Most individuals have heard one form of jazz improvisation exercises (or even improvisation of any other music category), or the other, without understanding what it was actually. So, what is the deal about it and why can’t just any person do it?

Most individuals have heard one form of jazz improvisation exercises (or even improvisation of any other music category), or the other, without understanding what it was actually. So, what is the deal about it and why can’t just any person do it?

What it actually means

Considered a jazz idiom uniquely, improvisation is one thing that could actually be found in several other kinds of music. Have you ever listened to a guitarist doing a lead riff of your favorite rock song? Do you feel he was actually playing something that was actually written down? Of course not, he was just improvising. What of the saxophone player of the early sixties band? Do you think that he had to memorize any predetermined line that was orchestrated by somebody else? Certainly not, he was just improvising too.

Real-life examples

Do you remember Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis? Both were great musicians and masters of great improvisation during the early rock music days. Yes, they actually sang melodies to their tunes while accompanying themselves on their pianos, but they also allowed it to rip and understood how to creatively express themselves using improvisation.

The case of jazz

Coming to jazz, even going back to the early twenties, improvisation comprised a varying set of accepted rules similar to the music it was being played in. From bebop, to swing, to rhythm and blues which are more progressive, improvisation did assume varying sounds and personas, but it was equally as original as is presently taught in the foremost jazz improvisation lessons.

Presently

Currently, some people might claim that every single thing has been done, so the player is merely stringing varying patterns and rhythms together in a manner that’s unique, and to a certain extent, this is a fact. But, if you study any among the foremost masters, whether deceased or living, you will discover that they all had or have a special way of playing that is unique to just them.

An excellent solo

What does an excellent solo comprise precisely? Well, it can sometimes be a mix of varying things, none among which will be unusual except for the way in which they will be knitted together. A solo could echo the melody partially. It could utilize varying keys to get the listener to a distant land, or could even use a matrix of melodic elements and syncopation to produce something that is totally different from the piece’s original melody. Some among the masters of the amazing art have even been known or heard to incorporate varying melodies from other different tunes, normally taken to be ‘standards’, into their amazing works, and then embellish them with a sprinkling of brief rests.

Great players

Some among the greatest jazz players ever started honing their trade playing ‘by the rules’, and created specifically provocative voices on their individual instruments. John Coltrane crosses the mind as one among this genre’s innovators, as he literally did not leave any musical stone unturned using his sax.

This is all that you need to know when it comes to what jazz improvisation exercises actually happens to be about. Experts always choose every single note quite carefully, to get the most ideal sound they desire.