Weekly Jazz Lick - No 1

Most of what I post here is work that I am currently studying, and want to share with the hope that it may be useful to other people. I've decided to try something regular by sharing a written 'lick' or phrase each week with an explanation.

The first is a minor ii v phrase. I chose this because it uses two phrases from Jerry Bergonzi's melodic structures (see my review). On the C-7b5 it runs up a Bb major pattern and then on the F7b9 down a B major pattern. The second pattern in B, in particular can be further used to create nice tensions on the b9 and #5.

Silent Night Reharmonized

Here is a harmonization I've done of Silent Night. I had to play it at a gig recently, and thought to make my own version. It lends itself very well to a Jazz waltz, ballad or medium tempo.

Here are just the chords in F without melody:

3/4| FMaj7 | Bbmaj7| Am7 Gm7| Fmaj7|

     |  G/B     |Bb7#11|  F/A  | Cm7 F7b9|

     |  Bbmaj7b13 Bbmaj7   |Gm7 C7|  Fmaj7  | Cm7 F7b9|

     |  Bm7b5     |E7b9| Am7 Gm7  | Fmaj7|
 
     |  Em7b5     |A7b9| *Dm7 Dm7/C  | Bm7b5 Bb7|

     | F/A     |Gm11| Fmaj7  | (Bb/C) ||


The bars with 2 chords are mostly played with two beats on the first and one on the second.

The last 6 bars marked * also work well with Dm7 | Eb7#11| F/C | Gm7/C C7sus| Fmaj7 | Bb/C ||

Sound Cloud - All the Things you are

Years ago I was reluctant to publish things to Sound Cloud and similar sites. Maybe I didn't feel things were "good" enough. Now I use it as a tool to share my work in progress, and receive feedback from people. It's a bit like a musical sketchbook or diary - putting out there things you are working on.

Here is a track from the end of yesterdays piano practice. Was pleasantly surprised and some lines came that I genuinely wasn't expecting.

https://soundcloud.com/mattav/piano-solo-on-all-the-things-you-are

29 things Micheal Brecker wants you to know - www.bobreynoldsmusic.com

Saxophonist Bob Reynolds http://bobreynoldsmusic.com/ has done us a big favour here and written a nice article on advice Micheal Brecker has given through his 1984 series of interviews at the University of North Texas. I have already posted on these youtube videos before, but this is the first time I'm seeing such a comprehensive and well written guide to the things he had said.

Bob mentions at the end - 'If you know another musician who would benefit from this please pass it along' - well, these are extremely valuable for saxophonists or any student of Jazz. Like the Sonny Rollins videos I posted recently, it is rare to see the greats talk so openly and well about their art, and the practice that goes on privately. These really are a must see.

http://bobreynoldsmusic.com/michael-brecker-on-guitars-drums-transcribing-and-dancing/

Maintaining practice when busy

One of the things I find hard is maintaining a practice routine when things get busy. Rehearsals, traveling, not to mention numerous other things that come up, can put you off track and it's sometimes hard to be focused - particularly at times when you need it most.

Here is a list of things that one can do at any time. Fifteen minutes here and there can make a big difference. Simply keeping your mind sharp and focused on the things you are working on can really help a lot.

1. Rhythmic work: This is a very important part of my work and I try to do at least 15 - 30 mins a day. It can be done anywhere and I have a book of patterns (mainly Carnatic) that I work from. I take it everywhere. You just need a metronome and something to tap on.

2. Transcriptions: I try to do both writing things down and learning things purely by ear. Of the two I find the latter more difficult yet more satisfying and beneficial for my general work in music. Writing things helps both my ear and as well as my written rhythmic vocabulary, and learning solos from memory is beneficial in a multitude of ways. With modern phones and tablets this is quite easy to do. Keep a stock of material and a nice "slowing down" app and you are good to go.

3. Visualising chords and scales: I still am slower at mentally picturing certain scales and chords so I work on seeing these "harder" scales as quick as the "easier" keys. Sometimes I also write out scales to help this, and also visualise playing them on the sax. Often on lead sheets I'm using for gigs, I'll write out certain notes above the chords to help me visualize certain scales and chords while playing.

4. Singing or humming melodic and rhythmic ideas over tunes: I use aebersolds to tryout certain rhythmical and melodic ideas. Personally, if I can't sing an idea in my head I can not play it on the sax so this is very beneficial work.

