This week I didn't practice as much as usual.
Work has been a real bitch and I needed some change to improve my perspective.
So I made it a listening week.

Aside from all the great videos posted at VW this last week or so, I kept being reminded of someone on the site saying we need to listen to other instruments and in particular guitar players. So that's what I did this week. A guitar listening marathon.

The guitar players I listened to were:
Jim Hall
Pat Martino
Bill Frisell
Emily Remler
Steve Kahn
Pat Metheny
Larry Carlton
John Scofield
Robben Ford

Guys,

Did anybody knew Australian vibist Jack Brokensha? I just learned from Sid Edwards (my old Vibe.net Austie friend) that he past away yesterday October 28th...

I made a little search :

- Bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Brokensha
- Disco: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Jack+Brokensha

Here's a classic Jobim tune called O Grande Amor. It's a great Jobim composition which is a lot of fun to play on. There are a lot of nice guide tone lines to bring out in the comping and soloing. There are several fantastic versions which everyone should check out including renditions from Gary (solo), Dave (Friedman) and a duo version from of Dave and David.

I'm getting a ton out of the latest Burton and Friedman videos. You know I always want to be a student, no matter what else I might become. That's the great thing about this site, it's an opportunity to be a student and a teacher. So I've watched and listened as much as possible to those videos and they are changing the way I play.

Just the sounds, when you hear someone play and they get 'their' sound can change you. I don't mean sound of the instrument, I mean note choices, sticking choices, etc.

Check out Chet's scat solo. I love it. Sounds exactly like he's playing trumpet.

The Duo CD with Saxophonist, Peter Weniger is finally out. It's called "Rétro" and is a collection of several rarely recorded standards. Here's an example, "So in Love", by Cole Porter.

This is what happens when a bass player has to leave early and you get bored.
Sax, Vibes, and Drums

This is my arrangement of Dolphin Dance I did for my midterm arranging project. It was cold in the room so the sax is a little out of tune but thats just the way it goes.

Lomar Brown- Alto Sax
Joe Doubleday- Vibes
Tamir Schmerling- Bass
Miles Nasta- Drums

This is a really nice work for solo vibes. Originally written by Hector Villa-Lobos for voice and cellos, this is just one in a series of pieces that were an attempt freely to adapt a number of Baroque harmonic and contrapuntal procedures to Brazilian music.

The accompaniment is often just arpeggios, so let them ring. You'll need to mallet dampen the melody at several strategic places. The goal, as always, is to have the piece sound as full and clean as possible. Fullness comes from leaving the pedal down a lot, and cleanliness comes from pedaling and dampening in all the right places.

Dana has a GREAT music room!