🎵 Play A Great Standard In One Month – Body & Soul – Week 2

Last week, we began our study of "Body and Soul" by developing a practical set of voicings through the entire form in the traditional key of D♭ major.

Our focus was on finding good voicings that loosely followed the melody, while becoming comfortable with the tune's rich harmony and challenging modulations.

This week, we're continuing our work on voicings, but with a slightly different approach.

Warren Wolf sits in with the Peter Beets Trio on 'Sushi,' recorded at Keystone Korner Baltimore. Recent clip, Wolf in fine form.

Lionel Hampton's full concert at the 1994 North Sea Jazz Festival with his Golden Men of Jazz — Junior Mance, Benny Golson, Al Grey, Clark Terry, and Harry 'Sweets' Edison. Hampton was 86 and still at the top of his swing; a full set worth studying front to back.

Vibraphone, weird-sounding speaker

Dave Samuels plays Monk's "Bemsha Swing" with his trio at the 2009 Berklee Percussion Festival. A strong performance to study for his harmonic choices and phrasing.

Bobby Hutcherson Quartet plays Jitterbug Waltz at JazzBaltica 2007, with Joe Gilman, Dwayne Burno, and Eddie Marshall. Worth studying for his comping and solo phrasing in 3/4.

Stefon Harris's TED talk "There are no mistakes on the bandstand" — playing through examples with his quartet, he shows a wrong note is only a mistake if you don't react to it. A listening lesson worth every improviser's time.

Dave Samuels plays and talks about how he got started in jazz, plus his Yamaha vibraphone setup. Short interview, worth a look.

Joe Locke's solo vibraphone version of his tune "Sword Of Whispers". Sheet music is available on his site if you want to study it.

🎵 Play A Great Standard In One Month – Body & Soul – Week 1

Welcome to the next installment of Play A Great Standard In One Month!

After spending two full series exploring blues and rhythm changes, we've moved into a new phase of our studies: applying those concepts to some of the most important standards in the jazz repertoire.