Ridiculous!

I don't know how much time you put in on your 3rd grade recorder skills in music class.  It's safe to say however that it is not as much time as this guy.  In addition to having a cool name (Benoit Suave), Mr. Sauve has mastered transcription at a level I don't think I've ever seen before.  Transcribing a solo is a great way to get inside the head of a master improviser, and it helps all aspects of your playing in the process.  Here is a great way to get started with your first transcription.  Step one - find a solo you like.  Step 2 - set yourself up really close to the rewind button (dating myself, but you get the idea).  Step three - play along until you have it down.  Step 4 - Put it down on paper.  I found that last step to be the hardest one as a beginner.  Keep at it, it will get easier with time.  Miles Davis's "So What" solo is a great place to start if you are looking for inspiration.

Don't start with this solo.  It's another solo over "Skunk Funk" from Michael Brecker.  This one won a Grammy Award for best improvised solo in 2007.  It's also amazing.   Michael Brecker is a hugely influential jazz musician, and really took the whole post-Coltrane sound in a different direction.

My Way

Learn what you will from this clip, it's a really good one...

Tom Harrell - One of the greats!

Are you a trumpet player?  Then you need to give this a listen.  Mr. Harrell has an interesting story.
 

It's not Kenny G, but they might consider working him in there somehow.

OK...so this is not jazz.  Listen, the nice boys in Metallica are such good sports about the pirated music and all that I thought this clip deserved some attention.  I really like what they've done with Enter Sandman.

This is it!

So on this clip you've got Cannonball Adderley on the alto sax, his brother Nat Adderley on trumpet, Yusef Lateef on tenor sax and flute, Joe Zawinul on the piano, Sam Jones on bass, and Louis Hayes on drums.  This is one of my favorite live groups.  Listen to how hip the rhythm section is, the background lines, the soloists.  This is everything jazz can be.

Groove, you are born with it.

I feel for this thing - click HERE.  It just wants to lay down some jams.  It's hard being a robot in this cold, impersonal world we live in.

Larry McKenna, he's bad!

This guy Larry McKenna is one of those dudes who seems to have magic fingers when it comes to playing hip inside, tasty lines.  Dig this clip of him playing "Groovin' High" and check out the transcription too while you are listening.  He's got a lot of gems in there you can emulate.  Outside of Sonny Stitt, I don't think I've ever heard anyone put bebop lines together so fluently.    HERE is the link to both the recorded solo and the transcription.  HERE is the transcription only.

This is a special animal

This is not your run of the mill pooper scooper dog scat.  Yeah, it turns out scat has dual meaning.  This dog has skills.  Kudos to his trainer and vocal coach.

Stormy Weather

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I've been going through some stormy weather of my own, but don't you worry, I won't leave you out there in the rain to find jazz for yourself.
This is Lena Horne, who just passed away today at age 92.  Lena was a great jazz vocalist and a civil rights leader.  She battled all sorts of persecution in her lifetime, but remained strong willed and steadfast in her convictions.  This is a clip of her performing the song "Stormy Weather."  It's a jazz standard, aren't they all?  Dig in particular the dramatic window-blowing-in music...poor conductor.

Solid Potato Salad!

Not sure what this has to do with jazz, but you will like it.  First the abridged HD version...

Next the low def, but equally entertaining clip...

Virtuosity

Sometimes as I eat pistachios, I think about what it takes to make it as a musician.  If it's money you're after, then you need to get hooked up with the right management, look the part, and play what your management asks you to play.  I know what you are thinking...hey, could that be conceived as "selling out?"  Maybe, but it's nice to live in a house and eat, isn't it?!  Still, I keep thinking that it would be more satisfying if you could play what you want to play, and at a level where every idea in your head could make it's way onto your instrument.  I hope there is always a market for that, I guess we'll see.  Here is a guy who can throw it down like that...Loren Stillman is up with this thing:

Veritable Flabby Preludes (for a Dog)

Five Grins or Mona Lisa's Moustache

Sketches and Exasperations of A Big Boob Made of Wood

Menus for Childish Purposes

All are titles by the classical composer Eric Satie (1866-1925).  Is he a little eccentric?  Yes!  THIS ARTICLE makes a pretty good case for Satie as the first modern composer.  He's using modes, working the tritones, chord planing, he even has a cool nickname..."The Velvet Gentleman".  A lot of this stuff sounds modern even today, almost 100 years later.  If you haven't checked him out, he's a guy that influenced a lot of jazz musicians when he was semi rediscovered in the 60's by guys like Bill Evans and John Cage.  CLICK HERE for a summary of Satie, the man and his music, there are even some sound clip on there for you to hip yourself to.

