Soloing on an E minor Blues in 12/8 Time Signature
(on Neck Pump's "That Feeling")
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llen Dennard's tune "That Feeling" is an E minor blues in 12/8 time signature. Here are some rhythmic approaches we can take while soloing in 12/8:
1) Bring out the 12/8 (bring out the 4/4 “eighth note triplets”) 2) Feel it as 4/4 (bring out the 4/4 8th notes and 16th notes) 3) Polymeters/Rhythmic Displacement (superimposing 4 over 3 - every 4 measures we line back up again on beat 1). The 4 over 3 caused Maestro Dennard 🎺 (aka "Neck Pump”) to start pumping his neck. Whenever you can get Neck Pump to start pumping his neck, you know you've done something right! 12/8 Time Signature is very similar to 4/4 in that eighth note triplets are now 1,2,3...12. Thus, you can feel it in 4, even if the band is still playing a 12/8 groove. This is from a performance over the weekend, Sat 6/10/23, with Maestro Allen Dennard's 5tet at Jazzin At The Vanity's War Memorial Stage in Detroit, MI. Personnel: Allen Dennard (trumpet, composer), Bijan Taghavi (piano), Nolan Young (tsax), Noah Jackson (bass), Louis Jones III (drums). |