Month: November 2015

This is “Seven Minute Mind” by The Bad Plus, an avant-garde jazz band that I’ve been listening to a lot over the last few years. This piece is a cool experiment with time signatures. It changes meter every measure for the A section.  The layout is  6/4, 3/4, 6/4, 3/4, 7/8, 5/8, 7/8, 5/8, 5/4.…

I knew I’d post odd time signature stuff at some point, and what better place to start than the Mahavishnu Orchestra… This performance is crazy, it seems like all of the musicians were at their peak at this time, and has a lot of 60s-70s era influence on it.  John Mclaughlin is using an iconic…

  This is a video of Bill Frisell playing the jazz standard “The Days of Wine and Roses” Frisell is one of the most accomplished guitarists on the jazz scene today.  He has distinguished himself by playing in a lush style that is often hard to achieve on the guitar as notes have a tendency…

This is a video of Cory Henry playing a unique interpretation of John Coltrane’s Giant Steps. This piece is known for its unique harmonic structure and I really enjoy hearing artists try to give these changes a unique feel. Cory Henry and his band definitely approached the piece with a funk perspective. I’m incredibly impressed by the entire band’s…

Soulive is definitely one of my favorite jazz/funk groups, and “outrage” is one of my favorite tunes by them.  It has a very cool rock oriented feel with the pentatonic-y guitar riff.  I believe theres also the hendrix- dominant-sharp9 chord used as a big part of the riff which emphasizes the rock roots of the tune.  Eric…

This is a video of the Buddy Rich Big band performing Count Basie’s One O’ Clock Jump.  I find it particularly amusing that Buddy Rich appears to be performing in a bath robe.  As far as musicianship goes, this is the only group I know to feature a drummer, and I find that interesting as…

This is a video of one of my favorite drummers, Mark Guiliana, playing with Donny McCaslin on their original composition, “Stadium Jazz.”  As always, I am very impressed with the with Mark’s speed and precision while playing very fast and complicated rhythms.  I especially appreciate this piece because of how well all of the musicians…

  This is Down to the Bone at the EFG London Jazz Festival.  The trombone is the first solo and my favorite of the set. I thought he emitted a good flow of energy and I liked the vibe. The piano/synth solo was one I was very unfamiliar with, since I am so used to traditional…

This is a clip of ‘New York Tendaberry’ performed by Billy Childs. It’s slower in comparison to what I normally post and listen to, and there’s a lot of open sound and space since it’s just solo piano.  A lot of the playing I found to be very chordal or arpeggiated.  I like how Childs…