Here's a clip on improvising with Pentatonic scales for the standard Green Dolphin Street. There is a post on the All Things Improvisation blog that includes this videoclip as well as a page listing the pentatonic scales being applied. Vibist Volker Heuken from Nuremberg, Germany did an excellent job transcribing the solo.

Here's the link to the All Things Improvisation blog: http://allthingsimprovisation.blogspot.com/2015/03/pentatonics-on-on-gr…

Article from 1985 addressing harmonic concepts as applied to Stella By Starlight. Hard to imagine that I wrote this 30 years ago. The great thing about music is that I'm still working on these concepts. It never ends.

Here's the article:

https://drive.google.com/a/berklee.edu/folderview?id=0Bxbpdyow6QPOflF1W…

Berklee Improv Class - Applying the improvisational concept of Four Note Groupings over John Coltrane's Giant Steps. In my 39th year of teaching and it's still a pleasure to teach improv to these talented and motivated musicians. I feel fortunate to be able to pass on the information as well as learn and grow along with the students.

...and another one.

here is julius on vibes and i'm on marimba.

hope you like it,

hauke

Hey,

i want to share with you guys this recording of me and julius playing duo. julius is a fantastic player, former student of davids, i learn so much just by playing with him.
julius on marimba, me on vibes.

have fun.

hauke. :)

I love, love, love Steve Swallow's playing and his compositions. Thinking out Loud is a tricky one to improvise on because the keys change frequently and go all over the place. The goal is to try to improvise logical phrases that define the changes AND make sense melodically.

Analyze the changes carefully, figure out what chord scales you want to use, and practice moving from one to the next smoothly.

A PDF lead sheet is attached

Here's an Etude for Here's That Rainy Day. Print out the parts and 'get to work'!

I used lots of space in this etude. Short notes with rests. I like playing like this and I like the sound of the instrument like this. It's so easy to play too much stuff and VERY hard to just play a little.

The percussion part is a little different as you'll hear. But don't you think it's cool to play with simple percussion and ALL the music is there? The time, the rhythms and the harmony.

"Danny Boy" for St. Patrick's Day. The inspiration for this rendition came from pianists Bill Evans' and Keith Jarrett's beautiful versions.

This is a past Percussive Notes article from 2000 that addresses a variety of Tension Resolution techniques for jazz improvisation. Tension Resolution is one of the chapters in The Complete Guide To Improvisation Volume 1.

Here's the link to view and download the article:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0TwrpqjL6dQfnZ1RGJMSC1wMVJWVzZ…