Jazz Trumpet Licks

This ii V7 I Jazz lick I heard Clifford Brown play is pretty easy to learn and implement into your Jazz solos. If you look towards the end of the Clifford Brown Jazz lick you’ll see an enclosure. If you don’t know what a Jazz enclosure is, it’s where you go up a half step then below a half step towards a chord tone. You’ll see that Clifford Brown did an enclosure on the 5th of the I chord.

Here is a sound sample on trumpet:

How to memorize this Jazz lick in 12 keys:

Notice that the lick starts on the I of the ii chord, does a pentatonic down to the 4th, then I continue to think in C minor going to the 2nd down to the harmonic raised 7th. Then the cool part of the lick hops from C to G to C to A, then down the scale with an enclosure at the end landing on the 5th of the I chord.

This is how I memorized the lick, it doesn’t mean this method is going to work for you. This lick sounds nice over a break before you begin your solo, an example would be the break in the tune Four.

This is an easy pentatonic pattern to learn. This pentatonic pattern is easy to learn and use in your solos because it can also be used as an exercise as well.

Here is a sound sample on trumpet:

How to memorize this pentatonic lick in 12 keys:

This pentatonic pattern is simply going down the pentatonic scale one note at a time. You can see that each group of four notes starts on the 2nd note from the last group of four notes. Since this is a pentatonic scale, you’ll never have to worry about going out of the scale. You can use the above lick as a major pentatonic or a minor pentatonic.

If you learn pentatonics in all major keys, you are also learning them in minor keys. If you decide learning pentatonics in major is easier, then you’ll just go up a minor 3rd. Like the above example. If you are in A minor, just go up a minor 3rd and play the C major pentatonic pattern. Or vice verse, C major, go up a 6th and think A minor pentatonic.

I’ve had discussions with fellow Jazz musicians, and most think it’s more beneficial to learn your pentatonics in minor. It’s really up to you though.

I can’t remember the name of the recording or the tune. But I do remember hearing Tom Harrell play this pentatonic pattern.

Here is a sound sample on trumpet:

Best way to learn in 12 keys:

Since this is a pentatonic lick, it’s a little harder to learn in a formula other than 1 2 3 5 6. Just knowing that you won’t be playing any other notes than 1 2 3 5 or 6 is the best way to learn pentatonics. For me pentatonics come easier by feel. You can accomplish getting a feel for pentatonics with repition. What’s that famous saying? Oh, I know, “Repition is the key to success”.