Bill Evans – Beautiful Love, Take 2 (From the album “Explorations”) [LOTW #61]
We begin the Bill Evans series this week! Bill was such a huge influence on jazz pianists all over. His creativity and endless drive to push the boundaries have inspired so many. He was truly one of the greatest of all time. I chose this great quarter note triplet line to start off with because […]
Wynton Kelly – Kelly Blue (Pt. 2, From the album “Kelly Blue”) [LOTW #60]
This is a great 2-5-1 lick over the last measures in a blues. A few great things Wynton Kelly does in this one are his 16th trill, grace, notes and approaches, as always. In the first measure he chooses to use B natural over the C-7 chord. This note works because it is simply a […]
Wynton Kelly – On Green Dolphin Street (Pt. 2, From the album “Kelly Blue”) [LOTW #59]
Here is the second half of the Wynton Kelly line from #58. After coming from an Eb, he resolves down into the fifth of the G7 and walks down to the third and starts a two beat triplet pattern. After doing the Wynton Kelly series, I’m sure you can see he loves using triplet patterns. […]
Wynton Kelly, – On Green Dolphin Street (Pt. 1, From the album “Kelly Blue”) [LOTW #58]
There are so many learning components in this line by Wynton Kelly, I had to make it two parts. In this first part, Wynton starts off the line on the up beat of 2 which is a great thing to do. Starting lines on upbeats really intensifies the swing feel. He goes down a half […]
Wynton Kelly – Softly As In A Morning Sunrise (From the album “Soul Station”) [LOTW #57]
Here is some nice easy blues language from Wynton Kelly. All of this is blues scale but notice how he uses some grace note slides to spice things up along with a triplet note phrase. Always look for these characteristics to add flavor to your solo’s. Points for practicing this lick: Play with grace note […]
Wynton Kelly – This I Dig Of You (From the album “Soul Station”) [LOTW #56]
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 […]
Wynton Kelly – Kelly Blue (Pt. 1, From the album “Kelly Blue”) [LOTW #55]
Another great one by Wynton Kelly. I just can’t get enough of him. Besides his melodic content, his swing and rhythmic feel is top notch. If there is any groove for you to mimic with your eighth notes, it is definitely Wynton Kelly’s. This line is a two measure approach into the 2 chord of […]
Wynton Kelly – Freddie Freeloader (From the album “Kind Of Blue”) [LOTW #54]
Very famous lick here by Wynton Kelly, coming off the track “Freddie Freeloader”, recorded on the album Kind Of Blue. The simplicity of this line is what really makes it great. He isn’t doing anything fancy here, just focusing on swingin’ his butt off! In the first measure he starts on the fifth of the […]
Blues Series – Part 8 (Last 4 Measures) [LOTW #53]
All blues scale in this one. The rhythms are the tricky part here. Lots of hand lifts into trills and fast approaches. Work on the line without the trills first. Then once you have got the hang of it, work on each trill individually. Points for practicing this lick: Blues scale can be fun to […]
Blues Series – Part 7 [LOTW #52]
This is a fun little two bar line that just uses the major 6th blues scale and some grace note slides. Pay attention to how the slides effect the texture of the blues scale. They add tons of flavor to the regularly mundane blues scale that everyone gets sick of. This is how we begin […]
