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tgcleary commented on the post, Bluesology (originally posted 9/21/09), on the site The Key Bop Chronicles
“Interesting comment, Brad, and thanks for including the Dave Holland link. This group has some characteristics that set it apart from many other jazz groups, and which are also factors in its success and […]
Posted 38 days ago. -
tgcleary commented on the post, Rhythm Changes and Trading Fours, on the site The Key Bop Chronicles
“It’s interesting to contrast this Derek Trucks tune with the Snarky Puppy tune Peter mentioned – where the Snarky Puppy sax players’ trading uses a fair amount of bebop language, Trucks and Kofi Burbridge on flute […]
Posted 94 days ago. -
tgcleary commented on the post, Rhythm Changes and Trading Fours, on the site The Key Bop Chronicles
“Great example, Brad! I think Clark’s trumpet/flugel trading, rather than just displaying his amazing ability to switch embouchures, is an example of how great players sometimes approach a solo as trading fours […]
Posted 94 days ago. -
tgcleary commented on the post, Rhythm Changes and Trading Fours, on the site The Key Bop Chronicles
“There’s a lick Peterson uses for the first time at 3:58 – and uses several times afterwards – that is very similar to the one that appears in m. 20-21 of the second chorus from Clifford Brown’s ‘Pent Up House’ […]
Posted 94 days ago. -
tgcleary commented on the post, Rhythm Changes and Trading Fours, on the site The Key Bop Chronicles
“The first chorus of the solo is definitely a great example of developing a simple idea. In the first chorus he also uses pieces of what in class we call the ‘turnaround lick’ – first the ‘tail’, then the […]
Posted 94 days ago. -
tgcleary commented on the post, Rhythm Changes and Trading Fours, on the site The Key Bop Chronicles
“The trading between the tenor players at 3:20 in ‘Slow Demon’ is a great example of trading, also of how bebop language works well in this context.
Posted 94 days ago. -
One half step of separation: Miles Davis and Ray Vega (a.k.a. the half step between the root and the seventh in the seventh scale)
The Key Bop Chronicles
To follow up on my recent post about solo choruses by great jazz players that stay within a basic seventh scale outline of the blues progression, this current post is about solos that develop by alternating […]
Posted 107 days ago. -
This past Sunday, on the NBC show ‘Meet The Press’, I watched a skilled TV journalist, David Gregory, interviewing a seasoned politician, Senator John McCain. Whatever one thinks of the style or viewpoint of […]
Posted 121 days ago. -
As I’m teaching the part of the improvisation class at UVM where we learn Barry Harris’ scale outline of the blues and then compose a chorus of solo on the blues, I thought I’d post some examples of choruses from […]
Posted 157 days ago. -
originally posted 3/23/11 When I’m asked what musical styles interest me, one of my standard answers is ‘the bebop tradition from J.S. Bach to Barry Harris and beyond’. There is a little joke in this answer, because the word ‘bebop’ didn’t get coined until the twentieth century, but I’m mostly serious in the sense that [...]
Posted 532 days ago. -
originally posted 3/8/11 I recently read an interview with jazz piano great Billy Taylor, reposted as a memorial (Taylor died on December 29th of last year). In it, Taylor mentions how, as a young pianist, he used the chord voicing from Duke Ellington’s piano intro to ‘In A Mellow Tone’ as his ‘basis for harmonizing behind horn [...]
Posted 532 days ago. -
Practice Journal: Intros and Counterpoint (3/6/11) I write today from Humboldt, California, near the beginning of another tour with the Mike Gordon band. On this tour we are adding some music with particularly challenging keyboard parts to our repertoire, including Mikeʼs tunes ʻGot Awayʼ (from his newest release, Moss) and ʻMoundʼ (from the Phish…[Read more]
Posted 532 days ago. -
originally posted 3/18/10 My experiences of the last three weeks have brought to mind the wonderful Anthony Burgess novel ‘The Piano Players’, in which a pianist gives a marathon concert, something like two or three days, during which he sends assistants out to music stores for more scores with which he can maintain the marathon. [...]
Posted 532 days ago. -
The Mike Gordon band has been making its way through the Midwest recently, including shows in Madison, Wisconsin; Cincinnati, Ohio; Ann Arbor, Michigan, and (the city I’m writing from today) Pittsburgh, PA. We have been alternating between larger venues such as the Barrymore Theater in Madison, and smaller ones, such as the Blind Pig in [...]
Posted 533 days ago. -
Bluesology (or, ‘the Seventh and Sons’) originally posted 9/21/09 Lately the Mike Gordon band has played shows in Atlanta, Jacksonville Beach (Florida), and Birmingham (Alabama), as well as Memphis and Nashville (Tennessee). We are traveling within what might be called the heartland of the blues; on Sunday I visited Sun Studio in Memphis, where B.B. [...]
Posted 533 days ago.
