This is a 3 part series on ways to practice and think about Countdown my John Coltrane. This is on of his challenging tri-tonic tunes…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 145: Major Melody using #9, #11 and #5
Here’s a nice major melody I wrote today at the piano and began learning, singing and playing through 12 keys. This short two bar melody…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 167: Giant Steps – Cycle 5 Melody
As a creative educator in improvisor, I often enjoy working on Cycle 4 and Cycle 5 melodies. This Etude is a vertical melody over the…
Read Full Blog PostNew CD “Umbra”
Another CD is now out on Origin records. “Otto is a true original in his compositional efforts. He sounds like no-one else. Free? Sort or,…
Read Full Blog PostCycle – Kansas City Trio
Here’s a pdf and video of a contrafact I wrote over the Sam Rivers tune “Cyclic Episode”. I love working on improvising over this progression…
Read Full Blog PostEar Training Series (Major Modes).
Passive Ear Training: A New Approach to Mastering the Modes of the Major Scale. Buy Here I’m excited to share a new ear training series…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 144: Barry Harris – Chromatic Chord Scales
Several of my students have been asking about various Barry Harris approaches to playing changes and creating strong melodic lines with chromatic notes (non-scale degrees…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 84: Visa – Charlie Parker
Here’s a brief look at another great Charlie Parker tune based on the Blues. I learned this out of the Omni Book when I was…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 143: The Sus Chord – G7sus4
In the video below, I explain a few ways to conceptualize the Sus chord. Sus is short for suspension – in church music, the “ah”…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 142: Dominant Shell add #11
The 4 note structure or tetrad made up of 1, 3, #11 and b7 is a very useful note set for voicings and improvising over…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 141: Major #9 Melody
This is a short melodic phrase that I wrote that includes use of the #9 on a major chord. I often think of this sound…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 140: Cycle 4 Melody – Altered
In this lesson (which was originally a live stream discussion) I outline the entire process I go through when I work on a new original…
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