Jazz Trumpet Licks

I wanted to share this smokin Jazz trumpet solo of Tom Harrell with the Phil Woods Quintet. When I was watching this Jazz video I noticed how Tom Harrell rests his fingers over his trumpet valves. I’m wondering if this helps his technique overall on the trumpet. According to how he sounds in the Jazz clip I’m going to have to say that it helps him quite a bit.

This great recording of Tom Harrell took place in Hamburg of 1988. I have one problem though, I’m not sure what the name of the tune is. If anyone could help me out on this it would be greatly appreciated.

I wanted to share a really fast Jazz trumpet solo of Ryan Kisor on the tune Cherokee from his album entitled Kisor. It’s a really good CD, definitely take a look at it. I don’t know what tempo Ryan Kisor took Cherokee at though.

Ryan Kisor starts Cherokee off soloing right away, no head is played on this recording. There are a lot of good Jazz licks to take advantage of from this recording. Ryan Kisor does this alternate fingering Jazz lick going down a scale one note at a time. The alternate fingering Jazz lick happens so fast that it is hard to write down at first though. I hope you enjoy this Jazz trumpet solo.

**Note: Audio has been removed from this post.

Roy Eldridge and Dizzy Gillespie both sound great on the tune Limehouse Blues. There are really a lot of good Jazz trumpet licks to take advantage of on this recording. I highly recommend getting the album Roy and Diz if you don’t own it already. It is packed full of great trumpet solos by Roy Eldridge and Dizzy Gillespie.

I wanted to share one of the tracks with you. Roy Eldridge and Dizzy Gillespie trade trumpet solos back and fourth throughout the entire tune. Both Roy and Diz start playing a bunch of high notes towards the end. They both get all the way up to a double high Bb (trumpet pitch). It’s a pretty fast tempo tune as well.

**Note: Audio has been removed from this post.

**Disclaimer – An Amazon affiliate link is used in this post.

This is a pretty easy diminished lick to learn. I didn’t get this diminished pattern from Dizzy Gillespie, but I sure hear Dizzy play it a lot in his recordings. It is kind of a good lick to use during a pause or hold for a cadenza at the end of a tune.

Here is a sound sample played on trumpet:

How to memorize this diminished pattern in 12 keys:

Since this lick is a diminished pattern, you only need to learn it in three keys depending on which note you start on. The way I remember the pattern above is you’ll start a half step below the first note that will start the minor stacked thirds (this will be C, thinking in C diminished). After that you go up a 4th. Then you repeat the process going up in minor thirds as far as you would like to.

The second part of the pattern changes to a different diminished key. You don’t have to change keys if you don’t want to, but the example above goes up a whole step to D diminished. The pattern just goes down in minor thirds with a half step up between each of them. You can continue the pattern as far down as you would like to.

Tom Harrell is one of my favorite jazz trumpeters ever. These two Jazz trumpet solos are a big reason why. Tom Harrell has a really nice trumpet sound and Jazz style on these two solos. I would consider Tom Harrell to be an aggressive trumpet player. That’s just my opinion though.

The first April Mist trumpet solo is on the recording Playing with Fire – Bobby Shew Quintet. There are really a lot of great licks you can get from this Jazz solo. I could listen to this trumpet solo all day and not get tired of it. I like this Jazz solo better than the next one. I’ll let you decide which one you like better (feel free to comment on this post).

**Note: Audio has been removed from this post.

This is Tom Harrell taking a solo on April Mist again, but on a CD called Visions. Once again there are a lot of great licks to take advantage of in this Jazz trumpet solo. I think Tom Harrell plays a little bit more aggressive in this solo. Both Jazz solos are just awesome. Just like the first trumpet solo, I could list to this Tom Harrell trumpet solo all day long and never get tired of it.

**Note: Audio has been removed from this post.

**Disclaimer – An Amazon affiliate link is used in this post.