As a musician and as a Deadhead, I have had on more than one occasion a conversation with non-Deadhead musicians who dismiss Jerry Garcia as someone who just plays scales up and down, someone who “noodles”. This pisses off Deadhead…
Blog Archives
“If You Get Confused Just Listen To The Music Play” . . : A Video Asks, “Was Jerry Garcia a Jazz Improviser?”
Tagged with: Grateful Dead, Improvisation, Jazz Theory, Jerry Garcia, Jerry Garcia and Ruben Blades
Posted in Grateful Dead, Improvisation, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis, Music Theory
Posted in Grateful Dead, Improvisation, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis, Music Theory
“Bouncing Round The Room” . . : Videos that put Phish Jams under the microscope
Let’s take a break from visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition “Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll”, which has been the subject of a series of posts. Instead I want to talk about Phish. I have discussed…
Tagged with: Allman Brothers Band, Grateful Dead, Improvisation, Jamband, Mountain Jam, Phish, Thematic Jams
Posted in Classic Rock, Improvisation, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Classic Rock, Improvisation, Music Appreciation and Analysis
“Getting Off The Root” . . . : Digging Deeper With Jeff Antoniuk
As I’m doing my own deep dive into jazz bass playing, I’ve been working on my bass soloing. As the material has a much faster harmonic rhythm than the rock/blues/funk tunes that I usually play, I’ve noticed that many of…
Tagged with: Bass Soloing, Improvisation, Jazz, Jazz Theory, Jeff Antoniuk
Posted in Improvisation, Jazz, Music Theory
Posted in Improvisation, Jazz, Music Theory
K.I.S.S. . . . : A Methodology To Help You Get Your Groove On.
Below is an excellent video from sax player/keyboard player Jeff Schneider who has a You Tube channel with a lot of cool information on improvisation, saxophone technique, r&b keyboards and other topics of interests to my fellow music nerds. This…
Cool Website Alert: Jazz Advice.com
For a musician with a thirst for knowledge and a desire to get better, the internet can be a wonderful thing. I am always checking out YouTube videos, websites and blogs that deal with topics that are near and dear…
The (Musical) Games We Play: (Musical) Exquisite Corpses and Terry Riley’s “In C”
This past weekend, as part of the MakeMusicNewYork festival, I took part in a interesting “game” entitled Exquisite Corpses. The term refers to a artistic technique invented by the early 20th century surrealists in which players write in turn on…
Tagged with: "In C", Exquisite Corpses, Improvisation, La Monte Young, Minimalism, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Terry Riley
Posted in Classical, Improvisation, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Classical, Improvisation, Music Appreciation and Analysis
“Beauty Is A Rare Thing. . .”: Ornette Coleman 1930 – 2015
It’s a depressing sign of one’s own mortality when you hear that yet another of your musical heroes has passed. Last week, Ornette Coleman, the alto saxophonist, composer and musical revolutionary passed away at the age of 85. As I…
Tagged with: Grateful Dead, Improvisation, Jazz, Ornette Coleman
Posted in Grateful Dead, Improvisation, Jam Band, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Grateful Dead, Improvisation, Jam Band, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
“Let Me Play The Blues For You”: The Guitar Genius Of B.B. King (1925 – 2015)
After dealing with various health issues during the past few years, the legendary B.B. King passed away last night at his home in Las Vegas. He was 89. I was lucky enough to have seen B.B. King live numerous times.…
Tagged with: B.B King, Blues, blues guitar, Improvisation, T-Bone Walker
Posted in Blues, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Blues, Music Appreciation and Analysis
“Hot Rats” : Frank Zappa’s Early Jazz Rock Masterpiece
Hot Rats by Frank Zappa. I can honestly say that this was one of the records that had a major impact on my life. I think I was around 12 years old when I was first heard it, an advantage…
Tagged with: guitar, Hot Rats, Ian Underwood, Improvisation, Jazz Rock, Mothers Of Invention, Zappa
Posted in Improvisation, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Improvisation, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
“Please, sir, I want some more.” . . Grant Green Part II
This is a continuation of my previous post about the great Grant Green. One of the points I made during that post is how Grant Green’s playing is an excellent source of coping lines (or if you prefer, licks), especially…
Tagged with: Blues, Grant Green, guitar, Improvisation, Jazz
Posted in Blues, Improvisation, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Blues, Improvisation, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
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