IMPROVISATION:

When I think of Improvisation, I think of instrumental music. Jazz is built on improvisation as sax, trumpet, guitar, bass and piano take the skeleton of a melody and chord progression and let their imagination flow freely. I love jazz, for that reason. And then, I think of someone like Jimmi Hendrix, who could build astonishing cascades of melody, all somehow related to the basic melody of the song.

Bluegrass band members take turns stepping up to the mike and strutting their stuff, improvising on the melody and stepping in and out with the precision of olympic gymnasts.

But, what about vocal improvisation? Ella Fitzgerald and a handful of others could scat sing with all the freedom and imagination of the finest jazz musicians. Blues singers, when they aren't confined to the time restraints of making a record, can stretch a song out for a long time, and within the comfortable framework of the blues, can sing lines as they come to them.

When it comes to gospel, the division between black and white gospel is plain to see. When I first joined an all black male chorus, I felt very intimidated about the prospect of singing a lead and having to improvise. Me being white, and all. I really didn't think that I could ever do it. But the Chorus Director has an uncanny ability to know what each member of the chorus is capable of doing. He'll try to get people to stretch, but he never pushes them beyond what they can do. The first two or three leads he gave me were very straightforward.. step out in front of the chorus, sing three or four verses, and lead the chorus into the choruses. When the Director knew I was capable of singing a lead where I'd have to improvise, he gave me a song that required it. I had talked to him when I joined the Chorus about improvising, expressing my reservations, and he said that only a few of the men in the chorus could do it. (and here I thought it was genetic.) When he gave me a song where I had to improvise... and lead the chorus with my electric guitar (which no one had ever done before) I was very doubtful. But, darned if I wasn't able to do it! In the process, I learned about improvising. I've kidded around that improvising takes a lot of practice. That sounds like a contradiction in terms. Singers who improvise (like jazz musicians) carry around a whole bag of phrases... words, melodies, chord progressions. When they improvise, they pull the lines out of their bag and slide them in to the song effortlessly. The work is mostly in filling your bag.

In black gospel, you fill your bag with lines like:

   The Jordan river is chilly and cold
   It chills the body but not the soul

   He's a doctor in the sick room
   He's a lawyer in a courtroom

   He's the bright and morning star
   He's a wheel in a wheel

There are a thousand lines like that, that you can slip into a song when you're improvising.

Then, there are all the "relative" lines.. the "Oh, Father," or "Oh, Mother" lines.''

There are lines like:

   You got trouble in your home?
   You say your children won't do right?
   You say your Husband won't do right?

And on and on, each line interspersed with the harmonies repeating a short phrase, like "Jesus He will fix it" to the trouble in your home lines.

When you're singing a lead, and the Spirit is with you, and the church is on it's feet swaying and clapping in rhythm, there's nothing can stop you. You can build to a fever pitch and get people up dancing in the aisles. And then sometimes, new lines just naturally flow... little snippets from songs lodged deep in your brain, or lines that keep building on the same idea. It is a powerful experience.

Now, Richie, if you're starting to build that into bluegrass gospel, you'll feel the power flowing through you, as the lines keep building. And that will be one of the rare times when white gospel builds on improvisation.

One last comment. A jazz guitar hero of mine once told me, when I commented that a long phrase in an improvisation was the same one I'd heard the guitarist do twenty years ago... note for note,

" A musician's style is the summation of his limitations."

If you ever find yourself in a position where you can improvise against a backing group, be sure to fill you bag first.

Jerry