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Re: Dave Samuels (cont'd), the composer

As I wrote in my text re Dave Samuels the day I heard about his passing I remembered that I must have a folder with a few tunes of his he had given me many years ago. And a set of Mallets - there is no imprint on them, they may be very early Malletech mallets - that I paid a small fortune for at the time. They came with bent shafts, almost impossible to play with.

Chega de Saudade - A Study in Solo Vibraphone Playing

Gary Burton set the bar with his recording "Alone At Last" which was released in 1972. His rendition of this composition by Antonio Carlos Jobim was and still is unbelievable. I was very fortunate to study with Gary at Berklee while I was a student there from '72-'76. We spent quite a few lessons on this song. Gary talked about and showed various steps and techniques in approaching this song as a solo piece. This clip illustrates some steps, techniques and concepts as applied to Chega.