Today will mark the 40,000th view of my videos on Youtube.
Of course, it’s not defined anywhere how they’re counted. So maybe 39,965 people each watched the first 10 seconds (likely) before clicking furiously away. Who can say.
My version of the Eddie Harris classic. I wanted to do a funky track for Youtube, and the idea of playing over a drum loop occurred to me. I found a nice sample of Amen Brother by the Winstons, which I manipulated somewhat (as you do) and looped to give myself some sort of backing track. I was going to do a bass line too, but this worked out to be an interesting sound without it.
read more of video: Freedom Jazz Dance
Just a quick post of a video of a song I wrote a while back when I wanted a minor blues for ending a set with. Hope you enjoy.
You didn’t think I transcribed Warm Valley just for you guys, did you? This was actually a request from a Youtube user, and it took me a few months since I’d never heard the tune before. But here’s my Youtubular version of the Duke Ellington piece Warm Valley.
read more of video: Warm Valley
Another case of transcription with a bonus analysis at no extra charge. Warm Valley is a marvelous Duke Ellington composition. It doesn’t get played enough, probably because it’s in very few fakebooks. When it does appear it’s hideously disfigured (at least the chart I finally found turned out to be grievously flawed).
read more of transcription: Warm Valley
Been a while since I posted a video. This isn’t a new vid, just one I have been getting good comments on lately. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy by Zawinul was made famous by the Cannonball Adderly group. And it’s been played to death on jam sessions since.
My Youtube version attempts to build a reasonably long solo arc over the simple two chord progression. In order to effectively do that, I am employing several specific techniques, which are possibly worth discussing in detail, to manipulate tension and release. (Even if they aren’t worth discussing, I do it anyway, so there.)
read more of video: Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
I’m pretty wrapped up right now reading a book I just got my hands on: Sweet Anticipation: Music and the Psychology of Expectation by David Huron. I have plans for a full review by my initial impression is that this is a really useful book for those of us interested in how music affects people.
There’s a bunch of Professor Huron’s writing on the web, but the book is fairly recent and looks very promising.
Please stop whatever you’re doing right now and go watch this guy’s videos on Youtube. Because he is the best piano player posting his own videos up there. I’m learning a ton from watching him.
