Saturday, September 10, 2011

Miles Davis on Kelo

This is a transcription I did for a friend back in February. He is a high school teacher and wanted the solo for one of his trumpet players. I only recently had the chance to play through it.

Great tune by J.J. Johnson, odd form, Rhythmically interesting and lots of ii-V7 action.
Kelo
And here is me playing along (slowed down a bit).

Stay tuned for a few more old transcriptions (Clifford Brown and Woody Shaw) and then onto some new stuff.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

A long and busy year

It has indeed been a long and busy year, but I am back trying to pick up more or less where I left off.
Over the next few weeks I will be posting transcriptions that I worked on throughout the year... And then I will get to work with some new projects.

To start things off here is an interview with Don Stratton that I had on a tape and decided to preserve and share.
Part 1

Part 2

I had the privilege to study with Don from 2000-2005. I don't know what else to say, anyone who knows Don knows that he is a force.

Lately I have been composing... and I keep coming back to Wayne Shorter. His blue note albums and recordings with Miles Davis and Art Blakey contain some of my favorite tunes to play. In addition to Wayne, Herbie Hancock helped pioneer the modal chromatic language.
The Sorcerer
This is my first stab at transcribing anything other then a horn line... and it was a challenge. It helped me to better identify what exactly "it" is that I was hearing in these tunes. Another great resource is the book Modal Jazz Composition and Harmony by Ron Miller.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Kenny Dorham: Lady Bird Solo

All settled into a new apartment in Portland Me. It took longer then I thought to get back to transcribing but here it is as promised:
Some sweet Kenny Dorham Licks
Finale 2008 - [Dorham Lady Bird


Clifford Brown is up next on my list, Stay tuned...

Monday, August 30, 2010

Bernie's Tune

Okay... I lied. After spending some time with Chet's solo on My Funny Valentine I decided it was not a great candidate to put on paper. It is a beautiful solo and was fun to play but notating the rhythms was a headache (Chet bends the time masterfully).

...So I decided on Bernie's Tune.

I love the sound of a piano-less quartet (Ornette anyone?)


I am moving to a new apartment over the next week so I may have to take a week off (everything will be packed up). But if I do find time I promise something wonderful from Kenny Dorham.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Mamblues!

Clark Terry's first full length recording is a great example of early Hard Bop and early Clark. The lineup includes Horace Silver, Oscar Pettiford and Art Blakey... Not to mention Quincy Jones behind all the arrangements. Do yourself a favor and get this album!
I transcribed Clark's solo on Mamblues, a medium-up blues. I think Clark's blues playing can be heard in early Miles, kenny Dorham, Clifford Brown and everyone else who came after.


After a transcription a week for a month I can't stress enough how great transcription is! I can't believe I wasn't doing this years ago. My college degree in Jazz is great but transcription is teaching me far more about how to play jazz (school gave me a great understanding of jazz but I always fell short when it came to playing straight ahead Bop). Now I am learning vocabulary...

Moving on.... For next week:

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Dear Old Stockholm

Another week... Another solo

This week I played along with the actual recording of the solo (as opposed to a play-along). My hope is to match more of the subtleties in Miles playing (of which there are many). I have also learned a valuable lesson about listening to the playback in Finale over and over again as you enter the phrases in. The lesson is don't do it! You will start to get the stiff playback stuck in your head.

This version is from the Blue Note recordings, not the popular Round About Midnight version. I prefer this version because of its medium tempo and Miles takes his time and patiently plays simple lines that sound so good...



I have been sorting through many Clark Terry Recordings trying to find the right medium blues with Clark playing Flugel. I think I have found "the one" for my next project. Clark is interesting, his recordings of "standards" are few and far between and his sound and concept are very unique. It should be a fun week!

Monday, August 9, 2010

Half Nelson

It has been a busy week... I have been analyzing the Fats Ladybird solo and stealing as much material as I can. There is so much to process it is hard to pick out the real gems to focus on but I managed and have been running them through the keys.

I Transcribed Miles' solo on Half Nelson from the recording with Charlie Parker on Tenor (Awesome!)...



...I made what I will call an "attempt" at this solo. The melodic ideas are straight forward but the nuance of Miles' playing kills me! I can tell I will spend much less time with the licks from this solo and much more time just listening and imitating.


Coming soon...
The often overlooked and in my opinion best recording of Dear Old Stockholm