The Most Misunderstood and Misplayed Jazz Blues | Howard Levy Harmonica | Miles Davis All Blues 

Flecktones at The Peace Center in the '90s & Howard as special guest at Newberry Jazz Festival where my Son was competing on trumpet with his Junior High School's jazz band in in like 2008 or maybe 2009 were 2 of the most amazing shows EVER & I've seen PLENTY. I THOUGHT that I'd been playing harmonica well for several years until witnessing Howard accompany himself on piano while playing Amazing Grace. Outstanding. Watched with my Son's director in the chapel where some older kid in the State band played some JUST incredible trombone. My Son at his very 1st Newberry trip would win the first of his solo awards that week What a great GREAT time that I'll never forget. Elliot Rawls retired this year but only after inspiring my Son who is now a director himself & a multi instrumentalist. We speak of that first time in Newberry & Howard often. Mr. Levy is a national treasure and RU-vid came along JUST in time to capture his genius & enthusiasm for music....and All Blues...nice choice.

I stumbled on this, got sucked in by your playing and then mesmerized by your explantation. I learned more in this video about modes, than any other source in my life. I've been playing guitar for over 30 years and this really clicked in place for me. thank you.

That Bb harp sounded amazing.

Honestly I get weird looks when I stay on G in that section. It depends who I’m playing with if I play it or not. I know what’s correct but you have to keep everyone happy sometimes.

The reason why most jazz musicians play a C7 is because those are the changes in the Real Book to this very day, and it works. As pertaining to this video, "right" means playing it like the original recording, and "wrong" means not playing it like the original recording. That begs the question: is it imperative that one performs a song like the original recording in order to be correctly or authentically playing jazz? Having said that, I think it's really cool for Howard to point this out. Not playing the IV chord is a nuance that is lost amongst most jazz players. The reason why nuance is lost is because there are scant opportunities for the average working class musician to make money playing jazz live. Reading out of the Real Book is pragmatic and practical to getting through a 3 hour gig. Everybody knows that "serious" Jazz musicians say "throw away your real books", and "listen to the original recordings". I agree that is great advice because Jazz Standards have been covered so much over the decades that the changes drift far from the original changes, which confuse beginners. Listening to the original recordings gives context and perspective. What happens to music and songs is similar to how the lexicon changes over time through generations. The Girl From Ipanema is arguably the most recognized "jazz" song. The original is in Db with Astrud Gilberto singing it. The Real Book version is in F (Jobim's versions with Frank Sinatra and Andy Williams are both in F). But Jobim also played it in D with Joao Gilberto. Jobim recorded so many versions of the song that he reharmonized chords and created different intros/outros/transitions. Which version is "right"? Idk. Astrud probably just liked the key of Db for her voice. Should we have to play "Girl From Ipanema" in Db in order to be "right" because that's the original recording? idk. Maybe. I honestly think Hal Leonard has done a great job, and just by making the Real Book legal and widely available, the Real Book is the main thing keeping jazz from totally dying out. Keeping all this in mind, I'd argue that at this point in history, the Real Book versions of tunes work well, are well written, and have become the standard changes. So the "standard" key of Girl from Ipanema is F. Because it's in the book, and everybody learns from the book. Is that "right", "wrong"? idk. At the same time, I've learned a heck of a lot by listening to all the different arrangements in different keys of Girl from Ipanema. Which version is "right"? idk. The next time I go to a jazz jam session and someone calls All Blues, if I ask them to not go to C7, an argument will probably occur, and we'll end up just playing C7 because it works and people have played it that way for years. Conversely, if the bass player is cool/hip and we play it like the recording, some other musician will inevitably come up to us and tell us that we're "supposed" to play a C7 there. In the end, pragmatically speaking, the C7 is likely there to stay for all time whether we like it or not, because it's written that way in the Real Book. Whether we like it or not, the vast majority of musicians learn by referring to sheet music, rather than listening to original recordings. The Hal Leonard Real Book is serving a great purpose by keeping Jazz from completely dying by making jazz accessible to those who want to learn jazz, and most likely will not get much opportunity to perform jazz in a live setting with an audience. When those scant opportunities arise, everybody pragmatically will bust out the Real Book to get through the performance. Hopefully someday the economy will boom again to the point where the majority of people have more expendable time and money to enjoy personal hobbies and interests. It's likely then that music and the arts will thrive again, and nuance will return. One can only hope! In summary, thank you for pointing out this nuance Howard and allowing me to post this long comment. lol.

Not only are you great at explaining and share important insights - your harp solos knocked me off my socks. I have never heard anything like that on diatonic harps until now, and I absolutely love it.

Danke!

Mr. Levy you are a musician's musician, you bring such depth and nuance in every subject you turn your sights on, every video you make is a masterclass of the highest caliber, we are lucky to have you.

