The Jazz Style: A Comprehensive Introduction

By Andrew Lilley

Jazz is essentially an aural tradition and is dependent on this method of learning for success in developing a true understanding of the style. It is impossible to become a jazz musician without familiarity of the players that have brought about its development. The only true and tested method of learning this music is to extract materials from recordings and begin to develop skill through emulation. There is no short cut. In jazz, a player is defined by his influences. If one cannot hear any of the great stylists of jazz in a player he cannot be considered to be a jazz musician. The Jazz Style is a masterfully condensed and comprehensive introduction to learning jazz. It introduces the principles of the music and most importantly gives proper direction on how skill is acquired in the discipline.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Africa
• Release date: Sep 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781482802481

Andrew Lilley

Originally graduating in Architectural studies, Andrew Lilley studied at Berklee College of Music under Donald Brown, Bruce Barth and Ray Santisi. He has a PHD from the University of Cape Town where he is currently an Associate Professor in the Jazz Studies Programme.

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Andrew Lilley.

Cover photography by Natasha Otero.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Toll Free 0800 990 914 (South Africa)

[phone] (outside South Africa)

www.partridgepublishing.com/africa

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

Part I

Introduction

I. The jazz tradition

II. The language of jazz

III. Developing style & individuality

IV. Context

Part 2

Introduction

V. Blues

VI. Jazz theoretical practice

VII. Application of scales

VIII. Reharmonization

IX. Jazz notation

X. Developing vocabulary

XI. Ear training

XII. Transcription and analysis

Appendix A

Appendix B

Glossary

Reference List

Notes

This book is dedicated to all my teachers, to the students I have taught throughout the years and to all the musicians with whom I have worked.

Andrew Lilley

Preface

To improvise freely within the jazz style is a skill requiring knowledge of a specific way of conceptualizing harmony, melody and rhythm. While it is impossible to cover every aspect of the practice of jazz, this book serves to introduce the principles of the music and provide direction.

Part 1 introduces the importance of tradition in jazz and the mechanisms required to assimilate the style. It addresses current trends and deficiencies in jazz education. Part 2 gives focus to the ingredients of the music, the blues sound and the inter-relationship of jazz theoretical practice, ear training, vocabulary, transcription and analysis. Two transcriptions with analysis are included as examples in Appendix A and B.

Authors note

Jazz has over time become a diluted and much misused term. New and emerging forms of improvisatory music that are labelled ‘jazz’ often have very weak roots if any in the tradition of jazz music. In addition, while the jazz libraries of our educational institutes expand exponentially with hundreds of personalized method books, the old learning systems that brought about the development of jazz music have faded into the shadows. This book sets out to reinstate the meaning of tradition in jazz – to re-establish what it means to be a jazz musician and how skill and style should properly be acquired in its discipline.

Andrew Lilley

Part I

Introduction

Style and individuality in jazz exist within a specific knowledge base comprising a vast amount of common melodic ground that has been carried forward as part of a rich tradition. This ‘consensus melodic style’ has evolved in jazz in general, and in bebop in particular.¹ The identity of jazz music is dependent on its tradition. Style is defined as a clearly identifiable originality of creative expression within the jazz tradition. The term refers both to an individual style and overall style such as swing or bebop.

Although difficult to achieve, the elements of a personal voice are simply defined as having an individual sound or touch on your instrument, articulating time in your own way, developing your own musical vocabulary from the tradition, and a recognizable manner of articulating that vocabulary.²

I. The jazz tradition

As with any tradition, true absorption, assimilation, and regeneration is only really available to those born into the tradition. This holds true for jazz music, in that the surroundings and culture associated with the music have defined the tradition. Influences