This week’s video is about the “Diatonic System” in music, which is where you can play a lot of different types of chords and melodies, all within one key. To keep things simple we stick to the key of C Major.
Please note that Upbeat Evil Castle has been agreed on by the composers Gustavo and Geoff to allow Geoff to use the song in his videos on Geoffmobile.com and Youtube.com/geoffmobile.
If you’d like to download MP3’s of the concert (free) you can get them from here.
With Julian’s permission I used my minidisc unit to record the audio from our performance. There is quite a bit of background noise from the wedding guests’ conversation, but in the recordings you can hear both of us quite clearly.
I also set up my Sony Camcorder in the corner and video-taped our performance too. There was very low light, so you can barely make us out in the video, but it gives more context to the audio to be able to see us perform too.
At this wedding, we performed a selection of mainstream jazz standards in a duo style. Probably my biggest inspiration for the saxophone-piano duo format is the legendary combination of Stan Getz (saxophone) and Kenny Barron (piano). Another inspiration for rhythmic ideas has been the mighty pianist Chick Corea and his duets with the one and only voice artist Bobby Mcferrin (such as their killer performance of Autumn Leaves).
So without further ado, here’s our complete performance (except for the last song we played, Confirmation by Charlie Parker, where we got interrupted by some DJ music).
Hope you enjoy! I hope that these performances will give you some ideas or inspiration for your own journeys in jazz and music in general.
My friend Marcus and I created an ear training video on identifying chords. It’s available at EarPractice, on Youtube, or by using the player below.
In the video I play a series of chords on the piano and after each one, pause for the viewer to identify the kind of chord (such as Major, minor, dominant-seventh) and the key (such as C, A, etc), before revealing the answer. This is a useful exercise and is something you can do with a friend too, once you get the idea.
Some exciting news: our new jazz trio CD is done, thanks to excellent mixing and mastering work by Alan Wong Moon.
You can listen to it online here. I’ve added a Donation button to that page, and we would appreciate donations if you enjoy the music.
By putting the whole album online, and then providing a donations button, I am hoping that people who discover and enjoy our music would like to support us by giving a donation. It’s 100% secure, and accepts credit cards, thanks to Paypal.
NPR has made available a free online recording of jazz pianist Brad Mehldau performing with mezzo-soprano Renee Fleming in the Creators at Carnegie series. Click here to view the concert details, and then click the “Listen to the Concert” link that appears below the title on that page. It’s wonderful that NPR has made this music available for free. Here is the concert playlist:
Creators at Carnegie Brad Mehldau with Renee Fleming
In Concert at Zankel Hall
“Lithium” (Cobain)
“Things Behind the Sun” (Drake)
“River Man” (Drake)
WORLD PREMIERE: Songs from The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God (Mehldau/Words by Rainer Maria Rilke)
Excerpts:
III. “I Love the Dark Hours of My Being” (Mehldau/Words by Rilke)
IV. “I Love You, Gentlest of Ways” (Mehldau/Words by Rilke)
VII. “Extinguish My Eyes, I’ll Go on Seeing You” (Mehldau/Words by Rilke)
Break: Intro (Mehldau) from the album Live in Tokyo
So far, we have described pitch phenomena referring to the position of haircells that get excited along the basilar membrane. Indeed, the place theory of hearing is not sufficient to explain the accuracy of pitch perception and some intriguing effects such as the virtual pitch.