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Tom Beckham and Brad Shepik Duo at Mezzrow February 6th, 2018

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Please join vibraphonist Tom Beckham and guitarist Brad Shepik for a special evening of vibraphone and guitar music as they both debut at Mezzrow.
Beckham and Shepik dig in and explore original compositions and jazz classics with six strings and four mallets–something to like here for all music lovers, especially those who appreciate the duo format.

FEBRUARY 6, 2018

Doors open at 7 PM
Sets at 8 PM & 9:30 PM
There is a $20 music charge for this show.

Good Vibes Radio Update, February 2018

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Hi Everyone,
Here's the lowdown on February's Good Vibes. I'll be playing tracks by Lionel Hampton, Red Norvo, Milt Jackson and Terry Gibbs in this edition to salute these early adapters. We, players and listeners, are indebted to them for giving the instrument its jazz voice, or in this case, voices since each one has a style all his own.

Linear warm up improv -V

This is one of my typical morning improvs. I decided beforehand it would be a linear improvisation IN TEMPO. That means that of utmost importance was the time.
The second important element was SMOOTH PHRASING and TONAL FREEDOM. The latter was achieved by moving through diverse tonalities, starting with, for example, an F minor scale and switching arbitrarily to , for instance, F# major.
The last "rule" I made for myself: Beginning with an idea and ending with the same idea or something else. The important thing being A BEGINNING and an END:

Did You Know Mike Balter Sold His Business?

Very sad news. Mike Balter sold his company to Zildjian. I saw it in an article in a newspaper online. I kind of wish I would have known in advance, as it was a bit of a shock.

I love Mike Balter. Like Steve Weiss he is an icon in this business. Mike is also a really good percussionist and drummer. It was great to endorse a company like his, as it felt like being part of a family business. We will see what the future holds. Mike said to me "Everything will be the same!". I laughed and said back "Nothing will be the same!". Mike is one of a kind.

preparing for nels cline

hey everybody,

It's been a while that I posted something here, but Tony asked me to do some content for the site, so I will try to post regularly, probably every week. I'm very excited to get in touch with the vibesworkshop community again.

I'll start with a video I did last November. I was asked to play in the large ensemble of Nels Cline, and documented my preparing process for you. Maybe you can take a little bit for your own preparation process.