Swing eighths are not written as triplets. They are written as straight eighths, but felt as a long-short lilt. The poor sight reader plays the page as is—straight. The pro immediately converts every eighth note into the jazz vernacular. Furthermore, they anticipate the backbeat (accents on 2 and 4). Even if the chart has no accents written, a jazz trombonist plays with a weight on beats 2 and 4. That is what makes a cold read sound “in the pocket” rather than “in the page.”
Jazz sight reading is rarely a solo endeavor. It happens in the trombone section (usually 3 or 4 chairs). Here, the rules change. Your job is not to play every note perfectly; your job is to play the right notes at the right time with the right color . jazz sight reading trombone
