Gypsy Jazz, Hot Jazz, Swing, Bebop - The Historical Approach to Learning Jazz Guitar

Summary

In this video script, Dennis Chang discusses his passion for learning music through history, emphasizing the importance of understanding the context and culture of different eras. He shares his research on the evolution of jazz, noting the differences between historical playing styles and modern interpretations. Chang also reflects on the challenges of studying music historically, the influence of music schools on the perception of history, and the need for musicians to make informed artistic choices to maintain authenticity while adapting to the present.

Takeaways

• 🎼 Dennis Chang is passionate about learning music through history and believes in the importance of understanding the context of different musical styles.
• 🎸 He discusses the differences in guitar playing styles between the 1930s and modern interpretations, noting that historical accuracy in music is often overlooked.
• 🎵 Chang emphasizes the need to study the global perspective of music history rather than focusing on exceptions or famous individuals.
• 🎶 He critiques the modern jazz education system for sometimes skewing historical understanding and points out that many old songs influential to past musicians are not well-known today.
• 🎷 The speaker highlights the importance of considering the social and political conditions of the time when studying historical music to understand its true essence.
• 🎺 Chang talks about the challenges of playing historically accurate music in the present, noting that too much freedom can lead to a loss of the original style's authenticity.
• 🎻 He shares his personal learning journey with gypsy jazz and bebop, explaining how he沉浸 himself in the styles to understand their nuances and the cultural influences behind them.
• 🎹 The script touches on the evolution of jazz music, particularly the use of scales and improvisation techniques, and how they have changed over time.
• 📚 Chang encourages making informed choices when playing music, respecting the original style while acknowledging the modern context and the player's artistic freedom.
• 🌐 He draws a parallel between his deep study of music and his study of the Japanese language, showing his dedication to understanding cultural nuances in both fields.
• 🎤 Finally, Chang reflects on the importance of natural feel in music and language, and how forcing oneself to think too much about the mechanics can hinder the natural expression.

Q & A

Who is the speaker in the video script?

The speaker in the video script is Dennis Chang, who is in Tokyo and about to fly back to Canada.

What is Dennis Chang passionate about in relation to learning music?

Dennis Chang is passionate about learning music through history, focusing on the historical context and details of various music styles.

What does Dennis believe about the statistical worth of his approach to learning music?

Dennis believes that statistically speaking, his approach to learning music through history is not worth it, as he goes into very fine detail that most people do not pick up on.

What is an example of Dennis' research on guitar playing in the 1930s?

Dennis' research suggests that in the early 1930s, guitar players rarely played Minor 7 chords, unlike pianists, and had a different approach to playing G chords compared to what is popular in the swing movement today.

Why does Dennis believe that studying music historically is important for modern musicians?

Dennis believes that studying music historically helps modern musicians make informed choices and understand the tendencies and styles of different eras, allowing them to decide how to play music authentically or with their own modern twist.

What does Dennis think about the influence of music schools on the history of jazz?

Dennis thinks that music schools can skew the history of jazz in favor of what is being taught, sometimes causing modern musicians to overlook older songs and styles that were popular in the past.

What is Dennis' opinion on the use of altered scales and substitutions in jazz?

Dennis believes that while altered scales and substitutions can be used in jazz, overusing them can make the music lose its historical authenticity, especially if used inappropriately in the context of older songs or styles.

How does Dennis approach learning and playing different styles of jazz?

Dennis approaches learning and playing different styles of jazz by immersing himself in the historical context, studying recordings, and trying to understand the social and political conditions that influenced the music of each era.

What is Dennis' view on the importance of understanding the cultural background of music?

Dennis believes that understanding the cultural background of music is crucial, as it affects how the music is played and helps musicians make informed choices about their stylistic interpretations.

How does Dennis describe his experience with learning and playing gypsy jazz?

Dennis describes his experience with learning and playing gypsy jazz as initially requiring a lot of conscious effort to understand the subtleties, but eventually being able to feel and play it naturally after enough practice.

What does Dennis suggest about the natural versus studied approach to playing music?

Dennis suggests that while musicians in the past may have played their music more naturally without much thought, modern musicians studying these styles may need to put more thought into it initially, but can eventually internalize the styles to play them more naturally.

