Jazz Standards Workshop

Jazz Standards Wkshp

We spent a portion of the class working on phrasing – trying to leave space at the end of our ideas, listening to what we just played, and whats happening around us in the rhythm section, and then start a new idea/phrase. Playing without breathing or leaving space ... more

Angelica

Today our warm up was in the Mingus blues composition called” Noddin Your Head Blues.” It’s a slow blues using the triplet’s as a base to feel the eighth notes. We checked out playing over and emphasizing the diminished chord in measure 6 which led us ... more

Duke Ellington

When I showed up to class we had a violinists and a new pianist. The pianist Bob told us he has delivered 2,000 babies and is retired and just wants to play jazz piano. He fit into the group very well. The violinist is a professional musician who wants to learn about ... more

Interview on Critical Jazz website.

Hi! I wanna share with you an interview that I had with journalist Brent Black from Critical Jazz. I think it can be helpful since I touch some subjects we also discuss in class about creativity and improvisation. Check it out. Part one: ... more

Just friends in the West Coast?

In our last class we welcomed Shri who plays bass and sat in with us. There was an immediate connection with him and the students. We worked on Just Friends in the key of G. Shri had played it in F on the west coast.I remember playing it in F on the west coast. It’s ... more

Noddin’ Your Head Blues

was so impressed with the students on how they were able to read through some new material. The horn players had to transpose and they did a wonderful job. We really focused on the triplet rhythm that propels the swing feel on the tune Noddin’ Your Head Blues by Charles ... more

Video of performace at Smalls

I truly enjoied your performances at Smalls last week. Here are the videos. more

Live at Smalls – The New York Jazz Workshop

I thoroughly enjoyed the performances of the 5 groups that performed at Smalls Jazz club yesterday. The team work within the groups was stellar and everyone rose to the occasion of the performance. I realize playing in a classroom is very different than playing in front of an ... more

Preparing for Smalls

On Saturday the students came back after a two week hiatus for the holidays. We started playing over F blues and worked on transposing the changes from Bb. Everyone soloed over the form along with trading four’s with Luke, our drummer. We segued into an up tempo version ... more