile and unmusical, but it teaches you a skill. Further down the road, when the skills are more developed, the skills become ART. This is the goal, to make all of the chord scales, licks, patterns, phrases, quotes, etc…..into a musical, artistic statement.

This takes much time and patience, and the only short cut is either to step up your practicing, or already be a genius! For example, when I used to travel to Spain, I really worked on speaking Spanish. I never took a class; I bought books, studied on my own, and then tried to speak in appropriate situations. I could have very basic conversations; I had friends with whom I only spoke Spanish. (Don't ask me to speak Spanish now; my skills have drifted away…) Now, should I have expected in one year's time to be able to write poetry in Spanish on the level of Pablo Neruda? No way! In this sense, we need to have perspective. Don't expect to be Coltrane tomorrow.
However, I hope this will give you insight into what you need to do. I'm including an extremely basic pattern exercise that I left for my Bebop ensemble at Portland State University. (Let's hope they looked at it.) I made it so each phrase should be analyzed, learned in all keys, and then be "plugged in" to random chord sequences. I "named" each phrase; hopefully the students will have a name association with each phrase so that when they see "Up 9" or "Down Scale", they will recall the pattern and be able to apply it. Again, this is FORCING the licks. But that is the first step. Eventually, these things become INSTINCT.

Below are the patterns and then a sample test. Let me know if you think I answered the question. And I'd love to get feedback or other thoughts on this issue.

Paint America Blue

4 more years of sanity

I realize that jazztruth is by and large a blog about music. While my political leanings seep in from time to time, I try to keep the focus on jazz and jazz related topics. However, if you have been following our Western Civilization, you might have heard that we had a huge election this past Tuesday night. First of all, not only did President Barack Obama get re-elected by a good portion of electoral votes(popular vote was close), but the Senate picked up a couple of Democrats; the House of Representatives, while still a Republican majority(some of which is due to redistricting.....booo.....), also picked up some Democrats. Secondly, many major league progressive ballot initiatives passed: same sex marriage in Maryland and Maine, and  legal marijuana in Washington and Colorado. It's good to know that there are still progressives out there! Maybe this is a real turning point for the U.S.A.

I voted for Obama enthusiastically in 2008, and while I believe that in many ways he did not live up to the outrageous expectations that his supports put upon him, I believe that he easily deserved a second term. My logic is simple: Bush REALLY messed things up over the course of 8 years. It might take another 8 or MORE to fix Bush's mess. Reversing course now would be a disaster. Thank goodness Obama won.

I have never understood folks who voted for Obama in 2008 and now say because Obama didn't "fix the economy" fast enough, they voted for Romney. Romney is the exact opposite of Obama in terms of economic policy; the little that we knew about Romney's tax proposals featured(what a surprise!) tax cuts for the rich and not much else! (Supply side economic policy has already wreaked enough havoc on our country. This even dates back to the Reagan years. The trickle down philosophy is extremely tired. And it's been proven that it doesn't benefit the middle class.)

Obama, or Romney?

My point is that voting for Romney just because he's different is pure insanity. This is akin to the following analogy: let's suppose that you are trying to get healthy and lose weight. You drank fresh juice, cut your carbs, stopped drinking alcohol, cut out desserts, and exercised 4 to 6 times a week for 2 months. And let's say your goal was to lose 20 pounds. OK, so you only lost 10 pounds. You lost some weight and you feel a little better. But objectively, you didn't meet your goal; you were 10 pounds short. You failed to lose weight fast enough. Would you now try the opposite approach? Would you eat at McDonald's 4 times a day, drink two six packs of Guinness every night and sit on the couch all day eating bon-bons and watching the Food Network? Why not start smoking crack just to really go all the way? This is what this sort of logic looks like to me. Heck, why not just call up Bush and tell him he can have his old job back? (Where is that guy, by the way? I betcha it's been four years of Miller Time, wherever he is.....)

"You're Fired!"

