Well said… Sometimes, however, I find myself using articulation as a crutch for some of the unevenness in my technique… I literally have to take out all articulation at times and just focus on my fingers
indeed - this is the best way to get amazing articulation - really try play with extreme tight fingers and add articulation with your tongue later. Let me know how it goes! love to hear!
Dude. On which cultural evidence do you base your claim, that Coltrane "adoptet classical phrasing"? Can you point out any differences in his phrasing between particular recordings when this great adoption happened? Is classical phrasing in Trane's playing something that sets him apart from Sonny Rollins for example? Or how would you explain the phrasing of Hank Mobley or Dexter Gordon? I find some similarities between Dexter, Hank and Trane. Are Dexter and Hank also part of this "classical phrasing" club? Or how about Bird? Does the physical reality of the horn affect how different pitches tend to be played or is it truly a conscious effort? I can understand that the principle of tension and release in ascending and descending lines is a thing that of course can be attributed to classical music like very many things. But have you really thought of the cultural context why these attributes can be heard in jazz of the 50s and 60s? Is it truly evident that this phenomenon comes out in Coltrane's playing as a direct influence from the western classical tradition? Or could it be "indirect"? Even though you don't say it verbally, you decided to write "adopted" there and draw a straight line from the 18th century baroque music all the way to Coltrane. And saying that in classical music all is written down as an evidence of "the composer thinking how it should be phrased" is actually incorrect. To make things worse you used a piece of notation in the video with little to no exact phrasing or dynamic symbols. Up until the early 1900s, many classical composers actually didn't write absolutely everything to the score. One classical piano professor once told me, that especially during the baroque era, the music was performed according to the shared concept of "how the music should sound" so composers didn't have to write down everything. I'm pretty sure people who actually have looked deeply into baroque music could offer some insights about the phrasing of the times that can't be deducted from the paper.
Coltrans practiced lots of classical etudes and if you did not study classical material and the amazing composing techniques of the great classical composers you did not really get into music. Coltrane was a true student of music and did study everything related to music so I know that he adopted classical phrasing. Which all players has done. When playing music you will automatically play classical phrasing, because this is the way the human ear will find the music sound best - developed through generations - it is not so much that Coltrans did it - if you know music and has been digging a bit deeper and start to really listen to how any musical line should sound you will also notice that the classical phrasing is the best sounding way.
