Re: [Harp-L] Questing For a Basic Competency in Jazz

[Elizabeth Hess <TrackHarpL@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

And how is it, Richard, that I have seen your email "signature" tens  
if not hundreds of times on this list, and not purchased  *your*   
book, yet?

I will correct this, post haste, and meanwhile think about what kind  
of player I really want to be.

Thank you so much for your comments.  (And thank you to the many of  
you who have emailed me off-list:  I am working to catch up and reply  
to all.)

Elizabeth

P.S.  A long-ago art teacher of mine turned me on to your CDs, 'The  
Act of Being Free in One Act' and 'The Second Act of Free Being'.  She  
played them regularly in class.  Your music has been an inspiration to  
me since long before I decided to actually  *try*  to make music,  
myself.



On Feb 6, 2011, at 11:11 AM, Richard Hunter wrote:

> Date: February 6, 2011 8:54:19 AM EST
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Questing For a Basic Competency in Jazz
> Reply-To: Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> <snip>

> "But there's so much of it!" Yes, there certainly is.  And that, in  
> a nutshell, is why you can either dabble in jazz, or play jazz.  If  
> you play jazz, it's a lifelong study.  If you dabble, you pick up  
> pieces of the sound, the approach to improvisation, the thinking  
> behind the music, and so on, and you apply them to anything else you  
> play.  You know some tunes, not the full canon, and you play those  
> well.  And you sit down and listen when you don't know the tune, at  
> least when you're playing with pros.  Or you learn to read well  
> enough to use a fake book effectively, and you rely on the fake book  
> when you're jamming off-stage.
>
> There's nothing wrong with dabbling in jazz--I think everyone should  
> study jazz for at least a little while, and make a point of  
> transcribing some of the great solos and studying what's going on in  
> those solos. You learn a hell of a lot that way.  But if you want to  
> be a solid jazz player, you've got to make it your focus.
>
> My opinion, and I'm sure there are others on this forum.
>
> Regards, Richard Hunter
>
> author, "Jazz Harp"