all-levels

Hey guys,

Here's a classic Jobim tune called O Grande Amor. It's a great Jobim composition which is a lot of fun to play on. There are a lot of nice guide tone lines to bring out in the comping and soloing. There are several fantastic versions which everyone should check out including renditions from Gary (solo), Dave (Friedman) and a duo version from of Dave and David.

Hello everyone,

Here's another clip which was just uploaded to YouTube. Billy sounds great on alto as on clarinet and Thomas is swinging like crazy. However, I might have had too much coffee before the gig. Ha!Ha!

I just saw a smokin' version of Tony (with bassist Tony Marino who also sounds fantastic) playing this tune a few days ago. Tony's lines and swing feel are beautiful. All The Things You are is one of those tunes that everyone plays. Keith Jarrett has recorded it a number of times.

Hey guys,

Here are some exercises I was working on the other day. You can stick them into your improvs as vehicles to get from one point to another nicely and create a bit of excitement and change. The first one is one creates the dimished scale but the rest are quite different. I call them "interval scales". After you do them with the half step between each other interval, go back and replace the half step with a whole step, then again with a minor third, Fourth etc...

It's also good for ear training on intervals.
Hope you enjoy.

Triste is one of my favorite Jobim tunes. It's nice to see the reactions from Thomas and Billy in these vids since I don't see their faces when I'm playing. I was laughing at their reaction at the beginning of my solo. I'm playing a blues type lick over the first 8 bars of the solo. It looks like their saying, "what is he playing?, is he lost? etc. Then they have a sigh of relief at bar 9 when I resolve the motive to the C-7 chord.

Hey guys,

Here's another clip from our hotel gig. We're playing "It Could Happen to You" in Eb, although it's played quite often in G. One of my favorite versions is from Keith Jarrett who plays it in G. Sorry about the crowd noise. We're playing in the lobby of the hotel where people are coming and going.

Ed

This is an effective 4 mallet exercise that I’ve been using for years. I do the exercise at the beginning of my practice time and often before a gig or concert. I think it helps to condition your hands and fingers by building some strength, flexibility, and endurance.

Hi all,

Here's a version I did of Etude No.2. You can find the pdf to the music here http://www.vibesworkshop.com/node/4499 If anyone's working on this and has questions, please feel free to fire away with questions, enjoy!

Behn

(+ solo drums Fernando Martinez)

Here's another Ted Piltzecker video to go along with the one Todd just posted -- apparently from the same gig.

Tom P.