Outlines

00:00

🎼 Passion for Historical Music Learning

Dennis Chang, a musician in Tokyo, shares his passion for learning music through its history. He admits that while his deep dive into the specifics of musical styles may not be statistically common or necessary, it's a personal preference. He uses the example of guitar chord voicings in the 1930s, explaining how his research shows a difference in how chords were played then compared to modern interpretations. Dennis emphasizes the importance of understanding the historical context of music to make informed artistic choices.

05:01

🎷 Jazz Education and Its Impact on Musical History

The speaker discusses the influence of modern jazz education on the perception of musical history. He criticizes the focus on a few exceptional musicians, like Freddy Green, over a broader study of the era's musicians. Dennis points out that the popularity of certain songs and styles taught in schools can skew the understanding of jazz history. He advocates for a wider exploration of the music from different periods and styles to gain a more authentic perspective.

10:02

🎵 The Challenge of Authenticity in Music Performance

Dennis explores the challenges of playing music authentically from different eras, noting that modern musicians often blend elements from various periods, which can detract from the music's original style. He talks about the importance of understanding the historical and cultural context of music to make informed artistic decisions. The speaker shares his experiences with different jazz styles, emphasizing the need to balance authenticity with personal expression.

15:03

🎸 Exploring Jazz Styles and Their Evolution

The speaker delves into the evolution of jazz styles, focusing on the differences between the 1930s and the bebop era. He discusses the influence of musicians like Django Reinhardt and the incorporation of classical music elements in jazz. Dennis also examines the rhythm section's role in defining a style and the importance of studying the social and political conditions that shaped the music.

20:05

🎹 The Intersection of Music and Language Learning

Dennis draws a parallel between his deep dive into music history and his study of the Japanese language. He highlights the importance of understanding pitch accent in Japanese, which is often taken for granted by native speakers. The speaker shares an anecdote about a YouTube video that mistakenly used an announcer's speech as a model for Tokyo dialect, which actually contained pitch accent errors. This reflects his broader point about the need for conscious study to understand and replicate subtleties in both language and music.

25:06

🎻 The Natural Progression of Learning and Performing

In the final paragraph, Dennis discusses the process of learning and internalizing musical styles to the point where they can be performed naturally. He shares his experiences with gypsy jazz musicians who are often unaware of the technical aspects of their playing. The speaker emphasizes the importance of active learning and conscious effort to eventually achieve a natural feel for a musical style or language dialect.

Keywords

💡Gypsy Jazz

Gypsy Jazz is a style of jazz music that originated in the 1930s in France, heavily influenced by the Romani guitarist Django Reinhardt. It is characterized by its virtuosic solos and distinctive rhythmic patterns. In the video, the speaker discusses his passion for learning music through history, specifically mentioning Gypsy Jazz as a style he is best at and one that allows for a lot of freedom in improvisation.

💡Authenticity

Authenticity in the context of this video refers to the degree to which a musical performance or style accurately reflects the original or historical version of that music. The speaker talks about the challenges of trying to play music in an 'authentic' way, especially when dealing with historical recordings that may not clearly represent the music of the past.

💡Improvisation

Improvisation is the spontaneous creation of melody and harmony during a musical performance. It is a core element of jazz music. The speaker discusses the improvisational styles of various jazz musicians from different eras and how they have influenced his own approach to improvisation.

💡Historical Research

Historical research in this context involves studying the past to understand how music was played and evolved over time. The speaker emphasizes the importance of this research in learning music, as it provides insight into the nuances of different styles and the cultural influences on them.

💡Chords and Voicings

Chords and voicings refer to the specific arrangement of notes played together in harmony. The speaker uses the example of how guitar players in the 1930s played certain chords differently than they are commonly played today, highlighting the changes in musical style over time.

💡Rhythm Section

The rhythm section of a jazz band typically includes the drums, bass, and piano, and is responsible for establishing the beat and harmonic foundation of the music. The speaker discusses his interest in the rhythm section, particularly how it has evolved and how it influences the overall style of jazz music.

💡Music Education

Music education in the video is portrayed as a modern system that can sometimes skew the historical understanding of music. The speaker mentions that music schools often teach a standardized version of jazz, which may not fully represent the diversity and evolution of the music throughout history.

💡Cultural Influence

Cultural influence refers to the impact of social, political, and environmental factors on the development of music. The speaker talks about how understanding the cultural context of different eras can help in appreciating the music of that time and the decisions made by musicians.

