All your jazz favorites done in ’60s-style Japanese–too fun to miss this one!

YouTube - モダン・ジャズ・オペラ 桃太郎.

Emily Remler is one of my all-time favorite jazz musicians–a wonderful guitarist who was on the rise toward

stardom when she lost her life to heroin addiction at age 31. I have all her albums and enjoy them

frequently.  There are two “Retrospective” albums of her work  (Volume 1:  Standards and Volume 2: Compositions), but my favorite is probably East to Wes. (BTW, I purchased most of her tunes as downloads on emusic.com.)

Emily was not only a great player, she was a dedicated jazz teacher, too. She made several instructional videos which I have found quite valuable, and her approach to soloing has really helped me to find “good notes” over the changes. I’ll

share some of what I learned from her in an article on using melodic minor scales.

Click here to visit a fabulous blog with TONS of great info about Emily, her music, and her life. Enjoy!

These came to me in an email today. Some funny stuff, especially  number 7 (my pet peeve!).

1. Everyone should play the same piece.

2. Stop at every repeat sign and discuss in detail whether to take the repeat or not. Listeners will love this!

3. Carefully tune your instrument before playing. That way you can play out of tune with a clear conscience.

4. Take your time turning pages.

5. The right note at the wrong time is a wrong note (and vice versa).

6. If everyone gets lost except you, follow those who get lost.

7. If a passage is difficult, slow it down. If it’s easy, speed it up. Everything will work itself out in the end.

8. If you are completely lost, stop and say, “I think we should tune.”

9. Happy are those who have not perfect pitch, for the kingdom of music is theirs.

10. If the ensemble has to stop because of you, explain in detail why you got lost. Everyone will be very interested.

11. A wrong note played timidly is a wrong note. A wrong note played with authority is an interpretation. [Actually, this is pretty much true! DR]

12. When everyone else has finished playing, you should not play any notes you have left.

While looking for something else (John Coltrane playing Minor Mishap featuring Eric Dolphy on flute), I stumbled upon a FREE, online jazz magazine.

They publish in Adobe PDF format–just download and enjoy. I haven’t read a copy yet, but will say more about it when I have a chance. I’ll also post it as a link.

Enjoy!

A wise old combat veteran says…

“Fear is nothing more than an emotional response to the perception of danger coupled with the belief that I can’t handle it.”

He went on to say…

“If you change that belief to ‘I can handle it’, you no longer will be experiencing FEAR. You will simply see what you are facing as a challenge… an opportunity to test yourself. You’ll be energized--you’ll actually fight harder and better.”

Great thoughts for those of us who “fight” with those solo opportunities!