all-levels

This is a clip of Billy and I playing a nice ballad, Hoagy Carmichael's Skylark.

Guys, here's another version of Basin Street Blues for comparison. There are some different left hand comping techniques in this clip versus take one.

Some of the techniques include single note guide tone lines. For example, on the second last bar of the tune (Bb Bb7 Eb Eb-), I'm bringing out the line of Bb, Ab, G, Gb to F going into the last bar of Bb. Using the guide tone lines, we can play fairly sparse while still sounding the changes.

Guys, here's the videoclip of Basin Street Blues from our Sunday session at the house. The audioclip of this track was previously posted. More clips of the session are up on my YouTube channel. If anyone has any questions about what I'm doing on these clips in terms of techniques, what I'm thinking about, improv techniques, etc., feel free to ask. Ed

Hi guys, here's the videoclip of Jobim's Triste. I had previously posted the audioclip of Triste from our session. There are some more clips of the session on my YouTube channel including two takes each of Autumn Leaves, Basin Street Blues and Irving Berlin's Isn't This A Lovely Day. Ed

Check it

Saw this on Facebook via Joe Locke. Seems like it'd be pretty interesting to all of us :-).

Tom P.

Hi folks,

Just saw this video, and was wondering if perhaps Adrian Rollini was the first documented 4-mallet vibist? I was surprised by his technique. He was a multi-instrumentalist who also played sax, but I can't think of anyone else playing 4 mallets like this as far back as the '30s and '40s.

Obviously, they are playing along with a pre-recorded track. But you gotta love the tubular bells solo!!

*** (ps. OOPS - saw that this clip was posted last year, must have missed that!!)

A must watch!

Hey guys, spoke with M-N today about what's been taking up my time. Between Berklee, teaching at home and gigs, writing books has been keeping me busy. The improv book is finished and came out to 21 chapters spread out over 4 volumes. We're almost ready for the production of Volume 1. I'm here today at the house tweaking a few chapters. It seems like this project has been going on forever. Here's the breakdown of topics:

Chord Scale Theory
Chord Scale Application and Practices
Harmonic Practices
Chord Tone Soloing
Tension Resolution

Upper Structure Triads
Triad Pairs

Keeping lines sounding really clean and clear is tough with vibes. It's easy to let notes ring together and just as easy to let notes ring together that shouldn't be. We have 3 tools to control ringing - the pedal, mallet/hand dampening, and using dead strokes.

I use dead strokes all the time to keep my lines sounding as clean as possible. This video clip demonstrates one example of where using dead strokes can make your playing sound just a bit better. The better you become at listening for notes ringing that should'nt be the better your playing will sound.