Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Jazz Study Group: Autumn Leaves, ATTYA, etc.

haha, well that was my 2nd midnight Skype in a row including our trial run
Actually I knew everyone was busy except me, I actually wanted you to play more.

It was really quite amazing. I do feel so lucky and priviliged to have the technology that puts me in touch with such wonderful people.

custard - You are one well-organized apple!

I suppose it was pretty easy to guess whose voice is whose, with the accents.

NOOOOOOH --- it was sooooo hard.... The only one I knew for sure was Dave...LOL. He was the one speaking with that strange accent.

You guys are friends so it's so much fun to hear the people behind the words. It's like chatting in a living room.

I've had a chance to meet some forumites over the years and it's always been fun. So I appreciate this being posted.

Hey, are we having another conversation about accents?

good one!

Here's another version of Autumn Leaves that my band performed last night. It's in Gm.

http://www.box.net/shared/3hp2ra5ms6azvv53km9s

That "Autumn Leaves" was pretty darn cool, JW! I enjoyed your solo, but particularly your comping! It sounds like you had a great crowd. I kind of wish the trumpet player hadn't been muted. Very nice - it's just so cool that you're out there doing great!

Thanks CMohr. I appreciate the nice comments. My solo was rather short because there were too many soloists already. I was playing AL today again under less stressful conditions and I do it so differently now. Maybe I should record again so there's a record of a new vision as each year passes.

The trumpet guy was an amateur that I let play with us. I do it all the time to give them gigging experience.

It was swinging pretty well though wasn't it?

Oh yeah, it was swinging! The trumpet player wasn't bad at all - I enjoyed the whole tune a lot!

Swung and hung together very nicely. I especially liked the interplay of piano and guitar at the guitar solo.

The thing about muted trumpet is just that it doesn't record very well. That aside, I liked all the instruments, and didn't feel like anyone was out of place.

good going!

Thanks TLT. I had a problem with this drummer before because he was doing such complex patterns and kept the swing groove from occurring. But we talked it over and it made a big difference.

Hi JW
I've listened to your AL and also to your Naima in the August recital. I'm going to listen to more of your stuff in the Advanced thread.
I really liked your approach to Naima. It sounds like a difficult tune. I know that you don't think chord or scale, so what were you thinking ?

Hello !

I've cross-posted this on the Non-classical JOI thread.

We had so much fun with Dave Frank during our video conf on Sunday. As you know, Dave is one of the hottest and most generous exponents of jazz education around the world. Here are the audio files for your benefit.

a) Jazz harmonic improv: C maj, using 3 scales

http://db.tt/ET67Sbo

b) Jazz harmonic improv: C maj, using 1 scale

http://db.tt/MAnQFvJ

c) JOI Lesson 1

http://db.tt/UbTIyxo

Time Flies: please accept my apologies. Your mic didn't do justice to your great playing so I didn't record your section.

And now..... for the Pièce de résistance....the masterclass on modal improv.

d) LH drone and Mixolydian example

http://db.tt/dj3n2Nn

e) Phrygian example

http://db.tt/FeO7gAY

Thanks Custard. In the context of the scales (which are pretty complex in the case of Naima), you have to think melodically. Admitedly this took awhile to sink in since the harmonies are non-functional.

This was Naima as I performed it live. Totally lost the melodic focus...I was distracted by the unusual Bolero rhythm created by the bassist.

http://www.box.net/shared/zq5gy8arvhnudykj5lvn

Cool, very nice. I heard the rhythm section change around 5:00.
Melodic is where I'm working towards. I know that Knotty sings what he is about to play.

On these difficult tunes, it's really hard to come up with a melody. There's also a flaw in the singing because some complex harmonies are difficult to imagine singing (like diminished scales). And there's a lot of that here.

But it works well on functional harmonies and those I can also sing in my head.

My teacher is really big on being melodic. I think on advanced tunes like this, you almost have to create the melodic ideas in advance to get the brain started.

What do you mean JW ? So do you do some pre-arranging ?

No. I've never done that. But I noodle around to see what ideas are possible in advance.

Of course Bill Evans was fond of pre-arranging but I've never found myself inclined to follow a fixed arrangement.

Like which type of 4 note patterns work well ?

No. Sorry I'm not that structured. Although I do look for triad shapes of various kinds just to open up ideas.