Wesley's Jazz Experience

Stephen Scott Review by the NY Times

2007-03-21T00:02:00.000-07:00

This guy will be at Yoshi's performing with Ron Carter:

Review/Jazz; A Work In Progress At the Piano

The pianist Stephen Scott opened his set at the Village Vanguard on Tuesday night with his "Behind the Scenes," a tune that uses bits and pieces of a melody, and a riff, but never really states itself as a traditional song. Mr. Scott and his band opened the door on the improvisations, and Mr. Scott threw himself into a solo that flaunted a group of fractured chords, shards of sound, and glittering dissonances. The piece seemed to melt away; Mr. Scott let the balance between the tune's form and improvisation shift, with cascades of drumming overwhelming the piece's borders. Mr. Scott, 24 and immensily gifted, seemed almost impatient with the classicism of the mainstream.

The jazz renaissance of the last decade did away with the notion of difficult music in jazz, and "Behind the Scenes," which owed a bit to the more experimental side of Herbie Hancock and later Hampton Hawes (though Mr. Scott is much more referential than either of them), might have been considered abstract by an audience looking to hear the plain mainstream. Though Mr. Scott performed a standard or two -- Duke Ellington's "Solitude" and Wayne Shorter's "Infant Eyes" -- and though he and the band swung mightily, it was the sense of exploration, rife through every tune, that suggested that Mr. Scott is a work in progess.

The compositions forced Mr. Scott to work, changing tempos and dynamics. On "Pit or Pendulum," a solo piece, stop-time sections set up tempo changes; on other tunes, he and the band -- Dwayne Burno on bass and Carl Allen on drums -- turned down the volume to reach a sort of Basie-like quietude, with Mr. Scott's right hand dropping glassy single notes over the thrust of the rhythm section.

Mr. Scott takes his time between phrases: his improvisations, deliberate and subject to constant revision, are transparent in their logic. At times, silence spread out between notes as he mused about his next line. He imparts a sense of play, with idea after idea spilling out, quotes bumping into quotes. And his accents, shifting from note to note in a phrase, made everything he played seem new. Elongated, the improvisations felt fluid and most pliable.

More on Practice

2007-03-17T19:08:00.000-07:00

I've been neglecting my diatonic studies in favor of more 'outside' sounding devices; Time to adjust for that:

Diatonic Patterns (need to be worked out in major and melodic minor keys; in the future, over the whole tone and diminished scales?):
-in thirds
-in fourths
-triads
-seventh chords

Diatonic Clusters
-thirds
-fourths

Need to work on my use of non-extension type chords; How to transition during the form from rooted to rootless and so forth? Is it possible to do it without sounding too out?

Chords:
-2-handed spread is tricky, need to start moving the chords through their inversions and so forth.

Coltrane and Kurt Elling (at Yoshi's)

2007-03-15T18:10:00.000-07:00

Have been listening a lot to Coltrane's "A Love Supreme", especially Part III Resolution. Here are the changes: http://www.songtrellis.com/picture$1752
The arrangement for the introduction on the actual recording repeats the 24 bar form with a 16 measure 'bridge'(?) inserted in between for a total of 64 measures.

Interesting university thesis-type article on Coltrane's spiritual association music and his religion; how they eventually became one. http://www-mcnair.berkeley.edu/95journal/EmmetPrice.html
Some discussion of his famed 'Coltrane Changes': inserting minor thirds between chords to create his often-dubbed 'sheets of sound' improvisations. Was he really Christian? Heard from an interview with Kurt Elling that Coltrane really believed in more of a universal cosmic spirit kind of deity, rather than a specific doctrine of any particular religion, despite having been raised as a Christian for most his life. Apparently, not long before his death, Coltrane is reported to have said 'I believe in all religions.' This I find comforting.

