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.