Unit: Accompanying

Chapters:

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.

When one person in an ensemble is playing the melody or an improvised solo, the other members of the group are generally accompanying the soloist by playing supporting parts that are often improvised as well. This accompaniment provides the listener with a background for the solo, but it also gives the soloist a platform on which to base his improvisation.

The accompaniment can help the soloist in several ways. An arrangement may specify a chord progression or other structure for the soloist to use in improvisation, but that is an abstract concept. The accompanying musicians create a concrete realization of that arrangement. The background parts help to outline the form, letting the soloist hear the pulse and the chord changes. The accompaniment can provide a consistent groove that sets the tone for the solo. The accompanying musicians can also interact with soloist, developing ideas introduced by the soloist and offering new ideas for the soloist to develop. A good musicians tries to balance all these goals when improvising accompaniment.

In a conventional jazz combo, well-defined roles have been established for the various accompanying instruments. The following chapters describe these roles and how they relate to the goals listed above.

This unit is particularly important for rhythm section players, since they tend to spend more time comping than soloing. For horn players who rarely have to improvise accompaniment, it can still be beneficial to learn more about how the rhythm section does its job, as this understanding might enable the soloist to better communicate with the accompanists.

Chapters:

Tool Windows

Index

Scales

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