A Its been a while so here is a tune by Joshua Redman Trio which our improv class are learning at the moment. Its a tricky tune and just to get this where it is now has been a challenge but worth it. Still a few tweaks to be done here and there
One of my favorite ballads, fashioned after a Dexter Gordan recordings of the song. This was a rehearsal for an upcoming performance featuring this vibes solo.
I am working on converting my vibes into a MIDI controller. So far I wired up 8 Piezo pickups (white notes from B to B) for a proof of concept. My motivation is to be able to notate things that I play (e.g., transcriptions). As a side-effect, I can also layer other sounds on top of the vibes, e.g., strings.
Playing the classic Disney song with a nod to the great pianist Art Tatum.
I have been messing around with playing rubato, dynamics, and building inside countermelodies while playing ballads on solo vibes... I thought I would share this for comment. It is short.
Revisiting "Country", a beautiful composition written by Keith Jarrett. It's an AABB form composition. This clip features three separate renditions of the melody chorus.
I remember seeing Keith play this solo piano on SNL in the 70s. It was amazing seeing him play solo piano on prime time commercial television. Country is also one of the tracks on Keith's great recording "My Song" featuring Keith and his European quartet (Jan Garbarek, Palle Danielson and Jon Christenson). It's one of my favorite recordings.
Playing Hoagy Carmichael's classic composition "Skylark" this morning before an enjoyable day of teaching at Berklee. So many great songs written by Hoagy Carmichael and this is one of them.
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I'm posting this final "round up" of Giant Steps to stress the importance of sculpting each phrase, no matter what the tempo. Ben pointed out the advantage of not playing the tune too fast, so here's a medium tempo where I did my best to shape each phrase, using dynamics, dampening and legato playing.
Motivic Playing: Practicing today at Berklee on "All Of Me" with a focus on motives. More or less changing motives every eight measures. Motivic Playing is a chapter in The Complete Guide To Improvisation Volume Two.