This time on The Breakdown, bass legend, composer, and 2017 NEA Jazz Master Dave Holland speaks to a group of bass players about uneven time signatures, tracing their history in jazz going back to landmark recordings by drummer Max Roach and their common use in Indian classical music. Holland ans...

World-class musicians break down musical concepts at various levels of difficulty, from beginner to advanced.

For this edition of The Breakdown, bass legend, composer, and producer Marcus Miller takes a group of three bassists at varying levels of experience through the process of learning his ...

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Drummer and composer Johnathan Blake takes a deep dive into the swing beat — the heartbeat of modern jazz — citing inspirational examples, the mnemonic device he uses to keep the feel in his head, building the rhythm f...

Saxophonist, rapper, and composer Soweto Kinch breaks down his process for building rhymes through freestyling, and how this free associative approach parallels the key elements of jazz improvisation.

The London-born Kinch is seamlessly aligned with jazz and hip-hop. A progenitor and leading fig...

SFJAZZ Collective tenor saxophonist and composer David Sánchez illustrates three concepts that make up his approach to basic saxophone technique, focused on breathing, intervallic exercises, and practicing within song forms. And don’t forget your metronome!

Since his early exposure with Dizzy Gi...

World-class musicians break down musical concepts at various levels of difficulty, from beginner to advanced.

SFJAZZ Collective pianist Edward Simon and bassist Matt Brewer break down the concept of the clave, the fundamental rhythmic basis of much Afro-Cuban and Afro-Caribbean music, using exa...