I recently read Soul Jazz: Jazz in the Black Community, 1945-1975, a book by producer, writer, and critic Bob Porter. When I first heard about it, I felt like it was right in line with what I’ve been interested in learning about and listening to for the last 5 years or so: popular instrumental music […]
I recently had the opportunity to make a couple of videos for young students on learning music by ear. The opportunity was through the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra’s Jazz Scholars program, of which I am proud to be a part. I believe that learning music by ear and transcription is an invaluable part of playing […]
I’ve been talking with students about the use of vocabulary, “licks”, and learned musical sentences in improvisation in 20th century Black American Music. If we compare music to visual art, I think sometimes it can be helpful to practice improvisation more like creating a collage than trying to paint something completely new on a blank […]
When I was 15 my family went to Berkeley CA to visit my brother at college, and the Tower Records store there had a CD called “The Best Blue Note Album Ever”, a double-disc compilation. I was getting into jazz/BAM at the time but I don’t think I knew what Blue Note was. I bought […]
I learned this short solo for fun for my wife a little while ago after we put the song on our wedding playlist, but lost the video on a broken phone! I decided to try it again and put it up here. After a little bit of research, I discovered the saxophonist is the great […]
Hi everyone! For this transcription, I went to one of the most influential saxophonists from the 1970’s through the early 2000’s. Although many of Brecker’s solos would take significantly longer for me learn, this little clip is from a medium-tempo tune and he largely sticks to 8th note ideas, so I had a better chance! […]
Theoretics released a new track, “Suspended Animation”, last week, part of an EP that we hope to release in the near future, funded by pay-what-you-want donations. You can check it out here: https://theoretics.bandcamp.com/album/suspended-animation-3?fbclid=IwAR3xPbt23Jebf3QftaaSO2YgY-fI00VB0Kp3tB32T7S6ox79EWH3T_NLRWU The group has taken a break for a while now, mostly focusing on getting the last of our creative material out […]
Hi all! It’s been a little while but here’s a bit of some music that’s had my attention lately. This is a bit of Woody Shaw’s trumpet solo on Joe Henderson’s song “If”, off of Larry Young’s Unity (lots of credits, there!) I love Joe Henderson but I had to try some of Shaw’s ideas […]
Playing Alto Saxophone exclusively when I was studying in college means that most of my knowledge is still pretty deeply related to that voice; I didn’t learn songs or jazz solos in all keys (which I should have), and for most of my time as a musician I heard ideas on alto rather than on […]
This clip is from a solo from Aldana’s first album, released in 2010. I’ve really gotten into her playing the last couple of months for a few particular reasons. I think she’s one of the tenor players currently on the scene that really explores changing tone and expression while executing technical ideas […]