Angelica

Today our warm up was in the Mingus blues composition called" Noddin Your Head Blues."

It's a slow blues using the triplet's as a base to feel the eighth notes. We checked out playing over and emphasizing the diminished chord in measure 6 which led us to discussing the diminished scales and playing some exercises through it. Everyone sounded great when they took a solo.

After the blues we played through Ladybird which was a request by our new bassist Sri. Playing chord tones on the last measure was the first thing we did and then ramped up the tempo so the class will be ready for any jam session. Closing out the class we played through Angelica and then the students booked a room to play in after class. I was so impressed by that.

Mary Ann

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Duke Ellington

When I showed up to class we had a violinists and a new pianist. The pianist Bob told us he has delivered 2,000 babies and is retired and just wants to play jazz piano. He fit into the group very well. The violinist is a professional musician who wants to learn about improvising over changes. Everyone commented on her beautiful tone. Even though she wasn't used to following form of a blues or AABA she contributed  some great lines. The timbre of the group changed by having a string instrument in it. Also, we were excited to have Marc Mommaas stop in and play "In a Sentimental Mood with myself on bass and Ted on guitar. Marc brought his creativity and played an example of beautiful melodies you can play over the changes. We discussed Duke Ellingtoin a bit and then went on to learn a new tune by Elligton called"Angelica." The class did a great job o sight reading this and playing solos. I look forward to the next class as always.

Just friends in the West Coast?

In our last class we welcomed Shri who plays bass and sat in with us. There was an immediate connection with him and the students. We worked on Just Friends in the key of G. Shri had played it in F on the west coast.I remember playing it in F on the west coast. It's interesting that that the  coasts call different tunes or same tunes in different keys. We should all learn tunes in all keys.

The students have assignments. Kenji wrote a cool harmony on sax for Green Dolphin Street. Ted is going to reharmonize Just Friends for the next class and Mathew is going to come up with an arrangement of Green Dolphin Street. The class sounded great going from the latinish feel to the swing feel.

I look forward to hearing their work
Maryann

Noddin' Your Head Blues

was so impressed with the students on how they were able to read through some new material. The horn players had to transpose and they did a wonderful job. We really focused on the triplet rhythm that propels the swing feel on the tune Noddin' Your Head Blues by Charles Mingus. Kenji brought in a great harmony part the he wrote. It sounded great. Playing Green Dolphin Street and Lady Bird we went over the chord tones in quarter notes and eighth notes. We discussed key centers and the students identified the two five ones on the tunes. I gave them an assignment of thinking about an arrangement for Green Dolphin Street. Also, I asked the horn players to write more harmonies. It was a really productive class. Also, thanks to Andrea for subbing for me last week.

Video of performace at Smalls

I truly enjoied your performances at Smalls last week. Here are the videos.

Live at Smalls - The New York Jazz Workshop

I thoroughly enjoyed the performances of the 5 groups that performed at
Smalls Jazz club yesterday. The team work within the groups was stellar
and everyone rose to the occasion of the performance. I realize playing
in a classroom is very different than playing in front of an audience
and I was so impressed with the professionalism everyone brought to the
event. I enjoyed playing with my group and was very proud of how we
performed our pieces. The improvising was very melodic and musical
which is what we have been working on along with keeping the form of
the piece in tact. I also enjoyed hearing Andreas play bass and hearing
his group play since I had never met
him in person. He has been a great
sub for me when I had a gig during the time of the workshop. It was
great to meet the people in the audience and find out how excited they
were to be at Smalls.  There was a lot of excitement in the air.

How high the Moon and Ornithology

Yesterday in class we ran through everything we will perform for our Smalls gig next Sunday. There was great energy and really nice interaction with the band. Our new alto player Kenji, fits right into the group. I especially enjoyed "How high the Moon" and "Ornithology" being played by both horn players simultaneously. Not an easy thing to do but they did it. I have to thank Andreas for taking over last week when I was out. I'm looking forward to our next class and the concert.