Repetition
Continuing with my Papa Jo series (last post), in today's post we are going to talk about one of the most fundamental elements of Papa Jo's style, repetition. Repetition is such a critical part of Papa Jo's style because it gives audiences something that they can recognize and hold on to. There is a great example of this at around 1:51 in the classic solo above where you can hear Papa Jo play a two bar phrase and then repeat it almost note for note. The following exercise from my forthcoming book "Melodic Syncopation" is designed to help you develop some tasteful repetition in your soloing.
Video Example
Here is a great version of the song from the exercise featuring Candido playing with the Billy Taylor trio! Listen to how brilliantly Candido develops his solo using this idea of repetition. He almost never plays anything just once, and each time he repeats himself he adds layers of intensity and meaning. Also, there are some great melodic ideas in this solo, including quoting the melody of the Dizzy Gillespie classic "Mateca". Can you hear it?
I will try to post some video of me playing this exercise sometime in the near future so you can hear what it is supposed to sound like.
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