THE HANG IS HERE CLICK HERE

A very special hang this Sunday at 12 noon. Unlike the other vibe hangs, this is a pro hang. I picked 4 great vibe players and asked them to come and play for about 30 minutes. So it's a little more like a sort of concert.

This week will be myself, Behn Gillece, Anthony Smith and Randy Sutin.

It's online so you can watch at home. If you are in the Philly area and want to come buy, just let me know in advance.

This is a piece from a french guitarist named Thierry Lujan. Saudade in brazilian means Nostalgia. I try again and again to be correct with time feel in soloing. If it's work in soloing, much easier with the band this will be.( Man .... ! I speak like Yoda now ! I can't wait the release of Star Wars 7 )

"Alfonsina y el mar" is an argentinian song written by Ariel Ramírez which I adapted to vibes from a flamenco guitar arrangement by Marcos Teira. The original rhythm is the zamba, from Argentina, but I play a flamenco rhythm called bulería, using the vibraphone like a guitar with arpeggios and dampened chords. The form is AAB and I played a little impro in the second AA. I hope you like it. Cheers!!!

Ton

Still working on time feel. It's coming. If you can snap it, I can play it !

Not everyone does the holiday music thing, but this is not your average Jingle Bells....great arrangement by Kim Pensyl for his album Early Snowfall we recorded last summer with homage to Miles's TuTu album. Kim Pensyl-piano, Rusty Burge-vibes, Rick VanMatre-flute, Mike Sharfe-bass and John Taylor-drums.

I decided that I would try posting some very very short etudes.

It's the conquering of material and ideas and technical things that make us play better and better. It's certainly not a half assed attempt at something that makes us better. I think half ass attempts at things help us be better half assed players. Great attempts at things no matter how big or how small make us great(er) players.

So this should be our goal right? To master something. I tell my students, if you come in with only 4 bars completed, they have to be played really really well!

I'm working with a great student. We are talking about trusting his ears and how to make the switch. I think that's a big thing with students. The eyes seem much safer, and in some ways they are. But for improvisational music the ears are much more fun!!
You need to make the switch and trust your ears. You need to play melodies from your eyes and forget about the music. It's hard but it's important.

At home today playing the Gershwin classic "Someone To Watch Over Me" with a steady left hand groove along with some right hand octaves. Inspired from the great pianists that excel in this style including masters like Art Tatum, Keith Jarrett, Oscar Peterson, Errol Garner, George Shearing, Dave McKenna and Teddy Wilson.

Hi All,
December's show is this coming Sunday, Dec 6, usual time, 8-10p eastern. This month's "Three By..." is dedicated to Dave Pike, who we lost in October. I'll play "Cheryl," "Anticipation" and my very favorite, a tune by guitarist Volker Kriegel, "Vian-De." If you have not heard this delicate piece, by all means listen to the show. It tugs at heartstrings.

aloha and happy Holidays to everyone!!!!!!

this last weekend i had the great pleasure of playing the great Arranger and Pianist Mr. Tommy James. Tommy is a wonderful cat and incredible musician. I you don't know this name or his playing you may have heard him with the duke elliington orchestra, Roy Ayers or you may have heard one of his symphonic arrangements .

I had the chance to record us on this gig in honolulu .. just a Zoom record placed on the floor in between us, then send to a friends studio to mix and sparkle it up.