John Swana is a phenomenal musician! He played trumpet but had to stop because of lip problems. But he's an amazing musician none the less, and now he plays the EVI. This is a great lesson!

We covered a lot with our TOTM - the Blues. You guys agree?

I was thinking about a lot of the blues lessons we've been putting up lately. And this thought popped in my head.

We don't always focus directly on technique, but anything well played is an etude, a chop builder and an all around technical exercise in many ways. At least that's what I think. If you can swing and play a blues and do interesting stuff you have technique.

Just thought of that and thought I'd pass it along, see if you guys agree.

Hi everyone,

It's short notice, but I will be playing at Smalls Jazz Club in NYC tonight, and you can watch it through a live stream. Just go to www.smallsjazzclub.com and click on the live feed tab. Starts at 9:30PMest. The group is Gerry Gibbs' Thrasher band (Gerry is the son of the great Terry Gibbs!). Anyway, here's the lineup for tonight:

Gerry Gibbs - drums/compositions
Ravi Coltrane - tenor sax
Mark Feldman - violin
Behn Gillece - vibraphone
Aaron Goldberg - piano
Essiet Essiet - bass

Enjoy!!!

Enjoy!!

Enjoy!

hey here´s the last track of a gig i had yesterday in a trio. this is the first gig of this band and we had just one reharsel just short before the gig. so everything needs more fine adjustment.anyway i liked this song although i sucked a bit on the head. the song is by a dutch composer but i forgot the name.hope like it

p.s. sorry for the poor audio quality but i just setup the zoom and did not care too much about gain etc.

I've a sing-a-long vibe show coming up at a rest home next week. In the firm belief that going on with life into old age takes both courageous endurance and a sense of humor, I wrote up the following lyrics to "So What". I'd welcome additional verses:

My aching back hurts like the dickens So .. What
It won’t give me a moment’s peace So .. What
It creaks and rattles on forever So .. What
Maybe it needs a little grease So .. What

The nurse here is a nasty creature So .. What
She’s mean and and doesn't give a damn So .. What

I mentioned about pausing the TOTM and do a huge chord and harmony study. 2011 Vibesworkshop Chord and Harmony Festival!

I'm digging that more and more. Here's the thing. If we all work together we could create a HUGE compilation of all this, study our butt's off, and grow like mo' fo's' musically.

I have a bunch of pros who will create some lessons for us and I think I'll pick a theme for each week and we can all talk about the theme.

I'll wrap up the blues this week and next week we'll start the Chord Fest!