Ok, my final pic for the day, I promise! This was just too funny to pass up. A few years ago, I was unloading into a friend's house for a rehearsal and accepted "help", which was a big mistake.

I'm convinced as a vibes player, you should never let people help you because you need to see where all your stuff goes and do your own accounting for your items. If you don't, things can happen, and I learned the hard way.

I always meant to post this one and never did! Here's James Shipp and I from a jazz festival in Brooklyn 2 summers ago! We never met before this, but felt like we knew each other well already from VW!

This was a fun night in Philly at Time back in October, 4 vibes players!

From left to right, Behn Gillece, Joe Veltri, Drew Johnson, and Dimitris Angelakis.

I always have a joke that if there's more than one vibes player hanging at your gig, then it's the equivalent of a guitar player that has to play in front of 20 guitar players, haha!

Anyway, here's a nice pic of last night at a gig at Smalls , left to right, Joe Doubleday, Behn Gillece, Steve Nelson. We had a nice, late, fun hang!

I also have some other pictures from other gigs to share. I always try to document these occasions where there's more than one vibes player somewhere!

Does anybody know the best way to oil the fan on a musser? WD40? Valve oil? Where should I apply the oil? Thoughts?

Lesson talking about learning bebop melodies in different keys, thinking about the harmony, how the lines work, and developing vocabulary.

This has been a favorite tune of mine for years. Gary's versions, alone, with Makoto, with others, are all fantastic. He OWNS this song.

But it's an excellent tune for anyone to try. The melody is up higher on the instrument which can make your solo version sound bigger and fuller if you keep your accompaniment in the lower octave.

It sounds good as a medium bossa or a faster samba. It's a very flexible tune.

Sending a shout out to all vibes players who live in the New York Metro area. I'm having a CD release show for my new album on June 5th and would like to offer a free CD to anyone from the site who can make it. Just mention that you heard about it through vibes workshop and there will be one with your name on it at the door.

About the show:

9PM
Tyler Blanton "Gotham" CD release
w Donny McCaslin- Sax
Matt Clohesy- bass
Nate Wood- Drums
Tyler Blanton- Vibes, Malletkat

8PM
Anthony Smith Quartet
w Anthony Smith- Vibes
Mark Ferber - Drums

Hey VW,

I had some GoPro footage from a gig that I wanted to share, as it shows some of the midi sounds and fx I am working on... I've had a bunch of questions about that, which I haven't really gotten to. Hope to share more when I can.

Cheers,
Steve