Archive for December, 2009
Piano Voicings IV
Submitted by X… Y… Jazz
Here’s an example of how you can use these two-hand shells to work on learning a tune. In this exercise I picked only two of the four different shell voicings (the open ones) to start with. Note that these voicings either have scale degree 5 or 9 as the top voice. [...]
Brilliant and Crazy: Thelonious Monk
Submitted by Jazz Note SDP
If you have seen A Beautiful Mind, Russel Crowe as the brilliant and nuts logician John Nash, you have a sense of the connection between mental impairment and genius. Another case if point is one Thelonious Sphere Monk. I have loved Monk for a long time now. Today I read David [...]
Roy Okutani’s thoughts on music
Submitted by Casa Valdez Studios
Roy Okutani is a great trumpet player that taught at Berklee during the time I was a student there. He now lives, teaches and performs in Sweden. He recently ran across this blog and sent me this paper that he gives to all of his new students. Roy has quite [...]
The Powerful and the Subtle: Dave Holland and Chris Potter
Submitted by Jazz Note SDP
The difference between a listening to jazz live and listening to a jazz recording is analogous to watching a baseball game in the stands versus watching the game on TV. Some there are who will tell you that only the live experience is real. This is truer among jazz fans than [...]
Merry Christmas
Submitted by Jazz Note SDP
Maybe light blogging ahead. It’s hard to tell. I am on my way down south to see my favorite hero of the Republic, my father. Here is a sample from an album I tried to find years ago and failed. Kenny Burrell’s Stormy Monday. All things considered, Burrell is probably my [...]
Bobo Stenson
Submitted by Jazz Note SDP
I have been listening this week to the Bobo Stenson trio’s Serenity. It is a superb recording, especially if you like the Scandinavian sound. I do. It’s moody and impressionistic, which is exactly the description of a long hallway in my heart. It is also as vibrant and as alive as [...]
Spirit Music: Bob Brookmeyer at 80
Submitted by Secret Society
Bob Brookmeyer turns 80 years old today.
To anyone with any interest in large-scale jazz composition, Brookmeyer is a figure of near-idolatrous worship. He’s earned his place in the pantheon of great large ensemble composers many times over, alongside figures like Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Gil Evans, Thad Jones, and George Russell. The [...]
Happy Holidays
Submitted by this SHAPE OF JAZZ
Merry Christmas from This Shape of Jazz
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“Closer” - Paul Bley
Submitted by this SHAPE OF JAZZ
I had once seen the 1981 film Imagine the Sound. What I remember most about Paul Bley’s appearance is his frustration with the role of the percussionist in free-improvised music. How he wanted to eliminate the drummer from his music because he felt it was too restricting. Well in this [...]
Dave Douglas Live @ the Village Vanguard
Submitted by Jazz Note SDP
I was turned on to trumpet man Dave Douglas by a former student and fellow jazz fan. Douglas is prolific. If you don’t like his most recent album, come back after lunch and listen to his next one. His jazz is very much in the avant garde category, but like a [...]
AACM on Do the Math
Submitted by this SHAPE OF JAZZ
Ethan Iverson of The Bad Plus recently posted on specific AACM recordings on his Do The Math blog. In 11 Canonical AACM Performances he mentions a handful of recordings I’m familiar with which was great to read his expert opinion/description of them. I still I need to seek out some [...]
Wes Montgomery on Riverside
Submitted by Jazz Note SDP
There is a special place in my heart for West Coast guitar master Wes Montgomery. My jazz collecting falls neatly into two periods. The first was back in grad school when I purchased my first decent stereo and music still came packaged in thin slices of black plastic, the size of [...]
David S. Ware: Shakti
Submitted by Jazz Note SDP
It’s crunch time this professor, so I have been neglecting Jazz Note. For loyal readers who frequently check out this blog for something new, here is something new.
David S. Ware/Crossing Samsara/Shakti
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Free Jazz lessons: Matt Otto’s new web site
Submitted by Casa Valdez Studios
Matt Otto has a new web site and he’s posted some very good lessons on there.
He has lessons on topics like: reverse 13th arpeggios, augmented scales over dominant chords, spread triads, minor ii-V7s, and rhythm changes.
Nice stuff Otto.
Matt Otto.org
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Joe Henderson talks with Charlie Rose
Submitted by Casa Valdez Studios
A conversation with jazz musician Joe Henderson
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Reply to Josh from the comments of the previous post
Submitted by Casa Valdez Studios
I started to reply to Jazz pianist/educator Josh Rager comment from the previous post and I just got kind of carried away. He does make some good points and my reply is wildly rambling and not even totally directed in response to his comment. I think this deserves a post [...]
Bass is a Hard Life
Submitted by Jazz Note SDP
I am fascinated by bass players. They play a role in jazz that is somewhat akin to a catcher in baseball: they can see the whole field and so end up directing the play. For that reason, bass players make very good leaders. Mingus comes to mind. [...]
Santa’s List
Submitted by Jazz Note SDP
I blogged earlier about Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s incomparable album: Rip, Rig, and Panic/Now Please Don’t You Cry Dear Edith. I also included the recording in my best 50 list. If you don’t have this thing, sit on Santa’s lap. Or buy two of them, and give one as a gift to [...]
The Classical Elegance of MJQ
Submitted by Jazz Note SDP
I was taken to task by commenter Bartek for not including the Modern Jazz Quartet in my best 50 jazz recordings.I can only rely on the mercy of the court on this one. I have long admired MJQ. I vaguely recall an album cover from the LP age. The four, John [...]
“Gigantomachia” - The Naked Future
Submitted by this SHAPE OF JAZZ
ESP-Disk brings us a great treat. From my city of Portland, OR, The Naked Future is a powerful quartet with a lot to say. The Naked Future first caught my attention when ESP-Disk posted a feature on Arrington de Dionyso on their Facebook page. I recognized the photo of him [...]
