This week features a story I heard that I couldn't help but share with you all. Would you like to support the creators of this podcast? If so, please head over to our Patreon page and show your love by donating $3 or more each month. You get incredible benefits and this keeps the podcast coming at you regularly. Thanks so much! … [Read more...]

This week we feature a piece of content from one the absolute masters of the music. Johnny Griffin and Thelonious Monk had an amazing relationship and, in my opinion, Griffin did some of his best playing with Monk. This piece of vocabulary is from their recording from 1958: Monk In Action live at the Five Spot in New York. Johnny teaches us a couple of things in this excerpt. How to combine blues playing with bebop playing and how to use rhythm with maximum effect. Enjoy the episode! WANT THE … [Read more...]

Let's get back to basics with one simple question.... Would you like to support the creators of this podcast? If so, please head over to our Patreon page and show your love by donating $3 or more each month. You get incredible benefits and this keeps the podcast coming at you regularly. Thanks so much! … [Read more...]

This week's episode concludes our series on chord extensions. Last week we talked about pure and diminished dominants, this week we wrap things up with altered and augmented dominants. I hope this information has been helpful to you. I think it gives great insight into and clears up some of the confusion that can come from certain chord symbols. You'll notice that many of the extensions are used over multiple chords. The small differences are the ones that make a difference here, so make sure … [Read more...]

This week got me thinking about the role of competition in music and jazz. There are many positives and negatives that we discuss in this episode. Would you like to support the creators of this podcast? If so, please head over to our Patreon page and show your love by donating $3 or more each month. You get incredible benefits and this keeps the podcast coming at you regularly. Thanks so much! … [Read more...]

This week continues with our study of chord extensions. We take a look at 2 different types of dominant seventh chords, pure dominant and dominant flat 9. The extensions for these chords differ wildly and one is far more complicated than the other. In this episode, we talk about the differences and listen to both chords both arpeggiated and voiced with all notes at the same time. This material is a must know for any aspiring improviser and this will open up your playing to some brand new sounds … [Read more...]

This week's episode features a great question from one of our Patreon members, Valerie. How do we know the lead sheet we are learning from is accurate? Tune in to find out more... Would you like to support the creators of this podcast? If so, please head over to our Patreon page and show your love by donating $3 or more each month. You get incredible benefits and this keeps the podcast coming at you regularly. Thanks so much! … [Read more...]

This month's tune of the month episode is a tune I have been playing and thinking a lot about lately. There Will Never Be Another You is a great jazz standard with many of the chord movements that we talk about on this show. The circle of fourths is very present in this particular composition and gives us a chance to work on many concepts relating to tension and release. This is exactly what we are doing this week when we look at a #9 to b9 resolution model. These two notes sound fantastic in … [Read more...]

Seamus Blake is one of the best modern jazz musicians in the world. Universally respected for his approach to the music, studying Seamus' playing should be a thing that we all do on a regular basis. This week we take a look at two different pieces of vocabulary that he plays over 'Blues Up & Down,' from the Sax Summit record. Seamus shows us some great devices including a lot of chromaticism. This tune is orignally played at a blazing tempo (250+!!), but in this episode, we slow it down and … [Read more...]