bobbystern

Marvin Gaye Session #2 - Tomorrow Comes After seemingly scoring some points with Marvin (Gaye) and Harvey (Fuqua) with a brief tenor solo on "'Til Tomorrow", I talked my way into having them invite me back for some more fun the next day. When I found out they were going to be recording in Munich for a few more days, I had to try to convince them I could still be useful. Whatever I told them worked. Read More

Marvin Gaye Sessions - 'Til Tomorrow It was a typical Munich summer's afternoon in 1982 when I got back to my apartment and found a message, that I was to call Arco Studios back about a "Marvin Gaye Session". Read More

Korner Karnataka #3 - "Yagapriya", The Jazz Version Let's take a look at a very hip sounding scale, Melakarta #31, known as Yagapriya. As you can see, Yagapriya has an unusual interval makeup: 1 1/2 steps - half step - half step - whole step - half step - half step - 1 1/2 steps

Korner Karnataka - Charlie Mariano - Konnakol/Solkattu & Prof. Dave King One of the legendary alto saxophonist Charlie Mariano's greatest and lasting legacies has been exposing an entire generation of Western musicians (including yours truly), primarily in Europe, to the highly intricate beauties of South Indian (Carnatic) Classical Music culture.

Leaving the dusty little town of Giant Steppes has been no easy task. While sitting in the bar down-the-road-a-piece from the 'Trane Station, known as "The Cycle of Descending Major Thirds", I ran into this demonic looking, but sophisticated gentleman of dubious nobility who introduced himself as Count Down. I thought he looked more like Screamin' Jay Hawkins, but I didn't mention it.

Changing 'Trane's, Part 1 This week, on our way back from 1-2-5 St., we'll take a little detour to the tiny town of Giant Steppes, where, thirsting for knowledge, we'll descend the stairs to a local establishment known as "The Cycle of Major Thirds" to get a taste of some "fluid" voice leading.

All aboard! Here's Part 2 of our little trip to 1-2-5 Street, this time stopping at the corner of Maj.7#11 Ave, to witness different combinations of two 1-2-5 groupings.

Thanks for the heads up, Grover. It is Dmin11. I fired the copyist!!

1-2-5 Street, Part 1 - 3 Note Groupings & Min7 (11) This week, we hop on the subway of your mind and get off at 1-2-5 St., where we'll hang out with a couple of three note groups, co-mingling to form a min7 (11) chord. We don't even need a token, except possibly, a token of your appreciation.

Unchained MM Melody! - Melodic Minor in 4ths Here's a groovy little line, and free download, based on groups of diatonic 4ths from the Melodic Minor scale.

Transcriptions That Stick! - Dig "Big Nick"! Here's a downloadable transcription of John Coltrane's soprano saxophone solo on the original version of his composition "Big Nick", released as part of the album "Coltrane", on the Impulse! label. This is not the Coltrane - Ellington version, and unfortunately, I was unable to find a YouTube vid of this version to post.

How's about a new one: Augment Your Diminished Returns - Diminished Scale b6ths Here's an intriguing and suspenseful sounding exercise / pattern based on the whole tone / half tone diminished scale, broken down into the interval of a minor 6th, moving in minor 3rds. Thanks B.

Fun-da-Mentals! - Major Triads & Inversions This is a downloadable, basic, fundamental exercise dealing with Major Triads, spaced in whole steps, and their inversions.