listening for music

The Scale Syllabus App ships!

2012-01-20T10:06:00.000-08:00

I've been quite busy of late. One of the things I've been working on are several more apps for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices.

The Scale Syllabus app is designed to assist improvising musicians learn their scales and work on applying them over chords. It is a complete study assistant where you can see, hear and play along with all the jazz chords and scales. This app lets you interact with chords and scales in unique ways.

This app transposes for all instruments and includes a play along mode where you can make music over the chord and a metronome.

It is a complete environment for learning jazz scales and chords.

DronePlayer for iOS releases!

2011-06-13T08:54:00.000-07:00

I'm very happy to announce the release of DronePlayer for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch!

DronePlayer is a fun, interactive practice assistant for improvising musicians. Playing over extended tonalities is a great way to develop your ears as well as your musical ideas.

Long, sustained tones are generally known as drones. Drones have proven themselves quite useful for practicing. Many people use them to assist with intonation. Some enjoy playing scales over them. I personally have found them useful for practicing improvisation and improving my ears.

Muting one of the drone voices is a great way to play with just a fundamental pitch. You can then improvise over this and focus on hearing how what you are playing relates. Adding a second drone voice just adds to the fun.

Rotating DronePlayer to landscape orientation invokes a Drone Sequence mode where you can play evolving tonalities. These are excellent for challenging your improvising skills and having fun while doing so!

Full details with demo videos are at www.tingjing.com/apps/droneplayer. You can find DronePlayer at the App Store http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/droneplayer/id442007897?mt=8.

Odd-meter improvisation

2010-10-15T08:23:00.000-07:00

Trumpeter David Cooper's blog is really great. Even I, a lowly saxophonist, have enjoyed browsing his musings about trumpet and music. He recently wrote an article about how to approach odd-meter tunes. Since he played on my CD Carswell, he was kind enough to include some propers about that. You can read it here: http://www.allthingstrumpet.com/learning/technique/odd-meter-improv/.

I feel compelled to defend myself and this whole odd-meter "trend" in jazz. I've heard a lot of older cats, especially teachers, complaining that today's students only want to play in odd meters. Basically, they're saying that the young players aren't interested in swinging or paying their dues.

I can respect that point of view. We all need to study the tradition. I certainly spent a long time living within the foundations of music by Bird, Diz, Monk, J.J., Sonny, Coltrane, etc.

For me, Carswell and other tunes on that recording are all about "escaping the bonds of Bebop" - specifically, trying to move beyond the musical language from that time.

When I got the gig with J.J. I quickly discovered that no matter how much I might study the Bebop tradition I would never play with the depth that people from that era do. That music evolved within their experience. We, as improvising musicians, must find the music of our time. For me, that's what this is about.

Nice press for Carswell

2010-07-11T11:21:00.000-07:00

Here's a nice, brief writeup about the new CD, Carswell, from Jeff Berkwits over at the Illinois Entertainer. http://illinoisentertainer.com/2010/07/around-hear-july-2010/

"Imagine hanging out late one night at a smoke-stained jazz club like the Green Mill, listening to proficient players enjoying a fun jam session. That's the intoxicating effect of Carswell, the latest 10-tune recording from sax-man Tom Gullion. While standout numbers include the energetically improvisational "Monkey's Tale" and the evocative electric piano and flute of "Right On Time," every cut is consistently captivating."

Thanks Jeff for the great review. I know how difficult it is to condense thoughts into such a tight space but I think he did an excellent job.

I was also contacted by BRAVA magazine in Madison (a magazine for "women of style and substance") that they're recommending Carswell in their August issue. All right! All you "women of style and substance" need Carswell on your iPod. :-)

Apr 23 and 24 at Magnus (Madison, WI) gig retrospective

2010-04-28T14:59:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was incredible! We had a great time performing at Magnus in Madison. The crowd was really great, the staff at Magnus were really kind to us. All good. All very good. :-)

I am so fortunate to be able to make music with these incredible musicians: Tim Whalen (piano), Mark Urness (bass) and Dane Richeson (drums). But you don't have to just take my word for it, give these tracks a listen.

Excerpts from Apr 23, 2010:

Augn San Suu Kyi (Wayne Shorter, arr. Dave Douglas)

I Didn't Know What Time It Was (Rodgers/Hart, arr. Tom Gullion)

Excerpts from Apr 24, 2010

Carswell (Tom Gullion)

A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing (Billy Strayhorn, arr Tom Gullion)

Overflowing (Tom Gullion)

Ting Jing (Tom Gullion)

OW Oshkosh residency

2010-01-07T07:37:00.000-08:00

I had a great time working with students at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh in December, 2009. Special thanks to professor Marty Robinson for the great hospitality and for building such a great jazz program. It was delightful to play with the band, chat with the music business class, teach a few lessons and hang with the cats after the concert! The only downside was the blizzard raging outside limited the audience. Those that did attend certainly earned their stripes!

Carswell Songbook now available online

2010-01-06T13:50:00.000-08:00

Ok, this took longer than expected. Finally, we have published all the songs for Carswell. It's available as a free download at http://www.tingjing.com/tg/pdf/TomGullion_Carswell_Fakebook.pdf or just click the image below. Note that it's rather large - a 66MB file!

Carswell is up on iTunes - get yours now!

2009-11-04T13:09:00.000-08:00

Here we go. Carswell is now available on iTunes.

If you already own a copy, please write a review and let others know what you think about the music.

Click here to travel to iTunes.

Carswell is up on CDBaby - get yours now!

2009-10-01T12:49:00.000-07:00

The new record, Carswell, is up on CD Baby. Please get yours now.

Or if you already have a copy, feel free to write a review.

Thanks for your support!

Hyde Park Jazz Festival 2009 MP3s

2009-09-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

I had the great pleasure of performing with Ernie Adams at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival 2009, 3rd annual. It's a really great festival worth attending. Great location, great music, really well organized.

Here are a few MP3s of our set. Musicians are Tom Gullion (saxophone), Tim Whalen (piano), Larry Gray (bass), Ernie Adams (drums) and Juan Picorelli (percussion).

Carswell (Tom Gullion)

For Chick (Tim Whalen)

One Look (Larry Gray)

Asiatic Raes (Kenny Dorham)

Carswell video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LmHqcMNDWY

Hyde Park Jazz Festival - Sat, Feb 26th, 3:30pm

2009-09-23T21:36:00.001-07:00

This Saturday, Sep 26th, is the Hyde Park Jazz Festival. I'll be performing with drummer Ernie Adams, pianist Tim Whalen and bassist Larry Gray at Experimental Station at 3:30pm. Please join us.

Experimental Station is here (map).

The rest of the festival is worth checking out. A great collection of Chicago musicians and it's free. :-)

More details are available at http://www.hydeparkjazzfestival.org/

While you're there, be sure to tweet using #jazzlives and announce your support for live music!

Unschooling

2009-09-04T13:06:00.000-07:00

My evolving approach to improvisation and composition has been a process of "unschooling." I don't know what else to call it. Here I'll try to explain...

I spent so much of my time studying harmony and worked diligently to understand it from multiple perspectives. Indeed, there remains a lot more to study. No one could possibly finish that task.

However, the music that speaks to me deeply is not harmonically complex. It is more earthy, more soulful, more spontaneous than we usually associate with complex music.

I also noticed that when confronted with complex chords in music musicians tend to bury their noses in the printed music and play less emotionally.

Then comes trumpeter Woody Shaw with the answer.

His music almost always sounds organic and soulful. Yet his tunes have harmonic complexity and an incredibly natural emotional curve. I really admire his work.

Crafting tunes that have all these attributes has been my goal of late. My latest recording, Carswell, comes close but there's a lot more work to do. Meanwhile, you'll find me working on unschooling my craft and getting to it.

Carswell is ready. Soon to be released!

2009-06-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

My new disc, Carswell, is back from manufacturing! All the behind-the-scenes stuff of releasing a record is happening fast and furious. In those few idle minutes, I plan to make updates of progress and release some supplemental material: photos, background info and even a PDF of the music.

The music on this album is a huge step forward for me. I really worked hard on the compositions, taking musical ideas from my past experiences and sculpting them into something new. Those compositions were modified after a few live performances to further fine-tune the emotional landscape of the piece.

Here's a teaser jpg of the disc cover:

Mellowing demo

2008-10-28T08:45:00.001-07:00

I'm considering putting together my new project "in the open" (as it's called in software development). I don't mean that it's "open source" as in FREE but rather that I'd like to include YOU in the process of creating this project.

