- 5/6/17 – Harmonic Rhythm and Special Guest Brent Fischer
PLEASE NOTE NEW SATURDAY TIME and EXTENDED FORMAT HARMONIC RHYTHM AND SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER BRENT FISCHER On Saturday May 6th at 10am we’ll continue our exploration of harmonic rhythm, focusing on how jazz players and composers use chord movement…this topic comprises much more than cool chord […]
- 2/25/17 – Hello and Goodbye
Saturday Feb. 25th, 2017 at Vitello’s E-Spot Lounge, Studio City, 10am – noon On Saturday: Geek alert! I want to spend some time talking about what some call “harmonic rhythm”, a way of describing chords or a chord progression movingthrough time and how harmonic movement can […]
- 11/11/16 – Thad, Duke, and some College Chords
On Friday we will dive back into large ensemble voicing, first by revisiting “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue” by Duke Ellington. Duke’s work in the mid 1930’s predicted and influenced the “modern” big band arrangers. Then…it’s Thad, Thad and […]
- 9/23/2016 – More Gil, more Thad
At the September 23rd meeting we will start off by taking a quick listen to “Maids of Cadiz” by Gil Evans and Miles Davis. We’ll talk about some of the broad strokes: form, pace, and how Gil shapes this evocative and powerful piece. Then we’ll dive back into large ensemble voicing technique, […]
- 6/24/16 – Clear and Transparent Voicing Technique (that still grooves!)
On the 24th we’ll delve in to Ellington’s “Such Sweet Thunder”. This piece is a great example of the use of riffs, space, harmony, layering, groove, and economical jazz writing. There’s so much to say, I bet it takes an hour at least. Then we will begin a detailed study of large ensemble […]
- 3/25/16: From “Ko-Ko” to KC
On March 25th we will start an in-depth analysis of the iconic “Ko-Ko” by Duke Ellington, using as a reference an excellent transcription by David Berger. This is another great Ellington piece from 1940 that looks both to the past and to the future, with great soloists, and […]
- Agenda for 12/18/15: Cootie, Gil and Russell..
Listening to the classic “Concerto for Cootie” I’m hearing so many cool devices and trademark Duke sounds. I think we’re going to delve into that a little – maybe look at a few things from “Dimenuendo and Crescendo in Blue”, maybe not…I have a feeling […]
- October Surprise: “St. Louis Blues” at 10/23 Class
I was looking around for scores on the interwebs and happened upon artistshare.com, which among other great artists, features the recent Gil Evans project of composer and arranger Ryan Truesdale. At the August class we listened to Gil’s “St. Louis Blues” from Old Wine, New […]
- August 6th, 2015 ESG at Vitello’s: Duke, Gil and More.
A great turnout to the reboot of the ESG! On August 6th we had about 45 composers, arrangers and other interested parties really getting into “Dim and Cresc in Blue” by Ellington. We also checked out Gil Evans’ “St. Louis Blues” from his recording Old Wine, New […]
Class Materials – 5/6/17 – Brent FischerSCOTT HEALY PDF SCORES AND MATERIALS: CIRCLES The Clothed Woman SH TRANSCRIPTION The Clothed Woman EXAMPLES The Clothed Woman- TRIO CHART There are at least four recordings of Ellington playing "The Clothed Woman". Below is the first […]
Protected: Class Materials – 2/25/17There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Ellington Live Concert – 1958Just had to post this. What the hell was in the water in 1958–Miles, Ornette, Bill Evans, rock n roll, folk, etc…wow.