I had the honor of doing a masterclass at Casa Valdez Studios while in Portland earlier this month. We talked a lot about singing over…
Read Full Blog Post-Lesson 58: Triad Diminished
This is a nice triadic idea that works through a dimished scale. By simply playing 2nd inversion major triads down by minor thirds you get…
Read Full Blog Post-Lesson 57: Scale Routine
Scales have been a popular thing to practice in both the jazz and classical world for years. Playing through scales as been compared to a…
Read Full Blog Post-Lesson 54: Triad w Neighbors
In this lesson we look at embellishing a triad with specific upper and lower neighbor-tones. The bulk of the exercise will focus on a major…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 51: Maj 7 #5 melody
Finding melodies on a single note instrument that really bring out the sound of more complex types of harmony is often a challenge. Here’s a…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 49: sus4
The sus4 chord can be found in most genres of music; blues, jazz, rock, classical, folk, hip hop, etc. In a normal C7 chord, the…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 48: -7b5
When starting out as an improviser, the half diminished 7th chord is often a difficult chord to hear and play over melodically. Even after working…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 47: Dizzys’ Bebop
I always liked the introduction to the Dizzy Gillespie tune Bebop. A close friend and wonderful alto player Gabe Eaton and I learned this tune…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 45: Bird Line
Bird may be my all time favorite melodic improvisor. His sound, feel and ideas still seem fresh and alive and I enjoy him more and…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 43: Diminished
Here’s an intervallic diminished sequence that I wrote while in Leipzig on a short avant-garde tour in the late 90’s. We had many long days…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 42: Synthetic Scale
Sometimes working with a synthetic scale can be rewarding and help free you from your normal melodic ideas. I still have a 12 sided die…
Read Full Blog PostLesson 41: Shell + Tension
Oftentimes, as a single note improviser, it is difficult to recognize harmonic tensions by ear. For example, when playing just an A natural, it sometimes…
Read Full Blog Post