The Southland Jazz Ensemble returned to the 26th annual Prairie State College Jazz Fest on February 21st. Clinicians Orbert Davis, Ed Petersen, Larry Gray, and Ernie Adams sat in with us for a memorable performance. A couple of tracks from the 2013 festival performance are on our ReverbNation page. The band will play for Main Street Nights in Park Forest again this summer on July 9th. Please come out and enjoy this great big band live! Keep an … [Read more...]

Well, here I go again! This time the short-cut for remembering the information comes from Bob Palmieri, an extraordinary guitarist, photographer, and my instructor from grad school. Here it is: "The natural extensions of a major seventh chord and dominant seventh chord create a major triad up a whole step. The natural extensions of a minor seventh chord create a minor triad up a whole step." So what does all this mean? Extensions are the 9th, … [Read more...]

It's weird, I have been thinking so much recently about the trips bassist Jay Mabin and I would take from Tacoma to Olympia for marathon rehearsals with trumpeter Barbara Donald, saxophonist Carter Jefferson,  and drummer Irvin Lovilette. We played, and worked so hard to get just the right thing happening on each tune. I was such a novice, and some of the things I learned are just now sinking in, thirty-some years later. Irvin and Carter passed … [Read more...]

Here is the recording of my composition/arrangement One for Marc Anton performed by the Southland Jazz Ensemble in Park Forest 2012.  One for Marc Anton - The Southland Jazz Ensemble Featuring Rajiv Halim, alto saxophone; Royce Harrington-Turner, trombone; Dan Burke, alto saxophone; and SJ, guitar (yes, that is an obvious quote in my solo!) … [Read more...]

Gary Peacock introduced me to the "tendency of tones" and tritone resolutions based on the physics of the overtone series. This sounds too much like science, right? Well, stay with me a minute and then just play it and listen. The Lydian mode is the most stable mode to come from a major scale structure because the tones are consonant with the chord (see previous post). This happens partially because the #4 (#11) shows up before the natural one in … [Read more...]

When talking to my students about modes, I stress that although modal music is often about melodies created from the mode(s) at hand, looking at the matching chord structure of each mode is equally important. For example, the Lydian mode is like a major scale with a #4th step, so C Lydian would look like this: C  D  E  F#  G  A  B  C Rearrange these into a chord in thirds up to the thirteenth, #4 becomes #11 and you get: C  E  G  B  D  F#  … [Read more...]

I've known Tom and Garrett since my days at Cornish in Seattle. They were great guitar players then, and have continued to grow in the years since. Dig these videos: Find Tom's CDs Life as Art and inoy here:   http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/ThomasMcElroy Find Garrett's CD G-Bop 5000 here:   http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/GBop5000 … [Read more...]

In the works : a new recording project with my old friend Jay Mabin, a harmonica player’s harmonica player… Jay lives way out west in Tacoma, Washington (my home town as well). The session in Washington was a success… we have five tracks with Joe Doria on Hammond organ, and Mike Slivka on drums (recorded by Gary Crooks). Jay visited Chicago and we recorded several more tunes, a few duo, and a few trio with bassist Matt Thompson (who also … [Read more...]

Bob Winett has the honor of being the first person added to the Cool Picks page. Bob performed my composition One For Marc Anton on his recording The Flute, The Whole Flute, and Nothing But The Flute (featuring guitarist Henry Johnson, bassist Larry Gray, and drummer Leon Joyce). Visit his website for a listen. … [Read more...]

The track is straight ahead jazz—well written and well recorded…The bass motif introduced early carries the arrangement allowing for free performances to prevail…Although the guitar is the lead voice, the concept showcases the group, creating depth in the music while avoiding the trappings a lot of guitar players fall into…A strong composition mixed with a solid performance—a blend only seasoned players can deliver with such grace. -TAXI Listen … [Read more...]