Lesson 72: 3 Note Cell
This lesson is similar to a study in triad pairs, however, in this melodic example, one of the 3 note cells is a sus (1,4,5) instead of a straight triad.For an in depth look at a similar approach I highly
Gig w Erik Jekabson
Here are a few mp3s from a recent gig with trumpeter Eric Jekabson. Eric and I met in New York just over 10 years ago and played quite a bit at that time. I was lucky to record on one
Lesson 71: E Modal Melody
Sometimes I find it helpful to spend time working on the modes and 7 main chords in just one key. This helps to strengthen my understanding and visualization of those keys that I end up playing less often. This lesson
Contrafacts
Here are some original compositions that I wrote which are all based on standard chord changes. This compositional approach is often called writing “contrafacts”. It’s nice to have some tunes in the book that are easy to improvise over because
Lesson 70: Etudes
This lesson features several etudes I’ve written over standard chord changes. Back in the 80’swhile doing an undergraduate degree at Indiana University, David Baker would make us write out solos over tunes we were learning. I still use this method
Lesson 50: Wide Intervals
Here’s an easy way to begin to introduce some wider intervals into your improvisation while still maintaining melodic and harmonic integrity. This exercise uses a dominant 7th chord, and also includes it’s upperstructure tensions (9, #11, and 13). The melody
Gigs With Alan Ferber
The composer and trombonist Alan Ferber visited Kansas City recently and we played 3 very fun gigs together, including one with the People’s Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City; which featured all of Alan’s original big band compositions. You
-Lesson 70: Augmented Melody
In this lesson we look at a short melody derived from the (classical) augmented scale ( 1, b3, 3, 5, b6, 7, 1 ) and play it in triplets grouped in 7. The melody could work in several harmonic contexts but we’ll
Lesson 69: A Major
Sometimes working on just one key for a while can be beneficial. Today I practiced a bit on concert A major – on tenor sax this is B major, which does not lay well on the horn for me, mainly
Lesson 68: -7b5 nat 9 nat 13
This is a simple melody that uses the 2nd mode of harmonic major over a -7b5 chord (or half diminished) in one key (concert F#-7b5) which is concert E harmonic major, the 2nd mode being concert F#-7b5(nat9, nat13). This 2nd
Lesson 67: min triad add 9
This ii-7, V7, I melody that uses minor triads with an added 9th (or 2nd) i.e. 1,3,5,9 or 1,9,3,5 etc… The first part of the melody uses a minor triad with the added 9 over the ii chord (D-7 would
Lesson 66: Minor Major 9
This is a simple minor major nine melody I started hearing in my head a few days ago. It’s nothing special but I enjoyed singing it and working it slowly through the keys. Sometimes it’s the simplest ideas that help
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