I’m analyzing gil evans’ arrangement of “new rhumba”, and his voicings are very guitaristic. not sure if this is because he orchestrated the parts from ahmad jamal’s recording (which has ray crawford on guitar) or if it is just his style, but all the voicings are surprisingly playable. the main riff is a C13 – Gm, where the C13 is spelled (low to high) C Bb D E A, and the Gm (G F Bb D G). another nice ii-V he uses is G-7 (Bb D F A) – C7 (Bb Db E A) – F (A C E G).

I have read quite a few great books this year. since almost everything I read is based on recommendations from friends, family, or people on the internet, I thought I would share my current favorite books.

Too Big To Fail – A great insider’s account of the events leading up to the lehman failure. It’s a real page turner, I found it hard to put down and there are lots of great anecdotes. This is the best business book I’ve read since “A Conspiracy of Fools”.

Mastering Regular Expressions – I read this on the recommendation of the guys who developed django, the python web framework. It’s a great technical book which unravels the mysteries of regular expressions in a clear, systematic way. I’d recommend this book to any programmer, regardless of language or technology you work in. I get more stuff done faster because of this book.

Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original – A wonderful biography of one of the greatest musicians ever. It’s very detailed, and really gives a great picture of Monk’s world and what his life was like. Dispels a lot of rumors, and offers the best explanation of Monk’s later years than anything else I’ve read.

The Arabian Nights – Fantastic, classic stories. I haven’t finished this book yet, but the stories are short and it’s easy to read just a few.

Still on my list to read this year is Godel, Escher, Bach: The Eternal Golden Braid. Apparently this is a tough read, but I can’t wait.

I’ve been working with the Blue Saracens quite a bit recently at swing 46, so I decided to write a few charts for the band. The first tune is one that I wrote recently, and instead of writing a melody and then arranging it for five horns, I composed the whole thing at once.
Listen to “Spring Again” (PDF of score)

The second tune is an arrangement of a tune I wrote more than 10 years ago, when I was in college. I had come home from a classical guitar lesson, it was a perfect 73 degrees outside, and I had no classes that afternoon, so I wrote this tune, entitled “73 degrees”. It’s fairly tricky to play, especially the bridge.
Listen to “Seventy Three” (PDF of score)

Hope you enjoy these new tunes and arrangements. Both recordings are from gigs at Swing 46, recorded using a Zoom H2 recorder, so the sound quality is not the best.

this morning I recorded a version of the tune “amazing grace” on my 11 string fretless guitar. you can listen here.

playing fretless is definitely a work in progress, although I wasn’t as hard as I initially thought it would be to play kind of in tune. the guitar has 5 doubled strings and a low drone string similar to an oud, I tune the drone string to C and the rest of the strings are tuned in just intonation relative to that C.

I’m playing quite a bit over the next month with the Blue Saracens at Swing 46, a great swing dance club in midtown manhattan. If you are in the neighborhood, I’m playing next saturday the 26th, and am there every thursday night in June, from 8:30-11:30.

There is a free swing dance lesson, food and drinks, and atmosphere is great. Come on by!

I’m playing guitar with the Blue Saracens at Swing 46 tomorrow evening, from 8:30 til midnight. if you’re in the neighborhood, come on by!

Here’s a PDF (MP3) of the first chorus of Red Garland’s solo on the gershwin tune, “A Foggy Day”. I decided to transcribe Paul Chambers’ bassline because, well, he’s Paul Chambers, and also because it’s remarkably clear on the recording, as Art Taylor uses brushes throughout.

As always, this transcription is more of a guide than an attempt to be 100% accurate. Red plays some great, long classic bebop lines on this. He likes to accent the highest note of the phrase, which he often places on a strong beat. I’ve put a marcato where he gives a pronounced accent.

Paul plays some very interesting lines in this and always picks interesting notes, check out the Eb – D – C line he plays starting in bar 11. Also, check out his super high line (which I have in treble clef) starting in bar 13! he really uses the full range of the bass, and this really adds a lot of intensity to the music. I have yet to notate red’s always great chord puncutations, which are such an integral part of his style. The chord symbols I’ve put above the staff reflect the changes of the tune in general, but aren’t always exactly what they play in a given spot. when in doubt, the recording obviously speaks the truth.

Here is a very short transcription of Peter Bernstein’s intro to “You are too beautiful”, by the Ralph Lalama quartetit’s a nice intro with a strong monkish flavor. the major seconds in the second bar are very cool, as is the descending dominant chords leading into the first chord of the tune, which is a Bb-7.

Here is a version of Wildwood Flower I recorded this evening, arranged by Russ Barenberg. Russ plays this arrangement much faster and with a swing feel, I slowed it down a lot and played it straighter as it sounds prettier to me at a slightly slower tempo. the recording is not perfect, but I feel pretty good about it.

I’m playing with the Blue Saracens @ Swing 46 saturday night, 9:30pm til late. I really like playing with this band, and there are some great swing dancers at Swing 46 so it’s usually fun. come on out!