Speaking of Kurt Elling, I saw him at Yoshi's a few weekends ago, on a whim while in Berkeley, after having attended Brandon's brother's service. Went late to the 10pm show accompanied by Lenny and Eugenia. Willie Jones III on drums. Started off on a bit of a weird vibe: we got in just as they were doing some sort of poetry-music fusion slam session. Luckily, they eventually got back down to business. We got to see him Elling scat his heart out for 2 choruses over a sweet arrangement of Moanin', (which he dedicated to President Bush) and then sing over a lush piano accompaniment of 'In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning'. Wasn't exactly my idea of hard-swinging straight-ahead jazz but I was relieved that Lenny seemed to feel that it was money well-spent, don't know if I could say the same for Eugenia. His voice is a bit disturbing to me, I can't explain why yet, but even as I listen to his recorded version of 'Resolution', I find myself a little uneasy. Wish I could have invited Brandon along but I didn't think it would be appropriate.

Non Jazz Topic here, but related: Found a link to listen to sermons given in a 'Universalist Church' in South Carolina. Will check these out when I've got the time: http://www.uucs.org/sermons.html

The Basic Keystroke

2007-03-12T00:42:00.000-07:00

More on tone, fingerstroke technique etc. here: http://members.aol.com/chang8828/contents.htm

What is "Good Tone"?

The Basic Keystroke, Pianissimo

The basic keystroke must be learned by every pianist. Without it, nothing else will make a meaningful difference – you can’t build a Taj Mahal out of mud-bricks and straw. The keystroke consists of 3 main components, the downstroke, the hold, and the lift. This might sound like a trivially simple thing to learn, but it is not, and most piano teachers struggle to teach their students the correct keystroke. The difficulties arise mostly because the mechanics of the keystroke have not been adequately explained anywhere; therefore, those explanations will be the major topics of these paragraphs.

The downstroke is what creates the piano sound initially; in the correct motion, it must be as quick as possible, yet with control of the volume. This control is not easy because we found out in the gravity drop section that faster downstroke generally means louder sound. The quickness gives the note its precise timing; without this quickness, the timing of the note start becomes a sloppy affair. Therefore, whether the music is slow or fast, the downstroke must be basically fast. These requirements of fast stroke, control of volume, and many others we will shortly encounter, bring us to a most important principle of learning piano – finger sensitivity. The finger must be able to sense and execute many requirements before you can master the basic keystroke. In order to control volume, the downstroke should consist of 2 parts; an initial strong component to break the friction/inertia of the key and start its motion, and a second component with the appropriate strength for the desired volume. The suggestion to “play deeply into the keys” is a good one in the sense that the downstroke must not slow down; it must accelerate as you reach the bottom so that you never lose control over the hammer.

This 2-part motion is especially important when playing pianissimo. In a well regulated concert grand, friction is nearly zero and the inertia of the system is low. In all other pianos (which comprises 99% of all pianos) there is friction that must be overcome, especially when you first start the downstroke (friction is highest when the motion is zero), and there are numerous imbalances in the system that produce inertia. Assuming that the piano is properly voiced, you can play very soft pianissimo by first breaking the friction/inertia and then making the soft stroke. These 2 components must join seamlessly so that to an onlooker, it looks like a single motion, with the flesh of the fingers acting like shock absorbers. The required fast downstroke means that the finger muscle must have a high proportion of fast muscles (see section 7.a below). This is achieved by fast motion practice over extended periods of time (about a year) and avoiding strength exercises; therefore, the statement that piano technique requires finger strength is absolutely wrong. We need to cultivate finger speed and sensitivity.

The hold component of the keystroke is necessary to hold the hammer using the backcheck and to accurately control the note duration. Without the hold, the hammer can flop around, producing extraneous sounds, cause problems with repeated notes, trills, etc. Beginners will have difficulty with making a smooth transition between the downstroke and hold. Do not push down on the key during the hold in an attempt to “push deeply into the piano”; gravity is sufficient to hold the key down. The length of the hold is what controls color and expression; therefore it is an important part of the music.

The lift causes the damper to fall onto the strings and terminate the sound. Together with the hold, it determines the note duration. Just as with the downstroke, the lift must be fast in order to control the note duration accurately. Therefore, the pianist must make a conscious effort to grow fast muscles in both the extensor muscles, just as we did with the flexor muscles for the downstroke. Especially when playing fast, many students will forget about the lift entirely, resulting in sloppy play. A run may end up consisting of staccato, legato, and overlapping notes. Fast parallel sets may end up sounding as if they were being played with some pedal.

