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Manu Dibango big band marimba

John Keene 9 January 2020

I first heard of Manu Dibango when AM radio was playing his hit "Soul Makossa" around 1974, and I knew of him as an Afrobeat singer and sax player. I had no idea he played mallets until I saw a video concert around 1999 on the BET on Jazz channel. I discovered this on YouTube yesterday of this great Afrobeat arrangement of a song we all know (I won't let the cat out of the bag), and notice how the arrangement is built around the marimba.

Body and Soul - Solo Vibraphone

ed saindon 5 January 2020

"Body & Soul" - the last video of my sabbatical project which was the application of improvisational concepts along with solo vibraphone playing techniques. This was the focus of the break along with the work on two book projects (solo vibraphone playing and dampening/pedaling). It's been a nice break but I'm looking forward to getting back to Berklee for the Spring semester.

How My Heart Sings -V

David Friedman 4 January 2020

This wonderful, quirky tune by Earl Zindars has been a favorite of mine for over 50 years. I used to jam on this tune in the 70's and perform it with bassist Harvie S. Although I'd been playing it off and on I never was satisfied with my solo versions so I started working on it again about 3 days ago and finally, after 2 day of recording it, I came up with a version which I feel is moderately acceptable. It's hard not to try to sound like Bill Evans, who made the tune famous. I think there's quite a bit of me in this take. So, here goes.

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