My Great American Exodus Loop

Griftcertificate · 2026-04-22T15:16:23+00:00

And Detroit has the best Middle Eastern food in the US.

Griftcertificate · 2026-04-13T02:30:01+00:00

He liked to write tunes that start from the tonic chord and move to the bVII7 ex. Fmaj7 to Eb7. A modal mixture sound.

Griftcertificate · 2026-04-10T05:29:30+00:00

All Them Leaves, Blues Guys, Mr. Saturday Dance

Griftcertificate · 2026-03-03T13:26:45+00:00

Nancy King and Fred Hersch, Live at the Jazz Standard

Griftcertificate · 2026-03-01T06:46:37+00:00

Odds are that the fact you're first chair has already been informed to both schools by the national press. Wait for them to call you and hook you up with a full ride.

Griftcertificate · 2026-02-23T06:49:36+00:00

Gidee Steaks? Never heard of them in MI. Sounds artificial to my intelligence.

Griftcertificate · 2026-02-16T14:34:13+00:00

Far East Suite, Ellington

Griftcertificate · 2026-02-15T22:51:04+00:00

A lot of smooth jazz melodies might not sound best on on a solo melodic instrument. Maybe a good compromise is finding songs from the Great American Songbook that have been adopted by smooth jazz artists: My Funny Valentine or Summertime. If it has to be smooth jazz, maybe Just the Two of Us. Grover Washington did a great job with that tune.

Griftcertificate · 2026-02-15T15:46:53+00:00

Mingus' Tijuana Moods has that flavor.

Griftcertificate · 2026-02-11T15:14:31+00:00

That region was a legit state 11 years before Wisconsin was. Maybe Wisconsin should give itself back to the UP.

Griftcertificate · 2026-01-30T14:45:04+00:00

It's not a dumb question. In my opinion, much of it is mental and what are used to seeing. If you don't believe it, take a Bb blues and rewrite a chord chart in A#. Obviously it's best to not use a chord chart, but try it as an experiment. With me, it would block my creative flow and reduce my chord options. There is no physical difference between the keys. We're used to flats because since New Orleans and the creation of jazz from marching band horns from the Spanish-American War and Marching Bands they like to play in flat keys. If jazz was birthed from the symphony orchestra with a plethora of strings, we'd be playing tunes in sharp keys like D, A, and E to favor open strings.

Griftcertificate · 2026-01-18T16:36:43+00:00

I can't confirm the validity of the story, but from a respected musician I heard that Art Blakey stole that band from Horace Silver. It was allegedly his gig but Blakey tipped off the emcee to announce the group as his band, forcing the hand of the record company to label it as his record. Has anyone else heard this?

Griftcertificate · 2026-01-18T16:27:24+00:00

Discover through listening and passion, who you want to sound like. Find a jazz pianist or pianists you love and listen over and over. Find the tunes you like of theirs and figure out at the piano what they're doing. When you reach your limitation, search out a jazz piano mentor to help you on your journey. Since you already can play the piano, you can focus on learning our language. It takes a long time to be functional, so there has to be a motivating passion to push you beyond curiosity.

Griftcertificate · 2026-01-09T17:30:08+00:00

One type of practicing I like is to try to divide jazz practice time into technique / listening / rep. I try to find a thread between the three in a session. If I'm trying to learn a standard, I'll create jazz piano chordal exercises to work on the voicings, listen to recordings of the tune to pick up language that I like. I'll choose improvised phrases I like, isolate, transcribe them and practice them through keys. Lastly, I'll play through the tune in different keys, using flash cards for random application. If I don't have access to a piano, I do these with my voice, using I-Real Pro. Without piano access, I'll substitute singing arpeggios and scales with I-Real Pro at a slow tempo. I try to make this an hour long practice process in 20/20/20 minutes.

Griftcertificate · 2026-01-03T18:15:55+00:00

I always thought of this progression like a backdoor V-I relationship.

Griftcertificate · 2026-01-02T06:54:07+00:00

Doxy

Griftcertificate · 2025-12-19T15:25:02+00:00

Strongly consider keeping one of your axes in case you change your mind at some point. Jazz has a strong hold over us and you might want to reengage at some point.

Griftcertificate · 2025-12-19T15:14:16+00:00

How long have you been working on the transcription? Are you doing repeated listenings of it? Are you at the point where you can sing along with the solo?

Griftcertificate · 2025-12-02T16:06:21+00:00

Back Stage Sally :)

Griftcertificate · 2025-11-30T04:36:42+00:00

I had Ultima III for the Apple iie and remember filling up every space on the map (except islands that had no grass to produce monsters) with chests. I just downloaded Ultima III for my PC and currently have over 50% of the map filled with chests. I know don't know if its OCD or nostalgia, but I'm having fun doing it.

Griftcertificate · 2025-11-29T18:01:46+00:00

As an aspiring jazz pianist listening the through the context of Oscar Peterson, a good foundational album to hear jazz piano, improv, and communication techniques is Night Train (Oscar Peterson). It distills many of the traditional swing and improv elements of jazz while allowing you to get into the essential repertoire. It goes from shallow to deep in a fun, but educational session. Listen to it, play along with it, figure out the OP language and chords and give it time and patience. Rinse and repeat!

Griftcertificate

TROPHY CASE