Thinking Ahead 2 No.7 – mDecks Music
A close analytical breakdown of Kenny Barron’s 'Thinking Ahead' solo that traces how he transforms the melody into improvisation and offers practice targets.
This lesson dissects the head and solo from Kenny Barron’s recording on 'Sunny Side,' showing how Barron evolves melodic material into improvisation and where he uses idiomatic jazz licks and guide-tone motion. It highlights specific patterns (like the 1-2-3-5 motif), chord-scale relationships and extended dominant turnarounds, and demonstrates how to practice the head and solo variations back-to-back. The downloadable PDF annotates target notes and techniques and the lesson includes exercises to practice these ideas in all keys so you can internalize the melodic-to-improvised connections.
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