The Standards Era − 2 April, 2002
Way back, when I was learning jazz, I decided the best way to learn melody and phrasing was to practice and memorize as many standards as I could. By the end of this period, I had over 200 tunes in memory, and I sometimes hear myself quoting them when I improvise -- even subconsciously.
Quoting is an accepted part of jazz, and to musicians who are in on it, it can even be a sort of inside joke. One of the first weird quotations I pulled off was the old series Star Trek theme while improvising over the tune "All of Me" (it works, you just have to be careful where you put the notes). I cracked up when I did it, but, unfortunately, no one else caught it.
At any rate, this was about the time when I started keeping elaborate records of my practices. On Saturday, April 27, 2002, according to my records I practiced for four hours and 5 minutes. Note this was not just a block of time; I logged the time I actually played, not the time I spent setting up, turning pages, adjusting equipment, getting coffee, etc. In terms of actual time, I practiced from 1:45 in the afternoon until 6 pm that night.
What did I do over all that time? Practice standards. First I played and memorized all the chords; then I played and memorized the melody; then I practiced improvisation, using a number of different strategies.
Here's my playlist from that day.
Quoting is an accepted part of jazz, and to musicians who are in on it, it can even be a sort of inside joke. One of the first weird quotations I pulled off was the old series Star Trek theme while improvising over the tune "All of Me" (it works, you just have to be careful where you put the notes). I cracked up when I did it, but, unfortunately, no one else caught it.
At any rate, this was about the time when I started keeping elaborate records of my practices. On Saturday, April 27, 2002, according to my records I practiced for four hours and 5 minutes. Note this was not just a block of time; I logged the time I actually played, not the time I spent setting up, turning pages, adjusting equipment, getting coffee, etc. In terms of actual time, I practiced from 1:45 in the afternoon until 6 pm that night.
What did I do over all that time? Practice standards. First I played and memorized all the chords; then I played and memorized the melody; then I practiced improvisation, using a number of different strategies.
Here's my playlist from that day.
- Jazz Blues in four keys: G, F, Bb, Eb.
- Minor Blues in Gm, Bbm, Ebm
- All of Me
- All the Things You Are
- Autumn Leaves
- Here's that Rainy Day
- Weaver of Dreams
- Take the 'A' Train
- Summertime
- Black & Blue
