Jazz Practice Loops : The ultimate site for practicing jazz solos and standards.

Hey! Check out our FORUMS. Still working out some bugs. I put a new skin on it so it matches the rest of the interface, but still trying to figure out how to force the default user skin to it. If you'd like to use the default skin I created, click on the toolbar in the upper right corner. There are little icons of a house, spyglass, start, pencil and pad, etc. Click on the pencil and pad and scroll down to forum options. Under that section there is a drop down to change your theme. Change it to JPL and voila! You're all set.

Try them out, let me know what you think.

Still working on a way to take the small pause out of the loops...if you are a flash dev and have a better idea than the way I'm doing it, let me know.

Is there a type of content you would like to see? How about forums? I can probably put a forums section up here if people would use it.

I added a links section on the left with a few cats that sent them...I have a few more to add. If you got one, let me know and we'll trade postings.

Thanks to everyone that has visited so far, have gotten a great amount of responses from everyone, all of them positive. Don't be shy about contacting me about what you are doing wherever you are from. I want to post some of your comments here if you give me permission. I especially want to post links that have to do with jazz practice, jazz improvisation, jazz bass, jazz piano, jazz trumpet, jazz sax, jazz scales, etc.

Also, please post a link to my site from your site, and I'll do the same. Let's spread the word of jazz to everyone that we can.

Does everyone remember the old Aebersold records? They were and maybe still are the best way to practice jazz improvisation without a live band. I remember when I was in high school, my jazz band teacher had a stack of those practice recordings that we could check out like library books. They had a music book with them with which a student of improv could follow along. Later they all came out on CDs, and it was like having a live band in your bedroom when you practiced jazz.

The jazz practice musicians were first-rate, too. I remember Rufus Reid was on some of them. Their playing style was sparse, so the improvisationalist could work up a solo without being distracted by the musicality of the musicians. The idea was brilliant, and it must have been where hundreds if not hundreds of thousands of jazz improvisationists got their start.

I was surprised to find that there weren't any other sites that offered something similar to the jazz community. For an art form to grow and survive, it has to live and breathe and be exercised rigorously to master the tools that create masterpieces. The Internet seems a likely breeding ground to exercise this artform. It has all of the necessary requirements of multimedia to make this art form live and breathe by simulating the qualities of a live improvisational setting.

A horn player friend of mine and I were talking about the old Aebersold records, and one thing that struck me was that even though jazz has changed quite a bit since those records were developed, the concepts surrounding their use has not. People still buy those recordings, either on record or cd and practice their soloing skills for hours on end.

I guess it was at that time that I knew there had to be a site developed that used the same concept using the tools of multimedia. I began 'jazz practice loops' in October of 2004 in the hopes that everyone from students to masters of jazz would come here to practice their improvisation methods.

This site is evolving. I'm hoping to add more content over time by gauging the interest level of everyone, and evaluating if it's worth the time or not. Of course my goal is to make this free to everyone.

Do you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding this site, or jazz in general? Feel free to contact me.

Thanks for checking out my site. I hope you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed making it.