Jazz Trumpet Licks

I love listening to Allen Vizzutti trumpet solos. Vizzutti is cool because he can do tunes like Fire Dance that sort of combine Jazz soloing along with classical trumpet technique that is really impressive. Things like double tonguing octaves, circular breathing, etc…

Allen Vizzutti takes an awesome trumpet ride on this tune and an amazing trumpet cadenza at the end with a bunch of high notes in between. I hope you enjoy!

I really enjoy listening to Ryan Kisor take solos on the trumpet. His trumpet solo on the tune Candy from The Sidewinder album is very melodic sounding and fun to sing or hum along with.

Ryan Kisor nails all the changes in this Candy trumpet solo and there are a quite a few Jazz licks to take advantage of as well.

Candy is a basic rhythm changes tune where the bridge of the tune progresses in fourths. I love tunes like these because they are what most Jazz standards use.

I would love to hear what you think of Ryan Kisor’s solo.

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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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