Dan McCarthy's New CD

Just listened to Dan’s new cd called ‘Interwords’. I really liked it alot. Dan plays great, the songs are great, and the band is great.

The tunes are really varied in their styles.

Dan’s voicings are really open and clear. I love that in a player. The ability to spread out over the instrument. It’s one thing to fit the chord in close together, however it takes some practice to spread it out and move it around.

All his 4 mallet solo playing in different parts of tunes is so relaxed and effortless. On the tune ‘Thought Again’ he comps alone for the sax player. It’s not wishy washy which is what I usually here. He’s real percussive on the instrument. Too many players ring the crap out of the instrument in a situation like that. Then there’s no rhythm when the band drops out and for me everything just dies. To be able to play rhythmically, move the time, fill things up, move voicings and melodies is a challenge on the vibes when the bass and drums drop out.

His solos are REALLY great. He has chops and can totally get around the instrument in a very musical way. Definitely not a showoff. It’s all about the music.

This is a cool cd, I just thought I’d pass along. Definitely worth checking out. It’s over on CD Baby.

Studying with a Teenager

I met Jonathan Ragonese a year ago at a summer camp at Univ of the Arts for high school kids. I had a group with the top musicians. Man they were killin’. Just because I knew they were young and they had tons of energy. I made them a challenge. That was to play Cherokee at 400 bpm by the end of the first week. Well Friday came and they were there. Cruisin’ at 400 bpm. They all did great but Jon smoked the tune. It was pretty incredible.

We’ve kept in touch during the year. I get text messages every day about what he’s transcribing. He DOESN’T STOP. So I asked him to put licks up on Larrys Improv Page. We call it “Lick of the Day”. And like it sounds everyday there’s a new lick.

I’ve given him another challenge and that’s to put up a years worth of licks by the end of the summer. 350 licks!!!

Each lick has the cd and track title where it’s from. I’ve added an amazon.com link so you go there and buy it if you want. I want to also add a link to itunes. Just have to figure out how to do that.

It’s funny because the first couple days I just looked at the page. Then finally I printed out the lick of the day, went and bought the Billy Pierce CD (sort of advertising isn’t it) on itunes I’m getting addicted. Sure as webmaster I could go and print out every lick he’s putting in, but that’s not the point! Each day the “Lick of the Day” gets me to my instrument. I practice it in 12 keys and then mess around and try to expand on it. It’s got me thinking about phrasing, and lines. It’s really fun.

It’s a little strange I'm learning froma 17 year old!! How’s that for the ego. But Jon might as well be 40, 50, 30 or 25. He’s sort of ageless as you’ll see if you ever meet him.

I’ve been in a little of a rut this summer, so the “Lick of the Day” is really helping me.

I’ve heard students talk about not wanting to transcribe, or practice licks because they feel it will squash their originality. To me that’s silly. When I’m thinking about music I always compare it to the spoken word. After all we’re trying to communicate when we play. I learned how to talk by imitating adults. It didn’t squash my vocal creativity, it helped. Transcribing solos and playing licks can totally help your playing, as you will learn the language. Speak it how you want! Just learn it first, otherwise you’ll sound like a foreigner

Billy Pierce Interview

Billy Pierce Interview

I found this interview after checking out Jonathan Ragonese’s lick of the day. I’ve been printing each lick each day, checking out the cd. Today’s lick was a Billy Pierce lick. I didn’t know much about Billy Pierce so I did a google search and found this interview for those who might be interested.

Jazz haiku

Jazz haiku

As told by: Eric Johnson

Many many notes
chord after chord
why does no one like?

thevibe.net

http://thevibe.net/smf/index.php/

In case you haven’t heard of it, it’s where all the vibe players hang out!

Grips Revisited

I just watched 4 of the greats playing vibes and laughed when I thought about everybody’s grip. It was hysterical.

First I watched Red Norvo. With 2 mallets he was totally choked up on the sticks. I guess that goes back to the xylophone days. Not sure why you’d have to be choked up like that, but I’ve seen photos of old xylophone players and that was the grip. Then with 4 mallets, he was totally choked also. AND the inside mallet was on top. With most of the grips these days, the outside mallet is on top.

Next we watched Milt Jackson. Man talk about an unorthodox grip. And those short sticks. Someone told me he has a cotton ball around each stick in his palms to help him hold the mallets. So his grip is one of a kind and he plays his ass off, and he looks so relaxed when he plays.

Then we watched Burton. WE ALL know about the burton grip inside out, backwards and forwards!!! He’s the first vibe player I paid attention to. He’s probably the most innovative on the instrument. He did more to push the instrument forward technically than anyone else. Sometimes I wonder about that. Whenever I listen to Teddy Charles or Victor Feldman I think they might have been on the same path as Burton technically. Teddy Charles did some amazing things with 4 mallets.

I remember thinking that maybe I was original when I began playing in a style I called ‘Stride Vibes’. Then vibist Wilson Moorman turned me onto Victor Feldman, and I heard some MEAN stride vibes. And on a side note, listen to Victor on the CD titled ‘The Arrival of Victor Feldman’ play the tune Be Bop. One of the fastest tempos I have every heard. Just for fun try and play along with it. AND if that’s not enough, guess who’s on bass! Scott Lafaro from the Bill Evans trio. Totally different style from what we’re all accustomed to listening to him. And on drums none other than Stan Levy, probably one of the best Be Bop drummers in the business.

Then we checked out Mike Mainieri. What grip is that? It almost looks like the Stevens Grip. He does some pretty cool stuff with 4 mallets. Totally unorthodox.

What’s so funny about all this, is it makes me think when I’m in lessons talking about grips, explaining why I think a student should use my grip over his or the others.

It hits me the other day in a lesson, when I was talking about grips. I tell my students to use my grip because that’s the one I know how to use AND teach. That’s really the only reason. Guys are making music holding those silly sticks all kinds of ways. But I can honestly only teach the grip I know. That made me feel a LOT better.

What’s funny is that those ARE the masters in every way. There’s only about 5 or 10 of them. The REAL masters and they hold their sticks EVERY funky way imaginable. Think of that next time someone is defending the way they play to you and telling why its advantages out way some other grip!

Cool Podcast on the Master Vibes Players

http://illasounds.podomatic.com/entry/2007-06-01T03_13_51-07_00

I've only listened to a little of it, but it sounded good.