Here is a great break to have up your sleeve when you got the first solo. Wynton stays on Bb diatonic but it’s how he uses his approaches to certain chord tones that makes all the difference.
The first part of this line is targeted towards the F, the fifth of Bb at the end of the second measure after the double bar. He adds a half step approach back to the Bb after he gets to the C in the first measure.
Then begins to move up chromatically from the b3 all the way to the fifth. Once he gets to the fifth, he adds another half step approach to the 4th, the note Eb then jumps down to approach the 7th with two half steps, going from G to G# to A. I love this sound.
Then finally his the third and jumps to the fifth and walks up diatonically to the 9 and resolves back to the 1. Very elegantly and smooth.
Points for practicing this lick:
- Practice adding in approaches at a very slow tempo to get accustom to learning where to place them
- Can use chromatics all the way up and down for as long as you want to approach a certain target tone
- Swing your butt off!
Enjoy!