I've already posted a few photos from our session in August. Perhaps you'd like to see and hear some of the source material and listen to the transformation that takes place when a composition comes to life. So here I'm posting a new tune, Mellowing, as both a score and a link to the demo MP3. Once I finish mixing the "final" track I'll post here about where to get it.

The demo MP3 can be found at http://www.tingjing.com/tg/demos/mellowingdemo.mp3

Thanks for participating!
Tom

Feel free to drop a comment or suggestion about how you'd like to see this take place.

Download now or preview on posterous

Mellowing.pdf (133 KB)

Posted by email from tomgullion's posterous

Photos from Aspect Jazz recording session in Aug, 2008

2008-09-04T14:54:00.001-07:00

We had a great recording session in August, recording some brand new music. I'm working on the tracks now in my studio but wanted to share some photos from the session. Richard Bock did an amazing job making us look good - in spite of the bizarre green-painted floor in the studio. The truth is that the studio is mainly a video studio where the green does a good job for masking the weather map (or other graphics) behind the person. However, for us, it left this odd green shading.

Anyway, the music turned out great. We played a gig in Madison the night before. Bopped up to Brett Huus' studio for the session and had great fun cranking out the music. Musicians included Tom Gullion (saxophone and alto flute), David Cooper (trumpet and flugelhorn), Tim Whalen (piano), Mark Urness (bass) and Dane Richeson (drums).

Tom Gullion Quintet - live in Madison, Wed Aug 20

2008-08-18T08:01:00.001-07:00

Tom Gullion Quintet - live in Madison, Wed Aug 20 at the jazz club in the Concourse Hotel

We're going into the studio to start a new project. Wed, Aug 20th we'll be previewing some of the material for the recording. Please come out and join us. It's sure to be great:

David Cooper, trumpet
Tom Gullion, saxophones and bass clarinet
Tim Whalen, piano
Mark Urness, bass
Dane Richeson, drums

Aspects in the studio

2008-08-05T10:33:00.000-07:00

We were wildly successful at the recent Driftless Jazz Festival 2008. The group chemistry was incredible: David Cooper on trumpet, Tom Gullion on saxophone, Tim Whalen on piano, Mark Urness on bass and Ernie Adams on drums. Almost everyone in the crowd (and even the musicians) were asking "Why aren't you guys touring?"

Well, I intend to fix that immediately. We're going into the studio in a couple of weeks to start a new recording and we'll be working out tour details soon. I'm even thinking about starting up a small ArtistShare-like site so you can subscribe and be a part of the process. I have some raw video footage of our performances at the jazz festival and I'll be posting excerpts here soon.

We'll be producing videos of our recording sessions and I'll even include charts as desired.

Peace be with ya!
Tom

Driftless Jazz Festival 2008

2008-05-21T15:57:00.000-07:00

Driftless Jazz Festival 2008 - a regional jazz festival based in the Driftless Region of Wisconsin

After last year's experiment, we've organized ourselves and plan to make this an annual event. This year the Driftless Jazz Festival will feature some great musicians from Chicago, Wisconsin and Minnesota. It's taking place this weekend: May 23rd through the 26th.

Friday, May 23
Jazz 101 - Understanding Improvised Music
Jam Session hosted by the Driftless Jazz Collective

7pm, Green Man Music Hall, Free

Saturday, May 24
Street Beat Blues - Ted Parrish Trio, Jim Schaffer

1pm, Viroqua Food Coop, free
Becoming-listener (again!) in Ghana with Davu Seru

3pm, VIVA Art Gallery, free
Tom Gullion Quartet featuring Ernie Adams, Tim Whalen
David Cooper and Kelly de Haven

7pm, Green Man Music Hall, $10
JFar Coretet Poetry Slam

9pm, Driftless Cafe, free

Sunday, May 25
Jazz Brunch with Christie Knapp

10am, Drifless Cafe
INTOIT
Project Fourthstream with Davu Seru, Rich MacDonald

7pm, Green Man Music Hall, $10

Monday, May 26
Ted Parrish Trio featuring Catherine Hall Parrish
Christie Knapp
Tom Gullion Quartet featuring Geoff Lowe and Rich MacDonald

1pm, Green Man Music Hall, $10

Futureproof - Tom Gullion Quartet

2008-03-06T10:57:00.001-08:00

Uptown - Freedomfest 2008

2008-03-06T10:01:00.001-08:00

Pure Essence - Freedomfest 2008

2008-03-06T10:00:00.001-08:00

Right On Time - Freedomfest 2008

2008-03-06T09:59:00.000-08:00

Mellowing from FreedomFest 2008

2008-03-06T09:58:00.000-08:00

Youtube's effect on jazz education

2008-02-10T09:01:00.000-08:00

I've been teaching a jazz history course at a local, private high school (www.yihs.net). It's an interesting challenge because it's open to all students - not just music majors.

As a way to make the music accessible to non-musicians, I've been playing a LOT of music from various youtube.com posts: early Bessie Smith, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, etc. What an amazing experience to be able to discuss the evolution of jazz and then show videos of the players. It really brings the whole topic to life.

I'm not claiming a big discovery here. Sure, it's a rather obvious thing to do. The reason I'm writing about it is the revelation to me: this was completely impossible just a few short years ago. I went to one of the largest music universities in the US but never saw any film footage of the jazz greats there. I remember the impact of seeing John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy on film - that was an incredible moment! Today, it's immediately accessible.

I wonder what the impact will be for all this immediate access to so much content. When working with young jazz bands, I've been suggesting they search youtube for any music they're playing. What a great thing to see and hear the original bands playing the tune. But also, possibly just as important, seeing similar age school groups playing as well. I remember how inspirational it was to come back from a jazz festival having heard other great bands. It was always a very quick lesson in how much more I needed to practice!

This is one of the positive stories about the good the Internet can provide. Well, as long as you don't show your students some of the obnoxious comments people sometimes post on youtube. Can't we all just behave ourselves?

2008-01-25T09:31:00.001-08:00

Freedomfest 2008 lineup announced

See
http://www.mccca.net/ for more details.

The Madison Center for Creative and Cultural Arts and the Overture Center for the Arts proudly present FreedomFest 2008, a one-day festival of creative jazz music for liberated souls on Friday, February 22 from noon to midnight at the Overture Center Lobby.

2:00---3:30 PM ||||| The People’s Drum Circle of Madison

3:45---4:45 PM ||||| Madison Area High School Jazz All-Stars

5:30---6:30 PM ||||| Tom Gullion Quartet featuring the great Ernie Adams on drums.

6:45---7:45 PM ||||| Jazz String Quintet with Jim Gailloreto

8:00---9:00 PM ||||| The Seekers ||||| Hanah Jon Taylor debuts a new international ensemble featuring Jobic LeMasson on piano, Tatsu Aoki on bass, and Reggie Nicholson on drums.

9:15---10:15 PM ||||| Douglas Ewart and Inventions ||||| Legendary member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) presents his 9-piece ensemble featuring Dee Alexander (Jazz Performer of the Year 2007, Chicago Tribune)

10:45--- Midnight -||||| Archie Shepp Quartet ||||| Jazz icon comes to Madison from Paris as the FreedomFest 2008 feature with Steve McCraven on drums, Willie Pickens on piano and Richard Davis on bass.

Tickets are on sale at B-Side Music at 436 State; Strictly Discs at 1600 Monroe Street, and MadCity Music Exchange at 600 Williamson Street. The cost is $35 general admission and $20 for students.

For additional information please contact the MCCCA at 251-2787 or 347-5988; and the Overture Center at 258-4141 for ticket information.

FreedomFest 2008

2008-01-03T12:21:00.000-08:00

This just in: the Tom Gullion Quartet (featuring drummer Ernie Adams) will be performing at FreedomFest 2008 in Madison, WI on Feb 22nd. This festival is put forth by Hanah Jon Taylor annually and this year's headliner will be none other than Archie Shepp! Obviously, we're very excited to be a part of it. More details will eventually we available at www.mccca.net.

I'll update details as they solidify. Save the date!!

Even Music Education is struggling

2007-12-27T10:37:00.000-08:00

I just wrote the previous post about the ailing music business and saw a related article about struggles in music education.

Sounds pretty grim. One stat from the article was in NYC there is one music teacher per 1,200 students (in 2006). Ouch. That basically makes music education an impossible task.

