This 4-mallet balafon improvisation, from my CD “The Turning,” marks my first attempt to use 4 heavy balafon mallets to fire up groove and energy in 4/4. The 4-mallet approach on the more ancient instrument inspired the idea to incorporate other mallets on vibes, beginning my experimentation with leather-headed mallets custom made in India (my “3 ballads” post tells more of the leather mallet story). To build the Woodwork arrangement, I layered wood-related percussion including cajon, cascara (sticks), clave and seed pods.

This is a quick mini-mini-concert because I only recorded one tune. Had to run after the recording.

"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" by Felix Mendelssohn - A solo vibraphone rendition of this classic for the holidays. Here's my take on it with some "off the cuff" theme and variations as well as a little counterpoint. Hope you enjoy it. Happy Holidays!

So, two mallets. I think what is interesting is how low his hands are. A good lesson for us all. You can’t play soft with high hands and you have no dynamics if you can’t play soft. I see that as the biggest problem with 4 mallets. The mallets are too hard and the hands are too high. No dynamics and that plinky sound. Often technically and harmonically impressive, but lacking in musicality.

hey, sorry i'm late...

i did:
folks on the hill
lulu swing
and xmas time is here

except with folks on the hill, i tried to play songs that i've never played live in a solo version so i have nothing arrangend. that makes it more challening to me.

critic meeee... ;)

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.

This is amazing and I actually got a little choked up to come online and 8 other mini concerts! It's a chance for us to perform and us to listen. Mini concerts are when you play 2 or more pieces with out stopping.

So with this mini concert you can sit and listen to about a concerts worth of vibe players performing. It's incredible to me and such a statement of dedication. Preparing for this is as challenging as preparing to play a few tunes on an actual concert. As far as work, there's not much difference.

“On the Sunnyside of the Street” - one of my favorite standards played here with a nod to the great pianist Art Tatum. There was a period when I was heavily into pianists like Tatum, Teddy Wilson, Fats Waller, Earl "Fatha" Hines, Dave McKenna and Dick Hyman. All masters of the piano and where I got a lot of inspiration.

Well, I didn't spend enough time practicing the "concert" part, but these are the tunes I've been working on:

Falling Grace

Very Early

Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues Are