Chapter: General

This is a preview of the educational program A Jazz Improvisation Almanac which is under development for the Outside Shore Music Online School. Feel free to browse this preview and learn what you can from it. For a more completed product, though, check out the original freely browsable jazz textbook, A Jazz Improvisation Primer.

All too often, horn players step up to the mic for the head and for their solo, and then disappear until it is time to take the head out. They seem to assume that only rhythm section players can or should be playing during other people's solos. There is no reason accompaniment should always be limited to piano, bass, and drums, however. Big band arrangers utilize the whole band to back up soloists, and many soloists find the extra drive provided by the full band exhilirating. Even in a small combo, it is possible to generate additional interest and variety by having horn players play background figures behind solos. In this chapter, I discuss some of the ways melody instruments can participate in the accompaniment.

Copyright 2000 Outside Shore Music
Authored by Marc Sabatella

Chapter: General