Promoting your gigs

To be a working Jazz musician requires one to constantly be booking and promoting gigs. It's getting less and less common to have steady gigs anymore. The player is usually responsible for doing much of the promotion that the club owner used to do. The club may have an ad in a weekly paper or a listing in the entertainment section, but many times this isn't enough to
ensure a decent crowd. When I was younger I didn't take promoting my gigs very seriously. I just cared about making the music good and pinning down the next gig. If you don't draw many listeners to your gig it doesn't really matter how good you play. You probably won't get many more gigs there in the future. Besides, how much fun is it to play to an empty house?

I've found that posters are not always the best way to advertise your gigs. Postering is expensive and time consuming. If it's a big show that needs promotion, consider having a professional postering company put up 100 or 150 posters. These companies usually charge around 50-60 cents per poster. They have well established routes and know where all the high traffic spots are. They blanket the city in a way that is impossible for an individual to do. If you are going to take the trouble to do this, make sure you have a great eye-catching poster. You should be able to find an inexpensive struggling professional graphic artist at a reasonable price (try Craig's list) if you aren't artistically inclined.

Mass media is the musician's best friend. Make sure you send out your press releases for your gigs about two weeks before they happen. Don't send out promo for a few days before your gig and expect to get media coverage. Make an effort to put together email AND fax lists for every paper and radio station in town. Get promo material to all of them. Make sure your press releases are interesting and short enough so they can be printed or read without needing any editing. Take the time and read some good press releases to learn how to write a good one.

Writing music press releases article

• Make sure you send a note to the music calendar editors. These are usually different folks than the journalists.
  

• You should try to develop personal relationships with the writers and DJs that cover Jazz. Call the papers or radio stations and find out who they are and get their contact information if you can. Don't just send them CDs and promo material randomly. Call them when they're working or write them and let them know that you'll be sending them something. Always follow up after sending promo material. Say that you're calling just to see if they received your package/CD/press release. Make friends with these people, they are invaluable! Send them free tickets to your shows, flowers, chocolate. Try inviting them to recording sessions or rehearsals.
  

• Try to get on the radio as a guest before your gig. People's memories are short so do this right before your gig. Many radio stations have web sites and live music listings. If there is a Jazz society in your town, they usually have some kind of newsletter or calendar you can submit to. Craig's List is also free and has high traffic.
  

• Get your demo CDs to the DJs to play on their shows. Again, follow up. CDs are expensive.

• Find out when the outdoor fairs and festivals happen and start working on them six months before they happen. Many times these will be booked by a professional booking agency.
  

• Contact every booking agency, caterer, and party planner in the phone book. These are the real money gigs.

• Work on an email list. Bring a notebook to every gig and make sure to ask the audience to put their email info in it. Trade email lists with other similar bands to expand your contacts. Remember to always put your addresses in the Bcc: section when you do your mailings. This way other people can't get your addresses without your permission. In the past, bands sent out postcards to fans about their upcoming gigs, emails are FREE. Take advantage of this techonology. You also may want to upload your high quality music mp3s to a free streaming server like Music for Dozens.com. Then put a link to the site in your e-mail gig announcements.
  

• Get on the phone and personally invite people to your gig. This is much more effective than any other promotion method. People will respond to a call much more to a call than an email.
  

• Talk the club owner into offering some kind of food or drink special just for your gig. Use this as a draw in your promo materials.
  

• Save every review, blurb and ad about your band for your promo package. If no one is writing about you, ask some established musicians to write a few sentences about your music.

• People are always more interested in musicians and bands from out of town. Bring in a player from out of town for a few gigs to generate more buzz. You'll be more likely to get more media coverage this way. Set up some private students or a master class to make it worthwhile for them to travel to your town. Many great players are looking to get out of the big cities and have their expenses covered.

