As the director of The Jazz Workshop, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about a jazz improviser’s “hierarchy of needs”. This is an idea that I’m borrowing from the psychologist Abraham Maslow, who was most famous for proposing the idea that humans have the following needs in the following order:
Physiological needs — Safety needs — Love and Belonging — Esteem — and finally, Self Actualization.
This has always resonated with me.
What about jazz improvisers? If one were to put together a chart like this to address what one needs as a jazz improviser, what would the areas be, and in what order?
After thinking about this for years, I think I’m finally ready to put out version 1.0.These ideas are not set in stone for me yet, but this is the order that I currently think makes the most sense. (This is open for debate, and indeed I hope to stir some of that here by putting these ideas forward.)
So with no further ado, here is “A Jazz Improviser’s Hierarchy of Needs”.
1) FORM
Learning about form and keeping the form is step one for any soloist. The moment you lose the form, your solo loses all meaning. Learning to keep a solid grip on form, by using your ear, and learning to hear and feel two, four and eight bar phrases forms the foundation for all of our improvisations.
(Clearly, there are some improvisations that happen in a context where form is not present. I guess this wouldn’t apply there, but I would say that even if you’re playing free, I’d far rather hear someone who could keep the form than someone who couldn’t.)
2) TIME FEEL
Your time feel is the delivery system for all of your ideas. A good musical idea executed in bad time becomes a bad idea. Additionally, all music happens in time — its not like a painting that can be enjoyed as a static entity. Your time feel is what makes your improvisation compelling. Even if you play out of time, knowing how to play in time can inform your playing.
3) LINE STRENGTH / QUALITY
This means being able to construct a musical line that in some way adheres to generally accepted principles of line construction throughout history, from Bach to the Beatles, from Louis Armstrong to Joe Henderson, from “Mary Had a Little Lamb” to “Giant Steps”. It means knowing how to construct a line, whether simple or complex, that has “quality”. Attempts to quantify and codify what makes a strong line strong are interesting, but you can also learn these principles from listening to great music.
4) UNDERSTANDING OF THE HARMONY OF THE TUNE
This does NOT refer to an academic understanding of the harmony, but rather having internalized a given chord progression and being able to accurately “hear” the tonality of the moment without having to use your intellect to do it. It means also being able to anticipate the sound of the next chord that’s approaching. It means being able to make informed choices and to understand how those choices will work over the given harmony. The ultimate understanding of this comes when one can improvise over a given tune with no accompaniment whatsoever and no chart, while still “hearing” the sound of the harmony in their head.
It does not mean being able to write an analysis of the harmony of a given tune. It is possible to internalize all of the theory in the world and still be a poor improviser.
5) CREATIVITY
This means the ability to have ideas that are at least somewhat your own, and reflect your unique way of seeing the world and your particular musical preferences. It may seem odd that this would be so far up the list — I suppose many people might see this as the first rung of the ladder. But I think its actually pretty far up. To start to have original ideas, to sound like yourself, one has to work at this for a long time — most of us, anyway.
6) HOW YOU BELIEVE IN WHAT YOU’RE PLAYING
This, to me, is the big one, and something that can’t be faked. No improvisation can be truly great unless the person playing it really believes in what they’re playing. I think this has as much to do with loving and accepting yourself as it does with mastering your instrument or the music. To get to the point where you really believe in everything you play is, I think, the highest goal of the jazz improviser.
I hope this will give you some things to think about as you continue on your jazz journey. Write me at paul@thejazzworkshop.net if you want to discuss any of these ideas further.