Well done....I remember a clinic with Ed Shaughnessy many years ago. In a manner, he demonstrated a bit of what you wrote about. He summed it up saying "Never underestimate the power of 8th notes. "
You don't mention tempo, but it was a big eye-opener for me when I figured out (after a clinic with the great Claudio Roditi, who was chastising us to play Brazilian 8th notes EVEN) that if you're practicing a line (with a metronome for example) that you hope to eventually play fast, it's imperative NOT to swing it when you're practicing it slowly, because by the time you get it up to tempo it will be a jumbled mess. I started practicing them rhythmically even, and letting the swing come from the (usually upbeat) accents and articulation, and everything got easier. (It is weird to me how even with students who've listened to jazz for years, if I ask them to play a line they'll still start with that cartoonish triplety swing feel, like they've been brainwashed by that little shorthand in the upper left corner of junior high big band charts.)
Well done....I remember a clinic with Ed Shaughnessy many years ago. In a manner, he demonstrated a bit of what you wrote about. He summed it up saying "Never underestimate the power of 8th notes. "
You don't mention tempo, but it was a big eye-opener for me when I figured out (after a clinic with the great Claudio Roditi, who was chastising us to play Brazilian 8th notes EVEN) that if you're practicing a line (with a metronome for example) that you hope to eventually play fast, it's imperative NOT to swing it when you're practicing it slowly, because by the time you get it up to tempo it will be a jumbled mess. I started practicing them rhythmically even, and letting the swing come from the (usually upbeat) accents and articulation, and everything got easier. (It is weird to me how even with students who've listened to jazz for years, if I ask them to play a line they'll still start with that cartoonish triplety swing feel, like they've been brainwashed by that little shorthand in the upper left corner of junior high big band charts.)