I’m always excited to see new Randy Johnston master classes. So far I’ve reviewed 7 of these on this website & in the past I have done some in-house reviews when I was working with Mike’s Master Classes. (Note: I am currently not doing any work for them, but still love reviewing their courses because they’re good & the courses cover topics that are niche).
The most recent one that I reviewed was his Rhythm Changes Strategies series (Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3 reviews are here)
The best thing about Randy’s master classes is that it is straight to the point, with no filler material. He shows you the chords, the concepts, the lines that you get & also gives you some sample lines to practice. This one follows this same format.
In this video, Randy begins by explaining the origins of the Coltrane Changes. Then he shows how to apply it on both a I-VI-II-V and a II-V-I in the key of C. Randy shows practical voicings to visualize the changes and then how to play through the changes.
For the lines, he demonstrates several strategies to play through the changes, including different melodic cells that Coltrane uses to solo clearly at a fast tempo. He gives us a written lines that shows how the patterns are assembled together into an idiomatic line for that concept. The two other lines that show two interesting strategies that Randy has learned & used.
My favorite is the third one seems simple but creates really cool sounding lines!
In between all the explanations, Randy also take some solos to show how he sounds when he is improvising using the concepts.
The fact that Randy includes 3 “etude/study” lines is really useful for anyone who is new to writing lines based on the concept.
In conclusion, I recommend this master class for anyone who’s been curious about the Coltrane Changes but hasn’t been able to get it into their playing. This is good stuff & well taught.
Pros: Direct simple teaching that is helpful. Saves your time!
Cons: None.
TLDR: Great lesson that simplifies playing & improvising on Coltrane Changes.
Get it here:
https://mikesmasterclasses.com/course/randy-johnstons-coltrane-changes-strategies-part-1/
And…
Check out my other book, video & course reviews here:
https://azsamadlessons.com/book-reviews/
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