"My Ship" by Kurt Weill. Working on this classic song for solo vibraphone with a focus on a number of areas including orchestration, dampening, reharm, voicings and counterpoint. A beautiful song with so many wonderful versions from many of the jazz greats.
"In My Life" by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Some late night practice sight reading some songs from a Beatles fakebook. Good practice since many of the songs are in most of the sharp keys. This is one of my favorites. A legacy of so many memorable and well crafted tunes.
I have never used the vibration device in the past because I don't like that extreme wah-wah sound. Now a friend really wanted one of my folding frames, but with a vibration device (he plays stylistically like Milt Jackson).
So I did look into it after all.
While testing, I came up with the idea that you don't have to align the fans exactly in a row if they can be removed as easily as with my frame. Therefore, I arranged them in a rotationally offset manner.
Because I wanted a realistic statement for myself about the resulting sound, I recorded the test.
Out Of Nowhere - lot of fun yesterday playing with Mark and Gustavo in the basement studio. Nice playing and then a hang with Napoli pizza and meat pie capped off with blueberry and apple pie from Mann's.
Bluesette - lot of fun yesterday playing with Mark and Gustavo in the basement studio. Nice playing and then a hang with Napoli pizza and meat pie capped off with blueberry and apple pie from Mann's.
"Question and Answer" by Pat Metheny. Got the lead sheet from Gary Burton who got it from Pat for their recording Like Minds featuring Gary, Pat, Chick Corea, Dave Holland and Roy Haynes. It's a classic recording that received a Grammy for best instrumental recording in 1998. The lead sheet can be downloaded via the google drive link in the video description.
"A Simple Sentiment" - an original composition for solo vibraphone that I just finished and ran through on the vibes. Sort of a somewhat simple anthem composed for a basic sentiment for our current times. It's an AAB odd bar form composition with both A sections being 11 bars and the B section being 5 bars. The lead sheet can be downloaded via the google drive link in the video description. Ed
In the online meeting a week or so ago, David played a Red Norvo video and, when talking about it said, "I don't know why nobody has ever transcribed this solo.."
That was enough motivation for me. :)
To my ears, even though this was performed/recorded in 1960, it is an excellent example of the crossover point between ragtime and jazz. So much of what Red plays, from his low to the keyboard mallet technique to his linear construction, is reminiscent of the George Hamilton Green studies. Sometimes literally... check out measures 208-209.
"Bright Size Life" by Pat Metheny. Great song by Pat that still sounds fresh. When this came out with Pat, Jaco and Moses in the 70s it turned a lot of heads. A classic album featuring Pat's compositions and superb trio playing.
Playing lines over “Stella By Starlight” with the inside mallets. Using an open spread and “digging in” with an up and down motion via the use of the fulcrum as with a two mallet player or drummer. For more information on the fulcrum grip, there are some YT clips on my channel that illustrate and discuss the concept. There is also a Wikipedia page on the grip.