An excerpt from Shirley Horn's solo on 'What Would A Woman Do?' (The State of the Blues, part 5)

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The great jazz vocalist and pianist Shirley Horn was best known for her unmistakable vocal sound, her ability to re-invent songs, often at unusually slow tempos, and her ability to accompany herself on piano. […]

A history of the chord progression from Bobby Hebb's 'Sunny', and an original tune based on it ('Eye On The Sky')

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I began writing this post on November 23rd, 2109, one day after the anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.  According to an interview with composer Bobby Hebb, it was that event, as […]

'Outer Peace' - a blues in G

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‘Outer Peace’ is a melody line on the twelve bar jazz blues progression in G. I wrote it originally as a countermelody in an arrangement of Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison’s blues ‘Centerpiece’. Edison’s original version […]

'Ella's House of Tonic Tones' - another tune on the solo changes of Sonny Rollins' 'Pent-Up House'

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I composed the tune below, ‘Ella’s House of Tonic Tones’, while teaching a class called ‘Ella-vated Improvisation’, where we studied a number of Ella Fitzgerald’s scat solos from the album ‘Ella Fitzgerald […]

The Art of the Duo

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The following is a list of recordings by great improvisers who chose to collaborate in duo settings, often with one chord instrument (bass, guitar or piano) combined with a melody instrument (trumpet, voice, […]

A message from the future of jazz: Camille Thurman and her solo on 'Sassy's Blues' (The State of the Blues, part four)

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(The title of this post is borrowed from a video narrated by U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a figure whose achievements in the political world have more than a few parallels to Camille Thurman’s […]

A menagerie of intervals

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Birding is a term that describes what birdwatchers do when they observe and catalog the species of birds they hear and see around them.  In birding competitions, such as the New Jersey Audubon World Series of […]

'Weathervane' - a tune on 'Yesterdays' changes

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‘Weathervane’ is a tune I composed based on the chord changes to the standard ‘Yesterdays’ by composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Otto Harbach.  Some charts for the tune are below. It is inspired by the melodic […]

Suzi Stern's solo on 'So What'

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Suzi Stern is a gifted and innovative jazz vocalist from the Austin, Texas area. While she has quite a range of recordings available, I discovered her work through the 2000 album ‘Inside Stories’, which I found […]

Mary Lou at the Savoy

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‘Mary Lou at the Savoy’ is a tribute to the great jazz pianist, composer and educator Mary Lou Williams (1910 – 1981), whose career spanned most of the twentieth century and who influenced and contributed to every […]

'Birdhouse' - a tune on the changes of Sonny Rollins' 'Pent-Up House'

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My tune ‘Birdhouse’ (click on the title to hear a recording by my quartet Birdcode) is based on the chord changes of Sonny Rollins’ ‘Pent-Up House’ and is inspired by melodic language from a particular group of […]

Swingin' with some empathy: thoughts on jazz accompanying

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My students often ask me: ‘how can I get better at comping?’ or ‘how can I get better at playing with singers?’  In developing my response to these important questions over the years, I’ve found that it’s fasci […]

Look who's Bartok-in': folk song reinvention from Bela Bartok to Chick Corea and beyond

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I recently watched a PBS documentary called ‘The American Epic Sessions’,  which features the producer and guitarist Jack White resurrecting a Western Electric recording lathe from the early twentieth century for […]

That Thing You Said: a line on the changes to "What Is This Thing Called Love"

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‘That Thing You Said’ is a bebop-style melody line that I composed on the chord changes to Cole Porter’s ‘What Is This Thing Called Love’.  (Thanks to jazz singer Linda Oats for coming with the tune’s title after […]

'Silverbird' - a tune on the changes to 'There Is No Greater Love'

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‘Silverbird’ is a melody line I composed on the chord progression of the jazz standard ‘There Is No Greater Love’.  This line is meant to demonstrate key aspects of the bebop melodic style, including its balan […]

The neighborhood hang and the history hang (including 'Monk, Bud and Elmo', a tune on the changes of 'In Walked Bud')

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Above: Jack Teagarden, Dixie Bailey, Mary Lou Williams, Tadd Dameron, Hank Jones, Dizzy Gillespie and Milt Orent around the piano at Mary Lou Williams’ apartment / Below: the same group in a different order around […]

A Wrinkle in Time: Joe Davidian's solo on 'Straight, No Chaser' (State of The Blues, part 3)

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Joe Davidian is a highly talented jazz pianist and native Vermonter who is currently living and playing in New York City. I’m proud to say that I watched Joe grow up as a player in the Vermont jazz scene, a […]

Root Systems, Part 1: Join the ii-V-I Club

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The exercise above combines one-octave major scales using a ‘seven up and down’ pattern with a progression that could be called the two-bar ii-V-I or ‘short’ ii-V-I.   Briefly, a major ii-V-I progression is a s […]

Music of Hope in Action (a meditation for Martin Luther King Day)

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This is the text of a talk I gave on January 21st at All Souls Interfaith Gathering’s Music and Spirit service.  The service also included performances of the music discussed in the talk.  In an issue p […]

Sonatinas and other two-sided stories

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The word ‘Sonatina’ is used to describe a variety of pieces for the piano.  Some of these pieces, such as the first movements of Muzio Clementi’s Sonatinas Op 36 numbers 1 and 2, the first movement of Haydn’ […]