5. Listening: This influences me a lot and the more I listen, the better my musical vocabulary. I try sometimes to do a more focused listening where I will only focus on certain ideas in a piece, i.e. bass line or piano comping etc.

6. Composing: I like to compose and arrange a lot, and do have periods when I do quite a bit, but I see that if I could do a little bit each day I would go much further. Now I try to keep a book that when an idea comes, even if it's a small phrase I write it down with the hope that I may eventually use it. I also use the phone quite a lot to simply record a quickly a snippet when it comes to mind.

7. Memorising tunes: My aim here is to memorise and understand a chord structure of a tune in such a way that I can be more comfortable while soloing. The better I know a piece the more free I am, and am able to go away from fixed ideas I may have.

Jazz Fonts - Making Lead Sheets

Following yet another frustrating morning trying to make readable lead-sheets of my new compositions, I re publish this post from Saxindia regarding Jazz Fonts:

Unless you have purchased a program for notating chords this is a surprisingly difficult task. Even in word, fonts such as the 'Fakebook' type used in the old Real books seem to be closely guarded secrets or fairly expensive to buy. I've tried writing chord carts in I Real Pro too but I found that pretty unfriendly to use.

After a morning searching on the web this is what I found. I hope it makes your life easier in case you want to jot a few chords down in on a word processor.

An excellent explanation on Music Fonts by piano teacher Joy Morin:

http://colorinmypiano.com/2012/04/23/music-fonts/

The only fully usable chord font I could find found at Klarlied music. Thanks to Alan Humm.

http://klarlied-music.com/Fonts/chordsfont.html

Another good explanation on free Music fonts by Matthew Hindson. Includes a Saxophone fingering font!!:

http://hindson.com.au/info/free/free-fonts-available-for-download/

Please let me know if you find more. I will update this post as necessary.



------

This I found later by Clemens Neiderberger - Realbook fonts for the LaTex document publishing system. Works pretty well. The fonts are included in the Zip file.

https://bitbucket.org/cgnieder/realbookchords

Jeff Schneider Videos

I really like these videos. Lot's of valuable information for improvisors by saxophonist and composer Jeff Schnieder. I've already incorporated some of his licks and patterns in my daily practice routines.  I also like the way they are presented. Understandable and to the point for beginners or advancing players, with plenty of enthusiasm thrown in to get you interested in working on them right away. They are a pleasure to watch.

10 four note scales to play over D7#9

Those two tricky chords at the end of Miles Davis' 'All Blues' - D7#9 Eb7#9. If like me you have run out of ideas of what to play here, below are some simple four note ideas that might help. They are worked out from various sources, including Jerry Bergonzi's melodic structures (recently reviewed) as well as transcribed solos.

D F A B - Minor 6th scale (Mark Levine)
Bb C D F - Major pattern (Jerry Bergonzi)
C Eb F Gb - Half diminished pattern (Jerry Bergonzi)
C D Eb F - Minor idea based on Eb melodic minor
D F G Ab - Half diminished pattern (Jerry Bergonzi)
F Ab C D - Minor 6th
F G A C - Major pattern
F# G# A# C - Whole note idea based on Eb melodic minor
F F# G# A# - Major pattern  starting on the major 7th
F A C D - Major 6th

The great thing about four note patterns is that they can easily be transposed for a kind of motivic, sequential approach on the following Eb7#9 chord.

The list of this kind of devices can go on. There are many more depending on what kind of sound you want.

* I have made recordings of most of these patterns on both Sax and Piano. Anyone wishing to hear them contact me by mail and I'll send them to you.

Reharmonization of Blue Bossa

Here is a small re harmonization of Blue Bossa I did recently. I was experimenting with minor b13 chords and their sound. Feedback welcome.

https://soundcloud.com/mattav/blue-bossa-arranged-matt

 

How much is ENOUGH?

It's the question that is asked a lot. Even to myself. How many hours do I need to put in? Is this enough?

The short answer is, it's never enough. Most of us won't ever be perfectly satisfied as musicians. It's the nature of the work. There is always more we can, and would like to do.

At the end of the day it's not too difficult an equation. The more constructive hours we put into something the better we are at it. We have all heard of the 10,000 hours. If you want to be a good musician, the best part of your life should be spent doing that. You have no choice. Want to play the saxophone well? Then a good number of hours most days need to be spent playing the saxophone.

