PRACTICE PORTAL

This past Friday, saxophonist DAVE PIETRO performed here in Tokyo with Jonathan Katz’s Tokyo Big Band. Pietro was the featured soloist on Katz’s music and several of his own compositions for big band and small ensemble. i was lucky enough to spend the entire night sitting onstage, a couple of feet away from him as he performed. speaking as a closeted sax geek, it was a real treat to see such a great technician at work. Pietro has rock solid command over the entire range of his horn and a big, round, expressive alto sound. he did some really amazing things during friday’s performance. one moment of the night that stands out for me is the cadenza he played at the end of a ballad that he wrote: a succession of subtly shifting arpeggios played over the  entire range of his horn. he’d start a run from the low end of his horn and take it up into the altissimo register. then he’d go back down and do it again. he was very inspiring. “… that’s why i wake  up with the rooster to get a couple of hours practice in before the kiddies wake up. i want to make my horn do things like that!” aside from the technical blah blah, Pietro is a very sensitive, powerful performer and composer. saxophonists, do yourself a favor and check him out. you won’t be dissapointed. if you happen to be in Tokyo on May 25th, go out to AKASAKA B FLAT to see the FREE concert featuring Pietro along with the great pianist/ composer/ bandleader and partner in crime, Jonathan Katz, in a quartet setting.

As requested by a reader, here is another excerpt from my yet to be published book of exercises, INTERVAL MATRIX. i won’t go into much detail since i previously posted information about it HERE. below is the chapter on perfect fourth intervals. enjoy…

Here’s a great song by British multi-instrumentalist, Victor Feldman. “New Delhi” was featured on the record, CANNONBALL ADDERLEY QUINTET PLUS, with Cannonball and Nat Adderley on the front line, Louis Hayes on drums, Sam Jones on bass, guest pianist Wynton Kelly, and Feldman on piano and vibes. “New Delhi” is a 32 bar AABA song featuring an ostinato bass line under the melody. the background rhythm is repeated through the melody by everyone but the lead voice. Nat Adderley, on cornet, plays the melody on the A sections and Feldman takes over on vibes through the bridge. the band then starts in with the straight up swing for the solos, moving back to the ostinato figure in the bridge. the blowing progression is a little different from that of the melody. it keeps the AABA form but each A section is an eight bar blues progression. so here you go, enjoy. thanks to Bbebop at PostBop.com for the request…

VICTOR FELDMAN- NEW DELHI (mp3)