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Aldebaran is a massive Red Giant star in the Milky Way. I thought it would be fun to tell the story of birth and death of Aldebaran, which naturally begins with the Big Bang (tam-tam). After a textural opening of gongs and bells, the vibes establish the “pulse” of this musical universe. Three Balafon layers (African log xylophone) set the stage for the groove that forms the star. The simple melody is played on Gender Wayang (Indonesian mallet instrument) that brings out an interstellar quality. Glockenspiel adds flavors inside the groove.

"Both Sides Now" - a timeless classic from Joni Mitchell written in 1967. A very special song with great lyrics and a wonderful melody. I heard pianist Fred Hersch play this solo. It was a gorgeous rendition which inspired me to try it on vibes.

“In Your Quiet Place” by Keith Jarrett – one of my favorite songs from Keith and one of the first songs I learned way back when I was studying with Gary Burton. I can still vividly remember the lessons and Gary’s 5th floor corner office at the Berklee 1140 Boylston St. building in Boston. I also fondly remember his vintage set of gold Musser M55 vibe that he used for teaching and gigs. Those bars played "like butter". My lesson time was usually around lunch time and Gary would most often be eating a sandwich while I butchered these songs. Probably gave him indigestion. Ha!Ha!

Three swing tunes to ring in the new year -- cheers to all!
• Out of Nowhere (Johnny Green)
• How High the Moon (Morgan Lewis)
• Waltz for Debby (Bill Evans)

I think I posted this before This is a beautiful video with great Playing! Alexey Chizhik is a great player.

I liked this vibe playing a lot. She seems to really play the instrument well! I also loved the music. accessible and interesting! Check it out.

“Solo Reflection” – A new song for solo vibraphone that I just finished composing (with a nod to the great Italian composer Ennio Morricone). One of my favorite melodies from Maestro Morricone is his theme from the movie “Cinema Paradiso”. The clip features some solo vibraphone techniques that will be covered in the book that I’ve been working on. It’s going to take some time since it will be a very big project. Meanwhile, my book “Voicing Concepts for the Jazz Vibist” (available from Amazon) does have some related topics in the way of voicings, chord melody and reharmonization techniques.

Putting 4 mallets to a well written melody is a great way to work on 4 mallets! Also putting melodies to other lines, your solos, other melodies is also great.

The concept is how do you put accompaniment to your playing right?

So let's study this for a bit and see what happens, how this helps you.