Did you know that the first semblance of bebop played on the violin might not have been Jean-Luc Ponty, as a lot of people think? Has anyone ever heard of Harry Lookofsky? He was a classical violinist who led the orchestra on loads of L.A. string sessions, including many of the famous “jazz musician with strings” recordings you might have heard. But he also loved jazz, and in 1959 he recorded a great album called Stringsville. The album has lots of really hip arrangements of well-known jazz tunes and some completely wild solos played by Harry. The interesting thing is that he didn’t improvise. He got his jazz musician friends, including Hank Jones and Bob Brookmeyer, to help him write the solos and work on the arrangements. The lines are full of bebop language and he swings really hard, but he didn’t improvise a note. What do you think?

This is a nice solo to transcribe by Didier Lockwood. For the most part it’s not too tough but has some difficult fast double time sections. I think it was the first Didier solo I ever learned. https://youtu.be/DSucry3r6NU?si=PtzhJLgOSD58RUd-

Tell the group in 1-3 words, what your current goal is for your playing. mine: learn more tunes

Hi all, I wanted to see what was the recording that made you decide you wanted to play jazz in the first place? I remember my grandfather (a jazz clarinetist) telling me about Django and Stephane, he told me about Djangos injured hand when I was about 14 and gave me a CD compilation of the hotclub quintette. I remembered the story wrong and thought it was Stephane who only had 2 working fingers. This is the tune that I listened to a lot around this time, it was a while before I started trying to play jazz but I loved this recording of the Bach double Concerto.

Welcome to Learning Jazz Violin. This is a place of support and community for people who are, well… learning jazz violin. Please introduce yourself to the rest of the group by posting in the community discussion board. I’m Matt Holborn, a jazz violinist based in London UK. A lot of what I do is within the Django and Stéphane style, but I’m also passionate about straight ahead, swinging jazz, and different forms of folk music. I also play in musical comedian Bill Bailey’s live band. In this community you will find: • A free discussion board for posting about anything jazz violin related • 2 free courses in the Classroom section (Bowing, and Learning Honeysuckle Rose) There are also lots of different paid courses (which you can currently access by signing up to a paid tier). Each of them is designed not only to give you information but to help you get into the mindset of a jazz violinist. I teach by ear with videos, technical exercises based on jazz language, and assignments based on opening up your violin playing with harmony and improvisation. I don’t have a one-size-fits-all method because that just isn’t how jazz works for me. My teaching is about showing you how many jazz musicians think, and how you can use that to shape your own musical voice in jazz. I hope you enjoy using this space with us! Matt