Weber Iago/David Valdez Chamber Quartet Recording

Last week I went into the studio and recorded a few tracks with the Chamber Quartet I co-lead with Weber Iago. Below are links to the latest mixes.

Astor
Now is my home
Shades of Happiness
Nature Boy
The Nest
Autumn Leaves
Perserverance
Meadows

Musicians:
Weber Iago- piano, composer
David Valdez- alto saxophone
John Nastos- flute, clarinet, bass clarinet
Evan Kuhlmann- bassoon

Engineered and mixed by Jonathon Swanson on 8/11/11

Original patent for the adjustable Selmer ligature

My buddy, and regular reader, Sammy sent me this patent filed by George Bundy in 1940 for what eventually became the Selmer adjustable ligature. I have seen these called Magna-tone, Adjusta-tone or Expando ligatures. I've played on of these on my tenor for several years now and they are great. Joe Lovano also uses one. The cool thing about the lig is that it can be adjusted to work on clarinet, alto saxophone and tenor saxophone, and probably bari sax as well. At one point these rare ligs were selling on eBay for $100 or more. Now, like about everything else, the prices have come down a bit, to more like $40. I like them because they help with a quicker response without adding too much high end. If you are reed obsessive like I am you can also change reeds very quickly. The patent has expired and there is a guy in Italy making replicas of these now. You can buy them in several different types of materials.

Here is the full three page original patent

Travel/Jazz Truth

  Next week I leave for India! I'm trying to get everything in order here before leaving the country for 17 days. This trip is something I've wanted to do for many years and it is finally happening. I will not even be taking my horn with me. It will be the longest amount of time without my lips touching a reed in my recent memory. I might try to pick up a ney or nadaswaram while I'm there, but this trip will not be musically motivated. I love Indian Classical music, but I know very little about it. Maybe I'll be able to hear some at some point. I'm more interested in the art, religions, history and architecture of the Indian subcontinent. I have a full itinerary planned that includes the usual monuments like the Taj and Red Fort, but also some interesting temples, Sufi shrines and museums. I have done a fair amount of traveling in my time, but nothing as exotic as India.

 Before I leave I'm going to be recording a couple of different projects, one will be a duo recording with pianist George Colligan. If you haven't checked out George's blog called Jazz Truth you should. It is one of the most interesting Jazz blogs on the internet because it is written by a Jazz musician who is touring and recording with some of the best players on the scene, like Ethan Iverson's Do the Math blog or Darcy James Argue's Secret Society blog.  (I just totally redesigned George's blog and I must say it's looking pretty spiffy). George regularly tours with Jack Dejonette and Don Byron, as well as a lot of other great musicians. He has some fascinating interviews on his blog with different members of the bands he tours with.

Today Colligan posted an interview with David Fiuczynski, who is an old buddy of mine and one of my favorite guitarists of my generation. George, his wife (and pianist) Kerry Politzer, and their son Liam have been settling to the Portland groove nicely. I'm sure in no time they will both be gigging like crazy. George is now teaching at PSU, but he still does a decent amount of touring. There aren't many blogs out there that can keep my attention enough to read back through the archives, Jazz Truth is certainly worth some consideration.  


I'll be posting an interview with George Colligan soon, so stay turned.

 I may post a few pics of India from the road, but I probably won't be writing much until I get home in December.

George Colligan's Jazz Truth blog
George Colligan's web site

Later for You- Elmo Hope

Here is a great Elmo Hope tune based on the changes of  
All God's Chilun.

Later for you

Gaslight- Duke Pearson

Duke Pearson is one of my favorite composers. Here is his tune Gaslight.

Gaslight

Eyes So Beautiful As Yours- Elmo Hope

Here is a beautiful ballad composed by Elmo Hope titled  
Eyes So Beautiful As Yours.


Eyes So Beautiful As Yours
 Elmo Hope's biography

Bella Rosa- Elmo Hope

Here are PDF charts to Elmo Hope's tune Bella Rosa.


Bella Rosa

Tristano School Bonanza!- two-horn transcriptions

I've been co-leading a Tristano project with pianist Dan Gaynor for the last several years. We don't gig very often, but it's always a lot of fun when we do. After our last gig tenor saxophonist Tim Wilcox said to me, "I feel like I just got my ass kicked by a blind dead man". The tunes written by Tristano and his students (Konitz, Marsh, Brown, Bauer) is some of the most challenging and interesting material in the history of Jazz, imho. I've learned a lot about improvisation just by learning to play these compositions.