By controlling all 3 components of the basic key stroke accurately, you maintain complete control over the piano; specifically, over the hammer and the damper, and this control is needed for authoritative play. These components determine the nature of each note. In normal play, there is a small gap between the lift and the next downstroke, but this gap should not be noticeable. In legato, there is no gap, and there should be no significant overlap. You can now see why a fast downstroke and equally fast lift is so important, even during slow play. In staccato (section c) and fast play (7.i), we need to modify all these components, and they will be discussed separately. If you had never practiced these components before, start practice with all 5 fingers, C to G, as you do when playing a scale and apply the components to each finger, HS. If you want to exercise the extensor muscles, you can exaggerate the quick lift stroke. Try to keep all the non-playing fingers on the keys lightly. As you try to speed up the down and lift strokes, playing about one note per second, you may start to build stress, and so you need to practice until you can eliminate the stress. The most important thing to remember about the hold component is that you must instantly relax during the hold after the quick downstroke. In other words, you need to practice both stroke speed and relaxation speed. Then gradually speed up the play; however, there is no need to play fast at this time. Just get up to some comfortable speed. Now do the same with any slow music you can play, such as the 1st movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight, HS. If you had never done this before, HT will be initially very awkward because you now need to coordinate so many components in both hands. However, as you practice, the music will come out better, you will gain much more control over the expression, and you should get the feeling that you can now play much more musically. There should be no more missed or wrong notes, all the notes should be more even, and you can execute all the expression marks with greater effect. The performances will be much more consistent from day to day, and technique will progress more predictably. Without a good basic keystroke, you can get into trouble when you play different pianos, or pianos that are not in good regulation, and the music can often come out worse as you practice more because you can acquire bad habits such as inaccurate timing. Of course, the whole process described in this one paragraph may take weeks or even months to complete.

Graham's English Blog

2007-02-27T20:20:00.000-08:00

Another interesting musician's blog, lots of articles, sound samples; the guy is very accomplished already; also advertises an absolute pitch development program that he developed himself=> sounds too good to be true, but what if eh?

http://music.grahamenglish.net
(has lots of sound samples of his recordings, for the most part very clean, very nicely done, obviously knows what he's talking about)

http://www.grahamenglish.net/
(has articles etc., but too many ads)

Bass Player

2007-02-25T23:31:00.000-08:00

-Kenta found us a bass player, Alex, from the local high school
-plays the upright and is great at it; I wonder what he thinks of our arrangements, and of my fledgling status;
-we record tomorrow!?

Patterns and Comping

2007-02-25T23:17:00.000-08:00

-Since I've started playing with these guys, I've stopped practicing on my own (kind of ironic); I need to keep working on my voicings, being more effective in the rhythm section should be my top priority, but also, can't stand to stop practicing improvising altogether; it seems like the separate practice of both of those can compliment each other, if undertaken diligently.
-Propose to recommence attacking the following areas in earnest:

Chord Voicings: (for now we'll try one of each at a time, per week, or until 'proficient'; pull from transcriptions)

in thirds ( basic 'bebop style', need to move them into a higher register than what I'm playing now)
in fourths
block chords (priority over fourths ?)

Change Running patterns Etc. (one of each per week)

Bebop pattern (takes priority)
Whole Tone pattern
Diminished pattern

Should brush up on playing my basic half-step/whole-step dimished scales and whole-step/half-step diminished scales.

When I will start working on pentatonics ? Maybe get a leg up on them by just running through the scales and their modes in all 12 keys ?

Need to continue sight-reading through Bach Inventions and maybe some Chopin (?)

Wayne Shorter Quartet

2007-02-11T14:36:00.000-08:00

-went with Paul; at Mondavi Center's Jackson Hall
-Wayne Shorter, Brian Blade, John Patittucci, Danilo Perez
-Crazy interplay; the first song was 40 minutes long!
-Sometimes felt as if the music was hanging by a thread, about to slip and I'm on the edge of my seat; all sorts of tension and release going on; at times stark, at other sweet, beautiful, explosive, raw, moody, tender, evocative, thunderous....amazing musicianship; at time I felt as if Brian Blade's virtuosity was the only thing holding group together, giving the music structure, shading, texture.

