Archive for the ‘Jazz Music’ Category
Blues in Disguise?
My “Radiant Blue” CD is a collection of ten songs that, in different and sometimes unusual ways, follow the blues form. But you probably wouldn’t notice that, listening to it. “Radiant Blue is a CD of blueses, but it is not a blues CD any more than The Who’s rock opera, Tommy, is an opera CD.” [read more]
We all know how a standard ii-V-I progression works: a Dm7 chord followed by a G7 chord resolves to the key of C. We also hear a lot about the Tritone Substitution ii-V, in which the Dm7 and G7 resolve, instead, to the key of F#. Well, there is another very common resolution of the ii-V progression… much more common among standards than the tritone sub version… which gets surprisingly little discussion relative to the others. [read more]
Jazz Saxophone Etude
I’m giving a saxophone masterclass at the Jazzschool in a few weeks, and I wrote an etude for the students to prepare in advance. It occurred to me that others of you may want to use it, since it’s very listenable and fits nicely on the horn… [read more]
I was humming Hendrix’s Hey Joe not too long ago and it occurred to me: the harmony song’s chords are a cycle of major chords moving downward in fourths. The world is filled with songs whose chords move around the cycle in the standard direction… down fifths… but I had never noticed one that moved backwards, like Hey Joe. I wondered: are there others there? … [read more]
Jazz Attitudes
This following is a piece that I wrote in 2008 for my high school alumni magazine. Because I came to jazz via a route other than music school, I have a different perspective on life as a jazz musician than many who did. I give some observations about making a career in jazz and about preconceptions that are common among musicians. [read more]
Pangur Bán
Of all my compositions, the one that draws the most comments and questions is Pangur Bán. I’ve never recorded it, but I’ve been performing it off and on for some years now. I named it after a poem written in the 9th century by an anonymous Irish Monk. As I’ve explained at gigs now and then, the name is a groaner of a pun… [read more]
First Post: Ode to a Ballad
For several years I’ve been sending out a mailing every few months about my teaching activities. In most I’ve included a little discussion about at topic in jazz music or jazz education. While I’ll continue to send out those mailings (go to my contact page to sign up if you like), I’ll be making those sorts of discussions a part of my website’s blog. To start things off, here’s one I wrote about a favorite ballad of mine, Moonlight in Vermont… [read more]