How do I know if I'm practicing enough?

I can't tell you if you are practicing enough, because I think you probably have the answer to that stored deep down in places you don't talk about at parties (Jack Nicholson - "A Few Good Men") .    For what it's worth, I found out that in a conservatory college, the really successful kids practiced on average about 2 to 4 hours a day.  That might seem like a lot to you, and in High School, that's pretty much undo-able.  So lets say you have a half hour to an hour to work with, you are going to need to make the most of it, right? 
If you split it up into...
1)  Long tones for 5-10 minutes (pick a scale and hold the notes as long as you can while still making them sound round and full and unwavering).  That way you get a scale down, and your sound worked out in one foul swoop.  Or is it a fowl swoop?  Do I care?
2)  Next, really practice something that is giving you trouble reading wise - slow it down if you have to, and if I know you like you know you, you probably do.  Work out the fingerings, the rhythms and the articulations for about 15 - 20 minutes.  Don't play the parts you already know, play the hard parts. 
3)  Then try to write out, or just figure out, on your instrument, some familiar tune you already know by ear for about 10 -20 minutes, or take a lick and work it out in every key.  This will develop your ears and help you play in weird keys without too much difficulty.
4)  Lastly, let loose and play something - either a piece of written literature, or improvise with an Aebersold if that's what you are working on, for the remainder of the time.  The goal for this part of your practice session is just to clear your mind and let your subconscious take over your fingers and playing.  Yeah, it's like you are a Zen master instrumentalist or something.  Don't think!  Do!
That's one plan, but you can make your own.  Just try and get some reading, some listening/ear training, and some focused work in there.  Then you'll be groovy, and not just look groovy.  Berklee's motto : Esse Quam Videri - meaning "To be, rather than to seem to be." 

Time went by fast didn't it?  ...So as you ponder how much time you are putting in, and how you are going to split it up, you should check out this video.  It is of blind pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii (born September 13, 1988).  It's fair to say he practices the full amount.  

Haiti, a Musical Melting Pot

With the globalism of jazz (I'll explain more about this in a later post), you as a musician need to explore and expand your mind as you listen to the folk music, tonalities, instruments and sounds of other cultures. While most colleges, sadly even MUSIC colleges, stick solely to teaching the practice of what I would call "European theory", there is a WHOLE WORLD of different music out there that has nothing to do with our scales, chords, notation system, instruments or rhythmic subdivisions. In fact, if you dig deep, you'll see that many cultures are more advanced rhythmically, harmonically and melodically than we are. Open up your ears young bald monkey person.

Now regretably, I your blog, am not an expert on Haitian music, but that doesn't mean I can't share with you a little shnipplet of good stuff. Here's a little conceptual stuff from Wikipedia, so that you understand where the music is coming from...
The music of Haiti is influenced mostly by European colonial ties and African migration through slavery. In the case of European colonization, musical influence has derived primarily from the French, however Haitian music has been influenced to a significant extent by its Spanish-speaking neighbors, Cuba and the bordering Dominican Republic, whose Spanish-infused music has contributed much to the country's musical genres as well. Styles of music unique to the nation of Haiti include music derived from vodou ceremonical traditions and the wildly popular Compas.
So that gives you an idea of all the cultural influences that go into making the music so rich. I hope that as you keep Haiti in your heart, you will explore musically all that it has to offer. CLICK HERE to visit a site about a musician named Nemours Jean Baptiste. He was a saxophonist and popular band leader who is credited with inventing Compas, Haiti's most popular music style. It's kind of a light merengue. Merengue as we've discussed before has a clave, or rhythmic pulse, derived from the dance of the same name. It's not pie, but tastes as just as sweet.

La Strada!

A little while back, I mentioned a band called "La Strada."  They are not playing what you'd call jazz, or even the dreaded jazzy, but they are wonderful musicians and songwriters.  Two of the band members were former YHS jazz band students - Ted Lattis on the beard, and Devon Press on the hat. You should check them out.  It's hard for me not to get all weepy listening to this here.


It turns out they have an album coming out in the spring.  I'm first in line, if there were still lines.  Fortunately, there is still spring, but with a little global warming we can fix that too.  Here's a little making of video, looks promising.

Big Band Arranging

Ever wonder how someone writes a big band chart?  It's labor intensive, but rewarding, and best of all, it is something you can do if you have the inclination.  This guy, Jim Martin, is a great arranger, and is willing to share some information on the magic behind the writing.  CLICK HERE...he'll break down how to voice a simple little snippet.  BTW...if you have a ska band, or any kind of thing with a horn section, it works the same way. 

