I just finished transcribing another Hank Mobley solo. This time it was, “This I Dig Of You”, from “Soul Station”. I’m going to play the solo along with the recording for my Tech & Rep at the end of the semester. Originally, I agreed with my bass teacher, Eric, that playing the first three choruses would be enough for the transcription side of the exam. I now feel that I should play the entire solo. It will be a big challenge for me, and will stretch my memory, technique and self-control. I am yet to inform Eric of this decision, however, I’m confident that he would be more than happy to let me play on!
Initially, I thought it was going to take me a long time to solidify the additional two choruses of the Mobley solo. However, upon analysis, I realised that he was playing a lot of the same kinds of lines. Some of the lines he repeated note for note, several times throughout the solo, others, where slightly modified, but gave off the same vibe. Once I realised this, it then became much easier to not only read the transcription, but also to memorise the rest of it. This is something that I’ve just recently discovered. A lot of jazz players have their own “licks”, or “riffs” that they play frequently during solos. Hank Mobley certainly has many-a-lick! This becomes more apparent when you cross-analyse transcriptions. Mobley frequently used the same licks in a number of different solos, as both leader and sideman; and across albums. Incidentally, a lot of the jazz students at the School of Music have a number of licks under their figurative belt; and developing a library of bebop-styled licks is (generally) encouraged by the staff at the faculty. When I think about the concept of developing jazz licks, I begin to think of the licks that I myself have developed over the months and years. Some of them came naturally, as a line that my fingers always seem to deviate to. Others, were written out, often times away from the instrument. Generally, when I write out licks, it’s for analytical purposes. However, if I feel that the lick is particularly strong against the chord changes, I may decide to memorise it, and move it through the cycle of fourths, which is what the saxophone teacher at the faculty highly recommends. Eric has a different approach to soloing. As far as I can tell, he doesn’t believe that memorising a bunch of licks is a good way to solo. Rather, he believes that the soloist should be coming up with these sorts of ideas on the bandstand. I agree, and I’m sure that every other teacher at the faculty will also. However, I’ve found that playing licks is, a lot of the time, necessary if you want to get through the changes.
What I mean is this: when one begins to learn an instrument, they don’t want to jump straight to the technical stuff (scales, key signatures etc). That individual chose to take up the instrument for a specific reason. Because they either saw someone playing it, and thought it was cool; or they heard someone on a record, and thought it was cool! Regardless, they wanted to be able to play cool stuff like they originally saw or heard. And a lot of the time, it’s simply a lick. And as this newly found musician begins to play more and more, he/she will develop his/her own sound, and common licks, riffs or “ideas” will naturally sprout from that learning experience. The reason this is important, is that when it comes to playing jazz, or any form of music for that matter, there needs to be some form of “familiarity” when playing a given music. I believe that’s where these licks, or ideas come in. No two musicians are alike. They may sound similar, but there is something in ever musician that distinguishes them from the rest of the pack, and that is their playing “style”. To me, an individuals playing style can only develop from… well, playing a lot! And when you play with other musicians, you begin to realise that certain people have their own style and sound. Furthermore, when playing in a jazz setting, the players are playing ideas that they’ve been playing ever since they started, that is, they tend to gravitate towards the style of playing that they know, which was originally stimulated by licks! Finally, when playing in a jazz setting (which is my preferred setting), it’s always good to have a few licks that you can fall back on when you’re struggling to think of creative soloist ideas.
I hope that long rant of connecting words made some sense, and I hope I was able to portray what I was thinking, without utterly confusing you all! If you have any questions, or if you found this post interesting, leave a comment. I would love to know what you think.
Talk to you soon,
Jared
