Hello, my name is Chris Varga and I'm new to the site. I was based in Chicago, but have lived in Seoul, Korea for quite some time now.
At Tony's urging, I humbly post a track from my recent album...
The record features Kenji Omae on sax, Han Woongi on guitar, Clark Sommers on bass and Mark Ferber on drums.

here is part 3 where I discuss improvising using the upper structure triads on the dominant chords for "My One and Only Love"...

For example...
In the A section you have a B-7b5 to E7 to A-....
for the E7 I use a G triad as the upper structure so the voicing looks like this:
G# B D G moving to an A C E for minor.
Now when improvising try to create melodies that utilize the notes from an E7 (E G# B D) and mix in a G triad (G B D) so it might look like G G# B D E. Move around the octaves and try to make melodies that resolve to the A minor chord.

This should help your vibe playing!

In Part 2 I talk about the specifics on how to use the triads with the dominant 7 chords to create harmonic movement.

For example.

The G7 on the 2nd measure would have an E triad as the upper structure. So voicing it out would look like this:
G B F G# B E
this chord moves to an A- so if you just take the G# B and E and move them to A C E you have a really nice movement to the minor sound!

Sorry for the low audio for my speaking...if it is too low I can type it out for you guys if you want.

Hey guys, here is a lesson on playing upper structure triads on "My One and Only love". Using these triads will show how easy it is to think about upper structures of harmony.
I also demonstrates a way of thinking about chords and triads instead of using scales to create melodic improvisation.
The first part is a demonstration of the melody focusing on the upper structure triads.
The Second part is an explanation of the chords.
The third part is an explanation on improvising over the chords.

I was inspired by Carla Jenkins' really pretty version of "This Masquerade", and decided to make it my practice tune for the night. I didn't have the melody written out, so I was doing it by memory/ear. Need to work on that part.

I'll definitely be adding this one to my repertoire. It's relatively simple. Nice descending line, etc.

Barry

(3/23/2010)

I have been doing a little work in the books over the past week just to get accustomed to everything and see what all is out there. Started today out a little earlier, I decided to keep up on my AP Music Theory class this week which starts at 7:45 so I was able to get home and start working by 9. Tony played with some settings and blocked everyone out of the settings from around 11:30-2 so I had a nice little lunch break and some time to finish learning Billie's Bounce. I was about 2/3 of the way done with the books was when I was blocked so it was pretty easy to come back and finish it.

I know this guy but can't think of his name.

"only after you’ve learned 1,000 tunes do you realize that there are really only about 20 song forms and every tune is a combination of segments of these 20 forms"... I read somewhere on Hal Galper's website.
That statement goes with me for a few weeks now.
Who are those famous 20?

EVERYTHING this man (tony) does is top notch. Every time he plays the vibes, great music happens. So, why the hell isn't Tony written about in ALL the magazines, booked with top paying gigs and so busy performing that he'd have to hire out his vw site to someone to run for him? I know things are picking up for him but I have a theory that the reason he's not more "important" in the biz is because he hasn't got the "wave" going yet. It really pisses me off when people have to be told how good an artist is in some magazine or on some endorsee list before people can trust their own judgement.