Continuing my slow march through Tony's 15 week lessons - here's lesson 4.

"Talk about chord melody".  This is where you accompany yourself by playing some harmony behind your melody line.  It's a good skill for comping for yourself when soloing, for doing more interesting and melodic comping for others, and for solo vibes playing.  The assignment here calls for leaving out the roots (except on min 7 b5) which leaves room for some nice tensions.

🎵 Play A Great Standard In One Month – Body & Soul – Week 3

Over the past two weeks, we've been developing our approach to "Body and Soul" by exploring different four-mallet voicings throughout the entire form.

Week 1 focused on voicings that loosely followed the melody, while Week 2 introduced another set of options emphasizing closed voicings and practical comping underneath a soloist.

This week, we're taking those ideas and putting them together into something a little more involved:

Friedman 5 - better dynamics than the first 4. Weird aspect ratio because I had to edit the video so it wouldn't upload as a short. 

Chick Corea and Gary Burton play 'Eleanor Rigby' as a piano-vibraphone duo at Burghausen in 2011. Worth studying for Burton's voicings and the duo interplay.

Gary Burton's New Quartet plays Mongo Santamaria's "Afro Blue" live at Jazz Sous les Pommiers in 2013, with Julian Lage on guitar, Scott Colley on bass, and Antonio Sanchez on drums. Worth a close listen for Burton's four-mallet playing alongside Lage.

Warren Wolf and pianist Alex Brown play Chick Corea's "Señor Mouse" as a duo, live at Berklee in 2014. Worth studying for Wolf's phrasing and the duo interplay.

Gary Burton's quintet at Molde in 1974, with Pat Metheny, Mick Goodrick, Steve Swallow, and Bob Moses. It opens with solo vibraphone on 'Desert Air' and is worth studying for Burton's phrasing and the band's interplay.

Stefon Harris and Blackout perform the title track from Legacy Dances, filmed live at the St Louis Jazz Club. Worth a look for Harris's playing and the band's take on his composition.

Joel Ross plays his tune "Wisdom Is Eternal (For Barry Harris)" with his band. Worth a close listen for his phrasing and how he shapes a line on vibes.

What's happening in the Vibes Workshop Discord this week: Gary Burton on how the Musser M-48 was born, a member who found a vibraphone in Paris 3 hours before a gig, and our practice club working through rootless voicings. Join the conversation — discord.gg/wMChaetm (invite expires Oct 22, 10am ET).