💡Pitch Accent

Pitch accent is a linguistic term referring to the pattern of pitch contours on a word or phrase, which can vary by dialect or region. The speaker draws a parallel between his study of pitch accent in the Japanese language and his approach to studying music, emphasizing the importance of understanding subtle nuances in both.

💡Artistic Choices

Artistic choices refer to the decisions a musician makes in terms of style, interpretation, and performance. The speaker discusses how his historical research and understanding of different jazz styles inform his artistic choices when playing music, allowing him to adapt his performance to suit different contexts and audiences.

💡Bebop

Bebop is a style of jazz that developed in the 1940s, characterized by fast tempos, complex harmonies, and advanced improvisational techniques. The speaker explores the evolution of bebop, discussing the use of scales like the altered scale and how they became prevalent in jazz improvisation over time.

Highlights

Dennis Chang's passion for learning music through history and its deep personal significance.

The argument that learning music historically may not be statistically worth it for most people due to the level of detail required.

Chang's unique approach to studying music, which involves going into fine detail that even practitioners might overlook.

The historical inaccuracy of modern swing music compared to the 1930s, particularly in guitar chord voicings.

The rarity of minor 7 chords in 1930s guitar playing and the prevalence of major 7 chords.

The difficulty of discerning historical music practices due to poor recording quality.

Freddy Green's unique rhythm guitar style and its influence on modern playing, despite being an exception historically.

The tendency to overlook other rhythm guitar players from the past in favor of the more famous Freddy Green.

The importance of studying music history beyond exceptions to understand the broader context and trends.

The impact of modern music education on the perception and teaching of historical jazz songs.

Chang's perspective on the challenges of playing historically accurate music in the present day.

The concept of 'authenticity' in music and the balance between historical accuracy and artistic freedom.

The observation that too much freedom in music can lead to chaos, especially in jam sessions.

The cultural and social influences on music styles and the importance of understanding the context.

Chang's personal journey of learning gypsy jazz and the process of internalizing its subtleties.

The evolution of bebop and the gradual incorporation of the altered scale in jazz improvisation.

The importance of making informed artistic choices when playing music from different eras.

Chang's experience with learning Japanese pitch accent and the parallels he draws with studying music.

The anecdote about a YouTube video attempting to teach Tokyo dialect and the pitfalls of not understanding underlying rules.

The final thoughts on the natural versus conscious learning process in mastering musical styles or languages.

Transcripts

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how everybody all right this is Dennis

Chang here I'm in Tokyo and I'm about to

fly back to Canada tomorrow for 3 months

of work and uh well I'm looking forward

to seeing a lot of old friends but I'm

going to miss Japan anyway today I want

to talk about something that is very

very close to my heart very dear to me

it's kind of how I learn music and

something I'm very very passionate about

it's this idea of learning um music

through history and what I mean by that

is it even worth it well I'm actually

going to tell you right now to the point

to the degree that I do it um

statistically speaking I don't think

it's worth it people have rightfully

accused me of going a bit overboard but

it's just my thing you know you do what

you like I do what I like you do what

you like but I'm I'm just going to tell

you where I'm coming from and Stat what

I mean by statistically not worth it is

I'm I'm not saying this to show up but

I'm one of the only people on this

planet to go really that far into such

fine detail for things that no one

really picks up on even people

practitioners of the things that of uh

the style we talking about gypsy jazz

bpop or whatever

swing so for example like namely the

idea that when guitar players played a

Chun ch chunk rhythm in 1930s whether

it's D Jango style or eddine whatever it

seems based on my research at least in

the 1930s in the early 1930s they almost

never played Minor 7 chords pianists did

do that but more as uh in in terms of

voice leading generally speaking but

guitar players tended to play just um if

we're in the key of G D7 like

[Music]

