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Let's face it, not every gig allows us to play the difficult and hip jazz tunes we all spend hours shedding. Even many of the best known standards are completely foreign (and possibly boring) to a large section of general audiences today.

So what to play for all those restaurant and casual gigs that might hire a solo vibes player as an alternative to a pianist or guitarist? It's surprising how well many tunes from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and even the 90s will translate to solo vibes. Tunes people will generally recognize and appreciate are great choices to sprinkle into your sets.

I just found this video and thought I should post it on here. The quality is great. We're playing this tune in our ensemble at Uarts that Tony directs. Does anyone know who's playing vibes in it? Thanks!

I was talking with Patty about this today and thought I'd post it. Maybe Patty will some comments to this if I missed anything.

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If you've never seen someone bow a set of vibes, check this out.

DISCLAIMER: I use the F word at the end of this video, so don't watch if you're going to be offended.

But you should watch because at the end of the video, Marie gives me a quick vibe lesson.

She's a pretty hip chick.

Lead Sheet

David Friedman talked about playing free at the VBP 2010 workshop. Great lesson here!

Here's a virtual conversation about playing via the internet. I don't have the time to sort it all out but if you sift through, it's pretty cool.

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so it sounds like this could possibly work from west to east coast?

but remember somebody plays something on the east coast. in jazz i'm responding to that moment. then he's responding to me.

hmmm, but if i can do it being 55 feet apart from the other musician, then this is possible in this capacity.

that's the verdict?

Yep, there are several different blues scales. They each have a unique quality. Of course they do, any grouping of notes will have a quality that's unique and different from other groups. For instance play a major scale. Now flat the 3rd. Just changing one note is going to uniquely change the sound of that scale or grouping of notes.