I’ve been playing instruments since boyhood–and writing music from my earliest moments of awareness. Though I’ve played and enjoyed every kind of music from folk to metal to Celtic to classical, it’s jazz that has always been closest to my core. It speaks to me both as a performer and a composer, not only permitting the freedom of expression, but demanding it.

Unfortunately, though I was exposed to jazz in the context of swing bands in school, I didn’t discover the “secret” of improvisation or true jazz styling till only a few years ago. My formal musical studies (like those of most other musicians) demanded that I “play what’s written.” The Little Black Dots were master of the music, and woe unto ye who strays from the page! Improvisation was a mystery that appeared to come from some unteachable place in the soul of the master players I loved to hear but could not find a way to emulate.

The good news: I was wrong.

Jazz IS a teachable skill, and it can be learned by anybody who wants to make the effort. It isn’t magic, it isn’t mystery, and it isn’t just a “gift” from heaven.

But as I discovered, learning it is harder without a teacher, especially for those who have a traditional musical education. My own journey took many false starts as I bought dozens of “how to play jazz” books and tried to play what was in them. After all, that’s how I learned the horn or the piano or the guitar in previous years. It may work for learning a Mozart Sonata or a Joplin Rag, but it sure didn’t work for learning how to solo over Giant Steps. I would sit at my piano and wonder what to do to sound like Bill Evans, but buying The Bill Evans Song Book was no more “jazz-like” than playing Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. Nice? Maybe. But it didn’t sound like jazz (and I KNEW Bill didn’t play it like that!).

The clouds began to clear when I went to a jazz club and struck up a conversation with the pianist who was playing exactly the sound I wanted to reproduce. He agreed to give me some lessons, and that started me on a path to discovering not only the authentic way to understand and apply jazz principles, but opened the doors to many other jazz education resources. I still see myself as in the early stages of my own jazz development, but the path to getting there is no longer an mystery. As my old college piano teacher used to say at the end of each lesson, “You know what to do!” At last, I know what to DO to achieve my goals as a jazz performer, and there’s no reason I can’t spend the rest of my life improving.

But I’m not just a player, I’m as passionate about teaching as I am about learning. I’ve taught many subjects as a professional educator, trainer, and coach. As I entered into serious jazz studies, it became clear to me that there is a need to bring the principles of jazz education into the lives of others. I know that there are many jazz-loving musicians who would love to enter onto this journey–and can be helped with the right coaching. Though I teach “regular” music to students on several instruments, my deeper passion is to help musicians who can already play their instruments in a traditional way to learn the language of jazz improvisation. (All of the students in my studio get improvisational studies–but I don’t tell them it’s jazz. They just think it’s having fun.)

To my mind, this is more effective as a coaching relationship rather than what we think of as a teacher/student relationship. Jazz can’t be taught in the traditional “play this here page” method, but requires a more “guiding and shaping” approach. I’ll say more about my view of jazz education in other posts, but the focus of MyJazzCoach will be on the “how to play” of jazz music, leaving the “what to play” up to the student’s own creative spirit.

All authentic jazz study MUST include both individual practice and playing in combination with other jazz-minded musicians. That’s why musicians in my studio will have the opportunity to get together regularly in our safe and friendly combo sessions. Without this experience, jazz musicianship will never fully develop as jazz is primarily a conversational art form.

It will take me a while to get the blog up to speed with information, articles, and resources. But I welcome your questions and comments any time.

Yours in jazz,
Dave