I don't want to appear unsympathetic to the public school system in NYC but I must admit it makes me even more grateful for the amazing music program at my childrens' school, Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School. The program here fosters a love of music from the very beginning and the children quite naturally produce great music on a weekly basis. The curriculum includes singing, playing recorders and eventually learning string instruments (violin, viola, cello and bass).

That's really great at face value. But there's more to it than that. The real beauty is the integrated way all subjects are studied and music is often part of the way children learn. This approach solves the core problems written about in the article. However, getting a public school system to radically shift its pedagogy...well, that's a tough one.

music biz 101++

2007-12-27T10:25:00.000-08:00

The future of the music business is getting a lot attention. It's thrashing and gasping for breath. Perhaps you saw the recent article in the New York Times. It extends an article on Wired magazine's site

I found both very interesting and they seem to make sense. The current music industry became so focused on producing silver dics (otherwise known as CDs) that they somehow missed the boat on digital distribution. This has been the subject of most of the writing about the "demise" of the music industry.

So David Byrne suggests we adopt a DYI attitude and take control of our music. Sounds great. Until you start digging deeper.

Just because we can all afford a laptop and necessary software to record the music and hack together a web site to distribute it doesn't really mean we'll all be producing great music. I've learned the hard way how difficult that task actually is. Recording engineers, mastering engineers, a good producer, graphic designers all have immense value in the process. The question remains open about how independent musicians can afford to pay all these people. Especially when the public seems to expect downloads to be free.

And even if we did raise enough money to do the project properly, I've never seen anyone suggest a solution for getting that music played on the radio. Just because you upload an amazing MP3 doesn't mean anyone will ever hear it.

Clearly, we have a lot of deeper thinking to do.

doubly popular Conn players

2007-12-18T14:26:00.000-08:00

Steve Goodsen includes this wonderful Conn sax ad at saxgourmet.com:

Hmm...learn to play a Conn saxophone and become doubly popular? Well, that's a fine idea. I'll let you know how it works out! :-)

Bitonal Concepts in Jazz Improvisation (edition 2007)

2007-12-04T11:00:00.000-08:00

by Tom Gullion - Dec 2007

Note: this article extends the concepts originally put forth at http://blog.tingjing.com/2006/09/bitonal-concepts-in-jazz.html

Tension and Release

Tension and release apply to all kinds of music. At the root of everything, great music finds elegant ways to resolve tension. So, it's quite simple: if you want to make great music, it's all about the resolution.

Of course there's nothing simple about that. It's where the mystery of music resides. But it's worth focusing our attention there for the rewards are great!

Current brain research keeps pointing out how the brain loves patterns. It brings you measurable pleasure (in the form of dopamine) to discover patterns in sensory input. The brain enjoys making connections, especially between things which weren't previously related. The idea is that your brain experiences pleasure when there's just the right amount of pattern recognition and new experience. If there is too much new information, it makes us tired. We all know how much energy it requires to study and retain new information. Conversely, we get bored when there's not enough new information. Listening to simple songs gets boring quickly.

So the mission of the musician is to provide just the right mix of recognizable vs. new material.

Given that it's impossible to find two listeners with exactly the same experiences, the mission just stated is bogus. You'll never be able to get the mix perfect for all your audience.

However, you may find you can give your experienced listeners profound joy by helping them create new connections in their listening experiences. I find the bitonal approach to be a good avenue toward that goal.

I'll get to more details about bitonal concepts in a few paragraphs. But for now let's consider it a way of layering musical structures. For instance, if we take a simple major triad and superimpose it over another major triad, we get a new sound. But the base elements are simple and well-known. Thus, we create a new connection: C Major + D Major = C Major with a sharp 11th.

This is a simple example but it lies at the heart of the concept. Now let's explore bitonal approaches in more detail.

Bitonal approaches

Pedal point

Pedal point suggests playing a chord with some alternate tone in the bass. Some of the more obvious and common examples are sus chords and intros or outros. The sus chord can be as simple as a minor 7th chord with the 4th in the bass.

Herbie Hancock's tune, Maiden Voyage, consists of only sus chords. The intro and outro in Miles Davis' version of Someday My Prince Will Come is a classic example of using the 5th as a pedal point.

There are numerous examples of this approach throughout all music, not just jazz. But jazz seems to have evolved this concept beyond a mere compositional device. The basis of this approach is to slightly alter the base chord with the alternate bass note or to provide harmonic interest over a static (or mostly static) bass. Wayne Shorter's This Is For Albert is a perfect example of this.

In general, musicians tend to approach pedal point in a fairly traditional way. One can just play the chord symbols (ignoring the bass) or play vertically (playing the chord/scales).

Bitonal

The basis of bitonal music is to have two tonalities occurring simultaneously. In the case of pedal point, it's really just a single chord happening over an alternate bass note. To me, bitonality is when we have two chords sounding together. In this case, we have a C Major triad and an E Major triad played together. I really enjoy these sounds because they produce harmonic tension in unique ways. And, even better, they don't have predictable resolutions.

You can play arpeggios which combine both chords and find some interesting melodic material.

Scalar

One of the evolutions of pedal point was to derive new scales which fit the more dissonant or abstract chord/bass note combinations. Woody Shaw used this approach in a lot of his tunes. Aebersold's Woody Shaw volume includes several with suggested scales. This approach adds melodic interest since the new scales often include interesting leaps and irregular scalar patterns.

You can follow the model Woody Shaw (and others) created or you can uncover your own scales for certain sounds. My favorite approach is to play the sound on the piano and very slowly discover the scale that already exists within the sound. You start with one note and follow your ears to the next one (half step, whole step, minor third or some other interval). This makes for a really fun practice session, does wonders to help develop your ears and often leads you into interesting melodic territory. Give it a try!

Combinatorial

What if we combined the above approaches? Hopefully we're making music with all this stuff. So we should learn the above concepts and be able to apply them where most appropriate and most musical. There are times when you want to simply use pedal point. There are cases when a true bitonal approach is what's need. Of course, this is obvious. I only write it to keep us aware of the goal: to make great music. Using whatever means necessary!

Superimpositional

Once you've assimilated all this, you may find that your hearing changes a bit. It's very possible that piano and guitar voicings may sound similar to some bitonal chord you've been working on. That's perfect! That's exactly what you want! When this happens, you can start to respond to traditional sounds in unexpected, new ways. Imagine you're playing a standard tune such as Have You Met Miss Jones? If someone (or something) plays an F# against the first chord (which is F Major) you'll be prompted to think bitonally. That's exactly what seems to have happened to George Garzone! Check out this recording four's and two's on NYC Records.. But the CD and you'll get a transcription of the cool, chromatic line he plays behind the melody. Garzone has invented a "triadic concept" which is reportedly coming out in a book in the future. Regardless of the name, the idea certainly looks and sound`s familiar!

Explorations

Here is a collection of suggested things to do to explore these concepts:

At first, consider how a bitonal maps to traditional chords/scales
move beyond that to exploring the sound
create hybrid scales elaborating the sound
look for patterns
look for melodic approaches
consider how to apply these melodic approaches over traditional harmony

Conclusion

We defined "bitonal" as a concept and looked at a few approaches. In the "real world" you'll find many players who blur the lines between concepts. It makes studying jazz more difficult but it makes listening to the music that much more interesting. I've heard musicians talk about using bitonality (or something similar) as a means to play "out." But that's a bit short-sighted.

If we really embrace this, we can stretch the bounds of harmony but maintain connection to our listeners' experiences. The whole point of music is to create something new based on something old. That's the way to get the listeners' brain engaged and keep them interested. In fact, if you're lucky you'll be giving the listener immense pleasure. Which is what makes music such a noble profession.

By simply combining sounds that our listeners already know about into a something new (aka bitonality), we can get pretty good results. Of course, this is simply a music device. It's no magic bullet. Making great music requires all you can give of yourself. Bitonal music might just be a good thing to have in your toolkit.

