https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCKU_pffkCg This street performer’s playing is amazing. I love the way he mixes slapping with chord strums to create his own groove and chord changes for his jam. He really demonstrates how to use a five-string in order to play melody while keeping a groove. A wonderful video.

http://youtu.be/1kPXw6YaCEY With Christmas coming up I thought it would be appropriate to post this classic. This is John Coltrane’s version of “My Favorite Things”, recorded the summer of 1965 in Belgium. If you have time it is worth the 20 minutes.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWwaTnX_vtU (actual song begins around ~2:30) This is one of the busier renditions of On Green Dolphin Street, but it really showcases the talent of all the musicians. And you can hear that they build from simple things. For example, around 3:30, Chick Corea uses just one note and deviates from it slightly and uses […]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynZDm50EgBY I like the trumpet players solo in this version of the song. I think it embodies a lot of what have focused on in our solo building this semester. He leaves enough space during his solo. He uses the chords to achieve and certain sound and he makes use of note rhythms to build […]

http://youtu.be/xAWtuxhdUDE What can I say, it’s Jimi Hendrix. On the song “Red House”, Hendrix demonstrates his effortless soloing ability. This classic blues song shows how blues as an art form can be interpreted in different genres.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WIUqyZp3ak Another Buddy Rich song. I love jazz waltzes and this one is just amazing. The trumpet solo is beautifully melodic and works so well alongside the rest of the song that it seems seemless.

Not necessarily jazz, but the entire performance is based off improvising over a song. Cory Henry is a master of a lot of things. One of these things is communication with other musicians. You can see him giving a lot of verbal and non-verbal cues to the drummer. Even when I saw him live in […]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4mZS5i9vv4 I love this song. The horn part is really amazing to listen to. There is a great tenor sax solo in this song but the highlight is Buddy’s solo. It is incredibly long and shows an amazing creativity in using and getting around all parts of his kit. The singles roll he does shows […]

This is a CLASSIC Jaco Pastorius song. It demonstrates his incredible ability of getting around the bass and skillful use of harmonics. Due to the song’s eclectic nature, it can be hard to listen to if you get lost in the form (or lack of). Solo wise, he uses a lot of non-chord tones and […]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgqrnvyDvWI Is this blues? I hear a IV chord on the fifth measure, I think. This is really just an excuse for me to post another video with Oscar Peterson in it. But I paid a lot of attention to the saxophone player, thinking about the microtonal music we talked about in class. Since saxophonists […]