Phrasing is the element of jazz playing that separates technically competent improvising from the kind of soloing that actually feels alive. The notes are usually fine; the relationships between the notes — the placement, the duration, the articulation, the gaps — are where the personality lives. Working on phrasing is mostly the work of listening to players who do it well, slowly, repeatedly, with intent.
Steve Herberman's MMC Jazz Phrasing series is built around this kind of focused listening. The five-part class works through specific rhythmic and articulation devices — hemiola superimpositions, common-tone pedal points, motivic development, articulation choices — using a curated list of tunes as study material.
Tunes Herberman uses for phrasing study
Each of these is on the list because the canonical recorded versions demonstrate a specific phrasing idea cleanly. Find recordings on your preferred platform; you don't need to study the chord changes initially — the point is the way the melody is being phrased.
- "Like Sonny" — John Coltrane. Coltrane's phrasing on Sonny Rollins-style melodic shape; sparse, breath-shaped lines.
- "Hot House" — Tadd Dameron. A bebop head with a tricky harmonic skeleton; Dameron-era and modern recordings phrase it very differently.
- "Ceora" — Lee Morgan. A bossa-flavored ballad; Morgan's original recording is a phrasing masterclass on a slow tune.
- Thelonious Monk's blues — "Blue Monk" or "Straight, No Chaser." Monk's phrasing is structurally unlike anyone else's; useful for breaking out of stock rhythmic patterns.
- "Dat Dere" — Bobby Timmons. A soulful Timmons line; Oscar Brown Jr.'s vocal version is a frequent phrasing reference.
- "Society Red" — Dexter Gordon. Long-breathed bebop phrases at a relaxed tempo.
- "Moose the Mooche" — Charlie Parker. Pure bebop articulation; the Parker recordings are the canonical reference.
- "Del Sasser" — Sam Jones. Cannonball Adderley's recording is the most commonly studied; medium-tempo swing phrasing.
- "Tricotism" — Oscar Pettiford. A bass head with a distinctively angular melodic shape.
- "Bittersweet" — Sam Jones. Another medium-tempo Jones tune with a memorable phrasing structure.
How to use the list
The standard advice — "listen, then transcribe" — works here but skips a step. Before transcribing, try to sing the phrasing of a recorded solo. Match the placement (slightly ahead of, behind, or right on the beat), the articulation (legato vs. tongued), the dynamics, and especially the rests. If you can't sing it, you can't play it — and singing it first means your guitar transcription will capture the feel, not just the pitches.
Herberman's Jazz Phrasing Part 4: Articulation & Rhythmic Variety is the most useful single class in the series for players already familiar with the concept — it's where the toolkit gets pulled together into a working approach. The earlier parts build the vocabulary; part 4 is where you learn to deploy it.
Phrasing improvement is one of the longest-tail aspects of jazz development. Pick two tunes from the list this week. Listen, sing, then play. Repeat next week with two more. The improvement is incremental, but it compounds.
