Here is part 3 of my studies on Kurt Rosenwinkel and Jonathan Kreisberg. I extracted 8 concepts for improvisation from my transcriptions of these two great players and then composed the concepts into my own lines (as written 'soli') over newly composed harmonic progressions. The effect that this had on my playing was massive! I really struggled with playing the same ideas over and over and so this approach helped me think of new ways of playing my (rather stale!) vocabulary, rhythmically, harmonically and melodically. Please feel free to download the PDF of my studies (Transcription, … [Read more...]

Here is part 2 of my studies on Kurt Rosenwinkel and Jonathan Kreisberg. I extracted 8 concepts for improvisation from my transcriptions of these two great players and then composed the concepts into my own lines (as written 'soli') over newly composed harmonic progressions. The effect that this had on my playing was massive! I really struggled with playing the same ideas over and over and so this approach helped me think of new ways of playing my (rather stale!) vocabulary, rhythmically, harmonically and melodically. Please feel free to download the PDF of my studies (Transcription, … [Read more...]

While studying at Auckland University, I studied and transcribed both Kurt Rosenwinkel and Jonathan Kreisberg, two of today's heaviest modern jazz guitarists. In essence I extracted 8 concepts for improvisation from my transcriptions - not the actual notes these great musicians played in their solos, but the underlying ideas or principles - polyrhythmic groupings, chordal super imposition, patterns, displacement etc - and then composed the concepts into my own lines (as written 'soli') over newly composed harmonic progressions. The effect that this had on my playing was massive! I really … [Read more...]