Development and Space

There’s a sort of “default” way to develop a solo that I’m sure you’re familiar with: at the beginning, play short phrases and use lots of space; by the end, move into more complex phrases and use less space. We’ve all taken a lot of solos that sound like this, and for good reason; it’s a natural way to create an exciting contour in an improvised solo. However, it’s easy to fall into the trap of always developing your solos in this manner, and that can get stale and predictable quite quickly. Moreover, when you listen to the masters, their solos often don’t sound like this. Of course, there are examples like Wes Montgomery’s “formula,” which moves from single notes, to octaves, to chords (thus developing in this linear fashion). But just as often you’ll encounter something like a Coltrane solo, which is densely packed with content and energy from beginning to end (his 2nd solo on Chim Chim Cheree). Or, a Miles Davis solo which never really reaches any peak or valley, and just moves along at an easy pace the entire time (So What). Thelonious Monk is perhaps the greatest example of this kind of playing - I’m not sure if he ever reached a “peak” in any of his recorded solos - he just played from start to finish with the same mindset.
While there’s nothing inherently wrong with the stock method of development, there are a few common problems it can create. Oftentimes, a soloist developing in this way will not really play anything worthwhile until the second or third chorus, just kind of fluttering around with phrases that go nowhere. Playing sparsely is a real skill; it’s not so easy to play great phrases with only a few notes! In fact, it’s easier in some ways to hide behind a wall of content than it is to really expose your time and sound by playing simply. There’s a reason Miles Davis is as legendary as he is. Additionally, you can often hear the “switch” taking place in a soloist’s mind, when they decide it’s time to stop playing sparse and start really playing their stuff. My friends and I used to have a running joke in college: time for the double-time chorus! This kind of improvisation doesn’t sound natural or spontaneous, and tends to disregard the role of the rhythm section in helping to build a solo. 

The point is, the sooner you learn to abandon this stock framework, the more you’ll be able to create solos that tell more than one story, and the more mature you’ll sound as an improviser. This often involves examining your own preconceptions when it comes to the “rules” of good development. There are basically no preconceptions in this regard that are actually helpful. For example, do you always wait a certain amount of time before beginning to play double-time phrases in your solos? Or do you always play those double-time phrases at certain points in the form? Sonny Rollins certainly didn’t do this, and that’s part of why his solos were so rhythmically interesting - you never knew what you were going to get next. Or, do you always move from a lower range to a higher one as the solo develops? There is nothing wrong with doing this, but this doesn’t mean you can’t do the opposite, either.

Another one that’s important to think about is the use of space. I heard Julian Lage, in a 2021 masterclass, refer to the use of space as a “karmic lesson” - one that will have to be learned again and again throughout your musical life. I have certainly found this to be the case myself. So much of learning to play is about acquisition: learning vocabulary, understanding more complex chords and rhythms, memorizing more tunes. When so much focus is placed on doing more, knowing more, playing more, it’s natural to forget that you can do less, or do nothing, too. 

Space is often abandoned at the peaks of solos. The energy of the rhythm section is high, and as the soloist, you want to match that energy, so you use more notes to feed into the excitement of the moment. But in doing so, you forget that there’s more than one way to achieve this goal. Listen to Wayne Shorter’s solo on Masquelero, from his album Footprints Live! (2002). Some of the most intense, high-energy acoustic jazz ever recorded. But pay close attention to the way Wayne uses both space and long notes to reach the peak of his solo: as the solo develops, he actually does more of both, which in turn allows his amazing rhythm section to fill his spaces and develop with him. 

Guitar is a comping instrument as well, so it’s important to think about this idea from that perspective too. A lot of accompanists use the same “stock” development arc in their comping as they do in solos: feeling like you shouldn’t play “too much” at the beginning of a solo, to leave room to build. You always want to be cognizant of where your soloist is trying to go, but you also have to be careful not to box them into one particular way of developing. More importantly, it’s easy to lose the intensity of the groove by comping in this manner. I’m sure you’ve had the experience of being the second soloist on a song, and towards the end of the first solo the rhythm section is playing great, swinging hard and giving the soloist tons of energy. But when it comes time for your solo, all of a sudden they lose that momentum, and you’re left feeling exposed and unsupported. That is certainly something you never hear from the great rhythm sections in jazz history.

So how do you avoid this, as a comping instrument? The key is to avoid confusing volume/density with intensity. While volume and density (as in, notes per measure) might vary with the arc of the solo, intensity should never waver. Think of Kind of Blue - there are no huge peaks of energy anywhere on the record, yet the entire thing burns with a quiet intensity. That is the mindset you want to bring when playing sparsely, or with a lot of interaction. When I have had the pleasure of playing with great accompanists, there is never any question of feeling exposed or unsupported. In fact, they tend to inspire the opposite question: can I, as the soloist, hang with the energy they’re giving me right now? This tends to inspire some of my best playing.