Well, the chat bot can hold its own in a conversation about the finer points of jazz piano style….but then so could the guy in college that read the album cover instead of actually listening to the music. (That guy, usually an English major, became a jazz critic or the director of a jazz festival …
Jay Thomas makes my wood mouthpiece beta sound fantastic. I told him I was working on a v2 with a more stable wood and he told me not to throw this one out 🙂
Hey fellow jazz instrumentalists, music students, and all-round jazz consumers, I dug into the Drumgenius app that the fine saxophonist, Tim Armacost recommended to me and found it extraordinarily more interesting than playing with a metronome. Tons of drum styles, tempos, odd meters, and groves in 8 or more repeating bars that you can hook …
Hey folks, If you are here in the Northwest, you can catch us every third Friday in-person at Boxley’s. If not click here to tune in 8-10 PM United States Pacific Time (UTC-8) VIA YOUTUBE I’ll try to give you all a heads-up next month. We’ve been at it a few months now and it’s …
Hey folks! Long time no see. I’ve been taking a break to travel in some friendly European countries where society is not failing as it is here in the US (due to the long-term effects of right-wing policies). More about where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing later, but for those of you tracking …
Hey folks, Bored again. Covid bored. Fuck. Here is take 1 of GMH. Great tune. Problem for me is I heard the Joe Henderson version of this when I was 20 and I can’t get the Joe-isms out of my head when I play it ever since. It’s an amazing cut but I think it …
…not quite yet, but I’m working on it. At the moment I’m getting the right tools together and practicing on some crappy wood before I use the good stuff. If you didn’t read about the exciting lead up to this project, see the transformation of the cherry tree from my backyard to its present incarnation …
Hello folks, Thank you for your overwhelming response to my request to boost my recordings with the major online services last week. Incredibly, the algorithm is even MORE aware that I exist and is serving up my tunes to humans far and wide. My numbers are popping and the royalties are rolling in. To express …
Hey folks, Strange thing happened the other day. I got a royalty check. Yeah I know. Incredible. As it turns out, all the $.000000002’s that the streaming services give you eventually add up to a two figure dollar amount that they finally send you. In this case, I got a boost on Spotify because I …
Hello again folks, I pulled out the clarinet and made this thing. I think since I switched to tenor from alto, my embouchure got a little more flexible so it didn’t go too badly. I had literally given up on this axe because there are so many great doublers in Seattle, I couldn’t use it …
Hey folks, Thanks for tuning in. These vids were originally practice tools so I could listen back to where I was hittin it and where I was missin it, but due to the covid and lack of human content, I began posting them. For the record, I don’t consider playing with a backing track a …
What is there to say other than this is one of the heaviest tunes in the jazz repertoire. The closest thing (I think) we have to an original recording is one of Billy Strayhorn singing and playing it trio in a live setting. That performance leaves some questions as to what the melody really is …
I was briefly involved with the Herb Sherry organization in the 80’s while trying to survive as a newcomer in New York City. Playing single engagements or “clubdates” was a way to make some low commitment money back then. Due to musicians being forced into lower echelon work by a collapsing music biz, I used …
Hello Folks, Our new album “Freebird and Other Jazzy Things” is now available on iTunes and Amazon. If, despite my ruthless spamming, you did not attend our CD release event at Boxley’s, you Seattle friends have the opportunity to hear The Young Lizards at Tula’s this Tuesday, March 4th at 7:30 p.m. Cuts from the …
Hey Folks, Here are some shots from The Lizard session at Studio X . What an awesome facility, and thank you to Reed (owner/engineer) for your ongoing support of jazz. Since our new tunes are a ton harder than those on our first album (which we recorded live), we thought the whole process might be …
We had this monster cherry tree in our yard. It had been there 70 or 80 Years. Eventually part of it fell in our neighbor’s yard so we had to take it down. We had to build a special dolly to carry the logs which weighed about 700 pounds apiece Here we go….. Off to … Continue reading
Here’s a recording of the same tune with the Selmer Short Barrel I wrote about in the previous post. It was a C* originally and opened up to a E or and F by a mouthpiece dude here in the Northwest named Bob Carpenter. I can’t remember what the tip opening is. This mouthpiece has … Continue reading
Greetings folks, As you may/may not know, I played alto for decades and reached a point about five years ago at which I started to hate everything I played on that instrument. (all my recordings are on alto.) So I switched to tenor and defaulted to the mouthpiece I had on hand at the time, … Continue reading
For you folks that are tuning in from Canada, Europe, and beyond, let me just say YES, I knew the United States was messed up, but not just how messed up until the unthinkable happened four years ago. Months after the nightmare has ended, I still give thanks every day that the democracy, imperfect as … Continue reading
But I think it’s finally starting to stop Continue reading
…I find the mood of this tune so melancholy that it’s a helpful release for the heartbreak humanity constantly washes over itself. Continue reading
It was like being at the beach after cold, wet Seattle winter. Here’s to herd immunity so we can travel again… Continue reading
Hey folks, I wanted to share this part of an ongoing avenue of my practice to develop “stand alone” solo playing of both standards and free tunes. This one is actually All the Things You Are with an extended variation on the traditional intro. The goal of course is for it to make compositional sense … Continue reading
I started a covid project of learning “some drums” and thanks to all the fantastic learning tools available that talented folks have offered up on the internet, the project has turned into a full time obsession. Check out this fantastic tutorial on the Elvin groove on Night Has 1000 I’s Continue reading
 Hey jazz friends, We got Ty Bailie back for a reunion concert at Jazz Clubs NW which was a real blast. See the stream below where we play a ton of the album tunes from Our Modern Lifestyle and Freebird and Other Jazzy Things.  Unfortunately Dave Peterson could not join us but stay … Continue reading
Chris Fagan Jazz 