this you know one thing that's popular

in the swing movement today is to play G

chords like this

but if you listen to recordings in the

old days they were playing a lot of G

chords like

this for me of course it's still an

ongoing research I'm still trying to

determine exactly like what chords they

were

playing but this in my according to my

research so far it's far more com common

this but yet nowadays in the swing

movement most people are playing this so

that's already makes it a little bit

different from what it was his

historically back then does it really

matter no

why because most people don't even

realize it even the people who are

playing the people who are into that

stuff or are studying that stuff don't

really notice it because this is stuff

that's really actually hard to figure

out namely because of the the quality of

the recordings back in those days I have

to I had to sift through so many

recordings where all right this one I

can finally hear the guitar what chords

I have to really really concentrate oh

it's this oh it's this one that's what I

did with um Jango Reinhardt Charlie

Christian and whoever ever else that I

could really listen to who made

recordings and where the guitar is

properly

recorded um that's not to say that this

was not play it I'm but I'm still

looking actually if you guys know you

guys tell me where we can hear this like

playing this kind of chord in the

1930s

now already in the 1930s Freddy green

was doing something a little bit

different from what he was doing uh what

he's known to be doing like the one two

string stuff I made a video about this I

think last year or two years ago you can

watch that so he might a potential

person who uh a potential guitar player

to play something like this but even

then that's not that was not according

to my research anyway that was not his

philosophy his philosophy was really

voice leading and all that stuff so and

that's speaking of Freddy green I've

said this in videos he actually in my

opinion is a bit of an outlier in times

in terms of rhythm guitar yet he has set

the standard for today's Ry everyone is

copying him and kind of like ignoring

all the the other rhythm guitar players

that existed back in the day check out

the recordings from I think early 40s of

Charlie Parker and a guitar player in

FID wear and you can hear him playing

voicings from the the era of the 30s and

there were other players just like him

but again nowadays everyone is only

talking about Freddy green because he

was the most famous and of course he's

greatest

but historically speaking he was one of

the exceptions it's kind of as if we

were going to study ebop and we ignore

Charlie Parker dizy Gillespie Kanye West

and we only study thonus mon solos only

Theon solo now Thelonius Monk if you

hear him improvised he's kind of a rebel

he's doing all the

things the unconventional things so to

speak very uh generally speaking unb Bop

like quote

unquote and that's what I'm getting at

so if you're like interested in the

history you can't just look at one

person especially the exception the

exception is very worth worthy to note

of course but you have to look at the

global

perspective but then why do I even do

this okay for me I just love history but

it's also for artistic reasons and

especially nowadays when you learn music

uh through Jazz everything is kind of

informed through the lens of music

school and I think of course music

schools are great I've made a video

about

this but it tends to influence um your

decisions and it's kind of therefore it

skews the history a little bit in favor

of what it's being taught and the

easiest proof of this is like most Jazz

teachers nowadays don't know songs like

Chik of araby my Melancholy baby Coit um

after all EMT Cohan made it after you've

gone famous but before that it was not

famous at all all these old songs that

were very very popular in day and songs

that people like Charlie Parker or west

Mong have actually recorded because they

grew up with that music well those songs

Don't are not really known today and

that's proof that kind of the modern

music school system is dictating the

history because as I've said in previous

videos jazz education as we know it

today is a recent thing and it was

founded by people from the generation of

like uh the modern standards the people

who created that school and their kind

of musical

descendants have long forgotten the the

era from

before but actually if you study the

1920s and 1930s Jazz a lot of things

from 1940 50s 607s and Beyond nowadays

make a whole lot of sense like namely

the history of the

251 um I talk about that in my Harmony

course on sound slice you can check it

out it's really really good and if you

checked out my interview with Jonathan

Stout I think it was two years ago that

we did that interview yeah wow two years

time flies by we talked about kind of

the Trap

of trying to play quote unquote

historically accurate music namely the

biggest hurdle is that we are in the

present and that's the thing of the past

and in some ways he's right and Pat

Martino has said this as well I I don't

remember his exact words I'm

paraphrasing but he saying like bbop

doesn't exist anymore because that was

something of the that era and we're

living in the modern era at least when

he did that interview was like 20 30

years ago but it's still it's still

valid

today what that means

is that when you study music

historically you're going to start to

see a lot of lot of Tendencies and then

as an artist in the modern era you have

to decide okay what am I going to do to

when I play music am I going to do

something a little bit that wasn't done

in those days in which case it's you're

taking off kind of layers from the

authenticity and you can take a few

layers off here and there and it's fine

but if you start taking too many like if

you start playing uh the altered scale

in the 19 like over 1920s accompanyment

altered scale and uh half half what do

you call that the octatonic scale and

all these substitutions that are very

common nowadays you it stops being what

it is right I subscribe to the idea that

music should be through you play however

you want anything goes but when you have

too much Freedom sometimes it ends up

being chaos and something that I notic a

lot in Jam sessions even among among

quote unquote proficient players so to

speak I remember many times I've gone to

jam sessions where there's a singer or

maybe an old school player who wants to

play you know an old school song that

kind of in my opinion should be played

in the old way but then you have the

drummer start doing all these poly

rhythms the bass player adding all these

uh poly rhythms as well and all these

substitutions and the the you know

you're playing a Autumn Leaves and you

play it like this yeah

[Music]

