Hi all,

We've talked quite a lot about vibes and popular music. Here is an example.

Yesterday I came across this vid of my vibist friend Norbert. It's not jazz, but he joined a group named 'General Elektriks' where he plays drums and vibes.

In October they were hosted on French program 'Taratata', a good musical moment where music is 100 % live. As guest was 'M', a hip famous French musician/singer (guy with the black hat). The tune they revisited 'Melodie Nelson' is from great French late composer Serge Gainsbourg.

Some of the heaviest guys in the state came out to the jam session on monday and just totally blew me away. It was a blast being the worst musician on the bandstand. It is great to play with guys that really listen and react and make music. I had my phone and this little phone mic thing that I have so I decided I would record some of it. I wish I would have recorded more. We played an epic Nardis. It's cool because these guys like to just try playing tunes in different ways to really make a challenge.

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This is a recording from my school's jazz combo recital. I'm sorry that my vibes arent louder. We just had a mic out front to record it and it didn't come out that great.

Personnel:
Joe Doubleday- Vibes
Robert Redmond- Trumpet
Dusty Higgins- Guitar
Sam Hinson- Electric Bass
Dr. Cory Gavito- Director

I was realizing that I passed my 1 year "anniversary" of participation in the Vibes Workshop. Looking at some early posts made me realize that a lot of stuff has happened in that year and this site has evolved enormously.

In the Christmas spirit, I thought I would re-post my "Carol of the Bells" from last year. I played all the parts on marimba, mexican marimba and vibes. Enjoy!

Hi All,

The recent discussion around Tony's post about Jason "Mallet Man" Taylor has me wondering what people here really think about the balance between letting the music speak for itself and showmanship.

In "check this out" I've put three performances with contrasting levels of showmanship and art. Two are way on the showy side -- Jason Taylor and the Ian Finkel performance on "History of Mallet Instruments". The third, Elio Villafanca, is what I would consider to be the standard "here's the music" style.

This is my ensemble at the University of the Arts. They're playing the Ornette Blues 'When Will the Blues Leave'.

They're a very talented bunch. Andrew Nitolli is the only freshman in the group and he's doing a great job keeping up with the older students.

Andrew is kicking ass here at the school. He's blowing through a couple transcribed solos and playing them in all the keys, and working out voicings and chords, etc.

He's a former student of Joe Locke and I know Joe is pretty proud of Andrew!

Man I've been working on the tune Beautiful Friendship and it's kicking my ass. The melody, and the phrasing feel really unique to me. And I'm trying to play the tune right down the middle and it's really really hard.

I'm finding I have to kind of study all the spaces in the tune so I can play the melody right. Next the tune's second A doesn't resolve which is a little unusual. And sometimes I want to resolve it just like the last A!

Great video of Hutch!