If you become a good promoter you can make decent money playing even door gigs. Always give yourself plenty of time to promote gigs. No musician can afford to ignore this important element of the music business. As you start putting some effort into promotion it will get easier. Your mailing list will grow, your relationships with the media will develop and you will begin to draw the types of crowds to your gigs that want to hear what YOU are going to play.

Innovation or Emulation?

I've been slacking off on my Blog for the past week. My arms and hands were starting to bother me from Blogging too much. I've also been formulating a new trajectory for this blog. It is easier to write about the more concrete components of music than the abstract elements. People tend to write more about the 'rules' of theory than about breaking out of the box. I'm going to focus more on the intangible elements of playing jazz.

If you learn all the 'rules' and study what you're told to study, you will end up sounding like someone else. The thing to do is start developing a personal way of playing from the start. This is true innovation. You don't need to develop a new system of reharmonizing two-fives or break out free of time signatures to be an innovator.

When I was young, my drean was to become the next major innovator. I wanted my contributions to reorganize the world of Jazz. My name would be spoken along with Bird, Trane, and Ornette. I wanted to be recognized by musicians hundreds of years from now as a pivotal figure. It's amusing for me to look back on that young aspiring Jazz musician. I still do want to innovate, but that has a different meaning to me now.

Innovation is playing music in a unique way. It's having your own individual voice. You can incorporate elements from other musicians and still be innovative. I think you're an innovator when listeners can tell it's you after hearing just a few notes.

There are many young players today coming out of music institutions with high levels of musicianship and technique. They rarely come out as unique stylists. They usually sound like several of the Jazz greats. Their influences can even be counted on one hand. Sometimes a style can even be traced to a single record by a favorite musician (I heard a tenor player once who had based his entire style on Brecker's 'Cityscapes' album). One of the reasons this happens is that students are encouraged to transcribe and learn licks. This is positively reinforced when they are praised for sounding like Trane, Benson, or Brecker. Audiences usually respond well to this type of playing because it's already familiar to them. Some people say that lick playing is just crowd pleasing and some think that it's respecting our rich Jazz heritage.

American audiences, in general, are focused on the final result rather than the creative process. To me, the creative process is much more important. I would rather listen to sloppy exploration that contains a few gems than to a clean, but derivative, performance. I can accept a fair amount scuffling and kacking if I think the player is trying to go somewhere new. Unfortunately the masses aren't really conditioned to accept this type of musician.

The new crop of younger Jazz players are clean to a fault. They don't usually push for the impossible and they remain content with the possible.

When I was younger I often played out of Joe Pass's Guitar Styles book. Joe's lines were woven through the changes like a fine oriental silk rug. This book got me thinking about longer lines, but I didn't want to play the exact same lines as Joe. My solution was to take a pencil and write crazy alterations right in the book. The original lines were straight-ahead vanilla bop lines. By the time I was done with them no one would ever suspect they came from Joe Pass.

Don't be afraid to learn from musicians who play different instruments than you. This will broaden your style and your sources will be harder to trace. Keep your influences broad. Don't focus too much on any one player.

One of the topics I have written about in this blog is chord/scale theory. This is about finding the correct scale to fit any given chord. If you take this theory as fact you will find yourself limited to a linear and 'un-chunky' way of playing. You will end up sounding clean, but not very personal. One of the 'theories' that we accept in school is that scales can all be defined in one octave and that every octave is the same as every other octave. Music theory is taught this way because it's convenient and simple. In actuality, scales don't have to be limited to one octave at all. They may have a range of five octaves or just a tritone. A flat nine sounds very different when played in another octave and an A=440 is not really an A=880 at all. It's just the note that sounds the most similar out of all the other notes. It has a completely different personality and resonant quality.

Jazz improvisation theory needs to be adjusted for the range of the individual instruments. A baritone saxophone playing upper extensions over chord changes will be dealing with a totally different harmonic environment than a piccolo. Consider the fact that an altered dominant scale may be played differently in different octaves. You might want to try using a Lydian dominant scale in a lower octave and a altered dominant in a higher octave. It also depends on the range of the comping instrument.

