Untitled Jazz/Swing Inspired Piece! First time composing something in this style!

Hello all! Today I sat down with my DAW, and lately I have really been wanting to make a big band/jazz/swing inspired piece. It's a genre I have never dipped my toes in before! I had an idea for a melody...and today I ran with it! Made this piece in FL Studio using a combination of both paid and free VSTs. Big players in this are Amadeus Symphonic and Diamond Jazz Trio Freebie. I was rather happy with it considering it's a first attempt at this style! Would love to get some feedback on this piece, as well as how or where you think it'd fit best!

The saxophone portions are among my favorite. For a free VST the sax sounds very nice in quality to me considering some of the others I've heard before.

Hi @Layne,

I like this try too! The colour is varied with all those jazzy instruments and I like the saxophone portion too, the late clarinet one is quite good too. Maybe adding more rhythmic variety and some improvisatory touches will be great as well!

Thx for sharing!

Henry

It's a good first attempt and I'm glad to see you exploring different styles!

On 2/4/2024 at 9:34 PM, Layne said:

I have really been wanting to make a big band/jazz/swing inspired piece.

One of the big defining characteristics of that kind of music is that the rhythms would literally have to be swung like triplets (well - not exactly, but approximately).  All your subdivisions are straight 8th notes in this.

Another aspect of jazz is extended harmony.  From what I can hear, your harmony is simple never utilizing 7ths, 9ths, 11ths or 13ths which could really add some stank to your chords.  This is something that comes from the blues roots of jazz.

About your chord progressions - jazz uses lots of ii - V's and tritone substitutions.  It's a very characteristic sound that it's good to get the hang of before moving on to more advanced stuff.

Your drumset writing is really basic.  I know it's a challenge to write well for drumset in a DAW or notation program - check out this video about the topic:

Also about soloing - the usual roles in an ensemble like this is that the piano will play comping patterns based on the chords of the song while another instrument solos usually also utilizing syncopation and swung rhythms.

Hope some of that helps!  Thanks for sharing.

Peter 

On 2/9/2024 at 8:49 AM, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

Hi @Layne,

I like this try too! The colour is varied with all those jazzy instruments and I like the saxophone portion too, the late clarinet one is quite good too. Maybe adding more rhythmic variety and some improvisatory touches will be great as well!

Thx for sharing!

Henry

 

Thank you! I actually discovered, after posting this, that the saxophone VST I used has different articulations connected to key switching. So I went through and added some more variation to it that makes it feel a bit more natural. Definitely not done with this piece yet!

14 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

It's a good first attempt and I'm glad to see you exploring different styles!

One of the big defining characteristics of that kind of music is that the rhythms would literally have to be swung like triplets (well - not exactly, but approximately).  All your subdivisions are straight 8th notes in this.

Another aspect of jazz is extended harmony.  From what I can hear, your harmony is simple never utilizing 7ths, 9ths, 11ths or 13ths which could really add some stank to your chords.  This is something that comes from the blues roots of jazz.

About your chord progressions - jazz uses lots of ii - V's and tritone substitutions.  It's a very characteristic sound that it's good to get the hang of before moving on to more advanced stuff.

Your drumset writing is really basic.  I know it's a challenge to write well for drumset in a DAW or notation program - check out this video about the topic:

Also about soloing - the usual roles in an ensemble like this is that the piano will play comping patterns based on the chords of the song while another instrument solos usually also utilizing syncopation and swung rhythms.

Hope some of that helps!  Thanks for sharing.

Peter 

 

 

Thank you! I greatly appreciate the constructive feedback! That's why I wanted to bring this here. I am definitely not done with the piece. And want to further it. The drums being basic is definitely something I want to work on in total. I'm not a drummer, so drums and how they come together is something I'm continuing to develop. Really appreciate you taking the time to listen and leaving this feedback!