Dominant Decision: The Lydian Dominant
May 21, 2020
Some examples of how master jazz improvisers use the Lydian dominant sound
Read More…Dominant Decision
March 18, 2020
An exploration of how Jimmy Heath and Dexter Gordon navigate some common cadences.
Read More…Exercises for Developing a Great Jazz Saxophone Tone
May 8, 2019
Developing a great jazz tone is one of the most important aspects in learning to play the saxophone.
Read More…Pop and Jazz: The Difference
January 4, 2019
What is the difference between taking a solo in Bruce Springsteen’s band and the Art Blakey band? Let’s explore the Mixolydian Mode and how the use of it makes one sound like a jazz saxophonist as opposed to a rock sax player.
Read More…The ‘Void Note’
November 16, 2018
Miles Donahue talks improvisation using the Mixolydian Mode.
Read More…‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ and – Confirmation – Ear Training for the Jazz Musician
November 30, 2017
By Miles Donahue The intuitive side of music is the natural ability we are born with that enables us to remember what we hear and accumulate vocabulary without benefit of intellectual study. Van Cliburn, who in 1958 and was the winner of the Tchaikovsky piano competition in Moscow, was only three years old when he […]
Read More…The Jazz Saxophonist: Two Methods of Embouchure Formation for Developing a Great Tone
January 12, 2017
Without correct embouchure, a saxophonist’s tone, intonation, response, musical expressiveness, and performance enjoyment will be severely hindered.
Read More…What was Minstrelsy?
September 6, 2016
Anyone who has ever taken a course in jazz history has come across this fascinating topic, along with dance music referred to as “cakewalk.”
Read More…Three-Horn Writing for the Jazz Sextet
April 8, 2016
by Pete McGuinness The three-horn front line in jazz small groups has had many historical triumphs. Famous groups such as the many Art Blakey Jazz Messengers, Benny Golson and The Jazztet, and the Horace Silver “Cape Verdean Blues” LP ensemble come to mind. The various composer-arrangers of these and other important sextets found ways of […]
Read More…Dominant Chords: Improvisational Dominance
February 5, 2015
Several approaches to dominant chords in improvisation.
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