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Steve Giordano was and I think is my mentor. I've mentioned this before and probably many times. I learned more about the vibes from him than any teacher I studied with.

Whether I'm successful at it or not, this is how I hear the vibes as a solo instrument.

I learned a ton from Steve and was at his house every week from the 80's to the mid 90's. There was a few of us and we would just play and play.

He's a real passionate player and I love that in him.

I don't know if this is such a big topic, but it's one I always find interesting when the situation occurs. I think no matter how long you have been performing, there are still moments when you can get psyched out by seeing someone you know sitting in the front row. Tonight Jonathan and I are going to Miami to see Chick and John McLaughlin and their current touring group. It promises to be a great night of music and we have tickets right up front. This is one of the few times I will be in the audience to hear Chick play.

Tifoo posted a YouTube of pianist Makoto Ozone playing Rhapsody In Blue, and I was delighted to see it. Makoto has bcome quite active as a classical pianist in the past decade, and I have never seen him playing with an orchestra till now. Coming from a jazz background, it's natural that two of his primary performance works are Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue, and Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F major. Both feature piano cadenzas written out by Gershwin, and of course played by thousands of pianists through the years.

Performances of Gary Playing over the years.

Gary's thoughts and blogs.

Photo's from Gary's tavels.

Here are the links to lessons that Gary shot and posted on the site for us:

Stories from Gary's travels and career on the vibraphone: awesome!

Hello everyone,

Here's the first video of me playing Life's Blessing. Please excuse the sound and video quality. I'm not too good when it comes to the technical recording and video stuff.

On this video, I'm doing one chorus of left hand comping in which I'm bringing out guide tone lines as well as some bass motion. I also use quite a few 10ths which seems to work well with this type of tune.

If anyone has any questions about this, just let me know.

Ed

F Blues with left hand comping along with soloing with the right hand. Dedicated to one of my favorite pianists in this type of style (with left hand comping four to the bar), Dave McKenna.