"Moon River" - Solo version from a hang with Joe Locke and Gustavo Agatiello. We’ve had quite a few of these weekend sessions and for me they have been so much fun, informative and inspirational. We can spend at least eight hours a day in the studio, come up for lunch and dinner, and then go back down to the laboratory, as Joe calls it, to play and talk about music. Lots of laughs along the way too.

Very simple but gets you improvising in minutes. And it's kind of fun!

A must watch.

This is an arrangement of Have You Met Miss Jones? I have been working on for the upcoming Pop Up Class. I'm hoping to play it a little faster and work it through the keys of F, Db, and A. Feedback welcome!

Took a short break, but I just uploaded 7 and 9! I swear, I've been trying to record #20 for like a month but it never comes out how I want it. Maybe next week.

I took a tiny break, but I'm working on Friedman's whole book again. Number 7!

This one was kind of just for fun and is a little unpolished. But I've been practicing Tony's stride stuff and it seemed applicable to Art Blakey's shuffle feel in Moanin'. I put in a "bass solo," and I'm working on my block chords. I'm realizing my block chord blues vocabulary is limited in minor, so I will work on that.

"All The Things You Are" with comping/solo playing: working with a student yesterday on comping/solo playing. We were working on various voicing techniques and concepts including closed, open voicings, voicings in 4rths, pentatonic voicings, 4-7 note voicings with upper structure triads, clusters, textural voicings and symmetrical diminished voicings. We also focused on how connecting the voicings with inner voices or an upper melodic line, breaking up the voicings and interspersing melodic fragments can lead to solo playing. That's how Gary developed many of his solo arrangements.