POST # 229 Sheryl Bailey on Learning to play Jazz

The most essential quality in a jazz musician is one’s sense of groove – time. Listening to a lot of jazz is also important to get the “sound of jazz” in your ear, and also, your heart. If you treat jazz as a science experiment, it will always sound like that – falling in love with the music is the key to open the door. That being lesson one – jazz challenges one to understand harmony and how harmony relates to melody. I’m a bit fanatical about harmonic clarity – meaning, really making the changes clear in your melodic line. A great line is one that can stand on it’s own, and the harmony accompanying it is clearly understood. Bach and Bebop are based on the same principles. The Bach Inventions are simply melodic lines that generate harmony – that’s what the jazz line is all about. - Sheryl Bailey

( Sheryl Bailey....very coool ! Digging that Benson / Wes vibe :)- Ed )