Category Archives: Jazz

Review: Coursera Introduction to Improvisation

Week 4 of Gary Burton’s Introduction to Improvisation course introduced three new topics for improvisers. The first is the concept of guide tones. Guide tones are chord tones that are a step or half-step from a chord tone of subsequent … Continue reading

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Review: Coursera Introduction to Improvisation

Sorry for the delay on these reviews, I’ll be posting about Weeks 3, 4, and 5 of Gary Burton’s Introduction to Improvisation class this week. Week 3 deals with the application of scales to harmonies in a vertical manner, i.e., … Continue reading

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Album Review at All About Jazz

My review of the Daniel Bennett Group’s new album, Clockhead Goes to Camp, is now published at All About Jazz. Here’s the link. I think it’s a unique and captivating album, it’s definitely worth checking out.

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Fabrizio Sotti Feature at Guitar International

My interview with jazz guitarist Fabrizio Sotti is now available at Guitar International Magazine. Here’s the link. One of the great things about writing on music is that I find musicians and albums I may have missed, and I get … Continue reading

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Review: Coursera Introduction to Improvisation

I’ve completed the second week of Gary Burton’s Intro to Improvisation online course through Coursera. The lessons progressed from the first week’s discussion of parallels between language and music to a more theoretical description of ten of the commonly used … Continue reading

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Review: Coursera Introduction to Improvisation

I’ve just completed the assignments for Week 1 of Gary Burton’s introductory improvisation class. I think it’s off to a good start, and he really throws you right into the thick of things. The first lectures address music as a … Continue reading

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Review: Coursera Introduction to Improvisation

Today I had my first glimpse of the online Introduction to Improvisation course offered by Berklee College of Music. It is a five-week class presenting some of the fundamentals of jazz improvisation. I’ll be giving a week-by-week review as a … Continue reading

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Fabrizio Sotti EPK

Here is the full length EPK for Fabrizio Sotti’s upcoming album, Right Now. I’m finishing up my feature on Sotti for Guitar International, to be published mid-May. Check for it then to hear the story behind the artist and the … Continue reading

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Debashish Bhattacharya Interview and Streaming Audio

A new album released  by Debashish Bhattacharya featuring John McLaughlin is available for streaming on the CBC music blog. This album is a departure from Bhattacharaya’s previous albums, which featured traditional Hindustani classical music. I’ll be reviewing the new album, Beyond … Continue reading

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A Link Between Country Music and Jazz

A couple of recent articles / reviews from The Atlantic and All About Jazz touch on some of the interesting overlap between country music and jazz over the last century. Skip Heller’s review of Chet Atkins’ and Les Paul’s album Guitar Monsters and Noah … Continue reading

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