"Improvisation for beginners", that was the titel of a Jazz-Workshop I made in Wesel-Germany about 16 years for musicians of all instruments. The first step was to learn the melody from Ellingtons C-Jam -Blues, just one note to play over the three akkords of a 12-bar-blues. There were a lot to learn: Why three times 4 bars? We've looked at the typical blues lyrics. Why the cadenza - form " I-I7, IV7, V7 and back to I" ? What notes shall we use? The minor Pentatonik sounds bluesy, but the third(Eb) and the flat seventh (Bb) are sounds strange. For the rhythm- group b, dr, git, p there was a lot to learn: how to make a swing-feel, timing, how to set the chords in notes ( b ) or in voicings? for the melody-section: How to play the melody-line and for all: how to improvise? The first typical solution were playing the notes from the pentatonic as a non-stop line and loose the contact to the other musicians and loose the form and lost completely.
What can we do to structure the whole session?
A very helpful prototyp for improvisation was the normal-everyday- "conversation" , a chain of call-response; call-response with little motives up and down. Another helpful prototyp makes repetions from the motivs on every 4 bars and play only the first 2 bars and let the rhythm-group play the 3,4 bars.
To hear how the masters make Blues-Improvisations and focus the listening every times on an other instrument (dr,b,git, p ,ts,cl and so on) makes clear the complexity of jazz-music and gives the learning a strong direction. To record the own solo and hear the difference to the masters makes the progress possible.
When I began to make music with a skiffle band (ukulele&guitar&vocal) and after that with clarinet in a Dixieband, there was only one possibility: the audience! No teacher could explain how to improvise, I took a pencil and transcibed solos from the record motiv by motiv only by ear. That gaves the ears good "muscels".
With modern styles in the beginning I had a problem with the clarinet...always I stuck in old time phrasing and sound. So I made a new start with the flute and heard only Herbie Man. Years I walked the two ways with the Altsax in the middle. But my teacher Wolfgang Meyer-Tormin ( a composer, clarinet-player and genial teacher ) in the conservatorium makes me hungry to study the backgrounds of all styles of music.
Rena Janßen war unsere Sängerin beim Septett " Swing Affair" und beim Trio "Tri Jazz" über viele Jahre. Das Foto zeigt sie in Action beim Altstadtfest 1995 in Dinslaken. Wir sind sehr dankbar, von vielen mitgeschnittenen Aufnahmen einige unten.
Ihr letzter Auftritt mit der Scala Band fand 2019 im Weseler Kulturhaus statt.
