How to maintain your jazz repertoire.

How to maintain your jazz repertoire.

I recently attended a Q&A with Lynn Seaton, bassist, and Regents Professor from North Texas State University. My question to him was on how he maintains his repertoire when jazz gigs are no longer 6 nights a week.

His answer.

1. I have a list of memorized pieces to work from.
2. At the end of every practice session, I play a 45 minute “set” from the list by playing with play along recordings of Jamie Aebersold or iReal pro phone app.
3. I cycle through this repertoire in a methodical way, by focusing on difficult tunes, not the simple tunes. I don't waste my time.
4. I consider a tune memorized when I can write out a chord chart from memory. 

​What a great answer. After he practices, he rehearses from his list. How simple is that?  My plan is to follow his lead for a year and see what happens. I'm going to use the list below as a goal for revitalizing my repertoire on the mallets. 

Happy practicing. 


David

100 Must Know Jazz Tunes Consensus List (neffmusic.com)

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