Kenny Garrett at Yoshi's

2007-01-29T22:28:00.000-08:00

Kenny Garrett
With Special Guest Bobby Hutcherson
Nat Reeves - Bass
Jamire Williams - Drums
Benito Gonzales - Piano

-went with Bill Vanderbilt and Gautam
-played music from his latest album, Beyond the Wall
-very avante-garde, modal stuff, very intense
-only got to see one show, the box office guy was being stuffy about it.
-That Benito Gonzalez was awesome, had the McCoy Tyner thing going on and it was great. Of course, Garrett smoked. Hutcherson was just a straight-up badass, no foolin' around, just like last time.

Mercilessness

2007-01-29T22:23:00.000-08:00

Interview with Keith Jarrett:
(also, interesting article on way that jazz musician's practice)

TR: Is there anything you could say to musicians who say, "My God, how does he focus that way?" Is that something you can practice?

KJ: No. It's a mercilessness that they need to consider.

TR: Meaning?

KJ: Being nice to yourself isn't the way to go about it.{laughter} Everything about it isn't healthy. Let's say someone -- what they want out of life is to make good music, good enough that they can make a living doing it, and maybe have a family, and they don't need a lot of money but... They've already gone too far. What they have to say is "if anything else comes into my life I'll be lucky, but I've got to put everything I have into this seemingly non--rewarding (art) at this point in my life. It is some dark and deep work that has to be done and the lighter and the more technologically convenient our world gets, the less there are going to be people who even know that there's anything like that. They'll just say, "Gee he was awfully talented," instead of saying, "I wonder what work he had to do to get there?" Like I was born focused, you know? That's what my mother said when I was born, "Oh what a focused little baby!"

Jam Session

2007-01-22T00:35:00.000-08:00

-Bill on alto sax/ flute
-Kenta on trumpet
-Andres on bass
-Yuki on drums
-Wes on Piano

Bill and Andres were blown away by Yuki's playing, hopefully its enough to keep them coming back to play with us b/c I had a great time with everyone tonight, we went from 630-1130pm. Kenta seemed a little down, his mood seemed to take dip as soon as Andres and Bill showed up. Was he intimidated? Hope that he is okay with how things are going, mentioned to me in private that he'd prefer to play songs that were less 'common' and therefore didn't much care to play A Night in Tunisia. Hope he comes around. I love that song and I think the rest of guys do too.

Songs we played:
-A Night in Tunisia
-Autumn Leaves
-Nica's Dream
-Moanin'
-All the Things You Are
-Wave

After Kenta and Yuki left, Bill, Andres and I sat around and played for another hour, but at much slower tempos and more stress placed on building our improvising, had some discussion about approaching our development. I hope we keep doing that. It was great.

Jam Session

2007-01-14T22:35:00.000-08:00

-Yuki came over and brought his friend Kenta, a trumpet player.
-Yuki, an M.D. PhD. at UCDMC, didn't have a full drumkit, but did wonderfully with an improvised setup, told me that his snare alone cost more than $1000!
-he used a conga drum and cowbell to substitute for the double-bass and high-hat! (see photo on left)
-He's had over 20 years of experience from Japan, the guy carried the music the whole way through, great listener, great drummer, churned out all these great little rhythmic accents that keep pushing the music forward, next time I'd like to record his playing.
-we played through Bessie's Blues by Charlie Parker, Autumn Leaves, I Thought About You, some Coltrane song which I can't remember the name of, Four by Miles Davis and jammed over a salsa montuno.
-Was fun. I was very nervous but they were both very patient with me. Said that next time they'd like to bring some beer to drink before we play. I only wish that Yuki spoke better English so that I could actually better understand his suggestions. They told me they'd like me to play with them on Picnic Day but I think that they were just being polite. I don't think I'll be ready to perform by then, we'll see.
-Practice goals for the week: arpeggios and change running, two-handed bebop voicings in time, blues in Bb and Eb, tyner voicings? Would like to start transcribing again but will probably end up waiting until the laptop comes in, whenever that is, no rush.

Benny Green Workshop

2007-01-06T11:16:00.000-08:00

Benny Green teaches jazz workshop at Drake University:

“If you want people besides your friends and family to listen to you, you have to make it a pleasing experience for them. Otherwise, it won't be fun, they'll go see what's on MTV, and you guys won't be able to work as musicians.”

