Jazz Trumpet Licks

I would like to show you an easy way to use the cry me a river Jazz lick over a ii V7 I chord progression. There are many ways to incorporate the cry me a river lick into your Jazz solos, but this is one of the first ways I learned how to do so and I’ve been using this technique ever since.

Here is a sound sample on F blues progression with trumpet:

How to memorize the cry me a river lick in 12 keys:

For this ii V7 I Jazz lick, the only important chords are the V7 going to the I chord. All you have to know is you are starting on the flat third of whatever chord the V7 chord is. In the above example, F natural is the b3 of the D7 chord. You can play whatever your heart desires on the ii chord. After you play the cry me a river Jazz lick, your goal is to land on either the 3rd or 5th chord tone of the tonic chord. You’ll notice in the above example, I used an enclosure going to the 5th of the I chord, this is optional, but enclosures always sound great.

As far as memorizing the cry me a river lick, for me this Jazz lick was memorized easiest by feel. This is because it usually goes by pretty fast and it’s a little bit easier to memorize in some keys better than others.

Here is an easy ii V7 I Jazz lick to learn in 12 keys. I was messing around with some Aebersolds a few days ago and started playing it. I knew I heard the lick before somewhere, it sounded really old school to me, yet still hip enough to play. It really sounds cool if you land on the raised fourth instead of the third on the I chord. The reason I call the lick old school is because it sounds like something an old school cat would play.

Here is a sound sample and example over a blues progression played on trumpet:

How to memorize this ii V7 I Jazz lick in 12 keys:

Well, you’ll notice that the Jazz lick simply starts off on the tonic of the ii chord. I like to think in minor for pretty much the entire lick. In the above example, you just go down the D minor scale doing a little turn on the sixth and doing a chromatic to the b5. Then you’ll hit the third scale degree of the V7 chord. I think to the b7th, then down the minor arpeggio doing pretty much whatever you like finally ending on the 3rd of the I chord.

I since this lick isn’t very fast and if you think about the minor scale, this Jazz lick is probably easy enough to learn by ear and feel in 12 keys.

I know this arpeggio exercise doesn’t look like much. But if you practice it enough and get it down in 12 keys both up and down the augmented triad, it will help you develop your use of the augmented triad within in your own improvised Jazz solos. This post falls within the whole tone category because augmented triads are part of the whole tone scale.

You’ll be able to play the augmented triad starting on any note within your Jazz solo. As we all know, augmented triads sound great and make good use of leading your solo into the next chord change.

Here is a sound sample/demonstration on trumpet:

How to work on this exercise to learn it in 12 keys:

As you can see in the above example, you simply start on the raised 5th of whatever triad you are starting on. It doesn’t matter which note you start on, because you’ll want to get used to starting off the exercise on different notes to develop your overall technique. If you look closely, there are only 4 augmented arpeggios you are working on. They just start on different notes as you go through the exercise.

From there, you’ll see that the exercise simply alternates up and down in half steps. You can change it up a little bit and do whole steps if you get tired of half steps, it’s entirely up to you.

If you decide to learn the exercise in half steps like I prefer, then all you have to do is go up a half step from G# to A and do the same exercise up a half step all over again. Now you’ll hit all 12 keys and have alternated both up and down for every key.

Now when you take your next Jazz solo, or play your next Aebersold, you’ll want to attempt to bust an augmented arpeggio out somewhere. Preferably over a V7 chord go to a I chord. It works in as many places as your imagination can conjure up.

I got this ii V7 I Jazz lick from David Baker’s How to Play Bebop – Volume 1 book. Lots of great bebop licks in that book, highly recommended, you won’t be disappointed in all the nice Jazz licks you’ll learn from it. Anyway, this ii V7 I lick starts off with the bebop scale and finishes with a diminished pattern landing on the tonic of the I chord.

Here is a sound sample played on trumpet:

How to memorize this ii V7 I lick in 12 keys:

Just know that it starts on the tonic of the bebop scale you will be playing, or you can just think tonic of the key you are in on the ii V7 I Jazz lick. The lick goes up to the 3rd of the bebop scale you are currently on, then goes down the bebop scale until you land on the 5th. Next, you’ll switch to a diminished stacked 3rd approach. In the above example it starts on C#.

What is a minor 3rd above C#? That’s right, E. What is a minor 3rd below C#? That’s right, Bb or A#, however you want to memorize it. Do you see the pattern here? The lick simply finishes off going down stacked minor thirds until you land on the tonic (1st position) of the I chord.

In my experience, some keys are easier than others. But this is a nice Jazz lick to have in your back pocket whenever you see the need for it.

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Here’s a neat sounding turnaround Jazz lick that leans on the b9 when it’s on the V7 chord. The b9 is what makes the lick sound really cool because it makes the pattern want to go towards the next chord change.

Here is a sound sample on trumpet:

How to memorize this turnaround in 12 keys:

First know that it is a iii VI ii V7 I turnaround (3, 6, 2, 5, 1). In other words, it’s a ii V7 up a whole step, then a ii V7 I pattern in the tonic key. Very easy to get used to and it’s used in a whole lot of Jazz charts. If you’ve already worked a lot on various ii V7 I patterns, this Jazz lick will be very easy for you to get down.

Here is my take on it in a snap shot, starts on the 5th of the iii chord and is a minor arpeggio to the 3rd of the VI chord, up to the b9 and down the scale to the minor 3rd of ii chord, then do a turn on the b7th to the 3rd of the V7 chord up to the b9 and down the scale to the III of the I chord.

You’re obviously not going to think about all of this while playing the lick. You’ll mainly just want to mess around with your ii V7 I Jazz patterns and you’ll be able to come up with some really nice turnarounds on your own.