I am dedicating this site to the memory of Don Raffell, a great musician and teacher. This site will cover the art of jazz improvisation. I intend to discuss some of the concepts of improvising jazz that you will probably not find in schools or books. I will be posting down to earth and practical methods that will improve your understanding of jazz and improvisation as taught by Don Raffell who was one of the top private teachers in Los Angeles. Don Raffell not only taught but was a first call studio musician in Los Angeles and played in many of the most famous big bands during the height of the swing and be-bop era. Don passed away recently and though I am sure many of his students are probably teaching his approach I thought I would use this site to preserve Don’s methodology to teaching jazz. My hope is that players who are perhaps struggling with the methods I have seen taught in college and books will find this site useful and if you practice these methods and understand the concepts behind them I believe it can shave years off of the time it takes you to achieve your goal learning how to play jazz. You will need at least a basic grasp of music theory to make use of this information but as most aspiring jazz musicians already have that under their belt this should not be a problem and I will answer any questions you may have concerning jazz theory or anything that I will be posting.
The picture above is Charlie Parker who has remained my favorite player and main inspiration to this day.
