Jazz Improvisation Lesson - Play the sax by ear 

Parker’s favorite key. Nice meeting notable tone and mood. Though he’d blow us all off our feet with his speed.

You have so got the 'Paul Desmond' tone to a tee. I love it.

I love how every note you play stands on it's own. These are great!

Oh this is fun. Playing along with Dr.Wallace is a humbling experience.

Thoroughly enjoy your approach. The difference between musicians that hear melodically vs memorized patterns is always so apparent. Creatively it's really the difference between composers and technicians. You, Sir, have a beautiful sense of melody... as did Prez, Bird... so many others. I also really like that you stress LISTENING vs memorizing. Never cared for cats that were always trying to force their licks into spaces rather than playing off of or inspiring the interplay around them... Very good stuff and refreshingly appreciated.

You Sir, is a blessings to all of us Beginner saxophonists.. Thank you very much..

In part 2 and 4 - feel free to take the tenor lines down an octave (when needed) Love, Dr. Wally

I love the way you make simple phrases sound great. Love your sound too.

Making those first few simple phrases sound as good as you is such a challenge! Really shines a spotlight on my articulation. This is instantly my favorite video!

Thanks Dr Wally, you are one of the best out there. I'm a very new sax player. I'm lucky enough to have friends who are 'musicians' and can play very well. So I have developed improvisation very easily / quickly. None of it is fit for human consumption mind you. We have fun. It's great for develpoing tone. I pick a scale I'm working on and just mess around with those notes. It is also good for 'playing by ear' Again, i can't stress enough. I'm very new, sound terrible 95% of the time. but thats learning for you. I say to anyone still reading my ramble. Don't expect to be Dr Wally instantly with improv.

400 likes, 0 dislikes. y'all can see how much quality in Dr Wallace's video

Back in my teaching days I never had a clue how to teach jazz! This is brilliant.

Wally Wallace back at it again

Lovely Paul Desmond sound.

Thank you so much, you are so generous for providing free tuition, it is exciting.

You‘re the best! What a great tool to do the first steps in improvising.

Love the phrasing in that opening line of the video

Great demos and info. Thank you for your videos! You’re awesome! 😊

I like to call this, "Copy Cat" with my younger students. Great ear training!

Excellent video yet once again from Dr. Wally! Thank you!

This was awesome

Brilliant - I love this summer of Jazz and Blues already! By the way, your playing is mesmerising and wonderful to play against.

Soo glad I stumbled onto you. You’ve got a really excellent and unique thing going here. I love the ultra clarity of your process. Perfectly matches the wonderful clarity of your Desmondesque playing. Wind at your back 🖖🏽

Ahhhhhh! Great series idea. I enjoy conversations the most out of anything I practice. This kind of stuff is what keeps me motivated. Thank you so much for making these for us. Your super fun to watch and play with.

Uuauu, your classes are fantastical!!! Thank you!

Great video Dr. Wally. Thank you

Another great learning tool. Many thanks

Cool beans! I'm really liking this series.

Teacher Wallance oh thanks for this lesson.. very impactful

So GLAD to have found this online!!! Will help keep my sax chops sharp and improve my jazz improv skills!!

Very nice ear training exercise Dr. Thank you!

Very nice suit Dr.Wally.

This is brilliant.

Enchilada's and Jazz, now we're talking, I mean playing. This is great fun! Thanks again for all these wonderful lessons!.

I’m stressed since I have a improv solo very soon but don’t know how to, your videos are better than anything ever! Just right for me!

Awesome ! Thank you

Thank you Dr. I’m on it.

Fun stuff. I feel this jazz now.

That's very cool doc! Thank you! I still believe that "once is a mistake twice is jazz" ❤️🎷

Muchas gracias Maestro por la traduccion...Muchos de nosotros no hablamos Inglés, y usted es un muy buen profesor..mucho éxito

It's really great! I've made an abonnement from your videos.

Excellent lesson..

thanks for you video !!~~ this is what I want to practice!!

Exellentissime bravo !!!!! Thank’s

Very nice! Thank you for this next step! Great ear training exercise!

This is so much fun! I used to do this kind of improv with father (on trombone) and older brother (on guitar) when I was a kid. I have missed the jazz conversations that happened that way. You get extra points from me for sneaking in a lesson on enclosures and a couple Paul Desmond licks, to boot. Keep them coming! My practice session was so much more fun for it.

