Hey Folks,
Last minute gig announcement if anyone is in New York City tonight I'm playing with a really great band in Midtown at "Somethin'" Jazz club.
The band is;
John Ellis- Tenor Sax
Matt Clohesy- Bass
Nate Wood- Drums
Tyler Blanton- Vibes, Tunes
Playing a bunch of my new tunes.
If you're in the area, drop by. We play one long set at 7pm.
-Tyler
This is a "Work in progress". I record this tune every six months or so and watch the improvements in phrasing, timing, melodic ideas, reharm, counterpoint and so on .... ... see you this summer for a next version !
Advice anyone...?
I just found out nobody is playing vibes in the jazz group at the college I graduated from (so sad, but fortunate for me!), so since I'm still in the area, they're letting me play again. As a student I was the first vibes player for the band (you can see how popular this instrument is at my school...), so I did a lot of experimenting to see how I would fit in with so many instruments (sometimes I transposed the horn parts, sometimes I played off the piano, sometimes there was actually a written-out vibes part...).
When I look for new tunes to work on I tend to be very selective. The tune must pass a sort of "test", such as "is it hip or sophisticated or swingin' or burnin' or beautiful". Tunes I tend to avoid would be the ones I label as "sentimental or sugary or to simplistic".
When Chick Corea wrote his famous tune "Tones for Jones Bones" his goal was to write a song for his lady that was a love song without being a typical "heart on sleeve" love song.
Here's Some More I found of his Generations band
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdNb30mUNXM&feature=plcp&context=C329505…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcB4ppqq18w&feature=plcp&context=C39b9ea…
A battle of giants.... Enjoy !
Interesting video
Not strictly a gig but...
If you in the UK and within reach of Manchester, you may want to look at this taking place on 12th February (£9.00 entry on the day) at the Royal Norther College of Music in Manchester and the summary is...