all-levels

“Emily” - composed by Johnny Mandel in 1964 for the movie “The Americanization of Emily”. The version from the great pianist Bill Evans is a classic. I learned a great deal from Bill. Everything from lines, voicings and harmony to touch and sound. I saw him many times in Boston at the Jazz Workshop. I caught the trio with Eddie Gomez and Marty Morell as well as the trio with Joe LaBarbera and Mark Johnson. With Joe and Mark, I remember sitting very close to the piano and was struck on how swollen Bill’s hands were at the time. In spite of that, Bill and the trio were playing superb.

Here's a simple chord melody on All The Things You Are. I tried to incorporate many of the things we talked about in the Beginner's Course. Sorry about the pedal sound, didn't have time to mess with it today :)

Here’s a brief clip of a dampening etude for the vibraphone titled “Spring” that I just finished composing. The piece features chordal playing along with the dampened stepwise movement of one of the four voices. This will be included in a new book that I began working on a few weeks ago. The book will focus on dampening and pedaling for the vibraphone. I have also been working on a book for solo vibraphone playing. Both topics definitely go hand in hand but I wanted to cover in depth the dampening/pedaling aspect of playing the vibraphone.

“Here’s that Rainy Day” by James Van Heusen and Johnny Burke written in 1953. Still on a semester break and keeping busy with two vibe book projects along with some shedding. Working here in this clip with a few improv concepts including the Symmetrical Diminished scale and the Pentatonic b2 scale. Both concepts are covered in depth in my four volume improv series The Complete Guide to Improvisation. The Table of Contents for all of the books are on the FB page The Complete Guide To Improvisation.

"Forevermore" - a new composition for solo vibraphone with a focus on various dampening techniques. The lead sheet can be viewed and downloaded here via googledocs: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lEszbF7igVuCHd6TMqaOalnldIvBqB9j/view?…

"Both Sides Now" - a timeless classic from Joni Mitchell written in 1967. A very special song with great lyrics and a wonderful melody. I heard pianist Fred Hersch play this solo. It was a gorgeous rendition which inspired me to try it on vibes.

“In Your Quiet Place” by Keith Jarrett – one of my favorite songs from Keith and one of the first songs I learned way back when I was studying with Gary Burton. I can still vividly remember the lessons and Gary’s 5th floor corner office at the Berklee 1140 Boylston St. building in Boston. I also fondly remember his vintage set of gold Musser M55 vibe that he used for teaching and gigs. Those bars played "like butter". My lesson time was usually around lunch time and Gary would most often be eating a sandwich while I butchered these songs. Probably gave him indigestion. Ha!Ha!