You must be able to hear if you want to play. He has a good solid foundation from another teacher and came to me to “learn Jazz.” I told him, if you want to learn Jazz, you must listen. Today I taught a lesson to a 12-year-old trumpeter. They are the musicians whom I began to really study 10 years ago. They are the creators of the language in which all our contemporary greats are fluent. These are the pioneers of our music and they must be revered and intently studied. It is meant to be learned as such – not from a book, not from a video, not from a chord/scale theory play-along track, but from real human beings. Either way, it is void of the essence of Jazz. Unfortunately, much of it that I have encountered is in disservice to the student. We live in an age in which there is seemingly unfettered access to Jazz pedagogy – videos with licks, patterns, play-alongs as well as various other chicanery. One of my objectives, as a teacher, is to impart the wisdom I have received as well as the mistakes I made along the way. I have the privilege of directing a Jazz Studies program for a magnet high school as well as direct a big band at a local community college. The recordings give us unique insights into the personalities behind the instruments and the ways in which those personalities interacted, for better or for worse, on the bandstand. They contain Jam sessions in which impromptu tunes were called and musicians were put on the spot and expected to succeed. They contain moments in which real live human beings came together to have conversations and negotiate agendas through a particular musical theme. The recordings contain the language, compositions, musicians and history of Jazz. One day, after a lesson, Gilbert said, “All the information you need is on the recordings.”Īlthough this explanation seems simplistic, Gilbert is right. In all of it, there is one thing that keeps coming back to the surface. I’ve been the beneficiary of the knowledge and experience they graciously pass on in honor of the Jazz tradition. I live in a town with musicians, including trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos, saxophonists Christopher Hollyday and Charles McPherson, as well as many lesser known but equally skilled players. In recent years, I’ve been fortunate to cross paths with many Jazz luminaries who have pointed me in the right direction. I played at Jazz, but was not really playing.
I attempted to learn tunes from books and transcribe from sources other than the original recordings. That was it.Įven at the collegiate level, there was no clear path. I had a few play-along books, and my high school Jazz ensemble. I had limited access to Jazz recordings, none of which I transcribed. There was no great Jazz pedagogue for me. Truth be told, I had no clear direction when I began my quest to be a Jazz improviser. I’m often reminded of my trumpet heroes who accomplished greatness at an early age and cannot help but feel behind.
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