Here is a rhythm section track with only bass for you to practice along playing four mallet solo or just chords.

Here is play along track for practicing Rhythm Changes in Bb. The tempo is 150 beats per minute, I'll be putting up all the other keys soon also.
If anyone wants a slower or faster tempo, let me know by putting a comment below.

Below is the full midi file from this play along. I found it on the web, but It's actually a version of Oleo someone exported out of band in a box.

Hey Everyone--

I love talking about all my favorite vibes players and the albums they've made as leaders and sidemen. I am curious, though, what everyone gravitates to when they're not listening to the vibes. (Up to you, but I'm not really talking about albums where people are mainly playing marimba.)

My favorite albums clear and away are "Together Again; Tony Bennett and Bill Evans," and "The Tony Bennett Bill Evans Album." Probably always will be. I'm also very partial to 'Miles in Tokyo' 'Unity,' 'Speak No Evil' and 'Egberto Gismonti and Charlie Haden in Montreal.'

If you post here on the site, you'll see some reorganization starting. The first thing you'll see is in the boxes where you post. We're rearranging the 'Type' categories. Everything is still there, just being moved around.

Over the next 2 weeks, there should be a shift in the front page and some other things. Please hang in there with us. I think it will make the site a little better for us all.

Any questions, just let me know.

I didn't know this one, it has some cool and unseen features in it !
Check it out

Cool to see some transcriptions of Bobby going up around here. About 10 years ago (!!!) I transcribed a LOT of solos, and I think I probably did more Hutch than any other vibes player... there's just so much IN there.

There are less recordings of him playing standards than with, say, Milt, but the examples you do come across are just gold. This one's from a cool little album called 'Color Schemes' from 1986. I love recordings from all through Bobby's career, but from the mid-80s up through Skyline, his command of his instruments (especially marimba) is frighteningly strong.

I like to tinker with my instruments to get different effects. I used to put tacks on the hammers of my piano to get a honkey tonk sound (not good for your piano, though). John Piper joked about Tony putting spider egg sacs over his resonators to get a buzzing sound like a Gyil (see above reference).

Well, I couldn't find any spider egg sacs for my vibes resonators, so I used a plastic grocery bag (HDPE #2) between the bars and resonators.

General information on Keys, modes and relative keys.

General information on Chords and Chord Scales.