Balafon to Vibraphone: a unique path to new ideas

I wanted to share some thoughts about my balafon lessons and how they might connect to your primary instrument: vibes, marimba, piano, etc.

An original tune titled Cream Pie. Slightly inspired by Dexter Gordon's tune Cheese Cake. Joe Zarr - Soprano, Joe Karwacki - Bass, Damian Allis - Drums and Matthew Rockwell Sokolic - randomly hitting some metal!

Gary Burton set the bar with his recording "Alone At Last" which was released in 1972. His rendition of this composition by Antonio Carlos Jobim was and still is unbelievable. I was very fortunate to study with Gary at Berklee while I was a student there from '72-'76. We spent quite a few lessons on this song. Gary talked about and showed various steps and techniques in approaching this song as a solo piece. This clip illustrates some steps, techniques and concepts as applied to Chega.

I've been spending a little time each day with Ed's book 1. The early info on passing tones is great. I figured for accountability's sake, I would just record a short segment of my practice this morning...

Clearly one of MY biggest issues as I work on becoming an improviser is creating pleasing melodies and lines that have a momentum to them - and that are interesting to listen to. The great players make this look so easy, right? In fact, almost everyone ELSE I listen to makes it look easy. haha.

I'm a week behind because I was out of town last week and didn't figure it was worthwhile to post a video of me playing on the towel. (see pic attached).

I put together a few different lessons here and then in the end, tried a little "play along" to bring some of the concepts together. It's a work in progress. haha. Meaning, this is all a little rough (understatement?) but that's what practicing is all about, right? :)

The lesson(s): A few of Behn's blues lessons. (Thanks Behn!) 3rds and 7ths, dominant lines, etc...I explain it all in the video.

Sometimes ya gotta just open the book and play whatever tune turns up. So that's what I did. No practicing, just play.
I've always loved this tune as a ballad. I'd never read through it before this (and it sorta sounds like it! haha). I did try to bring in some of what I've been working on recently though...

This is for you, Tony. Thank you for ALL you do for the us here at Vibesworkshop! You're the best...

To get it to this point I practiced longer than I thought I'd have to. I still messed up a little bit, and I'd like to take it twice as fast. Also working on pedaling... At this stage I'm happy if I don't smear the notes or sound staccato, and play with some phrasing. In the video I notice that I'm using my left arm too much.