The key to this in my experience, is not necessarily pushing yourself to work more, but time management. We all have lives outside music. Families, other work, chores, relaxation time etc. Cutting those is not always the best solution. However, if we look into how we structure our days, we will find there is plenty of room for improvement. Have a look at the amount of time wasted. In this day and age there are lots of ways to be distracted and it is increasingly hard to stay focused. Not only that, simple management of  daily routine can add hours to your practice time. Looking closer at those is probably for another post.

Health is another big factor that is underestimated. Many musicians find themselves not taking proper care. Eating, drinking the wrong things and then wondering why they are unable physically to do the work they need. It's another huge topic, but simply looking after oneself can easily add to the amount of time you have to spend doing music.

Ultimately we can only do what we can do, and we should be satisfied with that. There will always be people who are better and can find the time to work harder. If you want to be accomplished in music do as much as you can, but be clever and sensible about it. There are many ways to achieve the same goal.

Why sound is really THAT important

We all know that practicing sound on the saxophone is very important. It's what identifies us as musicians, it's what speaks to the audience before we've completed a phrase or rhythm. A single note from a famous player is often enough to identify them. It's how we absorb music on a basic level. If we are uncomfortable with the sound of someone we are listening to, it's hard to identify musically with them.

Another reason sound is so important, is to do with the type of performances we find ourselves in. One day we may be playing acoustic, without amplification, the next in an auditorium of hundreds. A small club, an outdoor festival, a church, the list is endless. Add to that the different types of amplification equipment and microphones available to us, it's unlikely that two performance scenarios are the same.

Playing in diverse conditions is a big challenge. It's rare that we are totally comfortable with the set up that we have. Musicians are endlessly commenting on the "sound" of a particular gig, how it was good, bad or indifferent.

In order to be more comfortable with all this, it's very important to be able to build from the bottom up. Your individual sound has to be rock solid or you will not cope. On those days where everything goes right, all will usually be well, but how about when it doesn't? Most of us are not fortunate enough to travel with an engineer and the same equipment, so it's vital that we are able to adapt to all kinds of situations, and this is only possible if we are comfortable with our own sound first.

There are always going to be days when even that is a challenge, but working on our own sound helps to minimize these possibilities. It takes some of the variables out, and allows you to adapt much easier to difficult situations.

Shifting the Lip - Bestsaxophonewebsiteever.com

I'm posting this again because it's very useful, and people have asked me about this topic. This is a fabulous post from bestsaxophonewebsiteever.com on releasing the bottom lip while playing, in order to get a bigger sound that is not muffled by the lower lip on the reed.

As Doren Orenstein says "The lower lip should not necessarily be sticking all the way out as much as it should simply serve as a support for the mouthpiece. Ideally, the lower lip is pressing against straight up against the lower teeth." - This seems to be the biggest question here when it comes to this topic.

Watch the videos. I found the links at the bottom by Rick Hirsch extremely useful. He also talks about how much mouthpiece to be using also.

Lots of great stuff.

IReal Pro - useful tips

As I had mentioned in my review 'I Real Pro' is a gem of an app and a great tool for traveling musicians. Use it on your phone or tablet and you've got a practice/play along device any time you need.

Here are a few not so obvious features that some may not have discovered:

1 - You can loop certain parts of the song you are working on by holding down on a particular chord, then long pressing again on the last chord you want to loop to. You can also simply hold down on a chord to start at that point.

2 - If you play sax in Bb or Eb you can have the chart transposed but still have the play along in the original key. Very useful.

3 - Some styles sound better than others. For swing use the Jazz Guitar. For some reason it embellishes more chords and sounds a lot nicer than the piano. A Jazz trio style is there. For Bossa Novas the Nylon guitar is quite ok too. For Pop and Rock, experiment till you find something good. Some combinations are very reasonable.

4 - You can export the file as a WAV and then edit it. I found exporting it and even playing it through a good media player sounded quite a lot nicer than the original. This was especially true for drums which came to life a bit more with a bit of EQ.

5 - There is a mixer option. Experiment with volumes and you can get your tracks sounding much nicer. Sometimes turning off the drums completely is quite effective. A reverb is there. It's not great but can help getting a better sound. 

6 - Look at the tutorials on the app! They are actually quite useful!