Not only am I happy with Obama, who happens to be African American, but more importantly, happens to be somebody who has an inspiring back story which gives him a perspective on how the 99 percent in America live. Mitt Romney is , again, the opposite of this. Romney was born wealthy and not only lives a life of incredible privilege, but made a fortune by preying on struggling businesses, saddling them with debt, and then getting a consulting fee for suggesting that these companies help the investors by increasing layoffs. I can't imagine how someone like this can sleep at night. He's the poster boy for obscene wealth and privilege. Romney has been in a bubble his entire life and it would only make sense that he would have no interest in actually helping the poor and middle class. He has no relationship with that sort of reality. It's sad that not only would his policies really just help his friends in the 1%, but the fact that he and many Republicans in the campaign seemed to demonize the middle class and poor is even more sad. Romney and friends basically kicked us while are down. And this is one of the things among many that cost them the election.

Now I want to make it clear that I don't hate conservatives. I am disgusted with many politicians and corporate swine who put the general welfare far below obscene profits. But if you are middle class and you tend to vote Republican, I don't hate you. I have more sympathy for you than anything. We can debate as long as we speak about actual FACTS and that you don't resort to name calling. (I don't like how progressives have been widely accused of "hating America" and "blaming America first" and all of this nonsense. That's the name calling.) In terms of facts, the problem I have with what passes for much of the conservative thought in this country is that it not about differences of opinion. The problem is that much of the so-called argument is pure fantasy: global warming doesn't exist, evolution is a myth, this is a Christian nation, Saddam Hussein is linked to 9-11, deregulation and the free market is the best way to make our nation great, we don't want single payer healthcare, Bush was a great President, Obama failed, Obama is a muslim-nazi-socialist-antichrist-atheist-gay-coke dealing-racist-apologizing for America-African.....so on, etc.....This is like trying to argue about whether dogs can speak English. (OK, pal..... you think your German Shepherd can speak English? Fine, I'm going to walk over to THIS side of the room, where the air is a little less INSANE......)

What does the blue tilt mean for jazz? Well, for starters, the more people who are voting for a black president makes me think that the country is becoming more diverse and less racist. And that means that jazz, which is at heart Black Music, can find more acceptance. Obviously, there is a long way to go, especially amongst White America. Yes, there are no longer separate drinking fountains and lynchings; however, the appearance of a black president brought a lot of dormant racism to the surface. When white people say they "want their country back", I don't ASSUME, but I can't help but wonder if it implies wanting to "take it back" for white folks. (If anybody should want their country back, it's the Native Americans, but hey, that's another long dicussion....) And if you want to get inside the mind of the typical "Romney voter", watch this video if you can stand it.....

mmmmmm, I'm voting for Romney.....

After watching this, my first thought was " Gosh, I'm nauseous...". After drinking a case of Pepto- Bismol, I thought, "these are definitely not jazz fans." And this is why there is not much jazz touring in the U.S. anymore. A still very large portion of the nation is made up of people similar to the folks in the video. These are people who, with all due respect to their humanity, just don't seem to be all there. I'll refrain from calling them stupid. I think they are somewhat close minded, misinformed, unintellectual, and maybe weak-minded from having a diet that is 80 percent made up of Slim Jims, Doritos, and Hostess Fruit Pies(mmmmm, 450 calorie Hostess Fruit Pies....). And let's face it, these people probably aren't waiting for the latest Robert Glasper CD to drop, let alone the the latest Kurt Rosenwinkle CD.....

However, on Tuesday night, as I watched the swing states turning blue and breathed a sigh of relief, I thought that this might be a glimmer of hope for a more obscure reason then dodging the Romney bullet. I thought all along that the right wing media was going to fix it for the GOP; that the propaganda of Fox, CNN, and all the drive time conservative radio was going to turn everyone against Obama. And it didn't. At least, it didn't turn everyone against him. I wonder if maybe it's because, thanks to the rise of laptops, wifi, and tablets, most people don't just turn on Fox News and get all their info from one source. Maybe they surf around and actually try to get their information from alternative sources. Say what you want about computers, but there's no denying that the internet is an interactive medium. Television doesn't come close, even if you have 500 channels.

My theory is this: if minds are being opened in terms of politics, they can be opened in terms of music. Perhaps the next generation won't just follow the crowd; they'll find their own way by exposure to many multitudes of ideas, and form their own opinions and taste based in fact and truth, not on hype and marketing. Maybe they'll eventually make our system more than a two party political system. Maybe young Americans will become curious about music other than Taylor Swift. After Tuesday, I'm more optimistic than ever.

