I just picked up this old set of Jenco vibes. I studied Marimba and a little bit of Vibes while in college as a percussion major. Gifford Howarth was my teacher. Anyway, I have always been a jazz drummer and a fanatic of jazz. In an effort to get better at vibes and not waste the four years I spent practicing mallets I found this puppy in the Upper East Side of New York and snatched it up.
As you can see it needs some TLC.

I discovered this gorgeous tune from Sarah Mc Lachlan and truly loved it. Tarik too. So we decided to make a duet. As ususal Tarik did a beautiful job, adding awesome lines, making it a real duet of two "voices".

Enjoy,

- M

Just having some fun playing grooves in G and made a note of this groove in Logic.

I'm on this trip to find new ways to handle older jazz tunes. So I kepe these snipits to remind me about them.

For some reason I felt like posting it.

This is a recording from my first gig at Coffy's Cafe but second date there.
Coffy said we can play every Wednesday Evening so I took the gig.

I'm playing with a Bulgarian friend of mine Harry Tonchev on guitar. He's a young kid, is a total Bereli freak and plays great.
We had a guitar & drum duo for a while but had a hard time finding work for it. What a surprise... anyway ....

On this evening I forgot the music so we played by memory. (Wprk has been plastering me lately)

This is our attempt at Steve Wonder's tune "Isn't she Lovely".

Hi all,

My gig was cancelled tonight so I practiced all night. HOURS! You know I always say there are a few secret potions for getting good. One is study in all keys, two is to sing and 3 is now officially make time to practice. Time is the new secret potion for me! I always new it was important,and I ALWAYS put music first in my life, but now I've moved time on my secret potions list.

And here's the view from David's Hotel!

David's View at a workshop in Italy!

Hey guys, if you caught the Vibe Hang last weekend this is the original song i TRIED to play. Unfortunately it was not ready to be site read by a trio, but here is a solo version to make up for my sloppy hang performance!

This still needs a little work, but what better place to post a work in progress!

Players,
As a dedicated music lover, but a non-musician, I have always had these questions and here is a great opportunity to ask them. If these topics have been covered before, I apologize.

How much, if at all, do lyrics affect your playing a tune? Is it important to you to read the lyrics when learning a song, if you don't already know them? How important is it to know the history of the song; if it was written for a movie or play, what the movie/play was about? Or is the emotional content of the tune relayed to you through the notes sufficient?