Upstream Jazz Quartet - Blues by Seven

2007-10-30T16:32:00.000-07:00

Blues by Seven

Tom Gullion (tenor saxophone)
Larry Price (piano)
Eric Graham (bass)
Rich MacDonald (drums)

Upstream Jazz Quartet - Moon Over Brussels

2007-10-30T16:28:00.000-07:00

Moon Over Brussels

Tom Gullion (tenor saxophone)
Larry Price (piano)
Eric Graham (bass)
Rich MacDonald (drums)

Driftless Jazz Festival 2007 - Pure Essence

2007-10-30T16:27:00.000-07:00

Pure Essence

Tom Gullion (bass clarinet)
Tom Bourcier (piano)
Geoff Lowe (bass)
Rich MacDonald (drums)

Driftless Jazz Festival 2007 - You Don't Know What Love Is

2007-10-30T16:25:00.000-07:00

You Don't Know What Love Is

Tom Gullion (soprano saxophone)
Tom Bourcier (piano)
Geoff Lowe (bass)
Rich MacDonald (drums)

Driftless Jazz Festival 2007 - Marea Negra

2007-10-30T16:23:00.000-07:00

Marea Negra

Tom Gullion (saxophone)
Tom Bourcier (piano)
Geoff Lowe (bass)
Rich MacDonald (drums)

ISIM Conference Dec 14-16, 2007

2007-10-30T06:23:00.001-07:00

Bill Neil and I are performing (workshopping?) at an improvised music conference. In Evanston, Dec 14-16.

Featured Artists and Presenters include: Jane Ira Bloom (NY) and Mark Dresser (CA), Mazen Kerbaj (Beirut) and Michael Zerang (IL), Oliver Lake (NY) with the University of Michigan Creative Arts Orchestra, Bennett Reimer (IL), and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (IL).

I'm honored to work alongside these esteemed musicians! I'll post pictures and stories after the conference. Stay tuned!

More details are available at http://www.isimprov.org/

Chicago jazz video excerpt

2007-10-11T20:27:00.001-07:00

A long time ago...well, back in 1999 I performed in a celebration of Chicago jazz lead by Paul Wertico. It featured: Tom Gullion (saxophones), John Moulder (guitar), Harrison Bankhead (bass) and Paul Wertico, Kahil El Zabar, Hamid Drake, Alejo Poveda and Ed Harrison (percussion). Here's my tune Ting Jing from the video:

Reverse blogging

2007-10-08T08:03:00.001-07:00

Out here in the Blogosphere, there's a flurry of activity. I see a ton of hits at my blog site but few comments. People are reading but it's interesting that there's not much interaction. Certainly we're all busy and few have spare time to drop comments at each site they visit.

It makes me wonder if we don't have this whole blog thing exactly backwards. Wouldn't it be more interesting for readers to ask questions to guide the writer? It might save a lot of wasted, worthless blog posts which nobody reads.

Until I find the time to write the "Reverse Blog," can you offer some questions here? I'll create posts to answer or respond to them manually for now. If it's a good idea, I'll work on a software solution.

Thanks and bring on the questions!
Tom

jazz torrent

2007-09-19T19:32:00.001-07:00

There's been a flurry of activity recently. I'm back in the studio writing a lot of music for some upcoming projects.

Which leads me to a confession: the hard work of being an artist is the continual need for energy. There are so many distractions to overcome: business, phone calls, etc. Retaining focus on creating art and maintaining sufficient energy - that's the challenge.

I'm not really complaining. It's maybe now I finally realize what all those people meant when they said "You want to be a musician? That's a hard life."

The hard part isn't practicing, touring or performing. It's managing your life amongst all the chaos.

Practice, practice, practice

2007-09-07T07:53:00.001-07:00

We've all heard it before: practice makes perfect, or perhaps perfect practice makes perfect .

I'm, as JJ Johnson called it, a "practice-oholic." I really enjoy working out new ideas on the saxophone and maintaining optimal performance conditions. It's become a part of who I am.

I recently read a great book by Daniel Levitin, This is Your Brain on Music. Levin mentions some research by Dr. Anders Ericsson.

Ericsson asserts that "the critical difference between expert musicians differing in the level of attained solo performance concerned the amounts of time they had spent in solitary practice during their music development, which totaled around 10,000 hours by age 20 for the best experts, around 5,000 hours for the least accomplished expert musicians and only 2,000 hours for serious amateur pianists." source

So there you have it. Get busy - there are a lot of hours to put in if you want to become an expert.

Moonless Night Ballad

2007-09-06T20:16:00.001-07:00

In my previous post I mentioned putting out some music which (perhaps) isn't so derivative of the Bebop tradition. Here's a short sketch which fits the idea.

MoonlessNightBallad.mp3

It's just a cycle of sounds: note clusters which aren't really voiced in typical chord-like ways. I really enjoy weaving melodies atop washes of sound like this. In this case, the soprano is basically just playing A Lydian throughout. What I find interesting is how the shifting clusters in the piano make such a simple scale seem like so much more than it really is.

To me, the clusters set a vivid emotion and create several layers of musical expectations. They produce a wash of sound at one level. At the next level, they provide a repeating chord progression. At another level deeper, they also form an illusion of something beyond what's technically there.

Let me know what you think.

a little help?

2007-09-06T14:07:00.001-07:00

The bad news just keeps on pouring in. Just this week the Madison Center for Creative and Cultural Arts (web site is http://www.mccca.net) lost its lease on a great downtown space in Madison.

Couple this with the recent venues (such as the Jazz Showcase, Velvet Lounge, Hot House) forced to close or move in Chicago and it seems like there's an all-out assault on the arts.

At its core, the whole situation is ridiculous. Here in the US we force arts organizations to play on the same playing field (e.g., pay the same rent) as retail businesses.

We don't manage our budgets in a way to sponsor "ART" as a valued thing. But even worse, we let the business world run rough shod all over the altruistic people who fill the void.

I'm not sure what we can do about any of this. We can't even stop our government from waging war in any way they like. We can't even trust our government to come to our assistance in time of need. So how the heck can I expect any sort of assistance for cultural affairs?

Well, quite frankly, if we don't have culture, what do we have?

finding your own music

2007-09-06T11:51:00.001-07:00

There's an age-old debate within the jazz community about the merits (or de-merits) fthe whole chord-scale theory approach. I was recently reminded of this topic while reading Graham Collier's article: http://www.jazzcontinuum.com/jc_tnb6.html

I know from my own experience learning chord-scale theory it's been a difficult thing to overcome. I studied with David N. Baker at Indiana University. He's done an amazing job codifying the language of Bebop. But, you know, he never once said this is all there is or there's only one particular way to play.

The idea is to study the music of the masters and use it as a way to find your own music. However, it's very easy to get addicted to the mathematically beauty and symmetry. It's also easy to start to believe that the ideas of the masters are better than your own.

I spent a year playing with J.J. Johnson's quintet. That experience sent me on a quest to find my own music. It was immediately obvious to me that JJ, Cedar Walton and Rufus Reid live and breathe that music. It's literally a part of them and their experience. My own version of that was not as profound.

How could it be? I didn't come up during their time.

So reading Graham's excellent article made me consider this idea anew. Right now I'm experimenting with tonal clusters and less obvious harmonies. It takes enormous effort to write new music that is inspiring. And, of course, that's the whole point.

Aren't we supposed to uncover our own individual music? Isn't that what the true mission of jazz is all about? I'm planning on posting some new music soon here. Hopefully you'll join me on the journey!

Nicholas Barron video (with a Tom Gullion cameo)

2007-08-20T10:06:00.000-07:00

One of the best singer/songwriters in Chicago (imho) just relased a YouTube clip from his recent CD release party. It features your truly on soprano saxophone. Check it out!

the quiet ending of an era

2007-07-09T05:56:00.001-07:00

It may come as no surprise to many of you but it appears the "big band dance gig" is quietly fading out. Sure, this has been going on for some time. But there are two things which cause me to write about this now.

Mainly, I find it interesting that nobody else seems to be writing about it. The death of the big bands received a lot of attention in the past but this is yet another nail in the coffin. I see this as something different than the fall of the big band from the popularity it had during the swing era and beyond. This is generally the loss of a way of life for musicians, the end of the big band dance gig. I guess these situations tend to go unnoticed.

I also find it interesting (and sad) since it may well signal an end to one of the more enjoyable gig experiences for the jazz musician. It's a rare event to have 18 (or more) musicians on the same gig! The opportunity to hang out and network with so many other players is always great. It is (was) also a great way to learn the craft of performing jazz music. Big band arrangements are often the best way to experience (and learn) the subtle variations in swing 8th note rhythmic feels, articulations and phrasing. They are also one of the few situations where jazz players learn to play together in a larger ensemble.

