Hi all,
We hope to see many of you at the Rigby on Sunday, September 17, when we’ll be treated to the support of a virtuoso house band consisting of Paul Dietrich (trumpet), Johannes Wallmann (piano), John Christensen (bass), and Rand Moore (drums). The featured jam vehicles are Miles Davis’s “So What” and Wayne Shorter’s “Witch Hunt.” The Miles number helped popularize modal jazz at the tail end of the 1950s into the ’60s. Miles played his solo on the 1959 recording of the tune (on Kind of Blue) entirely in the Dorian mode, exploring the creative freedom that can come from consciously limiting your tonal palette. It’s harder than it seems! “Witch Hunt” (in Real Book 1) appeared on Shorter’s Speak No Evil (1965). This one reminds me of “So What” in that the head features relatively long passages of static harmonies, but they are interspersed with dominant 7th chords descending chromatically. You might play modally over part of the tune and more traditionally over another part – or however you want!
So come on out to the Rigby on September 17th to play, listen, eat, drink, and talk. We look forward to seeing you! And don’t forget to find us on Facebook for periodic jam updates and posts on featured tunes.
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