Each week you'll receive 2 transcribed phrases, 5 observations, from 1 new tune. (2-5-1... get it?)
Reader, Joy Spring by Clifford Brown is one of those tunes that gets called at jam sessions all the time. We've got to know it. Harold Land's tenor sax solo on the original Clifford Brown recording is a great solo to study as a beginner. If you've taken the 7-day soloing challenge you'll see all the ideas I taught you in this solo, transcribed below. Join our workshop this Friday This week we're continuing our journey to complete mastery of fundamental comping chords. Last week with 2 notes...
Reader, We've looked at some pretty sophisticated and complex solos over the past couple of months, but I wanted to look at something simpler this week. A Miles Davis solo on It Could Happen to You On our recent workshops we've been exploring ways to take a traditional melody and modify it to make it swing, and you can see Miles use many of those same techniques we've been learning in this example. Zoom Workshop - Friday, Jan 10 at 1:00 Eastern. We're starting a new comping series this week...
Reader, Body and Soul by Johnny Green is one of the most important ballads in jazz history. The recording we're transcribing today comes from a legendary tenor sax player, Coleman Hawkins. Happy New Year, and welcome to all the new members who joined us over the holiday special. I'm glad you're hear, and I hope you'll join us on an upcoming Zoom workshop. Join our workshop this Friday Topic: This week we're continuing our series stylizing traditional melodies so that they swing in a jazz...
Reader, Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. What better way to celebrate this joyous week than by playing the blues, am I right? Thats exactly what Oscar Peterson plays over Santa Claus is Coming to Town in our transcription this week. Live Workshop This Friday This week will will be talking about how to take a traditional holiday melody and transform, embellish and improvise to make it swing. On Zoom at 1pm Eastern, this Friday, Dec 27. Yes, I'm coming Today's 2-5-1 Each week I share 2...
Reader, This holiday season I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for you and the rest of this amazing community. I know the joy, the happiness, the stress relief, that comes from sitting at the piano at the end of a long day, with your drink of choice, playing some jazz. I feel so fortunate that you've trusted me to be a part of your journey. I don't have a normal 2-5-1 newsletter for you this week. Instead, I spent the week preparing the following for you: My gift to you - A full transcription Two...
Reader, You can't go anywhere this time of year without hearing Christmas jazz in every storefront. I love it, especially when some of the great Beegie Adair recordings are played. Beegie is a modern legend of all kinds of swing, ballads, and love songs. But perhaps best known for her holiday albums. So let's take a look inside one of her solos over Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Free Workshop this Friday ๐๐น This week we'll be exploring some simple block chord movements, ala George...
Reader, Now that it's December, let's talk about playing some Christmas jazz. And what better way to do so than with O' Tannenbaum from Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas. During my piano lessons as a kid, I learned this song by playing it right out of the sheet music. But, I always wanted to play Vince's solo, and it always bothered me that the book only had the first part transcribed. So, today I decided to fix that and transcribe the whole solo. Welcome, new members. Also, our sale...