You've helped me with so much. New subscriber right here!

With you, doc, "Anyone Can Play Jazz"! In this 101 Jazz Improv. Tutorial, I can hear Nursery Rhyme Fragments as well as melodic and thematic variations, which, when played with the "correct" - rather standard - Jazz inflections, phrasing and tonal quality, become Organic Real Jazz Improvisation. I have now begun to "think" (of) "Mary Had A Little Lamb"; played in a fragmentary, call-and-response fashion, I can hear myself "speaking" Organic Real Jazz in a melodic manner somewhat a la Paul Desmond and, more accurately, a la Dr. Wally Wallace. [(beggar's declaration (lgh)] I adore it, Dr. Wallace. Next, I shall be using fragments - with variations - of "Hot Cross Buns" as the thematic spring board for my ad lib. When I speed up - in my head - "One A Penny, Two A Penny", I do feel and sound as though I am playing Organic Real Jazz. Oh, how I love the repetition of the phrase "One A Penny, Two A Penny" when it is sped up! Thanks, Doc.

Amazing!!!!

Well done Wally!

awesome lesson, its now a bit late but tomorrow i will try this out :) (and maybe the next days!)

This is the good stuff! Now, time to ... find some time to practice!

Bellissimo sound

This lesson is for beginner jazz student. Important from the instructor saying: Style and rhythm are more important than notes.

Thanks! ... You Really have a great way of teaching/ stress free/...Looking forward to next week!/Month :-) Kiambu, Kenya

Thanks for the video! I will try that, it looks like fun 🙂

Your teaching is methodical and definitely a very great way that will guarantee a studious person to get results. Thanks, Doc. You are amazing. Yes, I've got to watch this and practice again and again for it to stick.🙏

Well, Call-and-Response may just be my new favourite thing. Even back in school when I was taking music lessons (clarinet/torture stick) I never did call and respond. Though I pretty slow on getting the matching down -making up a vague approximation to the response more than a few times as I've practised with this vid- I'm definitely having a lot of fun! I've even taken the plunge this month and am learning the eltude (using the slowdown feature on the vid to great effect)! Here's hoping I'll be able to play most of it by the end of the month xD

It's really late here, but I'm a 100% going to practice this exercises tomorrow . Awesome material Dr. Wally! I'm following these religiously! (as in passionately and motivated. I'm not kneeling to pray in front of my sax)

Aaaaay, I’m back my man! This was nuts, thank you so much!

Very nice, Mr. Desmond Wally

Ho snap, too late to watch this evening ! but tomorrow, I'll be back !!

Thanks for the lesson, Dr. Wally! Someone had recently been listening to Ornithology (5:08) and Tenor Madness (6:00) I hear ;-)

Wow, that‘s fantastic and something I will really enjoy. would like to do it right now, however I am about to go for having a night rest now, but guess what I going to do tomorrow! 😉 Thx Kai

Great video Wally! Thank you so much!..... A lot to practice until next Sunday... the goal is to go for the whole enchilada!!! LOL

What a fabulous video lesson…great stuff and never mind ‘hot dogs’…I love burgers!

hey doc,.... hopefully you remember my name. Sure love what you do for fellow players. I'm hearin' a little Desmond here! Theory is important, but it's also about what's in your head, and translating the thought to sound. When Bach wrote the Brandenburg's, I doubt he was thinking about a secondary dominant or a Picardy third resolution. It's all about what's in the mind that makes the music. One thing that helped me over the years is training my head to hear the intervals, eg, to hear a fourth, think of taps, for the sixth, NBC theme,...etc. By exercising the intervals using mental association helped my improv a lot over the decades. Discography is vital as well. sonny Rollins, Stitt, Mobley, Scott Hamilton, etc. It's like the businessman Tom Peter's said, be open to ideas, they come from everywhere. Best wishes for continued success and God Bless for helping all young enthusiasts,....From an old f**t.

Dr Wally, this is great! I tried it today and it was a lot of fun! I did feel slightly underdressed for the occasion though :)

👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽Tank you¡

Great video and explanation of what is going on in the lesson. The metronome is going to fall off that fence post one of these days...

Making my lunch. Scatting my response phrases. Ain’t life grand. I thought I was Ella there for a minute. Wait, what?

