None of These

Its now official, Limerick is to host its first jazz festival and the headline act is the Joe Locke Geoffrey Keezer Group. Its going to be great and I am delighted to have secured Joe and Geoffrey and the group for it. All the info is here www.limerickjazzfestival.com. Its a lot to take on but we are delighted with the progress so far. Limerick Jazz Society is also 30 yrs old this year and is one of the motivating factors in organizing this festival.

Tom Harrell is maybe my favorite musician. A serious tie btw him and Mulgrew Miller. Wow, this is so incredible

Happy Birthday Tony!!

I haven't been around but I think I still managed to be the first to congratulate you... haha pretty funny. Anyway out here is your birthday for already an hour or so.

Hope you all are having a blast out here while I'm changing diapers!

Cu all some more soon!

TJ

Anyone heard of this guy? I think he's fantastic. A friend of mine recently introduced me to his stuff. What do you guys think? I attached a video.

...just thinking out loud and letting ya'll know what I'm up to at the moment.

I've been sight reading every day for the last month or so. I just print 6 or 8 pages of a solo or something I find online, turn on a metronome and go.

This is not vibes but I think it's a great musical lesson: I discovered this tune today, after listening to a recent interview of Joe Locke where he speaks about it. I heard the Julie London & Shirley Horn versions with lyrics, the Miles/Evans' instrumental. But man when I hear this version I remain speachless: I've never been a great saxophone fan, but to me Michael Brecker here can make the words speak deeper than the lyrics themself... Wow... Enjoy

Thought this might be inspiring. Some great lines to steal!

When I think Rhythm Changes, I instantly think Parker. Here are some videos of Bird over the form. Note his contrasts. He does an amazing job of switching from harmonic generalization (Bb triad or blues material) to harmonic specificity (hitting chord tones of the changes). Also, as always, his phrasing is fresh and unpredictable. With Rhythm Changes everyone is chasing the bird.

Chris Thile is one of the best mandolin players in the world. He was in the band Nickel Creek, and now is in a band called Punch Brothers. He is a monster improviser who plays a lot of jazz, bluegrass, and classical music.

Check out his lines. The melodic development is really something... you can tell that he has played a lot of Bach. I heard him talk about how he practices Bach. He learns the piece, then improvises over the harmony playing stuff similar to what Bach wrote, but not the exact notes. What a great idea, treating Bach like a bebop head.