There’s some new video just out of this fun project I was involved in last year lead by Slim Heilpern. I wanted to share it with folks and hope you enjoy this take of Sandu! There are more clips and info about the Jazz Harmonica Summit here.
Robert Bowman Piano Recital at Hollis Street Loft
We had a very nice turnout for our house concert January 30 featuring the one and only Robert Bowman. He played an evening of Beethoven sonatas beautifully and from memory no less. We love doing music events and hope to continue to hold them occasionally.
Find out a lot more about Robert Bowman at www.robertebowman.com
In the morning mirror I look like a scarecrow. Water from the shower has reasonably fixed me.
At the piano I play in A major. Fleshing out more of the same ideas but in a different way and some new things have emerged because I’m no longer afraid to hear new things. My fingers are loosening and playing their own music with time.
Can’t listen to Joni yet. The audio cable was so tightly wound and won’t reach the stereo. Unwind the twisted cable.
This new year. I’m afraid. I’m encouraged. I’m happy. I’m remorseful for those who have had their lives stolen by unjust wars and jubilant for the brave resistance to them.
This year is the time to make ourselves more beautiful. To unwind all of the cables. To fearlessly look for new music. And to love those who are here with us and those who have left us.
Pretend governments doesn’t exist. It’s up to us to invent our new way of living and giving. Now. This year.
We have sent out many long tendrils to our friends new and old and we seek closeness beyond distance and time. But the time is now to make that closeness meaningful and to share our hints and clues with each other on how to live better.
Rekindling and building our communities.
In this desolate wasteland of missed opportunities let’s strike out with creative abandon to let the whole world know that money is not a thing of value. Beauty is. Courage is.
Touch without breaking things. If we can learn to do that we get to stay.
I wanted to say that I’m very excited to be part of this performance on January 6th with the Sheldon Brown Group! The music is really cool and very challenging and this is a rather rare occasion where Sheldon gets to perform his own compositions.
Nothing like getting your ass kicked so thoroughly you actually feel good about it. These guys play at such a high level that I am really sweating to get the music together but I was lucky to have had some time to internalize the unusual meters and the harmonic depth of Sheldon’s music.
Wish me luck! And please come hear us! I would be nice to have a good crowd for this one!
This is my first drumming post. As an introduction to this forum, I would like to share some of my thoughts on how we can develop a more melodic sensibility while also improving our technical ability on the drum set. A strong command of the rudiments is essential to being able to play musically. This approach was an attempt to accomplish strong and useful chops in a fun and creative way. I’m hoping you find the exercises enjoyable as well!
The following PDF is the first block of exercises I created using the book, Syncopation by Ted Reed. You will see that I have written out numerous four bar phrases which share the same syncopated figure. The rolls that connect the rhythms are of different speeds and densities. You can look at them as a diverse palette of colors and shades you can use to augment any given syncopated figure.
It is a melodic approach to drumming which will allow you to command a much more musical grasp on these pots and pans we call the drums.
Download the following pdf to begin your journey and remember to be patient with yourself while learning them. More important than playing them exactly right, you should begin to see the patterns and the ways in which a simple syncopated figure can be expanded upon.
Syncopation – Snare Drum Studies – PDF Download
Once you have mastered these exercises the idea is that you would apply them to to pages 38 through 45 of the Syncopation book. Each exercise should be memorized and thought of as a key which you can apply as you sight read through your Syncopation studies. Hopefully as you look at the examples you will begin to see the logic in this. Feel free to ask questions should they come up. Audio examples will be added soon too I promise!
For the Drumset
The next set of exercises is essentially the same concepts expanded to include the snare and bass drum together. These are hard but fun and I think will provide you with a sense of what is possible. My hope is that you will take these ideas and create much hipper phrases and concepts to use in whatever style of music you like to play.
Syncopation Studies for the Drumset – PDF Download
Another year has passed and I am ever more sure that music should be the primary focus of my path forward. That said, devoting more time to ones music during this economic nightmare is at least a little crazy.
Many fun things on the horizon in early 2010!
We are into daylight savings time now and I always get a sinking feeling this time of year knowing that the days pass faster and light is something you grab when you can. We did that today with a walk in the warm sun and, later a look at Michael Jackson’s parting musical gift, “This is It”. I strongly recommend seeing the movie!
Michael said it and I’ll say it too:
We are in a unique point right here right now here on earth. We have the capacity to create and destroy but far more talent in the latter. If we are not creative, the end is clearly looking certain for the majority. Change is needed but we clearly lack the capacity to fundamentally reinvent our vision of our place on earth. We are mainly spectators and customers of life and that won’t do any longer.
But we are learning and hopefully will take the crash course and not end up like so many other creatures long since extinct before us.
If I believed in god I would pray.
While the world seems to be toppling, musicians have held their ground and are beginning to see that a new society will be forged by the creative beings who have always seen opportunity in chaos.
While that previous sentence may be complete crap, I am very busy playing with all of my favorite musicians and that definitely makes the world feel like a much better place.
This coming week I’ll be recording a cd with Sam Bevan, Grant Levin and Masaru Koga. It should be a really interesting couple of days! We have a bunch of nice tunes to record and we’ll be doing quite a bit of free improvising as well. This will be a perfect preparation for my gig at Annas Jazz Island on the 18th of October with the same group. Then we’ll play mostly my tunes as well as originals by the other guys. Hope to see a lot of friends there to support our efforts and the great local club we call Annas!
Amidst all of this I am gearing up for the big audition at Lincoln Center on the 24th for the Rhythm Road, playing a gig on October 11th with Sheldon Brown and Michael Wilcox at Chez Hanny and rehearsing for all of these simultaneously! Wish me luck.
Later this month I’ll be joining the Dan Zemelman Quartet in auditioning for the Rhythm Road American Music Abroad Program. It should be a fun trip to NY and I’m really looking forward to more chances to play with Dans group!! It’s Dan Z on piano, Erik Jekobsen on trumpet and daniel Fabricant on bass. If we are selected, we’ll be going on a 6 week tour to some very exotic places but I have no idea where as of yet… More to come!
New CD Release – Hawkeye
I’m very happy to say that I have a brand new CD release which was a collaboration with Sam Bevan, Mas Koga and Grant Levin. We’ve just received the final cds and will soon have them up on itunes and cd baby for purchase!
The musicians are:
Sam Bevan – bass
Mas Koga – sax, flutes
Grant Levin – piano
Bryan Bowman – drums
The CD was recorded at San Pablo Recorders by Bond Bergland. It was mixed at Spliggetyfidge records by Kevin Weber and mastered By Sam Bevan at Bev’s Lair Studios.
Our CD Release date will be announced soon! In the mean time you can listen to samples by clicking play on the Reverb Nation player on the right side of this page.
The cd cover is actually from a painting by the great bay Area artist, Yvette Buiguess.
For more information about this release and for booking send me an email.