Slonimky's book deals with symmetrical scales. The first of these is a tri-tone scale (C-F#-C2-F#2-ect). Eventually he gets into symmetrical scales that span several octaves. The symmetrical scale of 2:3 is a two octave scale that is divided equally into three parts, by minor sixths (C-Ab-E-C2). This is related to the 1:3 scale (c-E-Ab-C2) but it is also very different. Try writing some of your own scales that are not limited to just one octave. Try composing some of your own licks. Playing your own licks is always better than playing someone else's.

The chord/scale approach has a tendency to lock you into playing only the scale notes over a chord. The scale should only be thought of as consonant notes. All twelve notes should be available to you over any given chord. The non-scale notes each have their own 'tonal-gravity'.
They only sound wrong if you don't know where they want to resolve to and you don't deal with them correctly. It's a good exercise to sit down at a piano and play chords while experimenting with every note over each chord. Listen to where each 'avoid' note wants to resolve. Try things like a major third over a minor seventh, a natural 11th over an altered dominant chord, a natural fifth over a half-diminished chord. Be thorough about this process and take notes as you go. Once you realize that you can play anything over anything you will be able to relax a little. You won't be so worried about playing wrong notes because you will have the skills to adapt to any possibility.

Remember that you make the decision to innovate or emulate every single time you sit down to practice.

Jof Lee's Polychord overview

(click on the above graphic to enlarge)













Jof Lee, one of Portland's top pianists, sent me this overview of polychords. I was never sure of how to find scales for polychords. This overview is highly illuminating. Thanks Jof!

Just to clarify exactly which modes of Melodic and Harmonic minor:

~For a polychord with the upper chord a minor second below the lower triad:
F# triad over G triad

*you would play a melodic minor from the third of the bottom triad (B melodic minor)


~If the upper triad is a minor second above the lower triad:
Ab triad over G triad
*play a harmonic minor from the 3rd of the upper triad (C harmonic minor)

~If the upper triad is a Major 2nd above the lower triad:
E triad over D triad
*Play a Harmonic Minor scale from the fifth of the lower-triad (A Harmonic Minor)

Communicating with the audience

I wrote about master drummer and composer Lawrence Williams in my July 12th post.
This video was shot a few years ago while he was living in Portland. In this clip Lawrence talks about how a musician should relate to the audience, whether in a club, concert hall or studio. He also talks about his experiences working with Marcus Belgrave and Nancy King.

(click the 256Kb MPEG4 link on the left under Download. Try updating to the latest verion of Quick Time if you have problems watching the video)

Writing sets- the bigger picture

Tim Price just sent me a link to a good article he wrote on his Blog about writing sets. As a bandleader this is very important. Players usually don't learn to do this well until they have had many years of experience. A well thought out set can really engage an audience and a poorly planned set can turn an entire room cold as ice. As Tim says- PRACTICE WRITING SETS. There are some guidelines for set writing that are good to be aware of.

• Vary the styles and tempos of the tunes- Mix it up! There are times when it is nice to do a set of different styles of Latin tunes, then a swing set, then Blues and groove set (for when the crowd is drunk). This is the format of most club date or wedding bands.

• Don't play tunes in the same key back to back. This is sometimes cool if the styles or tempos are different enough. Of course Blues or Rock bands do not follow this guideline. I sometimes play with a Blues singer who does EVERY tune in F. If possible have each key move down in fifths or stepwise (this is perceived by the audience at almost a subconscious level).

• Start out the set with something that is comfortable for the musicians, so things lock in. Save your really hard material for when the band is warmed up.
  

• Sometimes it's alright to start or end the set with a ballad. You might end the set with a Ballad if the second to last tune was a scorcher and you want to cool the audience down.
  

• Be ready to change up your set on the fly depending how the crowd reacts. You may need to wake them up if they're getting too chatty.
  