More on Melodic Structures - Critical Listening

Having praised Jerry Bergonzi's book on Melodic Structures I should add one important caveat. Learning the language of Jazz will not happen with this book alone. Listening is very important.

As I said before, the book is a good stepping stone to improvisations well beyond the boundaries of the method described, but nothing can really be achieved unless the student has immersed himself in the language he is trying to learn.

Rhythm, phrasing, stylistic interpretations are all extremely important in a method that is quite theoretical. The exercises in the book could be played by a machine, and not sound like jazz at all, but in the hands of someone that understands and has adsorbed the language it's the perfect tool.

I really like this quote from Bob Anram "...one's style and the way one ultimately thinks through the horn are significantly defined by the various artists one chooses to embrace and the relative ratio of time spent listening to each artist." Have a read of the full article on Sax on the Web, it's a fascinating read that takes this point further.

 http://www.saxontheweb.net/Jazz/BobAnram3.html

Melodic Structures by Jerry Bergonzi - A Review

Even for an experienced improviser, certain chord progressions and tonalities can appear daunting. For the beginner, working through a set of changes can offer so many choices of notes and scales, that is hard to know where to start.

This is where Jerry Bergonzi's book, Melodic Structures aims to help. It goes straight to the point and takes out a lot of the variables that can take a long time to go through. Each chord can be pruned down to four notes only, and with permutations, those notes used as a springboard for your improvisations.

Those who are sceptical of such an approach only have to listen to Jerry and his colleagues demonstrate it on the CD and the pin will drop. I was quite surprised. In some cases if I hadn't been told what was being played I wouldn't have noticed what techniques were being employed. It's very musical.

So how does it work?

Major chords are constructed of the tones 1 2 3 and 5. Minor chords 1 b3 4 and 5. Half diminished 1 b3 4 and b5 and b9 Chords 1 b2 3 and 5.

Simple mathematics shows us that there should be 24 permutations of each pattern and with a bit of practice one can start combining the different variations into quite creative solos.

The book is well worth buying for detailed explanations of the method, and the description of further techniques - actually I'd go so far in saying that if you only but one jazz book buy this. Books such as Mark Levine's Piano and Theory books are other excellent books, but I'm yet to come across something that gets improvisers working more efficiently on material than this.

Even for experienced players this is a method that can change your outlook on soloing. The book is not meant to restrict you to a limited number of notes but to act as a launchpad to a much larger pool of tonalities. It's worth a try simply to see we where it takes you. Furthermore if you are someone struggling with playing certain chords in certain keys this is definitely for you. By eliminating alot of variables it gets you practicing faster what you really need to.

Practicing Slowly - When you havn't much time

A lot has been written on this subject on the internet by excellent writers and knowledgeable teachers of music, but I felt I had to post something on this subject because it is so important. In fact I would say that if there was one thing I would recommend to any student this would be it. If you want to become better faster - even in a short space of time - practice slowly.

Some weeks ago I was practicing the piano for a concert in which I had to play tunes at a faster tempo than I'm usually able to handle. In the short space of time I had, there wasn't a lot of hope for me to achieve the desired technique, but with several concentrated sessions of slow practice, I was at least able to get to a point where I was relaxed while playing at these faster speeds. I may not having been ripping around all over the piano, but I could play, and I was playing comfortable solos within my limitations. The results were undeniably better than the fumbling, tense improvisations of my previous attempts.

When you are short on time the natural thing to do when you need to improvise on a fast tune would be to crank up the metronome and hope by brute force you'd hit the mark. But does it work? I don't think so. The best you can hope for using this technique are very short term results. Try playing the same solo a few days later and most probably you are back to where you started.

So what happened when I gave those hours to slowly building up the tempo? Starting at a cool medium pace and notching the metronome up every 15 minutes or so. Suddenly everything was different. I was relaxed, I could see the notes in front of me, I was aware, conscious of the movement of my fingers, my brain had time to make musical decisions, my brain had time to cope with those unexpected twists and lines that come when you improvise, I was rhythmically solid, and I was enjoying the moment... I was making good music!

And when I came back several days later and had to play the same solo again cold? Well... it was ok. It took me time to reach where I was, but I know that it was a lot better than if I had done all that practice at speed. I wasn't starting afresh each time I reached the piano. Body and mind knew it was going in the right direction and with a couple more similar sessions I probably would hit that mark.

How much do we know about the standards we play?

