Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Tim Price Blogging For D'Addario Woodwinds- Shoe Shine Boy transcription- and a study of Lester Young.

Tim Price Blogging For D'Addario Woodwinds- Shoe Shine Boy transcription- and a study of Lester Young.




LESTER YOUNG !This weeks blog is a study on Lester Young.

You gotta have roots- there's no short cuts Andy McGhee used to tell me- AND HE WAS RIGHT.

I acquired my knowledge not just as a student, but from decades of practical experience on the road. Every night you go to work, you're going to school to a certain extent.


As I work on a tune/solo with students, I stop a lot to iron out trouble spots.
I pull apart a tune to show its different intricacies. By the time we finish, we have really wrung it dry.I want students to leave my studio understanding exactly everything they played and feeling good about that.

I'm very serious about it because that's how I learned.
What I learned in the classroom was one thing, what I learned on the bandstand was another. I bring this to my students and they are better for it.


Learn every Prez solo you can. This solo is found here-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HINtSlaauYI

Study his lines and shapes. In addition, keep in mind the tempo and phrasings- very modern to this day as well.

The solo is below- your goal is to get the solo in tempo and memorize it.
 NEXT- - On your own transcribe Lester Young solo on " Taxi War Dance"...it should be fun and pretty enlightening. Get started now!



I suggest this book on Lester Young-

I love Lester Young and had read of this book in another biography and have been enjoying every page. Pres was so important and it is great to get this compendium of so many interviews and views in one place. It's a great start to a young learner who needs to learn more about a classic legendary innovative saxophonist.
Till next week- Enjoy the blog on Lester Young and keep studying  his playing and style. Prez forever.

See you next week- Tim Price


1 comment:

  1. If the great Charlie Parker claim to have studied Lester Young to arrive at what he knew about jazz and improvisation, who shouldn't. He was the first pioneer to change how saxophone should be played and how it should sound for linear improvisation of his time against vertical conceptions of Coleman Hopkins and others. In appreciation Billie Holiday called him "president", meaning president of the new style. Charlie Parker was very quick to notice him and decided to study him so as to solve the problems he had concerning improvisation. Prez, played from the heart, not from his head. I absolutely believe in studying Lester Young's solos on jazz standards. Thanks.

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