One of the things that people tell me they want to get better at is improvisation – one of the best ways to learn is to transcribe the masters. Dexter Gordon is certainly one of those masters and here is playing Charlie Parker’s, (another incredible ‘master’, if not THE master) ‘Scrapple from the Apple’. This recording is taken from Gordon’s 1963 Blue Note album, Our Man in Paris.
I stumbled across this album of Mark’s on Apple Music when driving back from my parents after a family visit. I’ve been a fan of Mark’s playing for years and this rendition of ‘Skylark’ just blew me away.
In this course, we are going to transcribe Blues Walk by the legendary saxophonist, Lou Donaldson. It’s a real ‘Tour de Force’ of Blues playing that will really enhance not only your blues vocabulary but your phrasing, time feel, and much more!
The Jazz Standard ‘Autumn Leaves’ was composed by Hungarian composer Joseph Kosma in 1946. Kosma was a native of Hungary who was introduced to Prévert in Paris. They collaborated on the song Les Feuilles mortes (“The Dead Leaves”) for the 1946 film Les Portes de la nuit (Gates of the Night) where it was sung […]
In this transcription project we are going to be looking at one chorus of Duke Ellington’s ‘In A Mellow Tone’. The harmony is relatively simple, but really rich and you will get some fantastic Dominant 7th lines down if you give this course the application it deserves.
The Surrey with the Fringe on Top” is a show tune from the 1943 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma!. It was recorded by Sonny Rollins on his 1957 album, ‘Newk’s Time’ which was released in 1959. Sonny’s version features just him on tenor and ‘Philly’ Joe Jones on Drums. It’s a great way of appreciating […]