Jazzlab VII

February is coming to a close, and with it we review everything blues!
This week, choose one type of blues listed in the handout to focus on. Play through the chords (or arpeggios) and listen to one or more of the recordings that go along to it.

For further listening I'd encourage you to check out a few of the blueses at the bottom of the list; they take the form and use it to think outside of the box. If nothing else, give a listen to Watermelon Man.

Old School Blues:

Jazz Blues:

Minor Blues:

Other Blueses:

Bird Blues: Blues for Alice.
Lots of extra II-V motion to get between each chord (check out the handout).

Altered Blues Form/Changes: Watermelon Man.

Whole Tone Blues: Our Man Higgins. 
The same chord progression as a standard blues, but every 7 chord has a #5 (eg. Bb D F# Ab).

Altered Blues Changes: Matrix.

Jazzlab V

Good work this week!

Here's the handout that includes the Eb mixolydian scale and Eb7 chord (C mixolydian and C7 for alto). Practice playing the scales and arpeggiating the chords in order (Bb7 F7 Bb7 Eb7 or G7 D7 G7 C7 for alto).

For this week, listen to this Blues. The Blues is based on the three chords we're working on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2ZsnnFiU68

Jazzlab IV

We'll see you on this Saturday the 3rd! As this is the beginning of the second month, please come with payment for the 4 classes of February.

Here's a reminder of our objectives from last week:

1. Memorize concert F mixolydian (D mixolydian for alto sax),
2. Memorize F7 chord/arpeggio (D7 for alto sax),
3. Practice moving between Bb7 and F7 on top of the playalong below, improvising for two bars on each chord. Try using mixolydian scales changing every two bars based on the chord, then practice using the blues scale over both chords.

Practice along to this playalong:

This week, continue this practice and try learning the first phrase of this melody from this recording (what the sax is playing from 0:05 to 0:14 - then it repeats):

'Nutty' - Thelonious Monk:

Jazzlab III

Good work this week! Here's our handout of the material we covered:

Here are our objectives for next week:

1. Memorize concert F mixolydian (D mixolydian for alto sax),
2. Memorize F7 chord/arpeggio (D7 for alto sax),
3. Practice moving between Bb7 and F7 on top of the playalong below, improvising for two bars on each chord. Try using mixolydian scales changing every two bars based on the chord, then practice using the blues scale over both chords.

Practice along to this playalong:

Listening:

The Theme - Miles Davis. The majority of this tune uses our two chords.

Rockin' in Rhythm - Duke Ellington Orchestra. The last half of the tune uses the two chords we talked about.

Jazzlab I

Welcome to the Jazzlab page! Homework and extra links for the course will be posted here.

1. Memorize these three items on your instrument:
   1. Bb mixolydian scale
   2. Bb Blues Scale
   3. Bb7 chord/arpeggio
2. Make up and memorize one riff using the mixolydian scale and one riff using the blues scale. Remember, simpler is better! It could be as short as two notes.
3. Your listening homework is to listen to these two tracks. Both use the mixolydian scale really heavily!

This week's track: Freedom Jazz Dance, Eddie Harris. Try playing your Bb scales and chords along to it! The players use lots of Blues Scale in their improvisations.

Additional Listening: Passion Dance, McCoy Tyner. This uses F mixolydian (Bb major scale).

Next week's track: The Kid From Red Bank, The Count Basie Orchestra.