Skip to main content

Adélaïde Ferrière in concert. What can we learn from marimba players ?

I know i know guys we are metal freaks and not that much into that wooden stuff. BUT ! ... we can learn a lot from those marimba prodigies that bloom up years after years.
Adélaïde Ferrière is the new french star of the marimba. She is a concert player yet at the age of 20 and plays percussion as well as she plays marimba. She already won few awards in France as best young classical player ... And by the way who said Burton’s grip didn’t fit to marimba ?

You must believe in Spring

I've always loved this tune but never learned it because I thought it was so difficult, especially after hearing so many gorgeous versions by Bill Evans. It's not only about playing the chords, but moreover about CONNECTING them and phrasing the melody; always a tremendous challenge on the vibes! So, I started working on it about a month ago, never satisfied with the way I was playing it. (I'm still not, by the way!)
So, here's a work in progress. Comments from the community are welcome!

Texas Hoedown for vibes and tenor saxophone

Peter Weniger and I did a reading of the piece, originally for solo vibraphone. Basically Peter plays the melody and I try to leave out certain phrases that were written in the solo version to avoid too much information. This varies from the written solo because we deviate from the written out solo and improvise a solo together. It's not perfect, which I kind of like but I dig the feel.