Appointment in Ghana - Jackie McLean

Hello! Let's check out another all-star group including Jackie McLean on alto, Woody Shaw on trumpet, McCoy Tyner on piano, Cecil McBee on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums. The tune is McLean's hard bopper "Appointment in Ghana."

Check out the differences between the soloists: on this recording, McLean and Shaw tend to play shorter phrases (mostly 4 bars or less, a few longer than that) and to reuse little melodic bits within each phrase. Did you catch how Shaw starts his solo with the last little fragment of McLean's solo (at about 2:45-2:55 or so) and runs with that phrase for awhile?

McBee plays busy lines for most of his two choruses, but anchors each chorus by just playing the harmony in the last few bars each time, with longer note values for contrast. Tyner plays shorter phrases like McLean and Shaw before him - but listen to his trademark left-hand chording, which almost never stops, driving the harmony to new places and providing lots of energy upon which to build his melody lines.

Pro jazz players have learned enough different things to play during a solo that they can choose whatever is right for the current moment. For example, a soloist might choose to use many notes in a short span, or to use only a few notes in the same amount of time for a different effect. Or it could be to stay in a low register for a length of time, and to leave that register only after the end of the first section or chorus. A player might play "outside" only after deciding there's no more "inside" left to explore.

There are literally a gazillion choices to make! And those choices help determine your musical signature or personality. But when you're a young player who's still learning this music, how do you decide what to do?

John Moak is a tremendously gifted trombonist I know in the Portland OR area. We were on a jazz festival gig, and I asked him what advice he gives to young soloists trying to decide what to play during a solo. John asks them, "What's your plan?" In other words, what are you going to do during your solo? Are you going to play 2-bar phrases or 4-bar phrases? when you want to "peak" with the most intensity - how will you do that? Are you hip enough to the harmony of the tune that you'll know when to play certain notes that work really well - or maybe notes that will create dissonance because you want that dissonance? John thinks young players should at least have an idea of what to do in a specific solo before playing it.

I agree with John - it's absolutely OK to plan this sort of thing if you're young and still learning this music. As I've said earlier, it takes a fair amount of time to learn all the ropes, and the more listening and copying you do on a consistent basis, the quicker you'll get there.

For example, you might choose to use the blues scale for a blues solo, but use only 4-bar phrases that start on different notes each time. You might decide to play all your phrases in a specific rhythmic pattern. Anything you can think of that you can execute consistently and on purpose is fair game. Remember, one of the goals of soloing is for every note you play to be a note that you meant. Great solos don't happen by accident!