Take A Train

OK...So by now, all the hipsters following the blog know that most of what we call the "modern" tenor players came out of Joe Henderson, but have you had a chance to dig the master himself?  Here is a little reworking of the classic "Take the A Train" by Duke Ellington.  I put this up here so you can hear what can done with an old classic a.k.a. a standard.  
 
A standard is a tune that has been played many, many times by many, many different musicians over many, many years.  That's a lot of "manys" in there to deal with.  Eventually, if enough musicians learn the song, and memorize the melody and the changes, it becomes a standard.  One could say that it is a testament to how well these songs were written that they still get played today.   If you listen to classic rock, there is a good chance you're going to hear "Hotel California."  It's the same thing in the jazz world.  Good music holds up.

Top 5 Christmas Jazz Recordings

Tis the season to check out new stuff, and you probably are making your wish list for your parents as we speak, so how about digging some of this action...

1.  Miles Davis and Bob Dorough "Merry X-Mas (To Whom It May Concern)"  While not a particular uplifting song (check the lyrics below), it's brilliant.  That tenor solo - wow!  Bob Dorough the singer was the guy who did "Schoolhouse Rock."   This is my favorite of all time, for any holiday.  lol It truly needs nothing else, but the snapshots of garbage floating in Greece and other depressing clips don't detract from the cut. In fact, with repeated viewing they will grow on you somehow.


Blue Xmas

Merry Christmas
I hope you have a white one, but for me it's blue
Blue Christmas, that's the way you see it when you're feeling blue
Blue Xmas, when you're blue at Christmastime
you see right through,
All the waste, all the sham, all the haste
and plain old bad taste

Sidewalk Santy Clauses are much, much, much too thin
They're wearing fancy rented costumes, false beards and big fat phony grins
And nearly everybody's standing round holding out their empty hand or tin cup
Gimme gimme gimme gimme, gimme gimme gimme
Fill my stocking up
All the way up
It's a time when the greedy give a dime to the needy
Blue Christmas, all the paper, tinsel and the fal-de-ral
Blue Xmas, people trading gifts that matter not at all
What I call
Fal-de-ral
Bitter gall.......Fal-de-ral

Lots of hungry, homeless children in your own backyards
While you're very, very busy addressing
Twenty zillion Christmas cards
Now, Yuletide is the season to receive and oh, to give and ahh, to share
But all you December do-gooders rush around and rant and rave and loudly blare
Merry Christmas
I hope yours is a bright one, but for me it bleeds 

2.   The Ramsey Lewis Trio "Merry Christmas Baby."  The tempo is slow enough to warm you up without a fire.  This whole album is amazing, and will put you in the spirit.

  


3. Ella Fitgerald "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".  Nobody can swing a classic like Ella.  She's the quintessential (nod to Mr. Levy) jazz singer.


4. Duke Ellington "Sugar Rum Cherry" from the Nutcracker Suite.  You'll recognize it as a jazzed up version of The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies.


5. Ray Charles and Betty Carter "Baby, It's Cold Outside"  It's THE love song for the season, how can you go wrong with that?  Listen to the way Betty Carter shapes her notes and phrases.  I don't think I've ever heard anyone but maybe Billie Holliday do it with that kind of mastery.  I'm going to try to capture some of that when I play a melody, you should too.

How to save jazz, a simple explanation.

Can you shuffle your cheeks and/or jowls.  Not in Pittsburgh in 1920.  CLICK HERE  and keep that "cheek and jowl shuffle" behind closed doors.  I don't know what fascinates me so much with these old articles.  I guess I like the fact that jazz was so counter culture back then.  Why do you think it was so popular?  It was exciting.

On that note, throughout history, jazz has always pushed the limits.  With declining jazz record sales, it would be wise for the industry to promote that kind of jazz - the edgy, exciting, boundary pushing kind, instead of pushing the soothing background music for your wine and cheese party type of jazz.  I can take a little of that, and completely respect people like Diana Krall who do it beautifully, but it's just not cool to anyone under 30.  

I think a younger audience would be way more into jazz if they recognized it as the music of rebellion.  Music that is made in contrast to the mainstream mediocre garbage that is pumped into your head without abandon.  It's bananas, b a n a n a s.  Wake up people!  You are being manipulated by "music industry professionals" a.k.a. uncreative old guys making money off of you, into a sugary dumbed down world of boring, repetitive, overproduced, overhyped fluff for simpletons.

