How about we build a list of Essential Blues heads. The must knows.

Billies Bounce
Bags Groove (of course)
Sonymoon for Two
Straight No Chaser
Footprints
Berks Works

I'll stop there. what others? it would be great if we had a list of 20 of them, major and minor

I once again learned a valuable lesson. I learned about instrument sound. Using soft sticks and playing loud creates a lot of instrument noise.

I was in the studio with Diane Monroe playing duo. So nothing covering up my sound. I was hitting hard with my soft mallets. And we heard noise from the instrument. Partly from me playing over the damper bar. I had to switch to harder mallets to get the sound I wanted!

Here's a clip of Joe and I playing my original composition Hope. Joe plays a beautiful solo introduction on it as well as great lines over the Gb drone. Here's a copy of the lead sheet in case anyone wants to follow along: http://www.edsaindon.com/documents/hope.pdf

OK, so here is another related post with some images of my current setup... To even keep a trio going, unfortunately I still find it a big pain to transport vibes around. I have really refined my case situation over the years (packs into 3 cases, plus the end-frame), but I really wish it was lighter! The Yamaha YV3710 is a great pro instrument, but it is not very light.

Hey VW,

Tony is always encouraging folks to share what they are working on, and I like being able to do that on the site.

today i tried to practice be bop...

wow those abershold guys are so fast, i sucked on the head. it´s so difficult to think that fast on those bebop tunes...
if someone has a tip besides practicing slowly (i know and did it already but those abershold guys refuse to play it slow), i would be thankful :)

tarik

Here's an audio lesson on some tips for the blues. Attached is a vocabulary exercise, and a transcription of Milt Jackson's solo on Bag's Groove from Wizard of the Vibes. Enjoy!

Behn

Hey Vibes Workers. I wanted to share with you my new website. Please give it a look;

www.tylerblanton.net

Feel free to send me a note via the "Contact" page if you want to be added to my email list to be informed of shows in your area

-Tyler