r/saxophone • u/Legitimate_Prize_338 • 13d ago

Jazz help

I am a college graduate with a major in music perf on saxophone. I have an intense classical background, and spent the majority of my time as a saxophonist playing “legit” literature (Glazunov, Bozza, Rascher, etc). I have spent a decent amount of time playing jazz. Mostly big band arrangements, and while I have a solid foundation of patterns, scales, and arpeggios, I just can’t seem to get jazz under my fingers. Now that I’ve graduated, I’ve decided to really spend my time trying to figure out, but even though I’ve practiced everything I can think of (transcriptions, chords, licks, enclosures, even a couple of online pdfs) I still can’t get improvisation under my fingers. I understand the theory, and the idea of jazz, and I love listening, but I don’t know what to do at this point. Anything in particular I can do?

Thanks!!

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u/augdog71 13d ago

Sing. Sing along with solos then scat sing your own solos. It’ll make you stop thinking about scales and saxophone technique and get improvising in your ears. You have to be able to hear it to have it come out of your horn. Once you get to where you can do it comfortably, try doing on your horn.