Let’s have a look at our top 3 picks before diving into our solo transcription recommendations:Ĭhet Baker – There Will Never Be Another YouĬhet Baker, featured in ou countdown of best cool jazz musicians, was always guided by his ear, rather than theory or pre-prepared licks. Red Garland plays Miles Davis’s solo from ‘Now’s The Time’ (from an earlier recording with Parker) back at Davis on ‘Straight No Chaser’ from the album Milestones, and there are multiple recordings of Lee Konitz & Warne Marsh playing Lester Young solos alongside their own improvisations.īesides transcription recommendations, we also share with you some of our favorite picks for ready-made transcription books.

There are countless stories of great jazz musicians learning the best solos of their forefathers: bebop legend Charlie Parker famously played along with recordings of Lester Young to develop his own ground-breaking improvisational voice. It’ll also improve your ability to play by ear and you’ll become a better listener on the bandstand. Once you’ve learnt a solo, playing it along with the original recording will help to improve your sound and your swing feel, especially if you try to capture every detail, every inflection, every nuance.įinally, the process of transcribing great jazz solos will do wonders for your aural skills and make you a better musician in general.Ĭhallenging your ears – especially if you sing these solos before playing them – will only make them better, meaning that your transcribing skills will get stronger over time.

It allows you to analyse what makes a certain phrase sound so good, and to use the material to develop your own improvisational vocabulary. As we pointed out in our guide on how to learn jazz, studying and playing jazz solos by the masters can help your own playing in a whole host of ways.

Jazz transcriptions trumpet