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I've been practicing a lot lately and listening to jazz for the first time in my life. I attempted something tonight. I didn't work at the recording and mixing. It's all just really quickly improvised. All the instruments are the Vienna Symphony Library (special edition) except for the HH sound which is from the Halion One Player.
That part could use more work. After I turned off the metronome which was playing a 16th note pattern, I realized that I needed something to keep the time going. The "train sound" as my drummer friend calls it.

It is cool. How does it sound without the "train sound"? To me it sounds more like a clock ticking. Isn't the tempo a little bit too fast for jazz? I don't know much about jazz.

I don't know either. Maybe it's not jazz.

I like the tonal vibe you're setting up, Braincell - somehow reminded me of Eric Dolphy's excellent "Out To Lunch" album.

The rhythm is straight, though. Did you quantise it? That would probably disqualify it from the jazz genre. Even anti-jazz, in a way

Well done, it's a cool composition.

And any tempo is a jazz tempo, Bing - comes in many blinding speeds!

I've been watching Eric Dolphy on Google videos lately. When he was leaving the Charles Mingus Sextet, Mingus wrote a song "So Long Eric". Eric Dolphy died suddenly in a diabetic coma the same year as the video of him playing "So Long Eric". He was engaged to be married that year too .

I did quantize it, my habit I guess. I wish that Cubase had a swing time setting like Reason does. I know that there is a swing function in the quantize section but it never seems to sound right to me no matter how I set it. In Reason you set swing on or off and there is a lever for amount and it sounds just right.

I have always had bad timing. I noticed some of the famous players had not so perfect timing. I hate that about myself.

I like it so far - keep it up.
At about the 1 minute mark it reminded me a bit of ELP and Trilogy.

it doesn't sound like conventional jazz to me.. other than the bass doing quarter notes.. Maybe it's just me, but I can't read a progression off this.

If you're going for a contemporary jazz sound, the approach is to use rootless progressions, chord substitutions, and also moving the right hand around in different (even clashing) keys. But, it's common to stay at a specific mode of dissonance for a little while to make the statement, and then switching to a different method. The differentiation in this tune isn't quite as clear to me. I can hear the you have dissonance going on, but it doesn't seem to be a result of a process. I think an important part of dissonant soloing is to keep the left hand somewhat close to the original progression, or give it enough structure so that it creates a frame for everything else. Otherwise, the bass could help out a bit more. The bass seems to be in its own world as it is.

And about swing, ya, definitely required for jazz I think, unless it's a latin thing, which this definitely isn't. This song's fast, so I'm not sure if you'd swing it all the way, but a slight swing, and also swing based intonation of the piano would probably give it a more jazz like dynamic. There's nothing wrong with it the way it is, but a swing based alternating (strong-weak, or weak-strong) will give it the signature sound. Or perhaps you were avoiding the familiarity.

Overall, I think it's just a matter of balance between chaos and law. I would imply a little more law, but have chaos live on top of it.

The beauty of dissonance is it's resolution.

The more you record the more sense it will make.

Keep It Up.

My approach is to lay down a bunch of random stuff and then later go back and fix it but that would be just as much work as doing it right the first time.

It's difficult to hear your own music sometimes and have an objective view on it.

Do not be discouraged, you're on the right track.

Google for a recording of Julius Hemphill and see what you think.

That is called Jazz, but some say Avant Garde.

Weather Report was notorius for pressure and release styles where dissonance resolved for a short while giving the feeling of promise.

Just listen to as many artists as you can.

My favorite experimental artist was Miles Davis, ala Amandla, Bitches Brew.

Phenominal stuff.

Hey thanks! Another friend who is a producer/engineer said that.


Kensuguro, in the jazz musician community we refer to the "quarter note bass line" as a "walking bass".