PRACTICE PORTAL

Here are two songs that i wrote for my sons. as i wrote i tried to think about their personalities and to capture a little bit of them in the melodies. Kai is my firstborn. he’s creative and quick. he’s also a bit complex and moody. he’s not that interested in music, he would rather draw or play soccer than sit at the piano. he will pick up the trumpet or the flute from time to time but he never uses them the way they are intended to be. Shion is a bit different. he’s like a little bull, very strong, aggressive and energetic. he loves to dance and sing and he annoys his big brother to no end. they are opposites in many ways: Kai’s reserved, Shion is out going. Kai’s slender, Shion is stocky… anyway, i think of these songs like little photographs and am happy with how they turned out. one day i’ll record them but for now, i’ll share the PDFs with anyone who’d like to check them out…

OPEN TRANSCRIPTION WINDOW (KAI KAI)

OPEN TRANSCRIPTION WINDOW (SHION)

I bought a copy of Mark Turner’s eponymous CD a few months back and before long, i had his version of “317 East 32nd Street” on repeat. as a saxophonist i, am always amazed by the facility of Turner (and Joshua Redman, who also plays on this tune). there is a passage from the 20th measure of the song that moves into the altissimo register of the tenor sax and is really difficult to make sing. Turner pulls it off like he’s playing in the comfortable middle register. although they are not the first to play with fluidity in the extreme registers, guys like Turner and Redman, Joe Lovano and others have set new technical standards for contemporary saxophonists. those high G’s and A’s are no longer only used as “devices”. by that i mean they are no longer just the domain of honkers and screechers (not a diss). what i’m trying to say is that these notes are more often being seemlessly incorporated into the melodic line as opposed to serving only as emotional exclamation points. Turner is a pretty scary saxophonist, a very unique voice among the younger generation of musicians. i first heard his work on YAM YAM, a CD he released several years back. i’m glad to hear that he’s recovering from his recent injury and is back playing.

Tristano’s tune has great melody line with some of the tricky rhythmic ideas that he’s known for. there are a couple of spots in the melody (bars 15 and 16, and bars 23 and 24) where i wrote down what i can only call a rough approximation of how it might be notated. keep in mind, i don’t have a recording of a Tristano version so i used the Turner version as a reference. you can listen to the clip and draw your own conclusions. if anyone has suggestions on how it should be notated, i’d love to hear them… listening to “317 East 32nd Street”, which is based on the “Out Of Nowhere” progression, inspired me to try and write my own melody. unfortunately, i’ve yet to record “Into thin Air” but you can hear a clip of “317 East 32nd Street” and check out charts of both tunes below…

LENNIE TRISTANO (MARK TURNER)- “317 EAST 32ND STREET“ (mp3)

OPEN “317 EAST 32ND STREET” TRANSCRIPTION WINDOW

OPEN “INTO THIN AIR” TRANSCRIPTION WINDOW