In the late nineties and early 2000’s I was single after 14 years of marriage and going out to clubs. I began to hang out at one restaurant that had live Jazz on Thursday nights and made friends with the band. I recorded their music for them for a few months. I finally got my gumption up and asked if I could play trumpet with them some night. They said yes. So, I madly practiced a number of tunes and settled on Secret Love which was in their book.

I was nervous. I rarely get nervous. But this was my chance to play some Jazz. Whatever that was to me at the time. I sure appreciated the music that these guys brought every week. I listened carefully to what they did and practiced mimicking it.

The night came for me to play. I was using sheet music which some bands do and some don’t. I played after the lead man sang the song. I launched into a solo. Having survived that we traded fours with the drummer. Then we played the tune and finished. I was flush with the feeling that I accomplished something.

Later, when the band was striking their equipment, the lead man said something like “Allright John, now go home and learn the tune. Don’t just noodle around.”

I was mystified.

I did not try doing that again for over ten years partially because of his comment and partially because I got married and have two children.

Noodle around. I thought at the time that is what a Jazz solo was! Just noodling around. I could never make much sense of many Jazz solos. Especially trumpet players who like to play loud fast and high. It sounded like noodling to me.

I determined to learn what was behind Jazz and started reading, doing Jazz theory workbooks, reading Jazz text books, and learning the nomenclature.