Member

Finally an occasion to start blogging.

Tomorrow I think end of the day Tony is arriving here, of who I'm excited to meet in person.

I'm actually excited for Thursday and to go to Nico's toy shop. A buddy or mine was in New York recently and was at a studio. He emailed me and said he played this instrument and it was so beautiful. It was a VP. He said he was mesmerized by the bars.

Students talk about and show their progress in only a 2 day workshop. John Daly and Stefan both made amazing progress.

Here's a little snippet of Lionel Hampton's DVD from the Jazz Icons series that I posted about.

James

Hi everyone,

My artist page at Vic Firth has been updated with more videos and downloads including tracks from Depth of Emotion and Key Play. The page also has information on my new mallet as well as some past PAS articles that can be downloaded. Videos include Black Orpheus, The Last Goodbye from the Berklee Performance Center in Boston and excerpts from my PASIC 2006 clinic in Austin, Texas.

The Vic Firth site also has a fantastic 8 part series of masterclasses by Gary on sticking, the four mallet grip, pedaling,...

Here's the link: http://www.vicfirth.com/artists/saindon.html

Guys!

I just had Tony on the phone, "jailed" by his layover at the Paris CDG airport! He’s waiting for his next plane to Ireland for his first workshop… He sounded great!

When he called I had just started that post to tell you this: don’t you think because he is away, the site is on holiday. Dana and him worked hard to let subscribers have some lessons during that time.

This question was just asked by Ed Saindon on a post today… well I have news!

Yes, Joe is less on the site than he used to be, but who doesn’t know about his crazy life and agenda? On his itinerary, we can see he will be touring in Europe in July, but I’m sure he’s just very busy with all kinds of terrific projects (which I have no ideas about!). :o)

But there is a great news about him: yesterday evening, he won for the second time the prestigious JJA Jazz Award as Mallet Player of the Year!

Sorry Emilie, I couldn't resist! :o)

Emilie just posted this vid on myspace. The sound of recording is not perfect, but... wow, I love her playing and dedication! And she's just not even 22!

What do you guys think?

MN

Here’s a clip of Philippe and me playing Bronislau Kaper’s composition Invitation. It’s an unusual standard in terms of the melody, harmony and form. The A section has long durations of minor 6th chords which allow for some nice, open type of playing. The bridge has more conventional II-7 V7s resolving to minor 6th chords. The melody is quite angular and filled with rich tension over the underlying harmony. That’s what makes it such a great tune to play. Nice melody and harmony. Not to mention the ABA form with a tag ending.