• If you're playing a gig for wealthy older caucasions, play every tune at 160bpm (businessman's bounce tempo) and segue between every tune with a 3-6-2-5 vamp into the next key. Just kidding. This is exactly what many NYC high society bands do.

• Write sets that feature different instruments in the band and vary the solo order. Start with a bass solo or a bass melody once in a while.
  

• Take the time to work on your set lists before you get to the gig and try to think them through in your head. Try to think about how you will feel after each tune. Keep old set lists that worked well for future reference.

• Ask your players if they have any tunes they want to play before the gig so you can work them into the set seamlessly. Otherwise you'll have a harder time working them in on the fly.

• Pick a few alternate tunes before hand.

• Pick tunes that you sound good playing on. This seems obvious, but I often make the mistake of putting hard tunes that I don't know as well as I should in the set for the sake of novelty. I often overlook tunes that I know very well and sound good playing on for these newer, harder tunes. Don't overlook great tunes just because everyone else plays them.
  

• Consider changing the style or meter of an overplayed standard. You might try something like playing 'All the Things' as a waltz or the 'Nearness of You' as a double-time feel Samba.
  

John Stowell- the Ultimate Road Warrior

John Stowell is one of the last true stylists. No one else on the planet sounds like he does. He is also a modern traveling minstrel. Over several of decades he has developed a network of clubs, coffeehouses, and colleges extending over most of the continental United States. He is no stranger to Canada and Europe either. John books everything himself and he travels alone in his little Toyota. He is on the road more than half the year.

Stowell likes playing music as much as anyone I've ever met. He is always up for playing, always. If he's in town and he's not working, he'll play. He was one of the first musicians that I hooked up with when I moved to Portland. We played many gigs and sessions together. He often calls me to come sit in when he has one of his in town gigs. I love playing with John because his ears are huge and his sound is so beautiful.

He hears everything you play and reacts to it. His melodic and harmonic concept is so heavy and he adapts to any situation perfectly . It's hard to describe John's playing because it is so unique that there's just no one to compare him to. He even holds his guitar differently than most guitar players.

Like his playing, his personality is also highly refined. I've never heard him say a bad thing about anyone. He is a strict vegan and he never drinks or smokes. You really couldn't be more of a gentleman than John is.

I figured that this post was in order because of the comments by one of his students about Stowell's harmonic approach. His concept is so advanced and I've always wondered how he thought about harmony. All of his lines sound so rarified, and etherial. They swoop gracefully from the top of his axe to the bottom. His time seems to float like a hummingbird.

Once we were playing a duo gig at a supper club and I started complaining about the meager pay. He said to me,"Well, we're not in this for the money are we?"
This comment perfectly describes Stowell's attitude about music.

Quotes:
"In the age of mediocrity and clones, John Stowell's uniqueness and originality is a breath of fresh air. I love playing with him."- Paul Horn

"John Stowell plays jazz, but the doesn't use any of the cliches; he has an incredible originality. John is a master creator" - Larry Coryell

"...can make an electric guitar sound like a singing voice." - Nat Hentoff

"More guitarists would play like John Stowell if they knew how" - Herb Ellis

"He plays his amplified guitar as if he were surrounded by fine crystal...the type of slow burning, sustained energy that you hear in players that practice all the time." - Down Beat

"Stowell played beautifully, combining his trademark creamy chord voicings with long, sinewy phrases." - Seattle Times

"...darkly singing understatements..." - Down Beat (record review)

"Stowell made his electric guitar sing beautifully, displaying all the virtosity that has brought him to the jazz world's attention in recent years." - Coda Magazine, Toronto

John's homepage
Doolin Guitars
Origin records
Stowell's instructional videos
MP3 interview
PDF transcription of Stowell's solo on 'Prelude to a Kiss'
CD baby MP3s of Stowell and Chris Woitach's Live CD
CD Baby MP3s of his 3 guitars live at the Jazz Bakery CD
CD Baby MP3s of Cheryl Fischer w/Stowell

Harmonic Theory and Just intonation

Here are a few more esoteric music theory links.

