This guy is almost as good as Gary Burton when he was 19, huh?

I've raved about Tommy Vig to Tony several years ago and Tony wasn't familiar with him. Here's Tommy and a jazz group from Budapest, Hungary. Tommy is a native of Budapest, but he was in LA for many years as an in-demand studio percussionist, jazz drummer and vibist. This group peforms "Donna Lee," featuring Tommy on the Mallet-Kat. Tommy is also a world class composer/arranger and in Las Vegas had his own big band with a Neophonic Orchestra instrumentation. As a matter of fact, he composed "Four Pieces for Neophonic Orchestra" for Stan Kenton's LA Neophonic Orchestra.

Listen!

My first post with my new vibe ! I'm still not very comfortable with theses huge bars, but I know it will take some time to get the right distances... At the end a problem of resonance with the microphone made the notes louder than played.

Come on have a sense of humor!

Marie I think Mike needs to be yelled at!

There are a few teaching and practice techniques that I have questioned for years, and I wonder what other folks here at the site would have to say. I am primarily self-taught as a vibist and somewhat self-taught as an improviser. Therefore, I developed my approach to practicing and learning pretty much on instinct: whatever felt right, whatever seemed to be the most natural, became my way of doing things.

hands!!!!

Here's an interesting interview of Ruth Underwood, the early Zappa mallet player (with Zappa's son too). I love the passionate way she speaks of the music, the composer and the development of the instrument to large bands and "loud modern" music. Btw, I didn't know Zappa was originally a percusionnist! And not more that Chester Thompson had worked with him!
Enjoy!
- M
PS: more on Youtube from this link.