Thanks Howard. 👍🎺

Thanks for the wisdom. So much to learn here. :)

The other thing people almost always miss, is the ( 4, 8, ) bars of vamp after each head. A wonderful opportunity for a dynamic build and stop to nothing but the bass. The live recording of Herbie, Ron, Tony, Wayne, Wallace R. ( A Tribute to Miles ) exemplifies this brilliantly.

Oh God, the great & simple explanation, thank you so much! ❤🎉

Howard, I could listen to you for hours! Love the way you explain things!

I really love this historical approach to teaching! Bravo!!!!

Try to explain this at a “Blues Jam” 😂. I’ve never taken formal music lessons but I’ve always heard it exactly as this kind gentleman explains it, Peace ✌️

This is the coolest thing I've ever seen

Thank you for the brutal honesty! It is very hard to learn how to play modal music but we need to learn closely how and what was played on the monumental album. It was clear explanations and fabulous play.

Love these

Wow! I am inspired! Thank you.

For the love of music. Thank you.

Howard, if I'm not mistaken I saw you in the '80s in a club in Mpls with Paquita Rivera's group. You played piano but also did one tune on harmonica. I was knocked out. Your videos are primo.

Thank you!

Wirklich absolut fantastisch... Greatings from germany Uli

it sound stranger when we're used to play chromatic... nice video🎉

Thankyou Howard …Gold !! I’d fly from Australia to go to your school if you had one

Also, Trane and Cannon play the 2nd and 4th note of the backing staccato, but play legato for the 5th/6th bars (in 6/4)

Thank you for breaking this down. Genius minimalism, elegance and sublime musicalilty.

Incredible!! ❤

Well... time to come hear you live again! Last time was with the Flecktones a while back.

Loved the explanation, Howard! Makes me want to practice more.

Well… what you say it’s obviously true, but to me going to the IV is not an “error”, it’s just another sound, more banal for sure. However you can play the same things improvising, so… Great harp playing by the way 👍

Wow sound real good in Bb. I'll try it in that key. Thank you.

Thanks. ❤

Great Tks

Thanks for jamming for us! Mad musical knowledge and feel! Youre the best

I love learning the details that make the legendary recordings so great. For years I used to put together educational concerts paying tribute to great jazz artists, musical eras, jazz labels etc. I wanted the music to be accurate so I’d dig into evergreens like All Blues and discover SO many beautiful details in the originals that had been largely forgotten or disregarded over the years. When those details are reinserted the songs come back alive! This is actually the second lesson I’ve received from Mr Levy. The first was during a set break when he was playing with Pacquito D’Rivera at the Caravan of Dreams in Ft Worth in 1984(?). I’ll never forget how enthusiastic and generous he was to this young sax player! Thank you so much Howard!

Inspiring and illuminating, Mr. Levy! You’ve refreshed our appreciation of this classic! Great performances to boot! 🎉🎶

Great video Howard....The tune sounds much more hip without the true iv chord!...Literally everyone is getting this wrong!

Love that, thanks! I was playing it wrong of course 😂 Ps. Thanks for mentioning that it's real hard in 2nd position. I mean, i know it was hard, but now I know it's your level of hard

Clearly, accurately and beautifully stated and demonstrated--thanks, Howard, for putting this info out. It will serve developing players very well!

I'm not sure why, but your demo struck me as rather Vince Gueraldi. Nice 👌

Astouding performance. Thank you for this complete, free youtube lesson, it's very generous of you sir. One question: during the turnaround, on the D7 #9 and the Eb 7 #9 chords, were you thinking the melodic minor scale a half tone above (Eb minor, F minor)?

another thing people mess up is that there's an interlude between every solo

Wow

Yeah Howard! Good to see you. I played with you and Ben Sidran and I bought your alto sax on the spot. Bob R.

Ok, I’m changing my tune.

Absolutely priceless so many wrong things in the classical jam session Always thought that the it was a 4th minor Thanks for educating us so nicely 😜

melodymaker tuning on both keys even less bendings=more fun, hah❤

Going to go home and play it and check all my fake books to see if they have been lying to me all these years. 🤣

I don’t know anything about the harmonica, but the Bb harp sounded sweeter than the C harp. Why is that?

So can we say the first two chords are I and IV in C major? Since G mixolydian and G Dorian are C and F major?

i'm confused, where i come from the turnaround is bars 11 and 12.

Oh come on man! There is definetively a 4th cord involved. It‘s a Blues progression for God‘s sake! And then … who cares if you see it as a minor 7 or a 4th? It‘s the same family and you will play the same stuff over it! In Jazz Music you can do so many things … it’s the beauty of it! There is no „Right“ or „Wrong“ !! - Peace