Become a Jazz Monster By Always Listening for More

Whenever you are listening to music, whenever you hear or see live music or when you are playing with your band for that matter, always assume that your ears could be more aware and sensitive and you could be hearing things more acutely. Listening, like everything else in music, is all about awareness.

Musical growth and listening is an ongoing and lifelong process. There really is no arrival point so to speak. You are never going to get ‘there’. It is an ongoing process forever. You can always learn and hear more. If you always assume that you could be hearing more you will gradually and consistently simply hear more and more detail in music. No matter what the topic is that you’re listening for—whether it is dynamics, tone, sound, touch, groove, or players in the jazz world.

You can always take it further and deeper. Think of the great players. You can hear them develop over time. Take a recording from the sixties: you could hear a great drummer or saxophonist, sounding fantastic in 1960, on top of their game—world class jazz musicians. But they still kept progressing. Their beat kept getting deeper and the tone got more mature, their concept became clearer, more focused and expressive. Always assume that you can go further and improve more. If you think you hear it all you’re done learning. If you think you’re ‘there’, if you think you know and hear it all, you’re done learning. That’s it, you will never arrive. There’s no place to arrive, it’s an ongoing process.





My teacher for a long time was Hal Crook, whom I would highly recommend. Check out his web site, Halcrook.com. But in one of his books he has some words going in a spiral from the middle to the outside, and basically it says that the ‘process is the thing’. Basically, it’s important to have goals but the process is as important as achieving these goals. It’s always open-ended. It’s never going to end, it’s a long journey.

Always assume you could be hearing more and you will find that the same record that you have been listening to for ten years still offers more and more detail to uncover. There are records that I had put on literally sixteen years ago when I first started getting into jazz that I still listen to now and I still learn from now. I still hear new things I didn’t hear back when I was seventeen or eighteen years old each time I listen. Always assume that there’s more that you could be hearing and approach it with that open sort of mind. Always seek to hear more detail, more of the subtle nuances that these great masters put into the music. Always assume you could be hearing more, and pretty soon you will be.

Chris Punis is an active jazz musician in the northeast, an accomplished jazz educator and author of “The Monster Jazz Formula.” For more information about his teaching methods and to receive your free lessons, “21 Great Ways To Become a Monster Jazz Musician,” visit www.learnjazzfaster.com.

Become a Jazz Monster By Always Listening for More / Author: Chris Punis