what I just did can theoretically work

over Autumn Leaves but imagine playing

you're accompanying an old school singer

that's just nonsense right so stuff like

that you make in informed choices it's

kind of like going to a Bluegrass jam

session and saying hey can we play Spain

by chick

Korea I've seen this because a lot of

people they're from kind of the product

of the music school everything is just

put into one category jazzz is just Jazz

I mean they have little categories

modern standards whatever to a certain

extent but Jazz they don't know that for

example Autumn Leaves is a composition

of the the late the mid

40s and therefore the harmonies to

Autumn Leaves reflect that era that kind

of uh qut structure was very very very

atypical in the 30s um you have other

songs um um sand doll

well Duke alington you'd say oh he's

he's a musician of the 30s so this is a

30 sty song No Duke Ellington composed

this uh in the the the the height of the

bbop era okay I'm not sure but I think

I'm right it's it's not a song of the

30s and then it reflects in the core

choices and in

fact okay I haven't I didn't double

check I'm kind of making this video off

the cuff like this but I I think I have

checked if you look at the original

recording that uh Duke did nowadays on

the leei it says at the end it says a

minor 7 D7 a flat minor 7 d flat 7 C

which is that kind of West Montgomery

251 but actually the original is just D7

d flat 9 to

C so adding that two chord makes it a

little bit more modern so then there's

the whole culture around the style so

1930s Jazz I mean you have the camps New

Orleans style and you have kind of like

the Kansas City style that's uh a little

bit different right if you can hear

it difference between Sydney bishe Louis

Armstrong and then you check out like

Lester Young Charlie

Christian uh stuff like that there is

the whole culture Behind the Music that

also affects how the music is

played and

so how what I have to do when I study

this this music is kind of get rid of

all the preconceived notions that I have

all the studying that I have done

academically uh the things that I take

for granted really and I have to try to

think try to at least read stories um

newspaper articles um to get an idea of

kind of the social political conditions

they grew up in and it does affect the

music cuz you know I'm thinking someone

like Louie Armstrong who was an amazing

improviser he grew up very very troubled

and then he wasn't at home practicing

his 251 licks or art PID or this whatnot

he was just first of all in an

environment where he could hear music

and then he found people who nurtured

his talent but in those days they didn't

have jazz education the way we know it

so he got element rudimentary music

education kind of like the music

education that you get if you sent your

kids to take piano lessons or viol

violin lessons like basic scales basic

arpeg harmonies and everything else was

through community and it was a very

organic process and that that dictates

the style that he came up with and that

applies to everyone else now of course

some people were more learned that's a

word I learned from The Simpsons Papa

Homer you are so learned learn pepy

learned um so yes you'll have people who

are kind of more like Street oriented

all of them they are they they all start

out kind of in the street way but some

of them were a little more quote unquote

educated not but not to the extent that

people tend to be educated

today so case in point you know a lot of

people take for granted that you know

okay 251 so then you see a song like um

I can't give anything but love I've

talked about this before

so I can't give you anything but love

but this is just not in the old style

this really not it's it should be I can

give you anything love you check out a

whole bunch of record oh my guitar is

beautifully Out Of

Tune so things like

[Music]

