Let's Rock

Last nights band rehearsal went very well. We are still playing the new stuff for the coming season and I am finding it good fun. My highlight for the evening was ‘Moonlight Serenade’. I love that tune and I think I might include it on my ‘songs that make you tingle’ list.

Today was a big fun day. In an effort to get my youngest son to take up music I bought him an electric guitar. It was one of those starter packages that seem very good value. I spent £129 quid on a guitar, amp, strap, tuner, DVD and a couple of picks. I always enjoy buying musical instruments so even though this was a present I got a lot of fun out of it. He won’t get it until Monday so I can have a play all week end.

Julian Marc Stringle

Last Thursday we went to Googlies to see the clarinettist Julian Marc Strangle. I have seen him before not only at the club but also at my one and only visit to Ronnie Scott’s. He is a fine player and has a wonderful tone. It was a good night with lots of good music. Pauline, my partner, thought I did not like it. She said the expression on my face throughout the night was of a constant frown. I was not aware of it and did enjoy the music, but it may have been that I was concentrating on Stringles mannerisms. Firstly, I noticed that when he is listening to another member of the bands solo he constantly checking his reed and mouthpiece. I play clarinet and I know that it is important to have them set right but he seemed to be checking it every couple of seconds. I think that he may have felt self conscious about being on stage and not doing anything. Secondly when he hit a very high note he leant back, turned his body and pushed his right side towards the audience. This sort of mannerism seems common with musicians and I suppose is comparable with a rock guitarist screwing his face up when playing a high note. And lastly Julian has very long hair which, was getting into his mouth when playing and so he had to continually wipe away with his hands. Every now and then he made noises of complaints. I could not help thinking, “Why not just get it cut”.

But this is not to say this was not a great night. The jazz was fantastic as always and this club just gets better and better.

Karl Kaps

Last night was my first night back rehearsing with the band. It was good to be back and because of the new season of concerts we played some new tunes, at least new to me. Andrew Lloyd Webber made an appearance with a suite of songs from his shows. This was supported by a big name in film score with a tune from the film Saving Private Ryan, Hymn to the Fallen, by John Williams. The old timers were not forgotten and we played a medley of songs from the show Oklahoma. Something that was great fun to play and I am looking forward to getting my teeth into was the Eton Boating Song, a waltz from the old Edwardian days.

This was written by a gent named Karl Kaps who despite his German sounding name was in fact English and real name was John Roberts. Apparently he took a German name because of the popularity of German bands in Edwardian time. However, he came unstuck during the Great War and had to change it. Strangely he changed it to an Italian sounding name. Why did he not like his English one?

Scales and Chords

My study of jazz theory continues with learning the various scales/chords on a single root. I have found this good fun and after testing myself have become proficient at recognising the name of a chord by its component parts. I cover the chords on a play-a-long book and look at the full scale notes below and then work out the chord. I hope this helps me when I play as I will slowly learn where the flattened notes are and use them in my playing. It is also helpful to ingest the differences between a major seventh, dominant seventh, minor Dorian and a blues scale etc. Each day is a different root note and a further set of new chords.

Learning all the scales and chords in all the keys looks daunting so by doing it this way I am hoping to make it a little easier to remember. I lived in the days of learning times tables parrot fashion, maybe I can do this the same way.

Modes, modes and more modes.

I have been off work this week with a bad cold. So, I made good use of the time with studying jazz. My head is full of dorian modes and dominant 7ths and augmented 4ths I have big headache and it is nothing to do with my illness. However, I did get a chance to play for a couple of hours and all my reading has helped. The chord symbols at the top of the music did not look so daunting and I felt that with the extra knowledge I was able to simplify some of it and concentrate on playing. I have got prior experience of the simple chords like the major's and minor's but what frightened me was those that were altered and had extra bits like +9 or b7. I knew what they mean I just did not grasp how to play them. I am not sure what my music sounded like but on the whole I just ignored them and if my fingers got close I would put the note in and see whether it sounded out of place or not. I did feel very happy after my practice. I am sure it was not up to performance standard but I had great fun playing 'Call me Irresponsible' and 'Impressions' although the latter a lot slower that Coltrane.

"do it"

This is a message I got from a fellow music lover. I thought it was worth putting up on the blog.

‘Hi Jeff, me again I was just checking your Blog, - although I've played now for about forty years many of them pro, it wasn't until my 50th that I decided to really get serious, - you sound like you're in a similar situation - I can only say do it! - and with a vengeance - you won't regret it, I knuckled down for about three years and improved my playing in leaps and bounds. It's now over ten years later and my only advice is "do it" and don't listen to old has beenz. The carriage gets older and the paint flakes off but as long as you keep your motor running . . . anything is possible’.
gruss – spike

Thanks for the advice spike

Learning to Play Jazz

I have not made any serious resolutions for the New Year. Except the annual ones that I never complete like, going on a diet or not touching the hard stuff anymore. But I have got a music project for 2008. I have decided to have a serious go at learning to play jazz. I have had a half-hearted attempt before but got dazed and confused and gave up. But I do love jazz and the more I listen and watch the stuff the more my desire to play increases. I have been told by a Jazz musician of 50 years experience that I am wasting my time. His point of view was that at the old age of 53 it is too late to learn and I should have started in my youth. Well that is only an opinion and I think I will have an attempt to prove him wrong.

So, my initial strategy is to read and digest the Jamey Aebersold book ‘How to play Jazz and Improvise’. My brother bought me a great book for Christmas on how to phrase during improvisation so the two9 should go well together. I know I must concentrate more on learning scales and chords and should practise these more than I already do, but now I have to look at the different jazz scales and how to use them. Listening to others is important and I already listen to a lot on CD, radio and live at the club so that is covered. But instead of just listening with a tapping foot I will need to try and analyse the music more, maybe even remembering some phrases that I could use.

Next is formal education. I will try and find a tutor but in the meantime I have signed up a week’s course at the Benslow Music Trust in February. This will give me a target to aim for and will hopefully give me enough incentive to study every day so as not to look a complete idiot in 6 weeks time. Finding a tutor who is prepared to give me an hour’s lesson on a Saturday afternoon is going to be hard but I will research it and see what I can find.

So, here goes it. If any reader has any tips on how they learnt please post a comment. I have a big point to prove and I need all the help I can get. I will of course post my progress on this blog.

Free Jazz

Have been away from the computer over the Christmas holidays so am a bit behind on my posts. The first update is my visit to Googlies Jazz club last Thursday (27 Dec). There was no guest acts so they did not charge an entrance fee. But we still got a superb evening of music. The Colin Peters Quartet played throughout the three sets with a splattering of guest singers from the audience. It was a great night and it made a change to hear the boys play on their own for a longer period.

I like free jazz and in this sense it saved me money, thanks Googlies.