Kevin Sun

Dizzy Gillespie ca. 1988 Previously I posted a transcription of Sonny Stitt's solo from the opening track of Sonny Side Up, "On the Sunny Side of the Street." Listening to this record when I was younger, I always paid more attention to the Sonnys' solos than to Dizzy's, so I thought I'd take some time to check out what Dizzy thought to play to differentiate himself from the two tenors. I've always thought that Dizzy's articulation of lines would be the most challenging aspect of transcribing him (particular faster lines in the upper register), but his lines sound very clearly at this moderate tempo. He places turns and embellishes in places that most saxophone players tend not to, and his phrasing is quite free and lays over the barline in ways that are worth checking out. Here's the solo: * * * * * It's been a pretty busy week: I've been working on a feature story for FM Magazine and had a couple rehearsals with an NEC st

  Photo: David Bartolomi Fred Hersch gave a trio masterclass today at the New England Conservatory, which was to be followed in the evening by a gig at Scullers Jazz Club featuring Drew Gress on bass and Eric McPherson on drums. I almost didn't go, but I decided it was my responsibility as a student to schlep over there after Intro to Old English (and also that it'd be in bad faith as a musician and self-proclaimed jazz fan). As it turns out, Fred's gig was unfortunately canceled as a result of what I understand to have been a small fire at the Doubletree Hotel where Scullers is located (a transformer problem, I've heard). Fortunately, Fred played a couple tunes at the end of the masterclass, but there was also plenty of wisdom imparted during the student playing-teacher responding section. Here are a few things that stuck out to me: Found Chords While discussing the importance of specificity in playing tunes so as to avoid being generic (this was after a rend

Fats Navarro and Charlie Rouse, c. 1946-8 (?) In the fall of 1958, the saxophone spot in Thelonious Monk's working quartet had become a highly coveted position; after Johnny Griffin and then Sonny Rollins left Monk's band, a number of saxophonists vied for the spot, as Robin D.G. Kelley writes: “Monk’s choice of Rouse surprised some, and disappointed many young saxophonists gunning for the slot. Nellie recalls fielding dozens of phone calls from players interested in working for her husband, including one call from a talented newcomer named Wayne Shorter.”  Rouse got the gig—fortunately, as many would argue, considering that Rouse's swing-bebop style was complementary to Monk's distinct, rhythmically and harmonically angular style. In 1959, Wayne ended up getting with Art Blakey and working with Freddie and Cedar Walton, among others; Wayne also had the chance to flex his writing chops, which would prepare him for his tenure with Miles. If Wayne h

Here's a guest post by trumpeter Josh Shpak on a few concepts he's developed to make the jam session experience more musically satisfying. Enjoy! First off, I’d like to thank my good friend Kevin for inviting me to present this guest blog post.  I’ll use this opportunity to convey my thoughts on something that has become a significant (and somewhat precarious) part of the life that I—and most people who call themselves jazz musicians—lead.  I’m talking about jam sessions. First off, let me introduce myself: my name is Josh Shpak and I’m a 19 year-old trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader entering my 2 nd year at Berklee College of Music. I recently finished a summer semester at Berklee; during that time, I played a good amount at Wally’s Jazz Café. Wally’s has really been the foundation of my opinions on jam sessions and I’ve found that one can find the whole spectrum of musicianship in this little Boston dive—from the beginning jazz players to s

Since arriving at school a few weeks ago, I've been playing on my friend's 1920s-era Conn tenor since mine has been in the shop for routine maintenance. Actually, I hadn't ever taken my horn into the shop—partially because once college started, things got too hectic to take it out for maintenance, and also because I didn't know who to trust. At Banff, Greg Tardy recommended a gentleman named Ken Beason, who does repairs in Asheville, North Carolina. Greg's a stickler for detail and also knows quite a bit about horn repair himself; having heard Greg's enormous sound (I maintain that he has the biggest sound of any tenor player I've ever heard live—Chris Potter, J.D. Allen, Joe Lovano) and also taking into consideration his experience on the road, I thought I'd take a chance.  I knew the horn had been set up by the great Emilio Lyons at one point, but it was more than a decade since that overhaul and it turns out my horn had suffered some serious dama

I'm currently about 350 pages into Robin D.G. Kelley's biography of Thelonious Monk , Thelonious Monk: Life and Times of an American Original . The research and level of detail is pretty incredible and there are plenty of fascinating anecdotes and historical minutiae that I'll likely come back to in the near future. Of these anecdotes, a description of Monk teaching an arranger how to play his chords properly is particularly interesting. I recall Vijay Iyer mentioning at Banff the precision with which Monk would voice his chords, how he would deliberately emphasize or vary the lengths of certain notes in chords he played so as to produce the desired balance of overtones. The point being made was that Monk was not a careless "mad genius"—instead, he was a thoughtful, deliberate player who didn't just work off of innate intuition or raw talent, but instead approached the piano with rigorous specificity and discipline.  Here's the passage: On "Thelon

Here's the first definition for "hustle" from Urban Dictionary :  Anythin you need to do to make money... be it sellin cars, drugs, ya body. If you makin money, you hustlin. When I first moved to New York at the beginning of July, I heard "hustle" used pretty often by friends and musicians I spent time with. I didn't really know what it meant, but after observing at jam sessions, hangouts, and shows how different people go about making a career for themselves, I think I start to get the idea: to get gigs and to stay afloat, you've got to hustle. It's a lot deeper than just getting gigs, though. Above all when you hustle, you're acting in your self-interest—a fundamental principle of capitalism and economics—by whichever means you feel comfortable with and are capable of acting. Hustling might involve self-promotion, e.g. , business cards, website, promo CDs, aggressive socialization, and what not; it might also mean that sometimes you do thing

I can finally say that I saw a lot of live music this summer. I might actually have seen more music in the span of 3 months than I had over the course of the past 5 years. No exaggeration.  Of course, my wallet is hurting a bit, but, all in all, I didn't do so badly: discounted student tickets, free shows (indoors and out), comp/press tickets gleaned from friends, the Jazz Gallery's SummerPass, and the generosity of unnamed doormen all helped in my pursuit of a musical education this past summer. Here's a complete list of what I saw, in chronological order: 7/2/12 - Ari Hoenig Quartet (Aaron Goldberg, Orlando le Fleming, Tivon Pennicott) at Smalls 7/3/12 - Jon Irabagon Trio (Gary Versace, EJ Strickland), Zinc Bar (Obed, Eric Lewis, Etienne Charles) 7/5/12 - Gilad Hekselman, Obed, and Matt Brewer at BND 7/6/12 - George Colligan, EJ Strickland, Jaleel Shaw, Boris Kozlov, Tom Guarna at Smalls 7/10/12 - David Binney, Dan Weiss, Jacob Sacks, Eivind Opsvik at 55 Bar 7/11/12

Check out this Joe Henderson transcription I did for the guys over at "So Killing, Man."  The site is "dedicated to the study of improvisational music through transcription and analysis," according to their banner, and there are plenty of great solos posted, including Ambrose's introduction to " Confessions to My Unborn Daughter. "  Since school is starting up this Tuesday, expect fewer posts between now and mid-December; I'll keep posting transcriptions periodically, though (probably once a week), and other miscellaneous content as it comes.