Dan Gaynor recently transcribed more of these two-horn arrangements. Much of the alto and tenor parts are in unison, but at times there is some interesting counterpoint and harmony. Thanks to Dan for allowing my to post these charts.

Two Not One
Marshmallow
Jazz of Two Cities
Kary's Trance
Lennie's Pennies
Sax of a Kind

Sonny Rollins' letter to Coleman Hawkins

I recently got my hands on a copy of a three page handwritten letter that Sonny Rollins sent Coleman Hawkins in 1962. It is written on Sonny's personal letterhead and there is even an AMORC Rosicrucian seal on the final page of the letter, an organization that Sonny has been involved with for many years. At the moment my scanner isn't working, but I'll try to scan a copy to post soon.

   My Dear Mr. Hawkins, 

 Your recent performance at the 'Village Gate' was magnificent!! Quite aside from the fact that you have maintained a position of dominance and leadership in the highly competitive field of 'Jazz' for the time that you have, there remains the more significant fact that such tested and tried musical achievement denotes and is subsidiary to personal character and integrity of being.

 There have been many young men of high potential and demonstrated ability who have unfortunately not been 'MEN' in their personal and offstage practices and who soon found themselves devoid of the ability to create music. Perhaps these chaps were unable to understand why their musical powers left them so suddenly. Or perhaps they knew what actions were constructive as opposed to destructive but were too weak and not men enough to command the course of their lives. But certain it is that character, knowledge and virtue are superior to 'MUSIC' as such. And that 'success' is relative to the evolution of those qualities within us all. That it has been positive and lasting for you Coleman is to the honor and credit of us, your colleagues, as well as to your own credit. For you have 'lit the flame' of aspiration within so many of us and have epitomized the superiority of 'excellence of endeavor' and you stand today as a clear living example for us to learn from.

 It has always been a task to explain in words those things which in nature are the most profound and meaningful. Now you have show me why I though so much of you for so long. Godspeed in your travels and may I be fortunate enough to hear you play the tenor saxophone again in person.

     Yours truly, Sonny Rollins

The Master Speaks- Joe Allard videos

These YouTube videos were taken from a DVD entitled The Master Speaks: Joe Allard, which is available from the Sharper Video Productions website.
 Joe talks about a lot of the same concepts that are covered in an earlier post
Joe Allard Method Unveiled!

To learn more about Joe Allard check out the Joe Allard Project website.

Bayou Magic- Alvin Batise

Here's a Bb chart to an Alvin Batise's blues entitled Bayou Magic.

Bayou Magic- Alvin Batise

Thanks Markos.

Bat's Blues- Alvin Batise's transcribed solo

 Here's another post by Casa Valdez regular contributor Mark Sowlakis:

 Alvin Batiste is an unsung hero of the clarinet.  I heard him several times in New Orleans over the years, the last time being 2001 for the International Clarinet Conference there.   He was a forward thinking musician, and his small output of recordings hardly does justice to the depth of his work.  Here you can hear him using the interval of a fourth, something he did often when constructing his unique and original lines.  He blurred the line between inside and outside playing, and it takes a while to hear where he's coming from.  He mentored so many young New Orleans players, and his contributions are significant.     Check him out!  Markos

Bat's Blue's transcription- Alvin Batise

Konitz's solo on There Will Never Be Another You

 There Will Never Be Another You- Lee Konitz's solo
 (From Lee Konitz With Warne Marsh Atlantic 1217 June 1955, NYC)

JK Chang's excellent site

JK Chang is a composer and visual artist living in Taiwan who has a beautiful website with a lot of great Jazz resources. In the Bebop Cookbook of his site he has a lot of interesting articles on Charlie Parker, but what be even more interesting for you is all of the PDF downloads his has available. Chang's PDF books include: II-V-I Bebop Lines,  II-V-I Coltrane Lines, Jazz Lines in Fourths, Sight-Reading Etudes for Saxophone and more. This site is well put together. You will need to complete a quick registration form in order to download the PDFs.

JK Chang's website

Peter Spitzer's reed adjustment overview

Saxophonist Peter Spitzer writes a nice blog on Jazz and general saxophone topics and is also the author of the Jazz Theory Handbook (Mel Bay). He has put together a nice article on reed adjusting.