this and you of course you have people

like Jango Reinhardt so you see that

solo I did I played kind of one solo in

the cor New Orleans style is of the 30s

then a solo in the Kansas City style of

the 30s then a gypsy jazz thing and then

after a bbop thing so let me just talk

about that the fact that I played it on

a guitar and let alone an electric

modern electric guitar makes it

inauthentic but this is the only guitar

I have before I leave tomorrow

everything's in the storage room but

even if I had an acoustic guitar in the

30s there were not a lot of soloists

playing in that style and as well as

Louis Armstrong or Sydney bash Jango

Reinhardt Oscar alaman are the two

probably really famous players in that

really really old style Eddie Lang died

very young and even then Eddie Lang

soloing is not was if I may dare say I

hope I don't piss anyone off it was

beautiful but let's be honest it was not

as sophisticated as Jango improvisations

and then of course Jango had influences

from outside of jazz as well he was uh

into classical music so you can hear

little things that he did you know and

when it comes to stylistic

interpretation most people are focusing

on the

solo Less on the Rhythm Section that's

where actually I'm most interested in so

if uh I had I just used the gypsy jazz

back in tracks so when I started playing

bbop it's kind of a little bit weird

isn't it with a with a gypsy jazz Rhythm

Section but it is what it is and like I

said it's the layer concept is good like

you peel off one layer maybe it's not

such a big deal but you keep peeling

then at one point it's it stops being

what you're trying to do if you're going

go for something anyway so let me just

talk about what I did my my first

improvisation the first a section is

kind of inspired by Louis Armstrong

Sydney B hopefully you can hear some of

that vocabulary where I kind of already

started by quing the melody right that's

very very typical of those players in

those days and then after the second a I

played kind of in a Charlie Christian

way and I took some ideas from him of

course and from Lester Young and I did

that the third one is gypsy jazz so

gypsy jazz is what I think I am best at

it took me a bit of time to make that

solo to really try to be quote unquote

as authentic as possible but the Gypsy

jaet were that that took me one take I

did it in one take because gypsy jazz it

comes from Jango

Reinhardt and so obviously there is a

lot there's quite a lot of Jango ISM but

there's also the kind of the freedom to

do whatever you kind of want to do you

don't have to really worry about oh if I

do this it's not authentic to a certain

extent to a higher to a higher degree

than the previous two other

styles so I like playing gypsy jazz for

that reason the Gypsy Jazz phrasing I

mean it depends on the players tends to

be very very Noy lot Big Range um and

there's that Gypsy feel you know like

the that it's very typical Jango did

that but a lot of gypsy players have

really uh attached themselves to that

kind of sound ornaments and I did some

things that uh modern jazz

players tend to do kind of the use of

altered scale altered sound anyway in

some of my stuff so I'm not really

thinking about oh I should do this or

that I should only do this so if I want

to sound I just go for it and one guy

who made that popular was B lren he

showed that you can still sound in the

Style by but yet still mix with a lot of

outside

influences to a certain extent and then

the last one was a bbop thing that's

another style that I'm kind of I would

say at ease with cuz I have a lot of

freedom now this is very interesting

bbop is something very very hard to

Define um a lot of people nowadays when

they say bbop they're just talking about

the idea of playing jazz standards that

are very typical around the world Stella

By star so not really necessarily

talking even about stylistic uh

considerations because a lot of people

who play bbop quote unquote don't really

play bbop like they did in the 40s and

50s and this is very interesting this is

a point of interest for me like I've

always been curious when did the

octatonic scale the altered scale and

all these other scales start to become

very very prevalent in in that era so my

research shows that the altered scale

was not really used in the 40s Charlie

Parker didn't use

it uh I haven't studied diig LSP as much

but I don't hear it now it's in the

composition um hot house which is in

from the mid-40s it's this other concept

song I think it's called conception

there's Al an altered scale in the

concept the composition itself but in

the improvisation and when I mean

altered scale like very unambiguously

alter scale the way we hear it today

like

or that um yeah you just didn't really

hear that sound very unambiguously you

did hear little fragments of it but it's

very ambiguous cuz one thing that is

very popular in the ' 40s and the

Charlie in Charlie Parker's Arrow but

also in the 30s is let's say you had a

domond

chord and you play the note C B flat a

that was very very very typical but it's

not coming from a scale per se it's just

com it's just an

ornament and then after they would might

do a regular

arpeggio it's theoretically strictly

speaking the only possible

scale would be octatonic but they were

not singing they were just sing this

ornament in fact they might even play

harmonic

minor and they just have that ornament

that's C natural but

then harmonic minor or frian D whatever

you want I don't care about the

[Music]

