Who can figure out what H1CH mean?
I did a few of these. My chord melodies are sometimes 'thin'. I don't like adding a lot of stuff and I like playing in time mostly.
Here's It Could Happen To You
Here's a chord melody followed by a challenging quarter note solo with chords. The first part is for everyone, the second part is for advanced students. It's a real work out on chords and voice leading.
@Tristan - Can you play it?
Sorry, but I had to do it.
I've talked about this many times, however since we're talking about chord melodies I thought another Dad speech was appropriate.
I made this for my student Dan Neville. We did out last lesson last month and we wanted to end it with a couple duos.
I did two duos, but I'm not happy with the other one. I'll post this one for now.
Also, I didn't post the second part. I always play both parts to see if I can play along with the track. If I can then I know the time is ok. This is ok. But I won't post the second part hear. This way to you it has no other part to influence you.
I've been working on this tune with different time feels since I've been preparing for a tour and CD with the wonderful Czech singer, Martina Bartova. I'm posting a very slow, kind of dreamy version with lots of space. I've recorded several versions so maybe in a couple of days I'll post a version containing fast arpeggio-like figures over the harmonies of the tune.
“Bluesette” by the great Toots Thielemans from Brussels who passed in 2016 at the age of 94. I’m a big fan of Toots and his beautiful harmonica playing. I’m improvising here on his most famous song with a focus on using the top three mallets along with a few improv concepts. I think it’s important when practicing to isolate the parameters and techniques/concepts. My students and I will work in the lessons this way with good results. Gary Burton did the same with me when I was studying with him.
“Emily” - composed by Johnny Mandel in 1964 for the movie “The Americanization of Emily”. The version from the great pianist Bill Evans is a classic. I learned a great deal from Bill. Everything from lines, voicings and harmony to touch and sound. I saw him many times in Boston at the Jazz Workshop. I caught the trio with Eddie Gomez and Marty Morell as well as the trio with Joe LaBarbera and Mark Johnson. With Joe and Mark, I remember sitting very close to the piano and was struck on how swollen Bill’s hands were at the time. In spite of that, Bill and the trio were playing superb.
Here's a simple chord melody on All The Things You Are. I tried to incorporate many of the things we talked about in the Beginner's Course. Sorry about the pedal sound, didn't have time to mess with it today :)