March 25, 2008

Feast Your Ears On These

Three new originals from the Jazz/Funk/Fusion group Summit 2V1 are now ready for your ears:

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Quesa Ridge, by Summit 2V1
MP3 - 6.8MB
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Indian Rd., by Phillip Bernosky
MP3 - 6.4MB
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Brecker Peak, by Phillip Bernosky
MP3 - 5.5MB
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We’d love to hear what you think…

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March 24, 2008

Posts are in Reverse Order

Wordpress Posts are were in Reverse Order

Well, it is fixed now, but for you techies out there, it required updrading Wordpress to the latest version (2.3.3) and updrading php to 5.2.2. The Wordpress forums [1] said it was a problem with MySQL 5.0.51 and phpMyAdmin says I have 5.0.51a-lab, but all seems to work now.

[1] http://wordpress.org/support/topic/154622

Note: This initially happened after migrating to the “new platform” with my host ipower.

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May 5, 2007

Latest Originals Now Available for Download

Our latest batch of original demo songs are now available for download in mp3 format. They are:

New Year’s Resolution,
No Money No Time, and
Tequila Mon Jaro.

Drop us a comment and let us know what you think of them.

Posted by brad under News | Comments (2)

August 20, 2006

Dim and Aug Patterns

EA_Dim_Aug.jpg
Here are some very Coltrane-like diminished and augmented patterns transcribed off of tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander’s performance of the song “Matchmaker, Matchmaker” on his CD titled The Second Milestone. These are just little snippets of patterns and I transcribed them into all keys. The diminished patterns run from measures 1 to 6 and the augmented patterns run from measures 7 to 12. I have also provided mp3 snippets.

ea_aug_rif.mp3
ea_dim_rif.mp3

Get the CD here:
The Second Milestone

Posted by brad under Transcriptions | Comments (0)

August 15, 2006

Gordon Biersch

Philip and Dave.jpgWe had a fantastic time playing at Gordon Biersch in San Jose during last Sunday’s brunch! It was a beautiful day, the crowd was enthusiastic, we were very warmly received, and the food and beer were excellent! Joe.jpgIt just doesn’t get any better than that! It is really a nice space to play in, and thanks to Chris’ new sound system, we really filled it up with a big full sound. We christened our 4 newest songs – 3 composed by our keyboardist Philip Bernosky (New Year’s Resolution, Brecker Peak, and No Money No Time), and one called Tequila Mon Jaro by the band. Chris and Brad.jpgWe’re lining up something special for our next time there (Sept. 10, 2006). Thanks to all who attended!
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June 23, 2006

May 2006 Update

ControlRoom.jpgIt’s been a while since the last post. We took some time off, but we’ve been busy lately working on our new demo of all original tunes. We recorded at the Blue Universe studio in San Luis Obispo. We’re still working on it, but it will be out soon. Wait for it – wait for it.

EWI4000s.jpgMeanwhile, I got a new EWI4000s Electronic Wind Instrument (EWI), so come out to a gig and check it out. It is the latest from Akai and has the analog modeling synth and effects built right in.

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June 23, 2006

Yellowjackets @ Kuumbwa Jazz Center

Contributed by pber on Tuesday, June 07, 2005

YJ.jpgWhat a fantastic concert. We got there right at 6 and had seats about mid-way back, off to the left side so I could see the piano, and Devin (my son) had a good view of the drummer.

Haslip was hanging out in the club until about 6:40 – just talking with people, bass in hand. Russell Ferrante came out as well and chatted with a few people. Russell’s parents where there – I chatted with them a bit. (Very proud parents) (continued…)

The concert started right at 7 minutes after the hour – it was killer right from the start.

They opened with two tunes from “Mint Jam” – Les is Mo and Mofongo, then right into Suite 15 (altered state)

Through the night they played Sea Folk (time squared), Prayer for Peace (Blue Hat), March Majestic (altered state), Claire’s Song (live wires)

They finished the set with some incredibly high-energy “irish-jig”-like tune where Russell and Bob Mintzer were locked in unison playing these screaming lines.

As an encore they did Revelation from Shades. The audience was pumped.

This is the first time I’ve heard their “new” drummer – Marcus Baylor. He smoked. Ouch. Talk about the ability to swing, he has it.

I’m not sure that was Jimmy Haslip playing – his hair was constantly all over his face, so it was hard to see WHO it was actually!

The sound was excellent at the club – it’s remarkable how quiet they actually play.

Overall, an excellent venue and excellent concert.

pber

Posted by brad under Reviews | Comments (0)

June 23, 2006

Passing Chords

For a definition of a passing chord, how about: A chord that is clearly out of the key of the surrounding chords and usually harmonically unstable, yet resolves to the following chord. (continued)

Notes: Harmonically unstable generally means containing a tritone, and resolving generally means chromatically approaching a strong tone such as a root, 3rd, or top melody note. The chromatic approach may be upward or downward. Stronger resolution is felt if the tritone either closes to a perfect fourth or opens to a perfect fifth. Often, a passing chord is the result of harmonizing a passing tone using a dim7 or dom7 chord. A passing tone is an out-of-key chromatic tone.

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June 23, 2006

Overtone Series

The overtone series is a group of pure tones that can be generated when something vibrates. Things can vibrate in different modes, and each mode has a pure tone associated with it. In general, a musical instrument creates vibrations in more than one mode simultaneously, so each note is really made of several pure tones from the overtone series. (continued)

The lowest pure tone is called the fundamental frequency (ff), and the overtone frequencies are multiples of the fundamental (ff, 2ff, 3ff, 4ff, 5ff, etc.) 2ff is an octave above ff, 3ff is a fifth above 2ff, 4ff is an octave above 2ff. 5ff is a major third above 4ff.

As to how the major scale is derived from the overtone series, it is based on the interval of the fifth. If you stack fifths until you have 7 notes, then transpose them into the same octave, you have a major scale. However, the equal tempered scale in use today is derived somewhat differently based on the twelfth root of 2.

By the way, the pentatonic scale is just 5 stacked 5ths. The Lydian-dominant scale can be derived out of the higher overtones 8ff, 9ff, 10ff, 11ff, 12ff, 13ff, 14ff.

Posted by brad under Music Theory | Comments (2)

June 23, 2006

The Altered Scale / Chord

The altered scale and its associated chord are prominent in many musical genres including jazz, soul, and R&B. The altered chord is a great tension chord that is typically used in minor keys. (continued)

The scale is composed or the root, b9, #9, 3, b5, #5, and b7. The chord is a dominant seventh type chord with one or more of the altered 9ths and 5ths from the scale. Typical examples of its notation in a chord chart would be C7alt or C7(#5#9). Note that not all dominant chords with chromatic alterations are from the altered scale. For example, any 7th chord with a regular 13th would not be from the altered scale. Also, chords spelled out as dominant 7th with just a b9 are taken to be from the diminished scale.

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