None of These

Aldebaran is a massive Red Giant star in the Milky Way. I thought it would be fun to tell the story of birth and death of Aldebaran, which naturally begins with the Big Bang (tam-tam). After a textural opening of gongs and bells, the vibes establish the “pulse” of this musical universe. Three Balafon layers (African log xylophone) set the stage for the groove that forms the star. The simple melody is played on Gender Wayang (Indonesian mallet instrument) that brings out an interstellar quality. Glockenspiel adds flavors inside the groove.

Three swing tunes to ring in the new year -- cheers to all!
• Out of Nowhere (Johnny Green)
• How High the Moon (Morgan Lewis)
• Waltz for Debby (Bill Evans)

Mini-concert of 3 classics:
• Corcovado (Jobim)
• Gentle Rain (Luiz Bonfá)
• How Insensitive (Jobim)

In my first video post (3 Ballads) I opened with a solo rendition of Chick Corea’s “Children’s Song.” The tune is a great exercise in building independence between the two hands, with the left hand playing an ostinato and the right playing the melody. As one person pointed out, the piece has a kind of Mbira (African thumb piano) quality to it. I was drawn to the tune for that very reason — to try and bridge the gap between the jazz repertoire and world-music styles.

16 bars of fun with Chromatics, Accents, Scales,
Arpeggios, Stickings, pedaling and Control!

This past summer I recorded some of my favorite standards as individual tracks and strung them together in a number of “mini-concerts.” This second video in the series features three ballads: Everything I Have is Yours (Burton Lane), I Thought About You (Jimmy Van Heusen), and My One and Only Love (Guy Wood).

Children's Song
Crystal Silence
Yesterdays

"How My Heart Sings" composed by Earl Zindars and played by pianist Bill Evans on his 1964 recording titled the same name. Bill and Earl were good friends and Bill played quite a few songs composed by Earl. I first learned this song way back when I was studying with Gary Burton in the 70s. It was played quite a lot around Berklee back then. There's another great version from pianist Mulgrew Miller on the recording Young At Heart from drummer Tony Williams. My fantastic student/vibist Lucas Amorim and I have been working on this song in the past few lessons.

Cole Porter’s “I Love You” - using a variety of improv techniques from my improv series The Complete Guide To Improvisation (available from Amazon, www:edsaindon.com and the Berklee College of Music bookstore in Boston). I used this song in Volume Two in the Four Note Grouping chapter. I listed the groupings used for each chord and wrote out a solo based upon the concept. For copyright reasons I named the song “I Loathe You”.

Hi everyone,

In my first post here on Vibesworkshop.com, I introduced some "Controlled Articular Rotations" and also some Progressive and Regressive Angular Isometric Loading (Pails/Rails) to address wrist/arm/shoulder passive flexibility and control.

Today we're moving in a slightly different direction. I'm introducing the "Wall Slide" exercise. This is an absolute "must-do" movement to maintain a healthy low/mid back and shoulders.