I think the mainstream media, especially Fox,  thought that it would have a bigger impact on this election. Maybe this is proof that revolution truly WILL NOT BE TELEVISED.......

Scott McLemore: Remote Location

Scott McLemore

Drummer Scott McLemore, originally from the great state of Virginia, lived in Brooklyn for many years before moving to Reykjavik, Iceland with his wife, pianist Sunna Gunnlaugs. I can only imagine that Reykjavik is a completely different lifestyle compared to the mean streets of Park Slope, Brooklyn. (If you know Park Slope, it's more mean in the sense of you can't afford to walk down 7th Avenue, much less live on 7th Avenue...)But moving out of the center of the jazz world has not diminished McLemore's musical reflexes or ambitions. His latest release, "Remote Location", combines his American fire with a perhaps more Scandinavian sensibility. It's a very satisfying album; the music here is inventive and inviting.

As a drummer, I've always liked McLemore's balance; he has very precise time and very careful

interpretation. Everything he plays is very clear, and his tone from the kit is marvelously controlled. He can bash, if it's needed, but if it isn't, he won't. McLemore is an extremely musical drummer, and knowing that would lead us to believe that his compositions would be musical and insightful as well. All the compositions on "Remote Location" are his, and they are all not only great works of art, they are great vehicles for improvisation. The opening title track has a kind of secret agent spy movie suspenseful quality to it, with a gently angular melody over an insistent jagged rhythm, which McLemore fills around with his snares turned off. Óskar Guðjónsson, a tenor saxophonist with a light sound reminiscent of Stan Getz, solos quite beautifully here; his playing is very melodic, rather devoid of the tenor "cliches"(Trane licks, Brecker licks or Steve Grossman licks....which, don't get me wrong I love! Just not all the time.....). Róbert Þórhallsson on electric bass is impressive right away. It's cool that electric bass can enhance an essentially acoustic jazz group and not immediately push it into a "fusion" zone that maybe isn't implied by the music.

Óskar Guðjónsson

"Secrets of the Earth" is soft, rather touchy feel-y, and harmonically rich. Sunna Gunnlaugs makes a gentle piano statement, as does Guðjónsson and guitarist Andrés Thor, whose solo is short but climactic. "Citizen Sitting Zen" is even more mellow, with McLemore making great use of mallets. The melody here begins with almost symphonic stark unison lines, and then relaxes into something less weighty with the addition of some harmonic awareness. (You might want to sit in the lotus position for this one....)

Sunna Gunnlaugs

It's great to hear an album where all of the music has consistency, and yet each composition is unique in it's own way. "Una Danza en la Cocina" is a nice piano and drums interlude (I believe McLemore is using either heavy brushes or , no, these "hot rod" bundles of sticks. They have a sound which is somewhere in between sticks and brushes.). This leads us into "Charlottesville", a straight eighth ballad which I want to say is something maybe Monk would have written if he live in Iceland. By that, I mean it has more dominant 7ths and whole tone scale implications than you might expect from a piece like this. "Dunegrass" is almost like three tunes in one. It begins with an almost country-western feel to it. Gunnlaugs makes a nice bluesy statement here, and showcases here warm touch and controlled energy. Ah, but wait, all of a sudden, the meter goes from 6 to 7, and harmonically ends up more lydian than blues. And then the tempo picks way up and the piece ends dramatically with some weird guitar effects thrown in for good measure.

When McLemore and Gunnlaugs were in Portland and played at Ivories, I enjoyed them immensely; they were perhaps in the top three concerts I've hears at Ivories in the past year. ( It was mostly music of Gunnlaugs, but McLemore really impressed me with his dynamics and subdued intensity.)How often will they be in Portland? Obviously, they are a world away in Iceland, so it will probably be a good while before then return to the Pacific Northwest. However, you can easily download "Remote Location" and immediately get a taste of McLemore's highly creative and listenable music.

