Music Savvy

Music Savvy is about learning to improvise by ear—not by memorizing scales or overthinking every chord. If you've been told you need to calculate every chord/scale relationship before you can improvise well, I’m here to offer a better way. Great jazz starts with listening, imagining, and connecting what you hear to your instrument.

I’m Michael Lake, a jazz trombonist and educator, and I created Music Savvy to help musicians like you play with more authenticity and less friction. You'll find books, short video lessons, interviews with amazing players, and a tool called Jazz Chat—an AI trained on everything I’ve created to help you get unstuck and inspired.

This channel gives you practical ideas to build your ear, strengthen your playing, and rediscover what draws you to jazz in the first place. If you’re tired of running scales and want to start making real music, hit subscribe and let’s dig in together.