Youre never more that a half step away Victor Wooton says that in this video, but the first time I heard that advice, It was from Mike Johnston, a trumpet player with the U.S U.S. Army Field Band, Washington, D.C. We used to play, When the Saints go Marching in as an encore. The Dixie ensemble would go out after a roll off and play. I had a few transcriptions under my fingers that I used to play as my solo and the next solo was Mike on trumpet, and every night he would play something fresh, inventive and totally in the pocket. One night, after having my ass smoked by the kid Mike was like 22 or something like that, I asked him, How do you always manage to play all the right notes? He looked at me and said something to me that has made one of the biggest difference in my non-classical playing. Tom, you and I play the same amount of wrong notes, I just resolve them faster and more directly. Major concept there! It was the thing that I spent years studying with Asher Zlotnic. In classical music, I had studied how major composers would handle dissonance, non chord tones, and resolution. After that I started listening to improvisation very differently. I started listening to how various soloists handle dissonance. I think the next time we did Saints, Mike made it really obvious to me how it he did it. That was over 25 years ago by now, and not being afraid of the Wrong note has made it possible for me to sit with Bobby B Betlejewski, without written music, and play at least one or two choruses on every tune. These days I look for the right wrong note, maybe Ill repeat it a few times then Ill resolve it. Victor says it here and he really is right. Thanks Mike, you influenced me a lot!
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 09:55:21 +0000
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