I've never done improv and have been very nervous about trying. This lesson was wonderful! Yes, I soon was playing a LOT of "could be better" lines--but I was playing them! Thank you, Dr. Wally!

Hey man I love your videos while not a sax, player I’m a trumpet player so I just use the tenor parts to practice but I think you might as well should add the C instrument notes in case any C instruments want to play along as well

I would love to find out the obvious question what mouthpiece is this?Dr Wallace is funny witty great teacher and deserves more subs

Paul desmond !

If Paul Desmond were a teenager now, he would have subscribed.

hey, what's updoc? good stuff 4 my fav hobby harp! thx

Hi, Doc. Thanks for such an amazing info. One question: what are those backing tracks? II V I s? Thanks

Wow, nice learning session, very lyrical and Desmond sound on the horn. I love this tone reminds me of my favourite Paul Desmond on the alto sax. Dr. the horn is something different dark rust or coffee colour no idea what you term it and the mpc seems to be a vintage meyer (correct me if I am wrong).

Great lesson, thanks again for sharing all the great wisdom and guidance. Also, just curious if you're still playing the WCW 56 mpc?

This is great. Any chance you could add a mp3 of you playing to the fundamentals course. Would like to load it to a program to put phrases on a loop to practice with.

Please describe the microphone, amplifier and mixer setup and settings you used for these demo's. I enjoy the sound and would like to eliminate any artificialites, or at least take them into account, when trying to match it. I realize the instrument is a major factor, second in importance only to the player, and not easy to acquire with a limited budget, which is not the same for a mouthpiece which I've already purchased both the WCW "56" and the "56 Select" pieces. I also recognize this is one year after this specific video, but it seems you're using the same amplifier/mixer setup in more recent videos as well. Am I right?

Hi Dr Wally, Thanks for another great video. Is there any chance of getting the backing track you’re using as an audio file? Thanks, Robbie

Mild mannered accountant by day, swinging Jazz cat at night?!

Hi Dr. Wally, can`t find the links to Parts 3 and 4

Great video Dr Wally ! I wanted to say that While I'm playing, I tend to use my throat and I understand that it must be avoided . I also finish a sentence with a shorter than it's ment to be. can I do anything to stop these things?

An interestig and fun approach, but If I’m playing what you are playing, am I then improvising? I appreciate your sound. It’s reminds me of my favorite saxophone player, Paul Desmond. (Personally I’m playing the tenor).

Did you get a new light or new camera or something? Looks a lot better than usual! Just like the saxophone, video production needs to be practiced! Good stuff mate

Thank you sir. Of course you start on the worst note on my horn, that middle D sounds way too high, that'll teach me to correct it. So do I try to think of the current key + color notes when responding or "just feel it" and hope the fingers will match the note I'm thinking one day?

Please. What is the easiest way or best way to remember how to play chords in each key. How do we learn those patterns. I am a guitar player and in the guitar you can use the same pattern for every note on a string but it gets more difficult with a piano for example because they are not the same on every key, and now the saxophone which even more difficult remembering every pattern. Can you please shade some light on that? Thank you

I used to only ever use a Classical S90 mouthpiece and I had the cushion on it for comfort. I just got a new V16 mouthpiece for Jazz, should I learn to play it as is or get another cushion?

Hey good stuff. Are there any other resources online to practice call and response

Hey Wally I just ate a hot dog

Doc, i see your tone is great.. reminds me of Paul Desmond or Stan Gets. So, i have a question. I noticed (as a Noob) that the reed strength (not the brand.. of course) plays a big role in tone production. Am i wrong? What is the reed strength you usually use? Must be at least 3/3,5. Just curious. Thanks a lot. Wish you all the best.

hey where did you get this backing track? is it based off a standard?

Hi Dr. Wally which microphone do you use??? I have condenser microphone but when i try to record from 4-5 feet away also it picks distorted sound... Volume levels are too high... Saxophone sound comes too distorted and doesnt looks good... Do you record it in sound proof room??? Please guide

Assume you have a video that already answers this question but, it’s Sunday and I’m too lazy to look for it; what is the brand and model of your microphone? Oh, GREAT lesson!

Where can I download the backing track? Or perhaps is this something I can re-create on iRealPro?

how your tone is so good?

40 views in 8 minutes - my average is 40 views in 8 months!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