How much do we know about the standards we play? I grew up at the time when the "holy" real book was the only thing you thought you really needed. Find a dodgy music shop with this mysterious hand written book of charts, and you were off. You knew every tune you ever needed. Get together with a bunch of like minded friends and the only question was how to find the first gig.

Twenty years on, that same trusty book is ragged and tattered. It's seen hundreds of gigs and rehearsals and it's served me well. Maybe by now I don't even have to take it around with me, as a lot of the tunes are ingrained in my memory. What a fabulous tool this has been.

So how many of these 600 odd tunes do I really know well?

The honest answer is hardly any. Yes, I can play a number of them. At one point or other I may have even played most of the book. Some are even recorded. But do I really know them? The truth is no.

I've known this for a long time. Admittedly the gigs in which I have to play these tunes now, are very few and far between but this is not an excuse. How can something that I thought so useful as a teenager really be quite the opposite? Not only that, it is well known that the original Real book is full of mistakes that I certainly wasn't aware of or bother to check years ago.

I definitely did something wrong.

The clincher came when I read this article about Blue Bossa by Rachel Bronstein on Don Sickler's website.  http://www.donsickler.com/blue-bossa-what-you-dont-know/ It reminded me of something I was telling myself for a long time. Every song, tune, composition has a story behind it. In order to do it justice, to play it well, we must surely really know these things. This wonderful article illustrates just how far I was from this, and how sad it is that even the most famous of standards, I know almost nothing about.








 

Practicing in different keys

Sadly it's not everyday that I get the time to work out tunes that I'm practicing in different keys - let alone all of them.

Having said that, I see that the benefit of working on a tune in at least a couple of other keys is enormous. 

The first thing for me is that if you practice say 'Autumn Leaves' in Am, as well as Gm then you are simply going to play it differently in the new key. You will play licks and patterns in Am you won't naturally play in Gm. If you then take the time to observe these ideas and then work them back in the original key, it gives you a huge amount of new material. 

Add to that a few more 'difficult' keys, then you really have a good thing. Practicing phrases in the keys you can naturally play them is one thing but in the harder tonality, you probably don't play them as well. Any practice here will help a lot. 

With the piano, when you comp the same standard in different keys, it adds a wealth of depth to the colours you can use. Sometimes you use a different voicing in a higher or lower key that you wouldn't of thought of in the original key - but still sounds nice if it's used. 

One can also try using the transpose function on the piano/keyboard. Comp the tune sounding in the same pitch, but play it in a different key. This allows your ear to discover new voicings that you might like to incorporate in the original key. 

This I do quite often. Back to Autumn leaves, I'll transpose the piano down two semi tones and then comp the tune up two semi tones. I.e you play in Am but the piano sounds in Gm - the original key you were working on. It leads to amazing results. As soon as you hit a chord that is different you will hear it. It can really add a new dimension to your comping.

I Real Pro - A review

Most users of modern devices have probably come across this app by now. It's like the old real book that you used to be able to buy under the counter - but way better.

Not only do you have literally thousands of charts available online, they can be downloaded in an instant, saved for offline use on the road. Furthermore they can be transposed and used as a practice tool BIAB (Band in a Box) style. 

So what's good and what's not?

The plus:

- thousands of charts in all styles available through the forum. Blues, Pop and Rock becoming more available as more people use. 

- when you are in time trouble and need charts fast there is nothing better. 

- transposing is very easy. 

- the app can act as a traveling play-along tool. 

- easy to create playlists for gigs. Have all your songs in one place.

-the app can be used on your phone as well as tablet.

-sharing tunes and set lists with others is very easy. 

The minus:

- many of the charts are wrong. Time saved transcribing is lost correcting errors. This is not the fault of the app. You rely on work done by others, and naturally there will be mistakes. 

- as yet, the play along feature is weak. If you enjoy practicing with such things, BIAB is much better. There are lots of styles to choose from, but it's a little stiff and the harmonies no where near as advanced as other play along programs. I'm already not really a fan of BIAB, but this is even less enjoyable to play along to.

- melodies are not shown in the score. This is a big disadvantage for me. Especially when it's a new tune, the melody is really needed. 

- click back on an Android tablet and it exits! Hard to get used to that. 

- you spend less time getting better at transcribing songs!!