I wonder what effect this might have upon students learning to play jazz now in schools. Most school jazz programs revolve around the big band. One of the most alluring aspects for me when I was in school was the "aliveness" of jazz: meaning that I felt like I was participating in something I'd be doing for the rest of my life. It gives me pause to think about the change in student attitudes about big bands. If big band music is left as something only practiced in schools, what effects will that have on the music overall? Hmm...

Jazz (tm)

2007-06-11T21:22:00.000-07:00

Admittedly, it's old news but I find it a real pain in the keester that companies are using "jazz" as a brand or product name. IBM has a new "product" named jazz. There's Jazz Technologies which recently flopped on their IPO. The basketball team, the airline...egad.

Maybe they never read the million jazz articles saying there's no money in jazz! It's kinda funny - except that I have to rewrite all my automated Google searches to exclude all the noise caused by these corporate hijinx.

The major downside which upsets me is that it just needlessly waters down an already watered down word. What is jazz anymore? Even if you just stick to the music known as jazz, it goes all the way from traditional (dixieland) to swing to bebop to mainstream to free to fusion to jazz-rock to smooth (and at least a million variations in between these).

It's a shame we didn't trademark "jazz" if only just to keep out the corporate riff raff.

Driftless Jazz Festival 2007 pics

2007-06-01T11:18:00.000-07:00

The Driftless Jazz Festival was a success - it went far better than any of even dreamed! Those of us who helped organize the thing are very pleased with the results, ready for a bit of rest and actually ready to start planning for next year!

Click the image here for a slideshow:

Driftless Jazz Festival 2007

2007-05-24T11:41:00.000-07:00

At a time when many festivals are drying up or becoming watered down, FourthStream.net is producing a new, regionally-focused jazz festival in Southwestern Wisconsin! We're excited to announce the Driftless Jazz Festival 2007 - taking place on Monday (Memorial Day), May 28th from 1pm until 8pm.

See complete details at Driftless Jazz Festival 2007 web site.

Here's the poster for the event:

jazz ed at Northwestern

2007-05-24T05:50:00.000-07:00

I was very sad to read that Northwestern is considering dropping the jazz program.

I had thought David N. Baker, Jerry Coker and Jamey Aebersold had already won that battle so long ago. The idea that a major university music program wouldn't have a jazz program? Why, it's almost barbaric. Especially in the country which gave birth to the art form.

What's intriguing is that just a few miles south of Northwestern, little Columbia College and UIC are growing their programs at a tremendous pace. It's seem rather obvious where they're putting their priorities. What an easy choice as a student wanting to study in Chicago: go north, pay a LOT of money and fight administrivia most of the time or go south and get with a program that is working hard to build the program. It's a pity - especially since I enjoyed my time at Northwestern when I got the Masters in Jazz Pedagogy degree.

There's probably some true "business" pressures. We're seeing consolidation everywhere else - I guess it will hit our universities too. However, I would hope our universities might remain insulated from such corporate nonsense. More evidence that our culture doesn't value "culture" enough to properly fund it. How sad.

Ernie Adams Worldtet at the Velvet Lounge

2007-04-02T08:15:00.000-07:00

Last weekend (Fri and Sat) was great! I played with Ernie Adams' new group, the Worldtet. It was absolutely fantastic. Ernie is such a an amazing drummer/percussionist: not only does he have unbelievable technique but he transcends that into complete musicianship. It was thrilling to watch him work - always playing the perfect thing at the perfect time with flawless execution. Very inspiring. I wish you could have been there!

Ernie Adams in action:

James Sanders played violin:

Most of the group - unfortunately, Zvonminir Tot (guitar) was too far to the right:

Project Fourthstream video on YouTube

2007-03-31T13:51:00.000-07:00

I recently posted an excerpt from one of our Project FourthStream concerts. What? You haven't heard Project FourthStream?! Well, here is a sample and you can always check up on us at our website: www.fourthstream.net.

Ernie Adams Worldtet

2007-03-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

Mar 30th and 31st I'll be performing at the Velvet Lounge with percussionist/drummer phenom Ernie Adams. Ernie and I have been talking about this project for a while and we're so pleased it's finally coming to life! Joining us will be a cast of creative musicians from Chicago: James Sanders (violin), Zvonmir Tot (guitar), Dale Prasco (guitar) and Josh Ramos (bass).

I'll be debuting my "new" vintage tenor and soprano saxophones. I'm letting my trusty (and much beloved) Selmer Mk VI tenor take a rest. For some reason, I'm really enjoying playing two Conn saxophones I recently acquired: a 1926 tenor and a 1927 soprano. I'm really digging the sound quality of these horns and as a result the music that comes out my horns has changed a bit too. I'll also be playing bass clarinet and assorted flutes (especially alto flute).

As always, I'll keep posting details about this project. Hopefully we'll get some video snippets I can post and share with you.

Larry Price Quartet

2007-03-26T07:48:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, I played with the Larry Price Quartet in La Crosse. Larry's a fine pianist, Rich MacDonal is a powerhouse drummer with a really wonderful musical sensibility and Eric Graham is a chop monster of a bass player.

In fact, here we are:

We'll be playing at the La Crosse Jazz Festival later in the summer - in August. Stay tuned and I'll post details about that project as we get closer to the date!

artisanal economics - part II

2007-03-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

I a previous post I wrote a bit about a new-ish concept to me: artisanal economics. Call them "cottage industry," "entrepreneurial projects," "startups," or "some guy selling his wares out of the trunk of his car..." - whatever the name there's a great creative spirit in this idea.

Especially for artists. The closer we can get to our audience the better off we'll all be. Or at least I think so.

It does create a challenge for those of us dealing with a digital medium. Musicians, of course, have live audiences with which to connect. But most of our work is enjoyed via recordings. And the possession of these is often seemed to be just another item on one's iPod (or similar device).

I received an e-mail recently from a fan. I was extremely pleased to know my music was being enjoyed in a land so far from my home turf. However, I also found it interesting that he told me quite openly that he found my music because it was left on a used iPod he purchased. In a strict sense, my music should have been deleted from the device. But, at this point in my career, I'm far more interested in getting my music out in the world as far as I can. So, just this once I'll let it slide. ;-)

The point of this post is just to work out a few of my own feelings around this whole DRM issue. Who among can actually afford to actually enforce fair usage of our work? Even the majors have been unable to do it. So, why bother? Well, there's that utopian ideal of musicians actually making a living from their art. That would be nice. Until then, I guess we'll have to rely of alternative means of income to support our "musical habit."

artisanal economics

2006-11-28T13:45:00.000-08:00

Huh? Well, this is a bit of a stretch but please bear with me - it might be interesting.

I'm reading "An Omnivore's Dilemma" and saw a reference to an article by Allan Nation which draws on theories of Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter.

Basically it discusses how "artisanal" production methods (which consist of selling something special rather that as a least-cost commodity) must not adapt to "industrial" production models.

If I apply this thinking to creative music, that means creative musicians:

should do everything they can to appear cutting-edge or at least unique
should never try to achieve financial growth for the sake of growth (e.g., simply because that's what you're supposed to be doing). This is contrary to conventional wisdom that you should always be expanding your market. I take this to mean we should only strive to expand our market if it is truly meant to somehow better support our artistic endeavors.
don't strive for uniformity. I suppose you could interpret this a few ways. But why not perform on the edge? Some nights might be rough, others might be stellar. If you're not challenging yourself, why bother? People pay for artisanal products because they expect outstanding results sometimes and can live with less desirable results occasionally. Consider fine wine. Sometimes bottles are undrinkable but we've come to understand this as part of the artisanal production process. If you choose perfection over art, you get something like supermarket wine as a result.
Focus on local markets. Follows on from the above point: artisans can't scale to satisfy global markets. Consider how to optimize your impact within your local market.
Rely on reputation, word-of-mouth instead of advertising

I'm finding thinking about this concept very interesting. Obviously, I don't have a strong backlog of evidence to prove this is the right path for creative musicians. But I like the ideas now. Do you have thoughts about this? Reactions to this advice (which seems opposite what most musicians are doing)?

Thanks,
Tom

the impact of online media options

2006-11-27T09:06:00.000-08:00

I've been struggling with the growing trend in the US where people just tend to stay home. :-(

We've grown into a society where we just don't hang out anymore. Fast food, fast coffee (think Starbucks) and increasingly, fast entertainment. iTunes and the ubiquitous iPod have been increasing the rate with which we can go grab whatever media we want, when we want it.

