My daughter Katie (20 year old vocalist) surprised me with a present of some original arrangements (she also sings all of the parts) of holiday favorites. Even though no vibes are involved I thought I would post one of these in honor of the season hoping that folks on the site might enjoy it. Thanks to Tony for a wonderful site and I'm looking forward to another great year of Vibes Workshop!

K. David (Dave) Johnson

I'm sure you guys heard this one tons of times!... Not me! I made a search cuz I was surprised by the close presence of vibes on this version...

Did we talk about the vibist appearing here : Arthur Lyman? Any one as things to say about him?

http://www.answers.com/topic/arthur-lyman

- M

A short simple etude that covers three aspects of chordal playing. The block chords. Playing a chord with a grace note and playing a chord and dampening a line underneath it. Short but challenging. Reminds me of a fanfare in a way.

I am looking for suggestions for "practicing" away from the vibes. i.e. sitting on a plane, or in a hotel room. I will be traveling a ton on business after the holidays. I have a couple of ideas that I'd like to share and I'd like to get feedback or suggestions.

1) Memorize tunes. I am now making some 3X5 notecards, the name of the tune on one side the chords, key and modes on the other (e.g. II, V, I)

I got this from Franck Tortiller : I love it!!
A classic... but what a great (French) team work! :o)

Anyone listening to this? Just heard this download-- absolutely beautiful!

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/jazzdownload.php?id=5664

All done!

This is am email I got recently, its one of those little scenario's we can relate too, so hope you enjoy it, Merry Christmas to all.

John

Subject: Ed Friedland article on Jazz.. Cracked me up

I'm looking for a good set of vibes. I am a middle school jazz vibes player and i need one at home to practice. I have a limited budget. I don't want to spend to much. Ideally, i am looking for a musser m55, but that might not happen. If you have any kind of vibraphone, i will look into it. If you have a decent set of vibes, regardless of the brand, and for the right price, you can consider it sold.