Vibraphone

This question was just asked by Ed Saindon on a post today… well I have news!

Yes, Joe is less on the site than he used to be, but who doesn’t know about his crazy life and agenda? On his itinerary, we can see he will be touring in Europe in July, but I’m sure he’s just very busy with all kinds of terrific projects (which I have no ideas about!). :o)

But there is a great news about him: yesterday evening, he won for the second time the prestigious JJA Jazz Award as Mallet Player of the Year!

Sorry Emilie, I couldn't resist! :o)

Emilie just posted this vid on myspace. The sound of recording is not perfect, but... wow, I love her playing and dedication! And she's just not even 22!

What do you guys think?

MN

So, this is my first blog entry and I just wanted to let you guys know how much I appreciate this site. I have learned a lot from this site since I joined not too long ago. What a great Atmosphere!

Alright so I'll get to the point. Earlier I posted a few videos of myself playing some 2 mallet stuff working on lines and such and I got lots of great critique and pointers. One specifically was to ALWAYS use 4 mallets (If you want to be good at 4 mallets that is). I took that advice and now any time that I play I am holding 4.

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIBE HANG The Hang is 6 o'clock Holland Time. I'm pretty sure that's 12pm East coast time and 9am West Coast time. Am I wrong?

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Here’s a clip of Philippe and me playing Bronislau Kaper’s composition Invitation. It’s an unusual standard in terms of the melody, harmony and form. The A section has long durations of minor 6th chords which allow for some nice, open type of playing. The bridge has more conventional II-7 V7s resolving to minor 6th chords. The melody is quite angular and filled with rich tension over the underlying harmony. That’s what makes it such a great tune to play. Nice melody and harmony. Not to mention the ABA form with a tag ending.

Here’s a version of Philippe and me playing Henry Mancini’s The Days of Wine and Roses. It’s a fun tune to solo on since the changes are so interesting to maneuver through. We play the first part of the tune in F and then modulate in the second half to Ab which gives the tune a lift. The great pianist Bill Evans played it this way. Also, Joe plays it this way on his tribute album to Mancini which by the way is a fantastic recording and one of my favorite recordings of Joe.

So I'm heading out this week to do workshops in Ireland and Holland.

This is great and I'm psyched. In Ireland I'll have a very small group of vibe players, maybe 2 or 3. However I'm also doing an improv workshop which will have about 8 or 9 students after the vibesworkshop. We'll work for a few days and then do a concert. I'm excited and love teaching improv workshops.

Then I head to the Vanderplas factory and we should have about 5 or 6 vibe students there.

Here are a few lessons on Triad Pairs. Pretty cool stuff.