Sarah Elizabeth Charles:"Red"

Sarah Elizabeth Charles

I'm extremely encouraged by many of the young musicians and vocalists coming on to the scene. The impact of widespread jazz education manifests itself in the fact that there are huge quantities of skilled musicians graduating and looking for work. In this over-saturated environment, mere skill is not nearly enough; today's musician must set themselves apart from the crowd. It's the x-factor which is probably the hardest thing to "teach" in music school. How do you teach uniqueness? (The amazing thing is that even this is becoming the norm; I hear so much music which is not only extremely well crafted and showing of virtuosity but is also quite original. Woe to any musician who thinks their first album should be a collection of jam session tunes.....unless they are really smoking them like nobody's smoked them before....)

Sarah Elizabeth Charles is one of these studied modern musicians who is going beyond the

curriculum. Her debut CD, "Red"(Truth Revolution Records) is pleasantly provocative. It is an acoustic jazz vocal recording, however, it's so much more. Charles has a crystal clear voice and impeccable phrasing. It's very accessible, however, her musical sensibilities are quite wild and free. Secondly, and this might be what marks the significance of this recording(as well as the trend among the younger vocalists I hear nowadays)is that Charles is not afraid of her band! Let them play! And she does. It's a musical collaboration, rather than "Hey, guys, this is MY freaking gig!" The team effort makes for better music. Pianist/keyboardist Jesse Elder, bassist Burniss Earl Travis, and drummer John Davis are playing on this CD like it's a gig and not like it's a singer's gig. (Not to say that young musicians shouldn't know how to make a singer's gig. That's an important art in itself. Hopefully not a lost art. )

pianist Jesse Elder

The title track, "Red," opens organically with a mellow electric bass solo, which blends into a wash of Rhodes, cymbals, and reverb-y vocal. The use of overdubs and stereo panning gives it an ethereal, trippy effect. It's essentially an open vamp, but the hurried activity of Davis' sends the piece to a peak. After it dies down a bit into a "In A Silent Way" vibe, there is overdubbed excerpts from studio conversation, which have an even more trippy, "I Am The Walrus" kind of vibe. (Maybe don't listen to that part while driving...ha ha.)

There's a really radical 7/8 meter treatment of Jobim's "How Insensitive"; it's almost unrecognizable,which is perfectly fine by me. (You could modify the old joke: How many jazz singers does it take to sing "How Insensitive?" Apparently, ALL of them.) We've heard this song done as a light

Burniss Earl Travis

bossa enough. Let's hear Charles' version. The enthusiasm of the rhythm section makes this one cook.

As I listened to the G7 funky original "Perspective", I thought about how much I liked the sound of this recording: this was recorded at the well known Systems Two, located in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. It's a great room and a longtime favorite for jazz musicians. But the sound is a bit dryer than what I tend to expect from Systems Two.( I actually am not a huge fan of excessive reverb.) Kudos to mixing engineer Dave Darlington for doing justice to this project.

John Davis

"Red" is a nice mix of material. Four of the tunes are from Charles' pen. Besides the aforementioned Jobim tune, there is a hip version of a Haitian folk song called Wongolo Wale. Again, great use of vocal overdubs, and keyboardist Elder takes a nice ride on the Fender Rhodes. "Mesi Bondye" is another Haitian song(The phrase means "Thank You, God"). This has a nice jazz interpretation of Afro-Caribbean rhythm, and is a dramatic way to end the CD. Seven tunes seems a little short for an album these days; however, it's quality over quantity for Charles' first project. I would have liked to hear Charles improvise more; I know she can since I heard her scatting the first time I heard her in Bern, Switzerland. Well, maybe she didn't think it was appropriate for this project. All that said, "Red" is a great debut and you should run through the internet to buy this CD right away! I eagerly anticipate more great music in the future from Sarah Elizabeth Charles.
http://sarahelizabethcharles.com/

Masterclasses from "The Shed", the first annual PSU Jazz Camp

Back in July, I posted about a brand new happening at Portland State University: "The Shed," a 3 day intensive jazz camp held at Portland State University. It was quite a success; we are looking to expand it to 4 days next summer. Each day consisted of masterclasses, small group coaching, and jam sessions. I thought the masterclass were very interesting because each one reflected the unique personalities of the respective instructors. These classes have been posted on youtube, and I'm posting them here; if you have the time, take a look and see if you learn anything. (I'm certainly learning a lot by watching myself!) Masterclasses can go many different ways; they can be mostly talking, mostly playing, half playing and half talking. They can be completely scripted or off the cuff. They can involve the students in a number of different ways. I think we showed a broad spectrum of possibilities. I'm looking forward to next years' "Shed!" Enjoy!