This stuff is dense, but give it a chance. It will open up your entire musical perspective. Musicians used to be taught the philosophic and mathematical foundations of music as part of their education. Music wasn't always just for cocktail enhancement and booty stimulation.

Harmonic Theory and Just intonation
Syndex:A synergetic perspective on number dynamics -written by my close friend Iona Miller
Ancient concepts of number
Islamic musical theory
The Just Intonation network
Just Intonation Explained

Rudresh Mahanthappa- Hindustani Jazz

I met Rudy in NYC and played a few times with him. I had never heard anyone quite like him. His sound was reminiscent of an India Nagaswaram (the double reed oboe like instrument). He is influenced by Grossman and Steve Coleman. Add to that mix a Hindustani flavor, mixed meters and blistering tempos and you have a different sound. His playing is interesting and fiery. I don't think I would ever go in that direction but you can't deny that Rudy is burning.

Here's his bio from his web site-

Named a Rising Star of the alto saxophone by the 2003 and 2004 Downbeat International Critics Poll, Rudresh Mahanthappa is one of the most innovative young musicians in jazz today. By incorporating the culture of his Indian ancestry, Rudresh has fused myriad influences to create a truly groundbreaking artistic vision. As a performer, he leads/co-leads five groups to critical acclaim. His most recent quartet recording Mother Tongue on Pi Recordings has been named one of Top Ten Jazz CDs of 2004 by the Chicago Tribune, All About Jazz, and Jazzmatazz to name a few and also received 4 stars in DOWNBEAT. This CD reached #8 on US jazz radio charts and reached #1 on Canadian jazz radio charts. As a performer, Mahanthappa has achieved international recognition performing regularly at jazz festivals and clubs worldwide. He has also worked as a sideman with such jazz luminaries as David Murray, Steve Coleman, Jack DeJohnette, Samir Chatterjee, Von Freeman, Tim Hagans, Fareed Haque, Vijay Iyer, Howard Levy, David Liebman, Greg Osby, and Dr. Lonnie Smith. As a composer, Rudresh has received commission grants from the Rockefeller Foundation MAP Fund, American Composers Forum, and the New York State Council on the Arts to develop new work. Mahanthappa has his Bachelors of Music Degree in jazz performance from Berklee College of Music and his Masters of Music degree in jazz composition from Chicago's DePaul University. He now teaches at The New School University. Rudresh Mahanthappa currently lives in New York where he is clearly regarded as an important and influential voice in the jazz world."

Reviews and MP3s
Jazz Times article

Reed Adjusdment Chart- Sax lessons.com

Reeds have the power of life or death over me. They determine whether I will be joyous or desperate. In short, they control my life. If I added up all the money that I have wasted on bad reeds, it would probably be enough to buy a medium sized yacht. Many times I have written reed companies after a particularly bad period of reeds. They always act surprised, like they don't know that their quality control sucks and that all their reeds are so green that they would grow leaves again if you left them in water too long. Die Vandoren!!!! I haven't found any other reeds that work for me other than Vandoren Java 3 1/2s. I just ordered some different reeds today from Woodwind and Brasswind because I have spent sixty dollars since I last found a good reed.
It's time to break down and get out the ol' reed knife, reed rush and sandpaper again.

Here is a good reed adjustment chart. I think it's from Larry Teal's book.

Tim Price on the LCCOTO

Tim Price has been a Blogster lately. Here is what he had to say on his Blog about the Lydian Chromatic concept and slash chords (great stuff Tim!):


Speaking of George, here's some food for thought.In George Russell's "Lydian Chromatic" you get this same scale sound by playing the "Lydian Augmented" scale built on the THIRD of the
dominant 7th chord (in other words, play an E Lydian Augmented on your C7). It gives you the same pitches as the "Altered Scale" described above.The thinking is a bit more focused with the Russell- via modern stuff. I feel. BTW, I find the Lydian Chromatic way of looking at things extremely useful, particularly when looking at chord voicings. Most extended chords can be
boiled down to some kind of Ma7 chord over a bass note. Sometimes the chord is a Ma7b5, sometimes a Ma7#5, sometimes a oMa7, but it can almost always be seen as some kind of Ma7. Once you figure out what chord you're really dealing with, the Lydian Chromatic thing becomes really easy. It also gives you a way to pivot into a whole bunch of nice substitutions.

