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I'm digging back into recordings from a few years ago. I have an m-audio and was bringing out to lots of gigs.

I just started digging into ones from 4 years ago. It's really great because they're far enough away that I have really no connection to them. I can really listen critically which i'm doing right now.

Checking out your past can really give you a perspective on things. Too bad we can't listen to the future! That would really help.

There were still a couple mistakes in my transcription of the Coltrane solo on "Four". I have corrected them and asked Tifoo, my faithful copyist, to rectify the Sibelius file. This is great stuff. I have managed to learn the whole solo by heart, and I play it (but only slowly)as an exercice, to try and get the feel of it.

OK. So I will start this one up, mostly out of curiousity. I am no expert on this, but certainly there are those amongst us here. The concept of swing has reared its head in the discussion about stickings and grips. It's always an important piece of any discussion involving jazz.

Here is the rarely told story of my first band. It began as a solo venture, playing unaccompanied pieces on marimba and vibes. Soon I decided to add a pianist, a sort of preview of my duets with Chick Corea, which would come along later on down the road. Next came the need for a bass player, followed by the addition of trombone, clarinet, trumpet, and drums. Not exactly the most logical instrumentation, you’re probably thinking. But, when you only have one brother and one sister, plus two parents, you make do with what you have.

Hey malleteers,

We haven't had a lively discussion here at the Vibes Workshop for a week or two, so it's time to bring up a couple of perennials: Grips and Sticking. Let's start with Grips and get into sticking maybe next week.

I just saw this on YouTube and it reminded me of my interest in learning and hearing other classical tunes for the vibes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmGgSUBldAs
(As a side note, notice he picks up a 5th mallet at 4:18).

I totally dug Gustavo's Partita video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMfiNbqrzYE

Gustavo, was that a literal transcription or did you have to modify the original to fit the vibes?

I'm glad this site isn't called JazzVibesWorkshop and maybe other folks would also like to work on classical pieces with me.

Hi All,

I play regularly with a few drummers who can't read music, one most of the time and a couple of others on a fairly regular fill-in basis. I've been trying to get us to do some more formal arrangements of tunes -- nothing terribly complicated, just some accent points and rhythm breaks, added interludes and the like, although I'd like to get more complicated. I've been having trouble communicating these things to the drummers though.

I'm sure someone out there has done some research on classic vibraphones, maybe even with some pictures. I kind of know the basic history of the instrument (actually Wikipedia has a surprisingly thorough vibraphone history...I would love to know who posted it). But, in particular, there are some legendary vibraphone designs that I have always been curious about. One was known as the Deagan Imperial. Milt Jackson played the Imperial for many years, the first half of his career.

I may not be the greatest expert on the biography of Claire Musser, founder of the company that bears his name and that dominates in the mallet instrument field. However, I have played Musser instruments since I was six years old (this is my 60th year playing Musser!), and I did have a few encounters with this colorful character, an individual who was largely responsible for increasing mallet instrument visibility in the early years.

Anyone hanging around the site has seen all the changes and the growth of the site! It's really incredible what's happening. Probably the most exciting thing for us is Gary Burton joining the site and sharing with us thoughts on playing, his career and life. I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that that would happen. This is a wonderful gift.

Things like this start taking the site into new directions. In a way he's started an archive of the history of the instrument. He's played such an important part as we all know.