Merry Christmas and Good Vibes from McMurdo Station, Antarctica:

Yesterday (Christmas Eve in Antarctica), I had the great honor of participating in one of the coolest events I’ve ever done. I performed my arrangement of The First Noel, which I call “Noel Antarctica” for various U.S. Field Research Camps around Antarctica including the South Pole, Shackleton Outpost and Wais (West Antarctic Ice Shelf).

I just watched this John Piper video as well as Ed Saindon performing All the things you are (part of his Vic Firth Series). It's fascinating watching these guys play. They have spent countless hours developing their technical skills and they bring out really great sounds on the instrument.

---I say this ever time. Listen to this for one hour and you will have new vibes players and new CDs to check out. Gloria does all the curating for us.
Gloria is incredible.
--Tony Miceli

This month I'm sharing with you one of my composition that I've transcribed for vibes solo especially for you:
The tune is dedicated to the memory of my mother and it's called "Una danza per te".

You will work on how to play a good melody but also dampening and pedaling, nuance and phrasing.
Is important to keep the comping lower than the melody and try to play the theme as a singer would play it: in fact there are also words because the tune was written as a song.

Working on a few things the other day on this special song. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

"Miss Otis Regrets" - composed by Cole Porter in 1934 for the revue Hi Diddle Diddle that opened at London's Savoy Theatre. I was made aware of the song by Keith Jarrett who played a gorgeous version for an encore at his Carnegie Hall concert. So many great versions of this song sung by vocalists but one of my favorites is from Ethel Waters.

Happy Holidays!

Recorded at the Vic Firth Headquarters on 12/8/17 for a FB Live Stream Masterclass and Performance.

This was videotaped last week at the Vic Firth headquarters. We had a little time before we went live for the Facebook Live Stream so I ran through two of my favorite Xmas songs from the Charlie Brown Christmas recording by the great Vince Guaraldi Trio. Merry Christmas to everyone and Best Wishes for 2018!

A session in Palermo, Sicily from 1980 with Ray Brown, Monty Alexander and Grady Tate. Milt at his prime digs into a an old time classic - Poor Butterfly - with his usual brilliance. There are a few quotes from various other tunes throughout; how many can you identify?