Without referencing the LCC it's a very good idea to look at the ways that the various chord types can be voiced as one of the maj7 family of chords.
1 3 5 7
1 b3 5 7
1 3 b5 7
1 3 #5 7
1 b3 b5 7
1 b3 #5 7
1 4 5 7
All of these intervallic structures share the characteristic of the maj 7th interval which becomes a min 2nd interval. Players like Bill Evans and writers like Oliver Nelson and Gil Evans owe their style in no small way to voicings that lots of tension in them often achieved by selecting chords that have min 2nds on the inside voices and or maj7 intervals
somewhere in the chord. Just imagine how any one of those maj7-type chords would function with a different note in the bass.

CHECK IT OUT;
Cmaj7/Db: sort of Dbdim-ish but not a commonly used sound
Cmaj7/D: D13sus4
Cmaj7/Eb: sort of Eb7#5(b9,13)-ish
Cmaj7/E: just an inversion of Cmaj7
Cmaj7/F: Fmaj7(9,#11)(no3rd)
Cmaj7/F#: D7(11,13)
Cmaj7/G: just an inversion of Cmaj7
Cmaj7/Ab: Abmaj7#5#9
Cmaj7/A: Am9
Cmaj7/Bb: Bb9(b9,13)-ish
Cmaj7/B: just an inversion of Cmaj7 or B7sus4(b9,b13)
Cm(maj7)/Db:
Cm(maj7)/D: D13sus4b9
Cm(maj7)/E: Cmaj7#9/E

Donny McCaslin- a very big shadow

The entire time I was in school studying music I was always in the shadow of Donny McCaslin, from seventh grade until my junior year at Berklee. Sometimes it was a little hard on the ol' ego, but mostly it was inspiring and motivating. If I would have gone to almost any other school in the country I would have had a bit more glory. Donny kept me humble and always pushed me to be a better musician. He is still one of the most humble and down to earth musicians that you could ever meet.

Every time our high school band would go to a Jazz festival competition our last tune would be Cottontail, an up-tempo Ellington rhythm changes. Donny would rip up about twenty choruses at 320 bpm and the entire house would go nuts. I mean they would jump to their feet, start screaming at the top of their lungs and wouldn't stop for about ten minutes.

No one had ever heard a high-school kid who sounded like Donny. He blew away most professionals by the time he was about seventeen years old.

How did he do this?!
Was he born ripping Trane lines at 350bpm?
Were his ears and reflexes just superior to the average human being's?

NO, he just practiced like a madman. For many years he put in as many hours a day in the woodshed as was humanly possible, and he still does to this day!

Donny's been paying his dues in NYC since about 1989 or 1990. His first gig out of college was Gary Burton's band, then he took Brecker's place when he left Steps Ahead (this was Donny's dream band). He is now one of the top call sidemen in New York and has recorded several CDs as a leader as well.

He's worked with Flora Purim and Airto Moreira, Monday Michuru, George Schuller's "Circle Wide" with Ingrid Jensen, Pat Metheny, Dave Douglas, Brian Blade, Tom Harrell, John Pattitucci, Billy Hart, Bebel Gilberto, Eddie Gomez, Alexander Sipiagin, William Cepeda and Afrorican Jazz, Santi Debriano's Circle Chant, George Gruntz, Luis Bonilla, Hector Martignon, Willie Colon, Roberta Pickett, Eric Mingus, Jason Linder Big Band, New York Voices, Gil Evans Orchestra, Mingus Big Band, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Ben Monder, Adam Rogers, Antonio Sanchez, Gene Jackson, Clarence Penn, Dan Weiss, Eric Mcpherson, Ben Street, Hans Glawisnig and James Genus, Jon Cowherd, and George Colligan.