names so that was very typical there is

in instin in that famous 1943 I think

Cherokee by Charlie Parker with an eff

wearing a drummer where uh Charlie

Parker kind of hints at notes from the

alterate scale but it's still very

ambiguous so so that's something that's

very interesting my research also shows

in terms of improvisation uh the altered

scale start to be very very widespread

by the mid-50s late 50s and onwards Joel

pass uh West

Montgomery Britney Spears and all that

stuff so for me all that is very very

interesting to to know so that I can

make these artistic choices when I'm

playing so if I'm playing let's say a

singer shows up and uh that singer

decides she wants to sing Moonglow then

I'm going to solo kind of appropriately

I try not to do too too many Advanced

things and I hope the Rhythm Section is

going to be fairly

conservative you know it's just it just

depends on the situation you know this

thing it's not just music but even my

Japanese teachers that told me like I'm

one of those students that kind of uh

probably annoys my teachers because I

asked them questions that they cannot

answer Japanese in the Japanese language

there's this thing called pitch accent

that Japanese people

themselves are not actively aware of

they're only maybe subconsciously aware

of and they don't actually study this uh

in school I I even know the technical

terms when I told that to some Japanese

like what are saying and I explained oh

it's this I didn't know they just speak

it naturally Japanese has this thing

pitch accent that I'm really studying

very very uh deeply and I stump quite a

lot of Japanese people with this me as

an outsider I have to learn this if I

want to kind of sound like them because

I didn't grow up with it and it's hard

for me to just pick it up naturally but

I'm starting to actually get how it

works naturally sometimes so that's very

very cool but there's this sentence I

want to read to you that I read to

someone that I saw on a YouTube YouTube

video and the a Japanese teacher said

here click on this link and copy this

announcer's voice if you want to speak

Tokyo dialect because there are many

dialects in Japan so the the the pitch

accent varies according to dialect

according to region kind of like in in

the you know you can say tomato tomato

that kind of

thing but it's very funny cuz that

YouTuber said watch this video and copy

the announcer but what I found out I got

confused cuz when I listen to the

announcer he did not pronounce things

according to the Tokyo dialect so I

asked a bunch of Japanese people that

they were stumped too it's like maybe oh

maybe this person was originally from

another area and that that accent kind

of maybe have crept into the to his uh

his job when you work for like a Tokyo

TV you have you're supposed to use the

standard professional Tokyo dialect but

that guy made some little things so

little mistakes or someone said maybe

it's just a habit that person has but

also pitch accent can change according

to your emotions so you can like uh the

most common one is like the word maybe

tab but some I've hear I hear this a lot

lot of Japanese they will

say because just to stress that but

here's that

sentence according to the correct Tokyo

dialect

so

already well that's I hopefully I got it

right but that's the official correct

way but I

said but the announcer said

cool that's already a different pitch

accent so when I showed this to like a

another Japanese like oh you're right

it's different I don't know why and then

Kanto which is the region where Tokyo is

K

that's the official pronunciation but

the announcer

saido that's very very

different so it's so interesting that

the person the the YouTuber that was

trying to teach correct Tokyo pitch

accent used this as a this video as a

reference when the announcer made

mistakes in the pronunciation mistakes

quote unquote so it's something that I'm

very fascinated with and that's how I

studied music and this is how I study

Japanese as well I piss off a lot of my

Japanese

teachers and one last

thing when I got my teacher one of my

teachers I asked this to a lot of my

teachers but I got when I asked my

teacher to without even telling him what

the purpose of this was I asked the

teacher can you read this sentence for

me very very slowly I want to hear how

you pronounce the words so he has no

idea that I'm trying to check for his

pitch accent so when he read slowly he

quote unquote messed up a few of the

pitch

accents and when I pointed out oh I

noticed that you pronounced this word

this way that way and that way it's like

oh it's because when I'm speaking slowly

I don't I have you're you made me

nervous I have to like really

concentrate and I don't even know what

it's supposed to sound like so I then

asked him well can you read it quickly

without even thinking so that when you

read it quickly without even thinking it

came out perfect correctly according to

the standard Tokyo so if you force a

Japanese person to think about what

they're doing they might mess up unless

they' studied this before and it's the

same thing with music a lot of players

in those days historically they were

doing the thing that they were doing

without putting much thought into it

whereas today when we're studying that

thing we have to put a little bit more

thought into it because that was then

this is now that's what I'm getting I

get this experience all the time with

Gypsy players um I worked many of you

know that I work a lot with with Gypsy

musicians cinti players from jango's

tribe A lot of them have no idea that

they're doing this or that sometimes I

pointed out to them I like oh really I

didn't know that it's just so natural

but when you're coming from an outside

background you kind of unless you're

gifted in that way you learn things

naturally you might have to put some

thought into it and at one point you may

be able to after enough effort you do

pick things up natural that certainly

was the case with me with gypsy jazz I

did put a lot of active conscious effort

into learning these subtleties but at

one point I started to feel it the same

way they can feel it too so yeah there

we go