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tgcleary wrote a new blog post: Bluesology (originally posted 9/21/09)

Bluesology (or, ‘the Seventh and Sons’) originally posted 9/21/09 Lately the Mike Gordon band has played shows in Atlanta, Jacksonville Beach (Florida), and Birmingham (Alabama), as well as Memphis...

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tgcleary wrote a new blog post: What's Right, What's Left - originally posted...

The Mike Gordon band has been making its way through the Midwest recently, including shows in Madison, Wisconsin; Cincinnati, Ohio; Ann Arbor, Michigan, and (the city I’m writing from today)...

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tgcleary wrote a new blog post: Autumn Leaves in March

originally posted 3/18/10 My experiences of the last three weeks have brought to mind the wonderful Anthony Burgess novel ‘The Piano Players’, in which a pianist gives a marathon concert, something...

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tgcleary wrote a new blog post: Practice Journal: Intros and Counterpoint -...

Practice Journal: Intros and Counterpoint (3/6/11) I write today from Humboldt, California, near the beginning of another tour with the Mike Gordon band. On this tour we are adding some music with...

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tgcleary wrote a new blog post: 'So This Guy Walks Into A Bar' - great intros...

originally posted 3/8/11 I recently read an interview with jazz piano great Billy Taylor, reposted as a memorial (Taylor died on December 29th of last year).  In it, Taylor mentions how, as a young...

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tgcleary wrote a new blog post: Everybody's Boppin'

originally posted 3/23/11 When I’m asked what musical styles interest me, one of my standard answers is ‘the bebop tradition from J.S. Bach to Barry Harris and beyond’.  There is a little joke in this...

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tgcleary wrote a new post, 'Making the changes' on the blues, on the site The...

As I'm teaching the part of the improvisation class at UVM where we learn Barry Harris' scale outline of the blues and then compose a chorus of solo on the blues, I thought I'd post some examples of...

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tgcleary wrote a new post, Rhythm Changes and Trading Fours, on the site The...

This past Sunday, on the NBC show 'Meet The Press', I watched a skilled TV journalist, David Gregory, interviewing a seasoned politician, Senator John McCain.  Whatever one thinks of the style or...

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tgcleary wrote a new post, One half step of separation: Miles Davis and Ray...

To follow up on my recent post about solo choruses by great jazz players that stay within a basic seventh scale outline of the blues progression, this current post is about solos that develop by...

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tgcleary commented on the post, Rhythm Changes and Trading Fours, on the site...

The trading between the tenor players at 3:20 in 'Slow Demon' is a great example of trading, also of how bebop language works well in this context.

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tgcleary commented on the post, Rhythm Changes and Trading Fours, on the site...

The first chorus of the solo is definitely a great example of developing a simple idea. In the first chorus he also uses pieces of what in class we call the 'turnaround lick' - first the 'tail', then...

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tgcleary commented on the post, Rhythm Changes and Trading Fours, on the site...

There's a lick Peterson uses for the first time at 3:58 - and uses several times afterwards - that is very similar to the one that appears in m. 20-21 of the second chorus from Clifford Brown's 'Pent...

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tgcleary commented on the post, Rhythm Changes and Trading Fours, on the site...

Great example, Brad! I think Clark's trumpet/flugel trading, rather than just displaying his amazing ability to switch embouchures, is an example of how great players sometimes approach a solo as...

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tgcleary commented on the post, Rhythm Changes and Trading Fours, on the site...

It's interesting to contrast this Derek Trucks tune with the Snarky Puppy tune Peter mentioned - where the Snarky Puppy sax players' trading uses a fair amount of bebop language, Trucks and Kofi...

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tgcleary commented on the post, Bluesology (originally posted 9/21/09), on...

Interesting comment, Brad, and thanks for including the Dave Holland link. This group has some characteristics that set it apart from many other jazz groups, and which are also factors its success and...

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tgcleary wrote a new post, Conversation pieces from Joe Henderson and Charles...

‘Y Todavia La Quiero’ by Joe Henderson and ‘Sweet Georgia Bright’ by Charles Lloyd are two tunes that provide a good introduction to jazz and improvisation on the piano.  Their chord progressions are...

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tgcleary wrote a new post, Conversation Pieces, Part Two: Paul Bley and...

Many great improvisers, in addition to creating extended solos in which they are the main melodic voice, are also masters of the musical dialogue known as trading.  (This is discussed in detail in an...

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tgcleary commented on the post, Conversation Pieces, Part Two: Carla Bley and...

I confess I'm going by the dating on iTunes, which lists the version on 'Turning Point' as being the first (recorded in '64 but released in '75, they say). I agree with you, that drifting from the G...

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tgcleary wrote a new post, American Tunes, on the site The Key Bop Chronicles

When the University of Vermont announced that Wynton Marsalis would give the commencement speech at its 2013 graduation proceedings, it added serious star power to the event, given his...

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