Donny has some of the most amazing technique that you will ever hear on the saxophone. He also puts a lot of time into figuring out new ways to play over changes. He draws from contemporary saxophone etudes, figuring out how to apply them to Jazz improvisation. You can tell that he's trying that he's trying to develop his own original style. He has a very distinctive sound and approach to improvising.

I was lucky to have Donny play with my Latin-Jazz quintet when I was in New York. I miss hearing the latest things he's working on. He always has some wild ideas that he's developing.

His lastest release as a leader is really great. It has many different styles of music. He wrote some very interesting material for it.

Here is a transcription of Donny's solo on 'Along Came Betty'
Page 2 of 'Along Came Betty (this was transcribed by Kenny Brooks)
All ABout Jazz Article
Vermont Review interview

Free music software- Shareware Music Machine

A great web site for free music software is:







Shareware Music Machine site

Music tuition
Ear training
Chords
Notation
Music Calculators

F-R-E-E is for me!

Yogic breathing for musicians

Playing a wind instrument requires serious breath control. Anything you can do to help you develop this control is worth investigating.
While living in Santa Cruz I spent some time studying Yoga and Vedanta with master Yogi Baba Hari Dass. Hari Dass has been practicing Yoga since he was eight years old and he hasn't spoken a word for fifty-three years. Yoga isn't for everyone, but there are some simple breathing exercises that anyone can benefit from. If you happen to play a wind instrument they can be of immense value. These breathing exercises (or Pranayama) can help increase both control and capacity. They also calm the mind and balance the bodily functions. If you try these four exercises you will immediately notice some positive results. A calm mind is highly desireable for all musicians. So even if you don't play a wind instrument these Pranayam are worth checking out. They are entirely safe.

The Four Purifications
These can be found in Baba Hari Dass' book the Ashtanga Yoga Primer

1. Nadishodhana (alternate nostril breathing) - Gently exhale all air. Close the nostril with the thumb of the right hand, and inhale slowly and deeply through the left nostril. Close the left nostril with the ring finger, releasing the thumb, and exhale through the right. Inhale through the right, then close it with the thumb and exhale through the left. This makes one round. Begin with ten rounds and gradually increase to forty.

2. Kapala Bhati (skull shining) - Exhale and inhale quickly and lightly through both nostrils. Emphasize the exhale, letting the inhalation come as a natural reflex. After one series of exhalations, which should last no longer than one minute, rest and breathe naturally. Then repeat. Begin with three rounds of thirty exhalations each and gradually increase to ten rounds of sixty exhalations.

3. Agnisara Dhauti (fire wash) -Inhale, then exhale all air. While holding the breath out, pull the diaphragm up and toward the backbone; release it suddenly. Repeat this in-and-out movement rapidly as long as the breath can be held out without strain. Then inhale gently. Start with three rounds and increase gradually to ten, begining with thirty pulls and increasing to sixty in each breath retention.

4. Ashvini Mudra (horse mudra) - Inhale completely and hold the breath. Contract and release the anal sphincter rapidly and repeatedly. Hold the breath only so long as the following exhalation can be slow and controlled. Begin with three rounds of thirty pulls each, and increase to ten rounds of sixty each. (note: I call this the 'loaf pinch' mudra. It sounds freaky, but it is very powerful)

More about Pranayama
About Ashtanga (8 limbed) Yoga
Talks with Hari Dass (blackboard conversations really)
19 Rules for Self-development