On the one hand, this is fantastic! When I hear of a new recording, I can go preview it, buy it and listen to it almost immediately. Now with the introduction of TV and movies, we're moving closer to that. And, of course, there's YouTube which gives us a whole new genre of video entertainment: fanstastic "bootleg" videos of our favorite musicians (just search for "Eric Dolphy" or "Art Tatum" or "Woody Shaw" or "John Coltrane" or whoever - it's truly amazing what's lurking within that site).

But where is all this headed? The BBC recently posted an article asking that question. They're already seeing an impact to "normal" TV watching.

The graphic shown here shows 43% of people are already choosing online or mobile video instead of normal TV. I like it! It means people are empowered to take a more active role in their entertainment - instead of passively just turning on the TV and watching whatever is on.

Maybe, if I dare to dream a bit, that will lead to more people seeking out live music, interacting with real people and getting a far more enriching experience!

It's quite a dream, I know. But it's one of my hopes for the future: where people grow weary of home entertainment and seek out something better: art museums, theatre, live music, performance art, etc.

the spirit of the moment

2006-10-16T08:48:00.000-07:00

Saturday, Bill Neil and I performed a great concert with Hanah Jon Taylor. Hanah's a truly gifted improviser and flautist/saxophonist.

There were many, many great moments - even if I do say so myself. Pianist Bill Neil is really making amazing music right now - there's an urgency and richness to what he plays that is definitely worth checking out! Add to the that, Hanah's great spontaneous improvisations and I hope you start to understand what I'm so excited about. It was truly enjoyable to perform with like-minded players who are open and able to play in the moment, to uncover the music that needs to be heard.

A perfect example of that was a new piece Bill composed for Hanah. It's called Soul Drifting and was essentially a duet for flute and what Bill calls an audio soundscape. Hanah had never heard the piece before the performance. Bill just gave him a print out of the audio wave - which, as it turns out, is a pretty good way to visualize the emotional curve of the piece. Hanah cranked out a masterpiece! It was breathtaking to behold. His flute playing is among the best I've ever heard.

Fortunately, we recorded it - hopefully we'll post it to the web soon and you can share in the joy of the moment!

The music was certainly deep, spiritual and meaningful. But I've also been completely blown away by the response from the audience! They really got into and have been lavishing praise upon us. This was a really adventurous concert (which I had wrongly assumed would be difficult for the audience to fully enjoy) but they really got into the spirit of the moment. Which, of course, is what this music is all about: drop our prejudices and just enjoy the moment. Hmm...could even be a maxim for living our lives as well...

Unexpected learning about live music

2006-09-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a week in Prague. Beatiful city! And I had the good fortune to sit-in with Prague saxophonist, František Kop ( http://www.kopjazz.cz/ ) at a really good jazz club, U Maleho Glena ( http://www.malyglen.cz ). I highly recommend checking both out the next time you're in Prague!

Anyway, after leaving the gig I was talking with a friend and he said "Now I get it. You have to listen to jazz live." Yes! That's it!

Of course, many of us already know this but it struck as one of those profound little gems that help you discover new meaning in music. Jazz is all about the live experience. It is at its best in the jazz club. Recordings are never fully able to recreate the experience.

I think that popular music is quite the opposite. Live performances are mainly in support of the recording. The main intention is to recreate the studio recording - often even including playing solos exactly as recorded!

To me, it's all about playing live and that's where I intend to put my energy. Real people listening to real musicians - all together "listening for music." That's what it's all about.

re-appreciation

2006-09-05T14:11:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you need to change things up a bit. I have been playing the same Selmer Mk VI since I was in high school! We have been through a LOT of gigs together.

But recently I bought an old Conn Chu Berry and have been having a blast (literally) playing it. It's nice to play since it feels so different from my Mk VI.

I highly recommend changing on occasion just to re-discover and re-appreciate what you already have!

Is jazz relevant anymore?

2006-09-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

So, I've been doing some thinking about how to reach audiences. I mean really make a connection.

It's generally come pretty easily for me when it's a crowd that has really come to dig the music. I love feeling that connection with one or more people out in the audience. It's the thing that keeps me motivated.

But that generally only works when the crowd is in the right place. That is, it only reaches out and touches people who are already jazz enthusiasts. Most of the others just leave scratching their heads thinking jazz is somehow beyond their grasp.

I think if that's the case then I've failed as a musician. I don't think that's where our forefathers (Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Young, etc) wanted us to be.

Of course, we've all noticed the current trend among jazz records to include more recent hit tunes - such as Brad Melhdau's covers of Radiohead tunes, the Bad Plus doing their thing and even Don Braden doing popular tunes with an organ trio.

I don't think that's the answer, personally. Well, it might be but the current situation misses the mark for me. Why? Because they're approaching these rock tunes from a jazz perspective and the musics are fundamentally different: jazz expects rather complicated chord progressions and rock tunes avoid them. Thus, to simply play rock tunes in a jazz setting is going to produce very bland results. :-(

I think we're at a point where a new approach to reharmonizing these tunes in a more profound way is required. That's what I'm experimenting with back at the wood shed. Hopefully you'll be hearing the results from a recording project I'm spinning up later in October...

Stay tuned! :-)

Essential Practices for Jazz

2006-09-05T07:53:00.001-07:00

presentation from IAJE Chicago Regional Conference 2005
Essential Practices for Jazz

saxophone

2006-09-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

I began, like most kids in the US, when I was 10 years old. You know, middle school band. But I was extremely lucky to hook up with a fantastic teacher, Larry Kirkman. He produced a whole gang of fine saxophonists through his charisma and dogged insistence on excellence. I learned the fundamentals of sound production, technique and musicianship from him and I will always feel immense gratitude to him for all he taught me (both in music and in life).

One of the "gems" he gave me was to appreciate the importance of sound. Sound is one of those words that takes on many different meanings. If you think only in terms of tone quality, you're missing a large part of the subject. Through Kirkman, I learned to think in terms of tone quality, phrases and the emotional output of music as one thing, sound. They must all work together to make good music. I needed no explanation when I heard the masters talking about someone's "sound" - I knew they meant their entire musical being.

Later, when I was studying with Eugene Rousseau at Indiana University this same concept held and was strengthened by Dr. Rousseau's gifted insights into music. But, given what I think to be an excellent education, David Liebman's book "Developing a Personal Saxophone Sound" finally gave me the information I needed to really find my "own" sound. I had already been using the overtone exercises for a long time but what helped me tremendously were the mouthpiece alone exercises (playing scales, arpeggios, etc. on only the mouthpiece). These studies exaggerate the techniques involved in playing the saxophone and really help you master them quickly. I highly recommend them along with lots of long tone and overtone exercises.

Because I have such a strong fundamental base to work from, I have achieved a high level of technique with the saxophone and can pretty much always play exactly what I'm hearing. I am comfortable playing in all registers between low Bb and double F and rarely miss phrases I attempt to play. Sorry to sound like I'm bragging here but what that really means to me is that I'm free to conceive the music any way I please and am not limited, to a large degree, by what I can play on my instrument.

I have to admit though that I made a large mistake that I hope you won't. I came up learning jazz with the Aebersold play-a-longs and all the books. Unfortunately, I got caught up in the technique and analytical sides of the music. Despite repeatedly hearing my teachers and clinicians tell me (and most of my colleagues) to listen and transcribe, I stubbornly went down the wrong path. I was determined to be able to play as fast as Bird and Trane and mistakenly thought I was picking up the music at the same time. I was quite accomplished in the bebop tradition and got one of my dream gigs - the J.J. Johnson Quintet - in 1988. It was there, playing every night with J.J., Cedar Walton, Rufus Reid and Victor Lewis, that I learned what real music was. I am so thankful for that experience because it changed me into the musician I am today.

on traveling overseas

2006-09-05T07:52:00.000-07:00

July 21, 1997

Clunia TV Production (TV de Galicia)

This was definitely the hardest gig I've ever played. The music easy and enjoyable but the torture I endured in getting there basically ruined what would have otherwise been a great experience!

