Vibraphonics: The PiperCussion Damper Pad aka, the gel pad

In mid to late 1980’s I was trying to learn to play solo vibraphone. It was so difficult and so frustrating! For one, I felt that my instrument (Musser M55 Pro Vibe) wasn’t working correctly and needed repairs. At that time, I didn’t know other vibraphonists who I could compare my instrument with so I just thought mine didn’t work. So I drove to the Ludwig/Musser factory in Chicago with my vibraphone to get the needed repairs. (I lived in Los Angeles at the time so it was quite a trip).

Back in the mid-1980's I started using pencil grips on my mallets. I was obsessed with finding and eliminating every little thing that contributed to extraneous noise on the vibraphone. As I became a little more known for my "Vibraphonics", I got an endorsement opportunity with Michael Balter to make the John Piper Mallet. I sent him pencil grips and told him the mallets have to include the orange ones (see photo) because for some unknown reason, the orange ones have a better feel and longer lasting quality.

The idea of the MBraces was created WAY back in the 80's when I first started working on my M55 vibraphone for improvements. I discovered (with the use of two cymbal stands) that by placing two braces from near middle of the pedal rail to the sides of the leg frames, the results were fantastic for stability. Very simple but they are the braces that were missing on all previous designs of the instrument! Many people had secondary braces added to their instruments but for some reason, no one was doing the obvious. In the L.A.

Doxy" composed by the great Sonny Rollins. Had a request from a special friend and great vibist to post this song. I love everything Tim played on this clip. I learned this song many years ago from the great Herb Pomeroy. Herb was a wonderful mentor to so many musicians in the Boston area. Tim and I played with Herb for many years. Herb was a one a one of a kind musician and gentleman. He always will be remembered and missed. His legacy and influence continues in the music of all of us that knew him and played with him. This one was for Herb.

.... Don't Transcribe, don't play licks.

IMHO
Licks are vocabulary and phrases and words and sentences. I never understood this. Learn the vocabulary and then use what you want.

Just my opinion!

Thanks Tristan!
Thanks Matthew!

For some weird reason I always felt a Cimbalom was in a strange way similar to a vibraphone. The sticks, the strings like bars. It's in a sort of bed.

So it's a little off topic, but check this guy out. He's pretty happening!

One of my favorite Jobim tunes. Actually, I love them all. Ha!Ha! Tim is special to play with. Probably the most in demand pianist in Boston playing with guys like Jerry Bergonzi and every vocalist in Boston. He was also the pianist for Lyle Lovett. He's so versatile and a real team player with really big ears. So sensitive and responsive. That's why he's working all of the time. I think the ear thing is so important. I think that's the case with all of the great players. Ed

Take it if you need parts!

Check this out. Especially the beginning of the bass solo.

Do you hear the tune? Kurt is just playing a line through the beginning. then he comps 5ths and sparsely but we here the tune.

I often listen to guitar players and imagine what they are playing is on the vibes. I love it and I learn a lot. You can't do that with piano players. they're doing way more than we can handle. We CAN handle most of what guitar players are doing, which is why I think this instrument is more like a guitar than a piano :-) IMHO

I had a gig in April at a local jazz club and the promoter of the club asked for me if I could get a pianist for a vibes/duo concert. He also wanted to know if we could do some Gary and Chick songs which was great. We did Desert Air, Crystal Silence, Windows and few others. Here's one of my favorite Steve Swallow tunes called I'm Your Pal which Gary and Chick recorded for the Crystal Silence album. Still one of my most favorite recordings. I remember working on all of these songs when I was a student of Gary's at Berklee.