Some New Audio Clips for Your Listening Pleasure

Last Monday I got together with Ric Troll (guitar), Dave DeVos (bass), and Randy Marsh (drums), and we rehearsed a few of Ric’s original tunes in his studio, Tallmadge Mill. These guys are wonderful jazz musicians, and Ric is a composer of long standing. His music can be chewy stuff to work through, but this last session the tunes started to gel and we got some pretty nice grooves going.

Ric recorded the whole session, so I’m able to share some sample tracks with you. What you’ll hear are the tunes in rough, but there’s some very nice playing going on.

The New Hip is a basic 12-bar blues, but Ric’s head suggests a soloing approach different from your standard bebop. Attempting to free myself from cliches, I incorporated a more angular style.

The Urge is a fun tune with a high-energy A section and a swinging, cooler-sounding bridge that offers a lovely contrast.

Orcs has been the most challenging number, with it’s polymetric approach and shift to 7/4. It is coming together, though, and will be one heck of a tune once we’ve nailed down the form and the feel. Listen to Randy–the guy just tears it up on the set! Here’s a second take for all you double-dippers.

If you like what you hear, check out my Jazz Page for more sound samples as well as solo transcriptions, articles, and exercises of interest to improvising musicians.

November 24, 2010 by
Filed Under: Band, Jazz, Music, Recording, Saxophone Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Augmented Scale Triad Patterns

augmented_scale_triads_ascending_and_descending
Judging from my blog stats, there seems to be a lot of interest in the augmented scale. I’m not surprised. It’s a fascinating scale, and I’ve personally been having a lot of fun as I continue to work at getting it into my fingers and my ears.

augmented_scale_triads
One of the interesting and colorful aspects of the augmented scale is the fact that it gives rise to both augmented triads and major triads in sequential order. In this post, you’ll find three exercises that focus on augmented triads. However, the last one also hints at the major triads contained in the augmented scale. Click on the images to enlarge them to readable size.

augmented_scale_triad_pattern
As always, take each pattern up and down through the full range of your instrument. Other than that, the exercises are fairly self-explanatory, so I won’t say more, other than practice hard and have fun!

Oh, yeah…and make sure, if you haven’t done so, to check out my jazz page featuring other exercises and articles of interest to saxophonists and improvising musicians.

November 29, 2009 by
Filed Under: Jazz, Jazz Improvisation and Technique, Music, Saxophone Tagged With: , , , ,

A Favorite Augmented Scale Lick (or, Echoes of Oliver Nelson)

I’ve been having fun lately getting the augmented scale underneath my fingers in all, ahem, twelve keys. Okay, right, there are really only four versions of this symmetrical scale that a person needs to learn, after which the note sequences repeat themselves. One of the nice things about symmetrical scales is the reduced workload.

But it’s still work, and a person has to start somewhere. For me, the work in fact began several years ago, when I first dabbled with the augmented scale long enough to become dangerous. I didn’t stick with it to the point of really mastering the scale and its application, but I did acquire a favorite augmented scale lick that I’ve used ever since. I worked it out for myself, then subsequently discovered that Oliver Nelson had employed a variation of the descending pattern long before in his solo on “Stolen Moments.”

Sigh. Christopher Columbus I’m not, and there’s nothing new under the sun. Except, of course, the way that each of us nuances and applies musical material which personalizes it and makes it uniquely ours.

favorite_augmented_scale_pattern
Anyway, since I’ve lately been turning my attention once again to the augmented scale, both in my practice sessions and in my blogs, I thought I’d share my favorite augmented scale pattern with you. Click on the image to enlarge it. One of its most obvious applications is for outside playing. The sequence of the pattern, with anchor tones spaced by major thirds, outlines both augmented and major triads, and overall emphasizes the augmented sound.

For more information and exercises on the augmented scale, check out my posts on The Augmented Scale and Using the Augmented Scale with “Giant Steps.” You’ll also find these articles listed on my Jazz page, along with numerous other insights and exercises for improvising musicians.

November 19, 2009 by
Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,