A Really Crappy Story

When you are out on the road, your internal clock can get pretty screwed up; between the jet lag, lack of sleep, strange food, and constant traveling, you might find yourself in some very uncomfortable situations. The more I travel, the more I try to anticipate these kinds of problems before they happen. But you never know: sometimes there are events which you can't foresee. When they occur, you might be forced to improvise. And by improvise, I don't mean bebop licks.

I was on a 10 day tour of Italy with the great bassist Buster Williams. The quartet included Stefon Harris on vibes and E.J. Strickland on drums. We were doing the typical one nighters, with a fair amount of driving and flying. One day in the middle of the tour, we had a very early lobby call, and basically spent all day in the airport trying to get to Milan. Once we arrived in Milan, there was a drive to the hotel, drive to soundcheck, and then drive to the restaurant. Having barely eaten all day, we were pleased to arrive at an unlimited pasta and seafood buffet restaurant. If you've ever been to Italy, it's pretty hard not to overeat. I was a little concerned about overdoing it on the shellfish, but I was starving, so I didn't think about it too much. Add wine and coffee and dessert, of course. 

The next thing I knew, we were back in the car, and then back in the dressing room, which was right next to the stage. And then, since we were running late, and the auditorium was packed, the promoter said, "OK, time to start!" So now, without any time to think, we were on stage, playing the first tune of our 90 minute set.

Maybe three or four minutes into the song, I began to notice that certain feeling that one might have after eating a huge meal after not eating all day. I was feeling the urgent need to use the facilities. Let's put it this way: although the tune we were playing, "Song For Sensei", is in 6/4, my internal song was in a "2" feel. As in Number 2. Do I have to spell it out for you?

Around minute 5, regardless of the discomfort which had now started to distract me from Stefon Harris' vibraphone wizardry, I had convinced myself that I could muscle out another 85 minutes on the stage. Around minute 7, now into my solo, I noticed that I was starting to sweat profusely. It was not a particularly warm room. It was the realization that  I needed to run, not walk, to a bathroom. The problem was, there was no bathroom near the stage or the dressing room; I would have to somehow leave the stage, go through the dressing room, go all the way outside the venue, out into the front, use the bathroom,and then go all the way back. The logistics of that, plus trying to concentrate on the music, kept me in limbo for the reminder of my solo. (The other issue was that we had just begin the concert; leaving the stage at this point in the program didn't seem to make any musical sense. I was racking my brain trying to think of something.)

At the 9 minute mark, I made an executive decision: either leave the stage and take care of the business at hand or have an even MORE embarrassing situation on my hands. And my trousers. 

I endured maybe a few more minutes. The tune ended. I lept from the piano. I whispered to Mr. Williams: "Play "Concierto De Arunjuez."(Buster would always do a solo version of this piece on our concerts. Usually, this would occur closer to the end of the show, but I had decided to change the program…) Williams nodded, and to my surprise, launched into his solo feature without any concern.

I mad a mad dash off the stage, out through the dressing room, around the venue, into the front, into the restroom. As I sat on the porcelain throne, I realized that I never could have made it through that concert. I wondered if I had actually gotten some kind of food poisoning. I don't know, shellfish at a buffet? It's possible. 

Even though I was still feeling some intestinal discomfort, I reached a point where I figured I could make my way back to the stage. I made it just as Williams was finishing his solo interlude. The rest of the concert went as scheduled, and we took our bows and made our way back into the dressing room.

I slowly confessed. "Buster, sorry to do that, but thanks for covering for me with "Concierto De Arunjuez."

Williams was surprised. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I asked you to play solo bass….. because I had to run to the bathroom!"

The great Buster Williams

Williams barely batted an eye. "Really? I just thought that you were in the mood to hear me play some solo bass!"