Hans Helewaut, a Belgian film composer and saxophonist, came to jazz late in life, but not too late to use Jamey Aebersold’s play-along CDs as a resource. “I still use them,” he says. “I’ve gotten better because of them, and still I do other things with them.”
However, he also noticed their limitations. They’re for horn players, but don’t offer as much to rhythm instruments; they’re no use at all for deep listening or transcribing; and worst of all, they’re just no fun.
“Those play-alongs are so, so lifeless,” Helewaut says. “So many of them are machine-generated. To me, music has to have
