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Man about what we did this summer. We got 7 vibe players to come to Ireland and work on the vibes. We have 17 (19? I forget) vibe players coming to the University of Delaware and we're rounding up about 15 sets of vibes and a bunch of marimbas. Oh man!!!

I figured when I started this that if we could all come together and work hard together that we could really make some cool things happen. I always think that the better we get the better it is for the instrument. It's a cool instrument to start with and when we play it well it's cooler!

Hey guys,

Here's a clip of an old classic tune called "Sweet Lorraine" which has been recorded by such pianists Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson and Nat King Cole as well as sung by Frank Sinatra and many other vocalists.

The tune has quite a bit of changes including many extended dominants. There's some nice guide tone lines throughout the changes. I try to bring those out either in the left hand comping on in the line.

Thursday is our unofficial anniversary celebration! I will try and stream as much as possible, including the Vibe Hang. I will also try to stream David's afternoon workshop for everyone to see.

It's unofficial because I was going to talk it up this week, but no, our server crashed!!

Let's see what I can do this week to talk it up.

Every body is welcome to come Thursday to the University of Delaware For Our Open House. It starts around 2pm.

Take the day off of work and practicing and drive down, come meet, David Friedman, me, Behn Gillece, Mike Pinto, Randy Sutin, all the attendees at the workshop and everyone else who comes!!

Beautiful! Simply beautiful! :o)

"Sunset Road", a composition by Mike Caruso, performed by my group, the MetroWest Jazz Project at a gig on Friday, 23-July-2010. In addition to me, Mike is playing bass, Brett Baker on guitar and Bruce Hanahan on drums.

Enjoy -- comments appreciated.

Tom P.

What a great week I had. What a pleasure getting to meet players from all over the world. This was incredible for me!

First off, let me thank John Daly. Without John this wouldn't be possible. You know Ireland is an amazing place to me. People are helpful and totally down to Earth. John is at the top of the list. He's incredible, I've never really met anyone quite like him. This workshop would not happen without his energy. I was also talking to someone in the workshop who said that the Limerick jazz scene has John to thank as well. He's a mover and shaker!

I just got back from Tony's course in Ireland and I want to take a minute to write about the experience.

Other than mallets what do I need to bring to the workshop in Delaware? Real Book? Manuscript paper? I thought I would put this up as a blog entry in case anyone else coming to the Delaware workshop was wondering too?

Hello everyone,

Here's a version of an old classic played with a four to the bar feel reminiscent of such pianists as Dave McKenna, Teddy Wilson, Errol Garner and George Shearing. I have a lot of fun playing these kinds of tunes in this style where the left hand keeps the time and the right hand solos with rhythmic syncopation. There's a version of us doing Sweet Lorraine also in this style although it's a little slower.