Jazz context. Tunes we call standards— originally contemporary popular songs that everyone knew, that were a standard part of a working group’s book. These terms arose when there were regularly working bands and an active […]
Category: tunes
Cousin Mary
Working with the John Coltrane tune Cousin Mary. I feel about some of his tunes the way Jon Krakauer felt about Mt. Everest— too chunky, too broad of beam, too crudely hewn— and almost as […]
Essential listening for combo playing
Listening to jazz records for the specific purpose of knowing what you’re doing playing in a combo setting— playing “regular” mainstream jazz. We’ll leave listening related to very modern playing as a separate topic. And […]
Listening: Delfeayo’s Dilemma
Responding to a forum question, referencing Delfeayo’s Dilemma, a Wynton Marsalis tune, as recorded by Kenny Garrett on his record Triology, with Blade on drums. How does one even beginning practicing playing time the way […]
Playing Airegin
The title is Nigeria spelled backwards, usually pronounced AIRa-jin. I took a minute in the shower this morning figuring out how to pronounce it actually like Nigeria backwards: ah-ee-REE-jine. JINE rhyming with JIVE. A little […]
Thelonious
Thinking about the tune Thelonious, by Thelonious Monk. It’s fun and unusual, based on a single note riff. I don’t believe the form comes from another tune, it’s just a little self-contained bebop invention. It’s […]
Practice loop: Night & Day – Bill Evans
Here’s a brighter-medium tempo jazz practice loop, sampled from Night & Day, played by Bill Evans on his album Everybody Digs Bill Evans— one of my favorite records, period. The loop is one chorus of […]
Updating the book
Time to rework the book for my events band again. It’s been eight years, and I really don’t want to see most of those tunes ever again. I always felt too obligated to make this some […]
Vashkar
The other day I listed some often-played tunes that had some kind of an mystique, at least in my mind. Here’s a tune that nobody ever plays, with a lot of mystique. Apropos of nothing— […]
Ten tunes: heavy standards
Ten more tunes. These are some standards that have kind of a serious aura, that are reasonably-to-very likely to get called. They’re not necessarily very hard, but they demand to be approached with respect. It’s […]