First, my flight was cancelled and I was forced to take another airline, change schedules and worry about making connections. Instead of going through New York to Madrid to Santiago de Compostela, I ended going to Amsterdam to Madrid to Sanitago de Compostela. That wouldn't have been so bad except the first airline didn't actually setup the new itenerary like they said they had done. So I arrived in Amsterdam only to find I didn't have a reservation on the flight to Madrid. I had to fly standby and luckily got on the flight. The same thing happened on the flight from Madrid to Santiago. I got really lucky and got the last seat on that flight! This itenerary took longer and I was forced to arrive late for rehearsals in Santiago. Luckily I was able to reach the other musicians and tell them I was going to be arriving late. But, as you've probably already guessed, as a result of all those changes and the bungled reservations my suitcase (with my clothes for the concert) got lost! It went to Barcelona instead of Madrid. After several phone calls and arguments with airline personell, they agreed to send the bag directly to the stage in Noia (a beautiful fishing village in Galicia). The bag didn't arrive until two hours before I had to play! That's cutting it pretty close.

From there the day took a turn for the better. The producers took us out for a wonderful lunch of some of the freshest seafood you'll ever taste - necoras (crab), navarras (?), salmon, tuna, bonito as well as a generous sampling of Ribeiro and Rioja wines.

The concert ended up going very well despite all the problems the airlines threw my way. The concert featured Clunia (Nani Garcia - piano, Baldo Martinez - bass and Fernando Llorca - drums) as well as Antonio ? - guitar, Javier Ferreiro - percussion and a stellar group of saxophonists (if I do say so myself!): Jorge Pardo, Perico Sambeat and myself, Tom Gullion. TV de Galicia produced the concert and I'm sure it turned out to be something quite spectacular. They erected a huge stage in front of an amazing medieval cathedral. To be honest it seemed to be a little much for a single jazz concert. There was a full, computerized light show, eight cameras including one on a crane, one on rails, several stationary and several hand-helds.

Unfortunately, there was still the question of getting paid after the concert. I had sent at least three faxes stating the conditions under which I must be paid. It was relatively simple: a bank check for a certain amount of dollars (not the equivalent amount in pesetas). This is very important or you will lose money when you change to dollars. Well, that didn't happen. Of course, the guy from the office who made these agreements wasn't there and didn't send a check. So they had a big wad of Spanish money waiting for me! Of course, I had a cow after the day I had had. After much discussion I got them to agree to pay me what they had (plus some cash they had to go get from an automatic bank machine) and deposit the rest into my bank account.

I have to assume some responsibility for these problems with the production company because we never wrote a formal contract. We just sent some faxes back and forth. This lesson had been well learned. I'll never go out of town without a serious contract complete with penalties and options again!

The day after the concert I had to get up really early and catch a flight. Luckily that seems to have gone okay up until now.

Influential books

2006-09-05T07:50:00.000-07:00

Technical Books

Any and all books by David N. Baker. He was my teacher at Indiana University and I can't begin to tell you all how much he helped me. While I would suggest that you study with him directly if possible, his books are full of a wealth of information that will definitely benefit any student of music.

A Chromatic Approach to Jazz Harmony and Melody
David Liebman
ASIN: 3892210306

This book solidified a lot of the concepts that I learned from David N. Bakerwhile at Indiana University. That shouldn't be taken as a slam against David. On the contrary, he presents that material so solidly and extensively. I think what happened for me was that I was final at a point where, when I looked at this material again, I could see how to incorporate it into my playing and writing.

Self-portrait of a jazz artist : musical thoughts and realities
David Liebman
ISBN: 3892210136

What a great opportunity to take a peek inside the thoughts of one of the greats in jazz.

Devloping a Personal Saxophone Sound
David Liebman
ISBN: ?

I happened upon this book at just the right time. Just as I was really searching for my own voice (both as a saxophonist and an improvisor), I found some amazing information in this book. I would highly recommend this book to any saxophonist interested in honing their technique, tone and overall knowledge of the instrument. Short of studying will Joe Allard (Liebman's teacher) or Liebman himself, this book might help you get there.

Biographies, Analyses

Ascension : John Coltrane and His Quest
Eric Nisenson
ISBN: 0306806444

This was an enjoyable read about Coltrane's third development stage. Not a biograpy per se but much more than an anlysis.

Blue : The Murder of Jazz
Eric Nisenson
ISBN: 0312167857

I always enjoy reading about these "current state of jazz" and its future ideas. Everyone's has their own and is entitled to it. But I always learn something when I read these. I dug it.

Miles : The Autobiography
Miles Davis, Quincy Troupe
ISBN: 0671725823

A very entertaining book from one of the most influential musicians to have graced the planet. How could you pass this one up?

Spiritual Books

Effortless Mastery
Kenny Werner
ISBN: 156224003X

Kenny Werner has written a truly insightful book I think every musician should read. I think we as musicians tend to become overly attached to the music we make. So much so that it inhibits the possibilities that lie before us. Kenny talks a lot about getting out of the way and letting the music flow through you. I fully subscribe to that idea. I know from experience that I play my best when I'm relaxed and sit back and watch the music happen all around me. The moment I try to push it, the magic is lost.

The Musical Life: what it is and how to live it
W. A. Mathieu
ISBN: 0-87773-670-7

This isn't a "music geek" book at all. Its actually really amazing in that it speaks about the spiritual side of music so honestly and humbly - you can't help but be drawn in and probably learn something about your ears. Equally valuable for non-musicians and musicians.

On Being Human

The New Peoplemaking
Virginia Satir
ISBN: 0831400706

From my work taking the Pairs course (http://www.pairs.com), this book taught me a lot about being human.

Victories of the Heart
Robert Mark and Buddy Portugal
ISBN: 1852308001

The two authors reflect on their experiences leading a men's group. There are numerous stories of how the human spirit can triumph over any painful experience if we let it. And often that involves sharing your story, empathisizing with another and, basically, bonding with your fellow man. Something society seems to be trying to prevent.

A Scream Away from Happiness
Dr. Caswell
out of print

If you ever find this book BUY IT! It is one of the most moving pieces of literature I've ever read. Dr. Caswell was among the first to use encounter group therapy for drug addicts. But soon after he saw that it was also extremely powerful among all his patients. Among other things, those groups let the participants be honest with each other. So honest, in fact, that many patients are shown, in vivid detail, how they're hindering their own lives. An intriguing look at how we play games to cover up our anxieties.

Bitonal Concepts in Jazz

2006-09-05T07:46:00.000-07:00

Tom Gullion - Jan '97

While studying at Indiana University, David Baker opened many doors for me. From private lessons, his compositions and playing in his small group (the "21st Century Bebop Band") I was exposed to a LOT of bitonal/pantonal music. Here I will give a brief introduction to bitonality and share some insights I've gained along the way.

David Baker has many excellent books on the topic and David Liebman also has a very thorough book ("A Chromatic Approach to Jazz Harmony and Melody" Advance Music, 1991) that covers a lot of this material.

Though the definitions haven't seemed to finalize yet, bitonality is basically music characterized by the mutual coexistence of two tonal centers. Bitonal music thus offers the musicians two separate, yet interacting, harmonies to draw from. Although the nomenclature is the same, bitonality differs from pedal point. Pedal point is just a chord/scale played with an alternate bass note. Consider the following example:

Note that the C/Ab symbol can denote either a triad over a bass note or a triad over another triad.

In pedal point, the improvisor would play a C major scale over an Ab in the bass. He/she could either include Ab in the C major scale or ignore it. In bitonal music, an improvising musician may play from the C or Ab major scales, or as we'll see later, a combination of the two. In this article, we will be dealing with bitonality, not pedal point.

When first exposed to bitonal harmony, it is difficult to simultaneously think in two keys. Sometimes it helps to distill a scale from the two chords. By playing the chords on the piano or arpeggiating them on your instrument, you can usually determine which notes are most important and create a scale from the resulting notes.

You might choose a mode of F ascending melodic minor to play over C/Ab.

While finding a scale that approximates the chord sound is helpful it doesn't really open you up to the inner beauty of bitonal music. Playing off the sound of the chords is often a very rewarding experience that brings out musical ideas you may not have otherwise considered.

There are many approaches to practicing these chord/sounds. Given the above example chord (C/Ab) one could practice in the following manner. First I would definitely play the chord(s) on a piano and try to internalize the sound of the chord(s). Playing the two scales (C and Ab) simultaneously (by alternating between the two scales) is also very effective and a good intellectual exercise as well. For example, play the two scales alternating:

Another approach is to assign scales to particular ranges (usually octaves). For example, from C3 to B3 play C, from C4 to B4 play Ab, and so on. Yet another is to create a "hybrid" scale that best represents the sound to your ears. It could be an altered diatonic, pentatonic or whatever scale you dream up. Woody Shaw was a master at this.

