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Backgrounder: Milt Bucker's 'Block Chords Parade'
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
What are block chords? That's when a pianist (or guitarist) plays a melody with chords rather than individual notes. This is done with the top note of the chord playing the melody line with chord notes below creating the harmony. Block chords are often played on piano with a “locked hands" technique, when both hands play block chords in unison or lock-step. To illustrate, let's visit with the great Dick Hyman... As Dick notes, Milt Buckner pioneered the block-chords sound, ...
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Announcing Modalogy - Scales, Modes & Chords: The Primordial Building Blocks of Music
Source:
John Kelman
Primarily a music theory reference, Modalogy presents a unique perspective on the origins, interlocking aspects, and usage of the most common scales and modes in occidental music. Anyone wishing to seriously explore the realms of scales, modes, and their real-world functions will find the most important issues dealt with in meticulous detail within these pages. Logical illustrations accompany in-depth examinations of chordal harmonies, cadential motions, and progressions. This book is perfect for both music students and teachers, as either a ...
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Three Chords for Beauty's Sake: The Life of Artie Shaw
Source:
Michael Ricci
Artie Shaw, the swing eras other great clarinetist, knew just about every romantic self-immolator in the history of jazz.
He roomed with both Bix Beiderbecke and Bunny Berigan, he hired Billie Holiday to sing with his band and at least by his own account he turned down Charlie Parkers bid to join his saxophone section. (I said, Bird, you couldn't play in my band, you're too much of an individualist! ) Superficially, Shaw couldn't have been less like these doom-bound ...
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New on JazzPianoOnline.com: Improvising over Passing Diminished Chords
Source:
All About Jazz
Improvising Over Passing Diminished Chords
Improvising Passing Diminished Chords There is a lot of uncertainty that surrounds diminished chords. How do they work exactly? What chordscales do they take? How do you improvise over them?
Gain some insight into these questions through an examination of Red Garland's solo over the changes to the standard tune It Could Happen to You from the recording Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet from 1956.
This lesson will show you a couple of his ...
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New Website for Jazz Chords, Lyrics and Community: jazzyourass.com!
Source:
All About Jazz
A new website especially for jazz musicians has been lauched: JazzYourAss.com Here you can find chords and sheets of jazz standards as well as the lyrics on one page. Furthermore the site features exciting community features as well as a tool to figure out almost all jazz scales and chords for the guitar. The owners of this page are updating the community about their plans and new updates in a blog. The layout of the page still seems to be ...
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Guitarists Go Beyond Conventional Harmony & Chords with Modern Chord Melody
Source:
All About Jazz
Jazz chord melody may very well be the most challenging of all guitar styles to truly master. Players must develop right-hand thumb and finger independence, a robust vocabulary of jazz voicings, a strong sense of melody and and arranger's feel for composition. And these are just the fundamentals. Once you have the “easy" stuff down, it's all about groove, arrangement, performance and improvisation. Modern Chord Melody takes the student beyond conventional harmony and chords by introducing a broader, more contemporary ...
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Les Paul Tonight-Mingus Big Band Tue.-Ed Palermo Plays Zappa Wed.-Sept. 1-4 Carla Bley's Lost Chords at The Iridium Jazz Club
Source:
All About Jazz
August 29, 2005 To: Listings/Critics/Features From: JAZZ PROMO SERVICES Press Contact: JIM EIGO, [email protected] IRIDIUM JAZZ CLUB 1650 BROADWAY (Corner of 51st) NEW YORK, NY 10023 RESERVATIONS: 212-582-2121, www.iridiumjazzclub.com Sets at 8 & 10PM EVERY MONDAY LES PAUL AND HIS QUARTET EVERY TUESDAY THE MINGUS BIG BAND EVERY WEDNESDAY ED PALERMO BIG BAND PLAYS THE MUSIC OF FRANK ZAPPA Every Sunday Starting at 11:00AM Gospel Brunch featuring BISHOP NATHANIEL TOWNSLEY, JR. AND THE GOSPEL JUBILEE This Week at The Iridium ...
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Milt Buckner: Block Chords Parade
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
When pianist Billy Taylor asked fellow keyboard legend George Shearing in 1984 how he developed the “Shearing Sound," Shearing said he sandwiched the styles of two different musicians. Recalled Shearing: “When I came back to the States [in late 1947], I went to all of the big talent agencies. They seemed determined to make another Alec Templeton out of me. But I didn't want to do what I had already done. [Audiences] didn't need the English Art Tatum, or the English ...
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Jazz Piano Chords, Mel Bay Publications
Source:
All About Jazz
This informative volume provides a chord reference for any pianist wanting to learn to play jazz. Starting with the most basic intervals, the text explains how chords are built and how they are used in different performance settings. After covering the basics, advanced chord types such as 9ths, 11ths, 13ths, drop voicings, and the blues chord are presented and explained. The functions of chords are described, as are substitutions, clusters, and polytonal clusters. Numerous charts are provided which can be ...
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