James Williams, who passed way too soon, was a wonderful pianist who left us some great recordings and compositions. He taught at Berklee during the years I was there, and I used to see him often performing in school concerts, clinics, and local gigs.

I especially like this song, For My Nephews, for its simplicity, bluesy quality, and beautiful melody. it's a keeper.

If you're interested in getting a lead sheet let me know, I'll make one up and post it here or email it to you.

I thought it would be a good chance for us to talk about our careers. Not all of us :-) have had careers like Gary Burton or Mike Manieri or David Friedman. Three incredible and different careers.

This is a great example of a great West coast player, Susan Pascal. Great tune and to me it looks like a textbook example of the "Burton grip".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yecLW49_WdI

Got in early today at Berklee and found an open practice room for some shedding before teaching. Decided to work on playing lines over Coltrane's classic "Moment's Notice". In this clip I'm focusing on using the inside two mallets with the open spread fulcrum (Fulcrum Grip). An article on the grip which includes photos can be downloaded from my website.

I'm in Ireland and did two very different gigs. The first one pissed me off for musical reasons.

I think of playing my instrument as partly a job. Meaning I have to be proficient at what I do and competent. I want to be great but first I have to make sure I'm competent and proficient. Can't be great without that part! I get upset when musicians are not competent. It pisses me off. Of course I know there are sometimes when I haven't been competent. So I've been guilty of this in my life.

Feel free to interpret it loosely.