Jazz Trumpet Licks

If you haven’t watched this great Jazz video of Scott Englebright (aka “Scooter”) performing the tune Maynard Ferguson you’re in for a real treat. That’s right, Maynard Ferguson is the name of the tune. I always thought that was a weird name for a tune. What do you think?

This was when Scott Englebright was at the University of North Texas. At one point I wanted to go to this University. UNT is considered one of the best Jazz Universities around. Anyway, the reason I added the Jazz video to the site is because there are a lot of high notes and Scott Englebright has a really fat trumpet sound.

By the way, is Scooter’s last name spelled Engelbright, or Englebright? I’ve seen it spelled both ways all over the internet.

You’re really going to love this trumpet solo of Jon Faddis on Mood Indigo if you haven’t heard it yet in the many references I’ve made to it. If you have heard it, you’ll still love to hear it again because it’s just that good.

Jon Faddis plays a bunch of lip trills on a high C, then a high E, and finally hits the highest note of a high Bb. You know, the one that’s a whole step below a double high C.

After that, Jon Faddis holds out a really nice high G with great vibrato for an impressive period of time. Even though all the high notes are cool, my favorite part is at the end of the trumpet solo where Jon Faddis plays a really fast bebop lick to ponder over.

This trumpet solo is from the album To Diz with Love: Diamond Jubilee Recordings and was recorded live, you need to own it.

Video removed

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.