Your solo can be full of beautiful-sounding notes and still not sound melodic. Melodic doesn’t just mean pretty. It means the solo has an actual melody, with contour and shape, things that really stick out, and the element of surprise.
Quick answer
Melodic doesn’t just mean pretty. It means well organized, well thought out, and that the phrases go with the existing melody. Chet Baker resolves his first phrase to a B-flat you don’t expect, ends the next phrase on the same B-flat, and keeps his phrases about the length of the melody’s.
The solo I use to show what that means is Chet Baker’s on But Not for Me, the Gershwin standard. It’s one of my favorite melodic solos. Chet was a phenomenal singer as well as a trumpet player, and he solos like a singer. Here’s what he does, and an exercise you can use on any standard to do it yourself.
What’s the surprise note in Chet Baker’s But Not for Me solo?
In the first phrase he starts on the note of the melody, then resolves to a note that isn’t in the melody: a B-flat. Where did that come from? That B-flat is the 13th, the major 13th, which isn’t the note you expect on a major 7 chord.
What really makes it special is that he plays it again. He ends his next phrase on that same B-flat, which gives the two phrases a question and answer quality. It sounds like he’s playing an existing melody, but he’s improvising it. It’s amazing.
Then he plays a really, really simple phrase.
We can’t be afraid of simplicity here, because he just played something pretty surprising.
Cole Davis
You don’t expect that B-flat, so he balances it with something really simple.
How do you phrase a solo like the melody?
Another thing he’s doing, which I try to do a lot in my own solos, is playing phrases the same length as the melody’s. You might not realize it. He isn’t playing the melody. He’s thinking, how do I create phrases that are the same length as the melody’s phrases? Put the melody next to his solo and the phrases are a similar length.
He also uses the same kind of motifs from phrase to phrase, the way you would in a written melody. On the G-flat major 7 he plays a motif, and when he gets to the D-flat major 7 he plays it again. You don’t actually hear it, because it’s over a different chord and it’s rhythmically a little different. That’s the kind of thing that exists in written melodies. If somebody sang this solo for me, I’d think they were just singing a melody.
Every melody has a cadence, a breath, a stopping point, and then it picks up again. Many times it’s not just one cadence. Every line of the melody has one. Each of his phrases ends in a way that makes you go “ah,” and then he picks up again. That makes sense, because he was such a phenomenal singer. He understands how to play like a singer.
So melodic means well organized, well thought out, with phrases that go with the existing melody. There’s a great phrase in here that takes some technical facility to play in thumb position, but you can play a phrase just like that without playing something that complicated. And at the end he brings it home with a bebop kind of notey line, and his phrase ends right where the melody ends.
Try it on Autumn Leaves
You can do this on your own. Take a tune like Autumn Leaves. You can play that melody in a way that isn’t actually the melody, and that becomes your solo.
- Play the melody first. Play the Autumn Leaves melody, the way I do in the lesson, and notice where each phrase stops before the next one picks up.
- Follow its phrase lengths. Make each of your phrases about as long as the melody phrase it sits on.
- Don’t make it literal. I’m not literally playing four-note phrases, because that would be corny, too obvious. I’m keeping the melody in mind while I solo, and I’m trying to follow its phrases.
That’s a really good exercise, and a way you can make your solos more melodic. If you’re newer to soloing, my jazz improvisation primer for bass players covers the form and which notes to play.
What’s in the transcription
The full transcription comes as two PDFs: Chet Baker’s solo on But Not for Me, and an analysis of the solo. There’s also the video lesson, just under 10 minutes, where I play the solo and go through each of these spots.
Pick a standard you know tonight, keep its melody in mind, and solo one chorus that follows its phrases.
Go deeper
Chet Baker: But Not for Me Solo
Chet Baker’s solo on But Not for Me, the one I use to show what melodic really means.
FAQ
What makes a jazz solo melodic?
Melodic doesn’t just mean pretty or beautiful. It means the solo has melody: some contour and some shape, some things that really stick out, and the element of surprise. It’s not just some beautiful-sounding notes. It’s an actual concise melody.
Who wrote But Not for Me?
George and Ira Gershwin. It’s a standard, and Chet Baker’s solo on it is one of my favorite melodic solos.
Can you play Chet Baker’s But Not for Me solo on upright bass?
Yes, I play it in the lesson. There’s a great phrase that takes some technical facility to play in thumb position, but you can play a phrase just like that without playing something that complicated.
What is a cadence in a jazz solo?
Every melody has a cadence, a breath, a stopping point, and then it picks up again. Many times it’s not just one cadence; every line of the melody has one. In Chet Baker’s solo, each phrase ends in a way that makes you go “ah,” and then he picks up again.
How does Chet Baker use motifs in But Not for Me?
He uses the same kind of motifs from phrase to phrase, the way you would in a written melody. On the G-flat major 7 he plays a motif, and on the D-flat major 7 he plays it again. You don’t actually hear it, because it’s over a different chord and it’s rhythmically a little different.