Often, through this type of practicing, you will make many discoveries such as licks, phrases and/or harmonic insights. Try to stay open to these because these discoveries are what I find most exciting and interesting. Many of these can carry over to your "straight-ahead" harmonic conception and may just give you that fresh sound you've been striving for.

One of my "pet" bitonal concepts that has proved useful in all kinds of music has been the relation between chords stacked at the interval of a major third. There is a simultaneous consonance and dissonance that really opens up a lot of possiblities for me. This, of course, is nothing new. Just consider the bridge to "Have You Met Miss Jones" or the Giant Steps cycle. Giant Steps has just three basic tonal centers: B - G - Eb. With some experimenting at the keyboard, you'll see what I mean. Playing any two of those chords (just as triads for simplicity) will show you where the consonance/dissonance lies. Each chord has a common tone but introduces two half-step clashes. But yet, to my ear, there is a very settled, consonant sound. Consider the following example:

Note the symmetry between these stacked chords. These make for some interesting lines.

There are many more symmetrical licks like that one that might be worth exploring. There are also lots of altered pentatonic possiblities as well. With this music you really take note of the endless choices available.

Hopefully this will provide some inspiration for you. Personally, bitonal harmony really opened up my playing and showed me a lot about how to control dissonance. When you get right down to it, controlling dissonance is what improvising is all about. All those incredible musical moments occur because of the constant struggle toward resolution. Effective manipulation of consonance and dissonance makes your music more powerful and more meaningful. Just like life.

reviving my blog

2006-07-31T06:52:00.000-07:00

I'm going to attempt to provide short summaries after gigs and somewhat important events. I've seen other musicians' blogs take this approach and it seems like a reasonable approach.

Benefits of transcribing solos

2006-05-05T07:45:00.000-07:00

Tom Gullion - Jan '97

We often hear older jazz musicians brag about the way they learned to play: transcribing solos from records. Our first response is to often write it off the same way we ignore Grandpa's comments about trudging five miles through the snow to get to school. Now we have cars and buses to get to school and jazz play-a-long recordings to learn to solo. But maybe there are some hidden benefits to taking the "long road".

The end result of the transcription process, a beautifully written score, should not be the main goal. The "act" of transcribing is what is important. It subtley but powerfully teaches ear training, concentration, notation, harmony, rhythm, sound production, articulation, and many more skills. What other exercise in your daily practice routine can condense so much into so little time?

When I was coming up, I remember thinking transcribing was just another dumb exercise, similar to etudes. Some sort of rite of passage. It wasn't until I was deeply involved in the process that I started to hear so much more music. I discovered the beauty in the interplay of all the instruments and got my first glimpse at why this music was moving me so deeply. Subconciously I suppose I had been hearing it but conciously I had been too overwhelmed by the soloist to truly hear all the music.

The most obvious benefits of transcribing are ear training, rhythm, articulation and notation. The process involves hearing the line and figuring out how to notate it. Thus, at first glance, one might think these were the only skills to be gained. These skills are undoubtedly very important and should never be trivialized. But there are some deeper lessons to be learned.

Concentration is a skill which can't be overemphasized (especially in jazz). As improvising musicians we are confronted with the monumental task of spontaneously creating meaningful art in some of the most hostile environments. Nightclubs are notoriously full of distractions such as noise, smoke, temperature (too cold or too hot) not to mention the close proximity of the audience (clubs like the Village Vanguard have the first row of tables right at your feet!).

An added benefit of listening so closely is that you begin to pick up the subtle parameters that make up a player's sound. While playing back the transcribed solo, it is virtually impossible not to sound like the soloist. Intrinisically you start to play with their articulations and sonic nuances which soon lead to discoveries about that individual's style. I encourage all of my students to try to imitate the soloists exactly. While I don't want them to become exact copies of the soloist, I believe they learn invaluable lessons about sound production and variation as well as increasing their possible repsonses to particular musical situations. While playing, my mood is often changed when I hear one of the other musicians play something (a piano voicing, bass line, rhythmic figure, etc.) that reminds me of a recording I've heard and I will often evoke the emotion I remember from that recording. Its subtle but I believe it adds to the depth of the music.

Great Jazz Writing on the Web

2006-04-05T07:36:00.000-07:00

Just a quick list of nice links to jazz-related writings:

creating meaning

2005-03-07T16:36:00.000-08:00

My colleague Bill Neil recently wrote “Why waste the time and notes at the fundamental level when you really want to get at the notes with meaning?” We were discussing a composition we’re collaborating on.

Anyway, the power that sentence really struck me. Exactly! He condensed the essence of musical expression into a short question. BTW, he has an incredible knack for doing that sort of thing.

Consider Miles Davis’ use of space, Charlie Parker’s use of flat nines (among many other incredible note choices) and Coltrane’s use of extended chord tones…they all create meaning. Sounds quite simple when you distill it down to this. However, we all know just how difficult it is to create meaningful music.

Perhaps Bill’s question suggests a way to approach making music that will guide us toward creating meaning.

IAJE judging forms

2005-03-07T16:35:00.000-08:00

Recently I had the honor of working as an adjudicator and clinician for a couple university jazz festivals. A large number of high school bands participated and, as always, blew me away! It’s always a pleasure to enjoy the hard work of the students and see their enthusiasm.

I take the role of “judge” very seriously and try to offer useful advice (instead of criticism). I was very happy to see the festival organizers leave room at the end of each performance for the judges to do a quick workshop with the band. Obviously, an interactive workshop is far better than static comments on a sheet of paper.

But the real reason I’m writing this is a dilemma I see within the IAJE-approved judging sheet. For competitive judging, there are a number of criteria you’re to assign numbers to. The very first one, for 25 points, is Improvisation. Being a devout improviser, I think this sets the proper tone for the judge work sheet.

The dilemma arises when bands play the repertory pieces from Wynton’s Jazz at Lincoln Center. There was one band in particular who did a stellar job playing three Ellington charts. I mean, this band was swingin’, playing all the right phrasing, etc. But every soloist played the transcribed solo included in the chart. Not one ounce of improvisation.

The kids did an admirable job playing the various solos by Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Bubber Miley, etc. But, as I said, they didn’t do anything beyond just playing them. Is it improvisation? Of course not. But I did give them credit for at least studying the recording.

But I really wanted to give them a zero for improvisation because it just wasn’t there.

My suggestion to band directors is to take these charts from JALC and use them. No one can argue with the quality and the price. In fact, I’m very happy kids are being exposed to this music. But, please, open up some solo sections. Ellington did not play this music in such a static fashion.

recorded music is a commodity

2005-03-07T16:33:00.000-08:00

As I sit here thinking about the new year ahead, I feel compelled to group some growing thoughts on the value of recorded music.

Recorded music obviously adds tremendous value to our everyday lives. The market for recorded music has, until recently, proven just how valuable it is. However, as we all know, recent trends (e.g., digital music, file compression, peer-to-peer file sharing networks like Napster) have fundamentally changed the industry.

Previously it was quite simple to “protect” recorded music since copies were obvious degradations in quality. Digital recording and CD ripping software have changed that forever.

People are very willing to shell a few hundred bucks for an iPod but seem to think the recorded music content should be free. This has been debated elsewhere so I won’t belabor this.

But the most interesting aspect of this for me is to consider the implications of these actions.

Consider artistshare.com - which is a next-generation label that is trying to get seed funding for recording projects as they are being created. I find this interesting in that it is helping an artist record something but it also establishes a community (since participants subscribe to ongoing details behind the project).

There is an interesting interview with Brian Camelio (president of artistshare) where he does some financial projections behind what an artist makes per download on some of the pay-per-download sites. Very sobering.

But this all condenses down into the core value of music: providing a live experience for people to share. Composer William Neil (http://www.thecomposerstudio.com/) recently started using the term “experience” to describe what we offer audiences. I agree completely with this idea. We have to share much more than just music if we’re to really reach out to people.

I see all this as a boost for live music. It’s the beginning of a new year. I can feel optimistic, can’t I?

listening for music

2005-03-05T11:25:00.000-08:00

This blog is all about trying to find the true essence of music. In my studies of Tai Chi I came across the term "ting jing." This is loosely translated as a mystical listening power where one could "hear" the intention of an opponent.

I prefer to think in more peaceful terms. ;-) But I strongly believe music is successful when we tune into this deeper power.