"If you can't hear every note everyone else in the band is playing, you're either playing too loud or playing too many notes — I guarantee it. Play what you feel like, but try to make it colorful."

“Charlie Parker used to say that if it hasn't happened by the second chorus, it's not gonna happen,” said Green.

“What I want to hear is you serving the song: either support the melody or don't play, OK?”

"You have to listen to the original recordings — it's a matter of learning the vocabulary. Art Blakey was always preaching the importance of that; he would tell young players, 'Don't cut corners — that's how the music gets watered down.'” "

"Like countless piano teachers before him, Green broke out a metronome and directed his student to play the song at half-speed. “You need to find a comfortable practice tempo. Look, you have to have patience and honesty: patience to get to where you want to be, and honesty to admit to yourself what you have to do to get there.” "

David K. Matthews at Yoshi's

2007-01-06T02:27:00.000-08:00

-went w/ Brandon, his girlfriend Erin and her friends Lauren and Nathan (went to Africa to live for a few months)
-David K. Mathews on organ, Mel Martin on Tenor Sax and flute, Akira Tana on drums, and Barry Finnerty on Guitar
-amazing!!! high energy jazz blues.
-I was blown away, haven't been that musically high from a live concert in a very long time; played for almost two hours! was still 'buzzed' from the concert an hour later, only wished I could have stayed to see them play the second set but Brandon and his gf had to go.
-Everyone kicked ass, and the admission fee was only ten dollars!!

McCoy Tyner Quartet at Yoshi's

2007-01-05T22:26:00.000-08:00

-went with Margot, Ravi and his girlfriend, Narali
-McCoy Tyner, Christian McBride, Joe Lovano (tenor), Jeff Tain Watts
-Tain Watts and McBride tore it up
-a bit disappointed with Tyner's performance, mainly just huge block chord solos, not as much in the way of melodic improvisation (not as much as he was in his prime at least)
-only saw one set (8pm) as the other one (10pm) had sold out

Chords with Taylor Eigsti

2006-12-14T12:35:00.000-08:00

attended workshop in Berkeley with Taylor Eigsti; the kid has some serious chops; disussion of chord construction; emphasis on a departure from theory and being more comfortable with the 'sound' and 'shape' of the chord instead of trying to understand the extensions/alterations etc.

Interview with Taylor Eigsti

Eddie Palmieri y La Perfecta II at Yoshi's

2006-12-11T23:51:00.000-08:00

-went with Brandon and his friend Robin
-very very loud, my ears felt like they were going to burst, had to keep them covered for most of the show.
-high energy, danceable salsa music for most of the show
-Herman Olivera, great singer, dancer
-their flute player and tromobone player took most of the solos, which were usually quite short, arranged to fit within the danceable salsa context
-some badass conga and bongo solos
-Eddie looks like he's getting a bit old, has aged quite a bit compared to his last picture.
-free drinks from Robin, who seemed to know how to get her way with the management at Yoshi's, enjoyed being the center of attention, and flaunting her powers of control over the male bartenders there; was laying it on a bit too thick if you ask me; but a free drink is a free drink!

Basslines

2006-12-11T23:41:00.000-08:00

Was playing around over a Bb blues, still getting used to straight walking a left handed bassline in that key, decided to forget that for a while and focus on my right hand 's action. Ended up falling into a neat little groove while hitting only the roots and leaving a lot of space in between. It's good to experiment in other keys, forces me to open up more while as I figure out how to get around the technical problems. Prevents me from getting too comfortable in one style.

Altered Chords

2006-12-07T14:53:00.000-08:00

Found this on Craigslist. Just some chord theory, at the bottom discusses, for a bit, the altered dominant voicing that I use over the ii-7b5 - V7 alt progression, from Levine's theory book.
Altered Chords:

John Coltrane Tribute Concert at Mondavi

2006-12-02T02:12:00.000-08:00

-went with Brandon and his friend Chu
-first set featured the Ravi Coltrane Quartet; very modern, spiritual, modal-sounding tunes; some songs played included Giant Steps, One Wheel Willie, After the Rain
-second set featured Roy Haynes with his group 'Fountain of Youth' ; very hard swingin', that Roy Haynes is an animal, 81 years old; young Chinese bassist, had great piano player. must find the names; started off the set with a Monk tune, also played Naima. Some originals too I think.

