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"Skating In Central Park" by John Lewis

"Skating in Central Park" - A beautiful song in 3/4 composed by pianist John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet. I've been working with songs in 3/4 for my solo vibraphone book that I'm in the process of writing. I'm making headway on the book with many of the music examples finished. I just started formatting the layout of the book along with the accompanying text for the music examples. Still along way to go though. Meanwhile, my book Voicing Concepts for the Jazz Vibist is available from Amazon.

Neighbor Tone Practice (this is rough)

First, this is a short sample of some rough practice time. Be aware. Just being accountable and looking for any feedback as to whether I'm on the right track. I do feel like this is helping.

One of the hardest things for me, personally, as I develop as an improviser, is "hearing" lines inside of the chord structure that AREN'T the actual chord tones, OR similarly....hearing lines that don't follow a diatonic pattern, e.g. up/down the scale. I realize this is probably very common at my early stage of learning, but it's non the less a bit frustrating...

It Could Happen To You

"It Could Happen to You" - Fun working with vibist Lucas Amorim yesterday on this classic with a focus on playing lines along with left hand accompaniment. Lucas is an excellent vibist who studied with Gustavo and I while enrolled at Berklee here in Boston. A real pleasure to have as a student. Here's a few minutes of what we were working on.