On the whole this is a superb application.  It has already saved me countless hours and I love having all my charts in one place. Furthermore it's updated regularly so I can only see it getting better. I hope that sometime there will be the possibility to see the melody on the chart but for now this is a wonderful tool. 

Applying scales to tunes - restricted Improvisation

If you start to go a little deeper into your practice of a certain tune or standard you will always notice points in the tune in which you are not as comfortable. Some places it flows, and others your resource of ideas or licks become limited and you may even resort to just relying on your ear on occasions.

One way to overcome this (once you have a certain grip on a tune - i.e,  familiar with which scales you want to play over which chords -) is to set yourself the challenge of a restricted improvisation or an improvisation that has certain set limits.

When I say restricted, for example I decide at the beginning of a particular exercise that I am only going to start the phrases of my improvisation on a certain note. For example. If I am practicing 'Stella by Starlight' because i would like to tackle melodic minor phrases over -7b5 and alt chords I will start a session deciding that on those chords or scales I will start each phrase on the 3rd degree of the scale.

Once I'm comfortable with that I'll pick another.  - And so on till over time you have covered all of them.

What this does I have noticed is twofold. First it allows you to memorize much better the notes of each scale and secondly it forces you to make phrases that do not always start on the note you desire. This is very useful for improvising, since you don't always land or start a phrase on the note that you decide upon!

I haven't tried this yet but I'm sure it would work rhythmically too. Pick a particular rhythmic phrase and apply it to each set of chords. It would lead to interesting results.

Getting the most out of practice

First off - I'm not the best at practice. I'd like to be, but sadly it's not something I'm good at. However, what I do have to offer is years of experience in getting the best out of the time I do have to practice. Some things have worked for me, others not. Alot of these ideas are work in progress and maybe will change over time. I'm happy to receive feedback or edit this post at a later point.

1.  Be free from distractions. This is the number one killer of concentrated work. Even if you are only able to work ten minutes a day, do those ten minutes fully focused. Switch off all gadgets and other things that are likely to disturb you. Likewise make sure you have a place where others do not disturb your time and energy.
2. Have patience. Practice takes practice. Yes, the greats all worked huge amounts of hours but it's not going to happen over night. Build it up. It can take years for your level of concentration and interest to be sufficient to work those long hours you would like to.
3. Start early in the day. If possible schedule time first thing when you are fresh and the mind is rested and ready to work. We all know that the day can go anywhere from there, and the earliest part of the day is the most likely point when work will get done at it's best. Work can happen at night too - but try to keep the more concentrated things for earlier on.
4. Plan your practice. Another big time killer is unplanned work. You've woken up early, you are fresh and... you are not sure what you should be working on, and already half an hour has passed. Keep notes and a diary of everything you do so that it's clear where to start off. Especially if you have breaks from practice during the week for other things, this is very important. 
5. Vary your practice routine. Sometimes working on one particular thing for long periods can kill some of the enthusiasm for work. A change is as good as a rest as they say. Once those scales are done, move on to something else. It's surprising how often this can extend your concentration levels.
6. Take breaks. It's been said many times before but this helps alot. When concentration starts to lapse, take a break. Be careful though! Picking up the phone or switching on the laptop is not a good idea. It will fill your mind with other things and won't be restful. Have a drink, take a walk. Anything quiet that rests the mind. You will be surprised also during that silence how much of the work you were previously doing is being assimilated. This in itself can be a topic for another post.

That's probably enough for now. I'll share more tips later on. There are plenty more.

How to play better gigs - Really!

If there was a single piece of advice I could give young people starting out in this line of work, it would be this: LEARN THE PIECES.

It is amazing really how often this is overlooked. Time and time again, (myself included), have looked at those bad shows and said 'what happened'?

Ninety percent of the time the answer is simple. 'I didn't know the pieces well enough and it lead to mistakes'

It is obvious when you think about it, but I would say it's the number one cause of bad shows. Whether it's because of lack of time, or laziness,  overconfidence or something else it is what contributes mainly to mistakes.

That said, if we want to get ahead in music, especially if you work in a lot of different music situations, this is the way you can get ahead of a lot of people regardless of your level. We have all been in shows where you've been playing along side technically superior musicians, but when they don't know the material, who has the better result?

It's not easy to do. It takes time and energy, and I'm sure we all feel it's taking precious hours away from our scales and technical studies. Still, the message is clear to me, and I've had my fingers burned many times and probably not for the last time!

LEARN THE PIECES