Listen to Milt's solo

 

Driving home from the gig

Yeah, I had this thought. I’ve been playing on a Deagon vibraphone for the last month. It’s an old beautiful instrument, really fun to play and sounds great.

It just popped in my head out of nowhere that the Musser vibes enabled four mallet playing to come into it’s own. The bars on the Deagon are graduated however they’re smaller than the musser and when I play four mallets on the Deagon it’s harder.

Now maybe that’s just because I’m not used to it. However I have a hunch that is wasn’t just Burton but it was the Musser that also contributed to the 4 mallet explosion.

Maybe I’m totally wrong?

More of me

While I’m at it. I found another one!

Tony Miceli Playing with Jimmy Bruno

Online Lessons

I’ve been teaching online lessons for a while now. I’ve developed a system that works pretty good. The student needs to be mildly technologically inclined. Nothing too heavy. We do duets, work on stuff together and talk.

One of my students decided to try setting up a blog. The blog is here. His idea is for me and him to work on stuff and have other people post ideas also. What a cool way to study right? Getting feedback from other people besides me. I dig it!

If you have time check it out.

Lines

I’m curious what other players think about playing lines on the vibes. I remember watching Gary Burton play and then seeing Milt jackson play. They played totally different and there styles were totally different.

I remember thinking that this also must tie in with their sticking, and i’ve thought about it for many years. It seems to me that if you’re going to play lines that weave like bebop lines then you’re going to use a lot of alternate sticking. That is a more 2 mallet approach even if you’re holding four. Outside of that style of playing sticking is wide open.

The great straight ahead and bebop players like Milt, Hutcherson, and others tend to be more 2 mallet players. AND with that style they’ve developed lines.

To play lines like Charlie Parker on the vibes the sticks must be ready to go anywhere, double sticking and using 4 mallets for me has hindered those sorts of lines. It seems in order to play a Parker transcription well that you need a lot of alternate sticking. That makes the technical part of playing simple. Left stick then Right stick.

I remember playing Paganini when I was in school. My teacher Nick Damico would tell me to use alternate sticking as much as possible for those fast lines and we’d consider any double sticking very carefully.

So I think it all ties in with lines and the style of lines you play. I think you’re ability to play lines with 2 mallets and alternate stick them will increase your fluidness.

Anybody agree or even disagree?

Not Just A Vibe Player

I get in this jam once or twice a year. Since I consider myself a vibe player I don’t have marimba mallets, or even bell mallets. But here it goes again, I got a call to play marimba and bells and I have to borrow the right sticks, once again.

What’s cool is it’s a recording date, and they want the real instruments. I get a few calls a year for this, I’m glad some people are still using live instruments!

Could you imagine what it was like ‘back in the day’, let’s say the 40’s through the 70’s. There was a TON of work! That must have been a blast running around and playing. Also think of all the jazz clubs. In Philly, we had jazz clubs all over the place ‘back in the day’. Guys talk about riding the Broad Street Subway going from club to club.

And I digress! I guess the point is 30 years ago I would have had all my mallets and would have been working my ass off!! Today I don’t have those mallets, don’t really need them, but I should have them!

I’m lucky because I’ve been working hard for 25 years and have built up a little business. VERY little. But I survive! Which means you can still make a living playing vibes.

I’m not talking about Burton or Mainieri, I’m talking about just gigging and hustling. That’s what I do. I’m a workhorse. What’s good is I make sure I’m playing with great musicians, that keeps me on my toes and keeps me practicing even though some of the gigs, don’t require it!!

HARD MALLETS!!!!

Man first night at Resorts with Joe Piscopo. I have to hit those vibes SO FRICKIN HARD. I can’t believe it. I think I’m going to try and bring my AMT mics tomorrow.

But man the moral of the story is HARD MALLETS. Get used to them, they’ll be your best friend!! I used the piper mediums, which ARE pretty hard but it was a struggle. This wasn’t even a big band, however I’m close enough to the drummer where it’s a problem.

Playing this instrument is so about volume I can’t believe it. i’m going to look around and dig up all my hard sticks and try them out on tomorrow’s show.

Man there’s so much to keep together when you’re freelancing. You have to keep your jazz chops together, your reading chops and then your chop chops. My reading is not totally happening, and to go in and read down charts put me in a little bit of a stressful mood! I never practice reading though. Oh well.

I also think it’s the opposite side of the brain, reading and soloing. It feels so strange to take a chorus and really try to play free and then start reading again. I thought i was crazy but Jimmy Bruno told me the same thing. He used to work a ton in Vegas and he said he’d go nuts if he had to play a solo and then go right back to reading music.

Well I have 13 more days to get those charts down!

Jel Pad Damper

What’s with the jel pad for the dampening bar? Man my axe dampened so uneven, i guess the bar is bent, but still there should be some play in the thing! Some of the bars wouldn’t wring on the high end. so i had to wrap rope around the dampening bar to flatten the gel pad. That moved the gel down towards the low end, but it’s ok.

Anyone else had any problems with the Gel pad? John Piper loves them. I assume the problem is mostly mine. I have 3 sets and my oldest has been through hell and back.

Any solutions? I guess you can’t drain a little if the gel out can you???

Lugging the Instrument: The Rock and Roller

I’m getting ready for a month of not stop gigs. That’s good financially but not good with sanity! It’s definitely not good when it comes to setting up and tearing down that frickin instrument!

I’ve been gigging for 30+ years now. part of the time on drums and the rest on vibes. I’m so sick of tearing that thing down and setting it up!! Sometimes 2 and 3 times a day.

My cases are shot, I desperately need knew soft cases which i also hate buying. That’s like buying a new tux. WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY, except that you need it for certain gigs that usually pay a lot of money.

On top of all those gripes, I’ll be doing a bunch of show dates with Joe Piscopo. Man, I’m not a show musician!! His gig though, is fun, easy and cool. So it won’t be that bad, overall. The problem will be lugging the ‘axe’ all over. I’ll move that thing most days in July!!!

If you guys don’t know, the answer is soft cases and the ‘Rock and Roller’. It’s a cart that you won’t know how you lived without after you buy it. Get some bungy chords also.

It was never something I thought about when I was young, however now I can boast that I can park blocks away from the gig and wheel my crap in in one shot! At 47 that’s a big deal. In and out of the gig. That’s my goal now. Set up time sucks, takes away too much from life and music. But i have it down!

I yank the stuff out of my Subaru, goes on the cart, bungy chords hold it down and off I go. You can google the ‘Rock and Roller’. Or just type in cartsareus.com or something like that and you’ll find it.

I don’t know how I went around without it.