Cedar Walton Trio

2006-11-12T00:45:00.000-08:00

-Cedar Walton on Piano, Lewish Nash on Drums, David Williams on Bass, Steve Turre on trombone and Vincent Herring on Alto Sax
-at Yoshi's with Ravi
-great hard bop, played mostly his own compositions
-his soloing is better than anything I've heard on his recordings with Art Blakey, each note appropriate, nothing unnecessary, totally unsentimental even while he was 'bopping', not once did he lose his cool, completely in control of himself and the instrument the whole time; and each of his compositions hooked (interview with Cedar Walton here)
-All amazing musicians: Steve Turre-one of the most exciting trombone players I've ever seen, more so than Delfaeyo Marsalis;Vincent Herring burned; Lewis Nash blew me away; David Williams would dance around and shake during the performances, one of the best bass soloists I've seen; just a solid ensemble in general
-'Cedar's Blues' had a 16 bar head but I was confused by the 12-bar choruses, found a transcription online to confirm what I had heard: Cedar's Blues
-would love to see him again, can't believe that he is 71,

The Nuclear Energy of Music

2006-11-10T10:18:00.000-08:00

"....the nuclear energy of music: extrinsic metaphors where the metaphorical links are emotions. As nuclear energy can be used constructively or destructively, so can these emotional links. They are dangerous, a fact understood quite clearly by Plato in The Republic. They are dangerous, precisely because they can and have been used to manipulate and destroy. The field is wide enough here to fill a myriad of volumes uniting music, metaphysics, ethics, physiology, psychology and neurology, with about two dozen other areas of knowledge. All of these volumes will deal with the simple fact that music is not just structured sound, but a synaesthesic phenomenon that acts on human nervous systems directly through all senses in addition to having its cognitive appeal to the analytical musical mind...."

Melodic Construction during Improvisation

2006-11-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

Another very cool article on the idea of forming a contour of the idea in your mind's ear without necessarily having to hear every note of it; also makes reference to the difference between vertical and horizontal considerations when constructing a line. Joe Gilman was trying to explain the same thing to me but without any mention of vertical vs. horizontal hearing.

A whole wealth of jazz improv info here, same website:
The Jazz Improvisation Almanac

Another one here:
The Jazz Improvisation Primer

The internet is an amazing thing.

Music is a 2-dimensional Language of Forms

2006-11-10T00:14:00.000-08:00

I've been asking these questions of all my teachers and musically inclined friends, "what exactly is it that you are 'hearing' ?" I can't take that word for granted anymore, I need to know what it is that people really mean when they say it. For the longest time, I've been totally confused about it, getting different tips and ideas and advice on the topic: from the jist of it it seems that some advocate interval ear training and others advocate 'relation to the tonic' ear training. Recently I decided that since advocates of one method really didn't know how to address the other method (to me at least), I will have to divide my ear training time between both horizontal and vertical ear training, respectively. For now its just a matter of expanding my awareness but as it gets more comfortable, I'll have to start stepping up the intensity of practice. This article confirms it.

Music as a Language:
http://graham.main.nc.us/~bhammel/MUSIC/muslang.html

"....Events and activities - time slicing gives a sequence of complex events which might miss important cross relations. It is better to hear what is being expressed, i.e., all that is going on both vertically and horizontally. To "hear" music is not something that is innate, and not something that requires no effort. Nor can it be done without learning and practice, yet that *is* what is required. To hear and understand music as it expresses itself, is at least as difficult as for one whose mother tongue is English to learn to hear, read and understand Tamil. Speaking it, is another matter...."

"Music can also be analyzed as architecture where the parts have function and form only with regard to the whole. An architecture of integrity is of a whole when it proceedes from unifying principles, one of which is the collection of its substantive materials. The materials are seen to generate the whole: the form of a chaconne has as unifying principles, its customary 3/4 signature, a tonality, and a recurring harmonic sequence upon which a sequence of variations is constructed constituting the chaconne."

Aural Comprehension Guide

2006-11-05T12:20:00.000-08:00

More EarTraining Help:

http://www.wmich.edu/mus-theo/etg/et_guide.html