Dealing with the keyboard’s limitations: Keyboards in particular don’t quite have some of the expressive ability of other instruments like the saxophone, trumpet, or guitar in terms of bending notes and the use of breath for dynamics. For that reason, I’ve found that melodies that are very rhythmic in nature can be effective, as well as melodies that incorporate the keyboard’s polyphonic capabilities. One very simple and effective melody that comes to mind is Ramsey Lewis’ “The In Crowd.” The melody is so straightforward that anyone can follow it with ease; however it doesn’t get boring because of the chord changes, groove, variations, and little break at the end of the B section. Because the melody is so memorable, it sets up the solos beautifully.
Shaping your solo: One of the most important things to consider in soloing is development over time in terms of intensity. It’s important not to start out too fast or furiously, because then you don’t leave yourself anywhere to go. Of course you need to grab the attention of the listener, so somehow you have to start out with a compelling theme to let people know that you’re on the scene.
Melodies and solos: Some of the best solos contain little melodic gems that can almost be a second melody for the song, or can be some additional material for variations during the solo. Of course, taking some of the melodic material and phrasing that’s already in the song and creating variations on that is a common and effective soloing technique.
Adding excitement: Going into a more chordal approach in bar 13 of the solo is a good way to step things up a bit. Red Garland was well known for reaching the climax of his solos using a block chord approach with octaves in the right hand and left-hand voicings — all playing the same rhythm together. Check out his brilliant work on Miles Davis’ albums, Workin’, Steamin’, Cookin’, and Relaxin’ on the Prestige label for examples.
Example: The solo on “Don’t Hold Back” from my latest record, Heard That, starts out with a total breakdown of the rhythm section, which actually leaves more room for the solo to be fairly active at the beginning. The phrases shift back and forth between some blues licks, bebop patterns, scale patterns, and pentatonic phrases. When the rhythm section kicks in eight bars later, the solo settles down a bit to let the momentum underlying the groove move the song along.