Bob Reynolds-From Smooth Jazz to the Fringe

I must admit that for me Smooth-Jazz is right below Country&Western if I had to rate my favorite types of music. I usually call it 'Weiner-Jazz' of 'Fuzak'. It always seems like the players think that the closer to Kenny G they sound, the more money they'll make. It just doesn't usually seem authentic to me, like the musicians are 'dumbing down' their playing to sell records. I obviously have a very strong prejudice against this style of music. Then Bob Reynolds read my post about NYC Jazz musicians to say that it was spot on. Bob is a young saxophonist carving his mark in the Big Apple. He sent me a link to his web site where I listened to his MP3s. There were a few Jazzy tunes on there but most were 'Smooth Jazz', or to be more respectful 'Jazz Funk'. Bob sounded great. Big fat sound, great technique, perfect intonation, and great time. As I was listening to one of the tracks Bob broke into some double-time lines. He sounded like Garzone playing Smooth-Jazz!!!! Crazy. Even when Bob is blowing over typical Smooth-Jazz grooves he's always creative and fresh. He doesn't ever stoop to playing stock R&B saxophone licks. He sounds like he is really hearing whatever he plays. He just put up some new MP3s on his site yesterday and one of those was a live trio recording of him playing Trane's 26-2. It was SLAMMING!

Bob sounds a lot like Chris Potter and George Garzone. He also reminded me of John Ellis and Kenny Brooks (probably because of the Garzone connection). I could tell immediately that Bob had studied with George. Bob told me that he took lessons from him for four years at Berklee.

Here's what Bob wrote me about his studies with Garzone:

"So, Garzone....by the time I got to him, I was a strong player highly influenced by Potter — and Lovano was creeping in, but George blew away all my preconceptions. I was never a ‘lick’ and ‘pattern’ player, but I was always looking for the perfect stuff to play over changes, and Garzone starts coming at me with all this “You can play major triads connected by steps over anything...” stuff, and I’m like, “No. You can’t do that!” But I stuck with him for four years and forgot how to articulate and play swung eighth notes (instead playing them straight but behind the beat). Then there was Hal Crook who introduced me to the world of thematic/rhythmic development and stretching the time.. So by senior year I’m wide open as a player (sort of) and playing all the “baddest” shit ...but I’m also in the inaugural edition of Walter Beasley’s “Smooth Jazz Ensemble” !!! What a ride, man. But that’s me. Much as I enjoyed various “smooth” artists early on, I now find 99% revolting (got a soft spot for some Kirk records) and never actually listen to any of them. But, there is an element of r&b/funk that’s deeply ingrained in my musical sensibility

So, now, after 5 years of marinating in NYC, it’s all just turned into different parts of me. I could never really imagine cutting one part out forever. I enjoy trying to bring a bit of each to any musical setting I’m in. Garzone gave my mind the freedom to let go, but the foundation came from all the other guys."

I just might start checking out that adult-contempory station again...........

The amazing Pere Soto!

I ran first into Pere Soto at a jam session at Clyde's Prime Rib here in Portland. He was in town for a few weeks before going back home to Barcelona. He blew me away. Besides having massive chops he was astoundingly creative. Pere would sound bluesy one second then boppish, then he would sound like he was playing contemporary classical. His Brazilian playing was even happening! The were no boundaries for Pere Soto, it was all improvisation. When I browsed his web site I found that he does a Django project in Europe called Django's Castle. He has some interesting digital art on his site too. I sometimes feel trapped out on the west coast. It seems like all anyone wants to play is very inside traditional Bop. Then there is the other extreme here with the totally free players. I like both, but miss the more modern eclectic approach of the East Coast and Europe. Pere is back in town for a little while and is a refreshing addition to the PDX Jazz scene. Let's hope he decides to stay. His site has some great videos that will blow the minds of Django fans. He even does the two finger Django thing on a few of the videos.

Pere Soto, Dan Schulte and I will be playing a trio gig Thursday, September 1st at the Red and Black Cafe (2138 SE Division St., 231-3899), from 8-10pm.



Pere will be teaching a master class :
The Seven Secrets of Jazz Improvisation
Saturday, August 27th at Day Music Company
10am-12noon
Recital at 12:30 (Recital only - $5)