Thanks so much for checking out my blog! My aim with these is to provide resources that can help you in your improvisation practice, including providing you with a free 8vbebop Etude. This etude is over the classic Horace Silver Composition Sister Sadie.
I chose this tune because it's a great tune to learn if you're just getting comfortable with improvising, and it has only a few different chords. I used the extended G7 chords in the A sections to show some possibilities of bebop based ideas, blues ideas, diminished ideas, and minor ideas off of the ii chord (D minor). Feel free to reach out if you have questions, if you found this helpful, or if you'd like to see more content like this!
Dig This!
In every newsletter, I'll be including a recording, live performance, or other music-related videos that I have found inspiring or helpful. This month's video is one of the most recent Live from Emmet's Place performances featuring Dr. Eddie Henderson and Steve Davis. I chose this video because:
- Steve Davis and Dr. Henderson both have sounds, style, and language that we all strive for, as well as an improvisational fluency and comfort that is truly inspiring. In particular, Steve Davis is one of my musical North Stars because he always sounds like he has the "cheat code" to playing the most melodic and swinging phrases over any tune without any nonsense!
- Emmet and his trio have really revolutionized what an online jazz livestream could be, and they continue this series even as we have resumed our daily routines.
- If you dig to the middle of the video, they give some valuable pedagogical insights about improvising that Dr. Henderson learned from Miles. They also talk about an often overlooked but no less amazing musician; Jackie McLean.