Look at this video, wait until about 1:10 in, and you'll see how exciting new jazz is.

Theremin...not a swine flu drug.

If you are wondering what this Theremin thing is, you are not alone.  However, it does, like all odd stuff, have it's own little fan club.  Hey, while I'm on it...don't forget that you are unique, just like everyone else.  I'm not even sure you got that, but I had a nice chuckle.  So back to the Theremin, simply put it is an electronic instrument played by proximity.  It's also the oldest electronic instrument currently played.  If you are wondering what to make me for Christmas, and you have skills with a soldering gun, this is it. 

The subject is...Jazz!

I am heavy on George Russell these days, so I'd like to share this with you.  It's funny listening to this because I feel like a lot of what you hear on this would be considered "modern" today.  Start listening at 6:10, and dig the groove.  To say George Russell the arranger and composer was ahead of his time is a major understatement.  If you like this, seek out "George Russell - Jazz Workshop."  I'm listening to this non-stop these days.  Even if you don't like the songs on the album, you've got Bill Evans on Piano, Barry Galbraith on Guitar, Paul Motian on drums, Milt Hinton on bass, Art Farmer on Trumpet, Hal McKusick on sax.  I especially like how George Russell says at 11:10 that tonally it is an unadventurous piece.  His book "Lydian Chromatic Concepts of Tonal Organization"  changed the landscape of jazz.  Tonal Gravity!    He gives a brief explanation of that here at 11:30.

What is on your i-pod playlist?

Apparently we have formed some pretty strong stereotypes that link people to the music they listen to.  HERE is the full study out of Cambridge University.  It's a hard read so you should probably just skip to this thing HERE.  It's a video clip and summary of the article.  Another study out of Heriot-Watt University adds to the mix.  Check it out and give a listen to it's author HERE.

"Mom, I want to grow up and be a jazz musician."
"Now son, you have to pick one or the other, you can't do both."

A classic!

This is a classic tune, and one of the all time best selling songs of jazz.  It's called "Take Five" because it's written in 5/4 time.  It is the title track from the album of the same name.  If you don't own it, you should.
 The song was written and made famous by the Dave Brubeck Quartet.  Dave is on piano, Joe Morello is the drummer (and he plays one of the most famous drum solos in the history of jazz on the album), Paul Desmond is on alto sax and Eugene Wright is on bass.  JAZZ GIG TIP #67:  If you want to clear a dance floor, play something in 5!

Monkey Business

Apparently monkeys don't go for music, unless it's made for them.  Click HERE to take an auditory journey like no other.


Which do you prefer...happy or fearful monkey music?  I know you're probably asked that a lot, but indulge us after you check out the snippets.

The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.  Maybe it's better that way?  This is a clip of a guy named Phineas Newborn Jr. doing some left hand blues.

GO HERE NOW!

How do I, your blog, get you to to click HERE now?  This is the best.  This is what the internet was invented for.  Well, for this and other stuff.  I'm guessing this link probably only works in the evening when the jazz set is under way.  

PROJECT IDEA #1:  For added fun, rearrange the living room furniture to face the computer, invite your friends over, dim the lights, have your friends wear their shades and make comments to each other in between songs like "they should take this uptown, where the bread is at."

Some thoughts on learning the trombone in 1878

We here at the blog like to keep it old school.  Click HERE to view this article.  It's from the NY Times in 1878.  It starts about halfway down the page on the left and then continues into a second column.  Why?  Why not?   Below are two excerpts  that might raise your eyebrows...

"Of all of the various brass instruments which have been devised by musical or malevolent ingenuity, there is none which in it's capacity for inflicting both torture and delight is comparable to the trombone."

Agree or disagree?  Here is another...  

"Central Africa is clearly the place designed by nature for students of the trombone.  There alone they can practice in safety, and there alone will their brazen discords aid the march of civilization."

"...lets see what we can do here."

Ingrid Jensen is a trumpeter you should check out.  As a musician, she lives in the moment and interacts with what she hears, which is what you should strive to do.  She also has a pleasant, down to earth attitude.  Let her show you the way.

I'll bring it to you.

Click HERE for the Smalls jazz club live video feed.  It's pretty much the coolest thing since sliced bread.  The best part is you won't miss the last train home.

Now play me some blues!

I'm not sure it's accurate, but I like this quote from Bleeding Gums Murphy on the Simpsons as he was teaching Lisa to play..."The blues isn't about feeling better. It's about making other people feel WORSE, and making a few bucks while you're at it."

Click HERE to tryout a slow blues in F

Click HERE to live dangerously with a fast blues in F