Brigas Nunca Mais is another one of those fantastic Jobim tunes. There is something about a Brazilian feel that really gets my creative juices flowing.
I pretty much "color within the lines" during the two solo choruses I take on this piece and have provided an enhanced Midi keyboard view which should allow you to visualize and analyze my playing. There is really no mystery to the way I construct my improvisations. I try to think in phrases, using the melody as a starting point, the rhythm as a creative stimulus and the chord tones as my boundary markers. One thing I have tried differently in this piece is to utilize guide tones in my left hand during some of the chording. Also, since the rhythm is so vitally important in this genre of music, I encompass this into my solo with syncopation and chording as at the start of the second solo chorus.
Other devices of note:
1. Use of left hand playing on the 'and' of the beats during the first few measures of the melody
2. Use of F minor pentatonic scale played over a F#Maj7#11
3. What goes up must come down - my phrasing tends to loosely follow this law of physics
Thanks to all the great people and musicians on YouTube who continue to inspire and create. Someday maybe "Brigas Nunca Mais"
Technical and Production Notes:
The bass and drums backing track was created using Band-in-a-Box by PGMusic. Their products are excellent and I highly recommend them. The Roland FP-4 keyboard is being recorded direct to hard disk through an M-Audio 1010LT PCI card. The video is captured direct to hard disk and the MIDI keyboard added using another PGMusic product PowerTracks Pro Audio. The audio and video tracks are combined using Adobe Premiere Elements.
Tags: Jazz Piano improvisation trio bass drums Roland FP-4 Samba Jobim brazil brazilian Latin Roger Friedman
