There are very few living Jazz musicians that have not spent countless hours working on improvising over Rhythm Changes. There’s a often retold story that Charlie Parker learned blues and rhythm changes in every key. Whether or not this is true, I’ve taken it to heart and have worked on doing this over the years. That said, we mostly play Rhythm Changes in concert Bb so that is the key I tend to practice the most.
The etude below I wrote for KU Jazz studies major Andrea Edwards who is an excellent Bari Sax player. This etude is mostly 8th notes and outlines some common substitutions. The PDF clearly outlines which chords I was composing from. I’ve found this method for learning to hear and develop 8th note ideas over harder progressions to be very effective.
Even if you never play the actual etude on a gig you learn to hear the changes, the substitutions and the flow of playing 8th note language in time.
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~ Enjoy!
Use this mp3 to practice singing the etude until you are able to audiate it (hear in your mind). After that play it on your horn. You should be close to being able to play it from memory by that point in time.
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