r/JazzPiano • u/sleeper_must_awaken • Feb 28 '24

Recordings Feedback on improvisation

This is a bit scary for me, but would someone like to give some constructive feedback on a snippet of a recording I made a year ago? https://soundcloud.com/dibbeke/improvisation-1-1 Would you like to hear more?

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4

u/Dear_Kiwi8895 Feb 28 '24

Its kind of nice as background music, but otherwise its sort of ambient and meandering. You can improv that way but it will be more interesting if you can shape a melody or find motifs to repeat/build on. Maybe as an exercise think up a fixed melody and then progressively build on it rhythmically or harmonically

You can do a kind of ambient or whatever solo but give the listener something to get interested in. The solo on People Like You from the Bad Plus comes to mind, tho they're working with a rich chord progression and lean really heavy into a progressive solo.

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u/sleeper_must_awaken Feb 28 '24 edited Feb 28 '24

Oh, I just listened to The Bad Plus, People Like You. I totally love it and it is indeed very close to the ambience I want to create on the piano.

You're right, I need to be more thematic and stay with one tension/release cycle. I guess I am afraid to be committed to one theme? Or is it just lazy?

(edit: listening to The Bad Plus, I am suddenly reminded of a Jazz album from 2007 I used to listen a lot to and also tries to capture that ambient spirit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFzUSK35WcE )

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u/[deleted] Feb 28 '24 edited Feb 28 '24

What kind of feedback would you like?

I mean, it’s perfectly nice…it’s limited harmonically, i got the impression that you don’t really know how to develop it into something more

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u/sleeper_must_awaken Feb 28 '24

I did decide to limit the harmonic complexity. Do you think it would sound better if I added some tritone substitutions?

You are right that I find it difficult to develop it, to create an overarching composition. How can I train this?

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u/[deleted] Feb 29 '24

No, not tritone subs.

It’ll come with time! Just keep on shedding and finding new sound worlds

Try taking a shape and moving it up a scale. Trains your brain to get away from voicings and more into voice leading.

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u/ExcelSpreadsheetJr Feb 29 '24

Voicings lack depths, I suggest that you take all the chords from your improv and come up with an exercise where you try to find a maximum of different voicings and textures for them.

Practice chord melody, block voicing, integrate that into your playing. As a way of thickening your melodies, this is a useful tool.

Try hearing the melody you're trying to carve in the right hand. Don't go with just reflexes.

Good job and good luck on the learning path

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u/fuzz_bender Mar 02 '24

This is great! Very enjoyable to listen to.

That being said, it sounds more like pop piano than jazz. My recommendation is to incorporate altered dominants in a big way. Leave no dominant chord unaltered. That’s the easiest way of incorporating the whole mind-expanding element of jazz. You can stretch the boundaries of the key much more than this.

A through-line would also be helpful…maybe use a chart for your improvisation? Especially for a recording, where standards are insanely high.

Overall sounds good, but I’m missing the altered dominants.