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Big Band Vibes

Advice anyone...?

I just found out nobody is playing vibes in the jazz group at the college I graduated from (so sad, but fortunate for me!), so since I'm still in the area, they're letting me play again. As a student I was the first vibes player for the band (you can see how popular this instrument is at my school...), so I did a lot of experimenting to see how I would fit in with so many instruments (sometimes I transposed the horn parts, sometimes I played off the piano, sometimes there was actually a written-out vibes part...).

Trying something new by Ted Wolff

When I look for new tunes to work on I tend to be very selective. The tune must pass a sort of "test", such as "is it hip or sophisticated or swingin' or burnin' or beautiful". Tunes I tend to avoid would be the ones I label as "sentimental or sugary or to simplistic".

When Chick Corea wrote his famous tune "Tones for Jones Bones" his goal was to write a song for his lady that was a love song without being a typical "heart on sleeve" love song.

Forum Topic: Arthur Lipner - Getting to know Vibes and Marimba (and all that jazz)

Not strictly a gig but...

If you in the UK and within reach of Manchester, you may want to look at this taking place on 12th February (£9.00 entry on the day) at the Royal Norther College of Music in Manchester and the summary is...