Get to the solo already!

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I'm going through a phase where sometimes I can't listen to some of my favorite jazz records, a lot of bebop/hardbop, Blue Notes from the '50s & '60s, even some Ornette Coleman records. The problem is that I just can't bear to listen to the heads and themes of these tunes, they sound corny almost, and I find myself itching for the song to get to the 'good part' -- the solos. It's temporary, right?

― mcd (mcd), Thursday, 17 November 2005 01:12 (twenty years ago)

the crap bits make the great bits better.

― Gukbe (lokar), Thursday, 17 November 2005 01:15 (twenty years ago)

I think I've always felt this way about all jazz, except for Monk and Mingus. It's like watching the credits roll. Don't pay much attention to it, doesn't do much for me, but would seem wrong to just jump right into the action.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 17 November 2005 01:17 (twenty years ago)

that's true though. obv you need the template to be shown so you can compare it to the solos and see what they're doing with it.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 17 November 2005 01:18 (twenty years ago)

I've tended to like the 'songs' too, though, like "Salt Peanuts", "Giant Steps" or "Straight, No Chaser", not just springboards for solos but decent songs. Or like you say how the theme sets up the chorus structure that the soloist can work with. There's something of interest there, surely?

― mcd (mcd), Thursday, 17 November 2005 01:53 (twenty years ago)

I usually like the heads, and a better head definitely makes for better solos.

― Abbadabba Berman (Hurting), Thursday, 17 November 2005 01:59 (twenty years ago)

Can you give any examples of heads you think are crap?

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 17 November 2005 02:01 (twenty years ago)

Also a lot of the solos I like best make occasional reference back to the original melody - the melody can be a kind of anchor that keeps the solos from just being all the licks the player knows that go over certain chords.

― Abbadabba Berman (Hurting), Thursday, 17 November 2005 02:10 (twenty years ago)

this is weird, bcz as a jazz neophyte i totally liked heads whilst finding the notion of saxophone soloing kinda insufferable

less so, now, but still a little

― tom west (thomp), Thursday, 17 November 2005 02:14 (twenty years ago)

I've got an increasing soft spot for old New Orleans players for whom the solo IS the melody, with slightly more ornamentation. That shit takes some guts!

Then there's the Mehldau trio for ex., who seem to start a lot of their tunes in full-bore group improv mode, just alluding to or touching on the melody along the way

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 17 November 2005 02:15 (twenty years ago)

Not that I think they're crap, just that I feel like I'm painfully sitting through them just to get to the solos. I can give you some examples of stuff that I normally love that made me realize that I do this a lot lately (and start the thread). Today I was listening to Sam Rivers ("Downstairs Blues Upstairs"), Bobby Hutcherson ("Catta"), Roland Kirk ("For Bechet, Byas and Fats"), Dizzy Gillespie/Sonny Stitt/Sonny Rollins ("Sunny Side of the Street"). Great songs, all, but lately it's all "hurry up and get to the solos".

xpost

― mcd (mcd), Thursday, 17 November 2005 02:20 (twenty years ago)

You know maybe it's just because I know the tunes well enough though still have to actively listen to the solos. Maybe I just need some new records.

― mcd (mcd), Thursday, 17 November 2005 02:21 (twenty years ago)

I like melodies. And heads. And I like solos that are rich with their own melodies.

xpost

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 17 November 2005 02:21 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I guess I feel the same way when

a) it's obviously a blowing tune that I've heard a million times, like Billie's Bounce or Impressions or something, and

b) they're clearly treating it one, i.e. just going through it jam session style, with no special arrangement, to get to the solos.

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 17 November 2005 02:23 (twenty years ago)

Ha, but I get bored when ANYONE plays Impressions at all other than Trane. And I also often get bored with your "b" in general.

― Abbadabba Berman (Hurting), Thursday, 17 November 2005 02:28 (twenty years ago)

A jazz song that's written just as a vehicle for soloing is a bad jazz song.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 17 November 2005 02:29 (twenty years ago)

One of the things I love about Monk tunes is the way he makes the changes and the melody so inseparable, so that it seems like the soloists just can't help play something that suits the specific song very well.

― Abbadabba Berman (Hurting), Thursday, 17 November 2005 02:31 (twenty years ago)

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