Next jam Feb 13th at Liliana's
Madison Jazz Jam will now be held at Liliana's starting with our next session, February 13th. The time remains 4-7 pm and except for the location everything else remains unchanged.
Liliana's offers live jazz 6 days a week, periodically hosts high school jazz bands and the Isthmus High School Jazz All-Stars, and is an enthusiastic supporter of the Madison jazz community. Here are some comments from Liliana's about hosting the jam:
We love jazz (you already knew that).
We love encouraging young (and young at heart) people to learn and embrace jazz and to have them learn the language of improvisation.
It’s not just about playing, it’s about learning from great teachers, and I love that there’s a structured teaching component as part of it.
It will be fun to talk about and promote, and is absolutely consistent with what we represent to the Madison area jazz community.
We may be able to have some of our regular musicians sit in occasionally and help coach.
For those musicians who really start getting it, we could be an occasional performance space so that they can get some audience feedback.
As you can see we are very fortunate to have Liliana's as our new venue. See you there!
Madison Jazz Jam is made possible by the support and involvement of many funders and sponsors. Madison Jazz Jam is especially grateful to Madison Music Collective and Dane County Cultural Affairs for their support for this month’s program.
Jam for Sunday Jan 23rd rescheduled
Who would have predicted the Packers great late season play and a playoff game right during the scheduled time of our jam session? We didn't. Next year we'll know better.
After much hand-wringing we've decided to reschedule the jam. We're aiming for February 13th but are still waiting to hear back from musicians and the venue. We hope to know soon. Check back here for more info or sign up to receive emails of future posts (see right sidebar).
What key for "Blues in the Closet?"
I'll be honest and admit that although the melody is familiar to me I've never played this tune. It was picked at Steve Sveum's suggestion and his notes list it as an F blues. The Real Book has it in Ab. I have recordings of it in F, G, and Bb. Oscar Pettiford wrote it and the recordings of his I've listened to have it in G.
So what key are we going to play it in? I say take your pick. We'll probably have enough jammers to split everyone up and play it several times in different keys. If you want a more definitive answer then learn it in G, this seems the most common key.
Info for next jazz jam Jan 23, 2010
After taking a break during December the Madison Jazz Jam returns Sunday January 23rd 4-7 pm at the Washington Hotel Coffee Room.
Joining us will be Nick Anderson on bass. Nick played so well at the jam in November we asked him to join us this time as part of the band. Nick recently moved to Madison after graduating from Lawrence University with a bachelors in music. He teaches bass in the Madison area. Rand, Zach, and Dan round out the rest of the band as usual.
If you are playing in the first set suggested tunes for this session are Blue Bossa and Blues in the Closet. Here are some notes on Blues in the Closet from Sun Prairie HS band director Steve Sveum:
- One note in melody changes to match the chord change
- Since melody follows the 3 – b7 resolution/voice leading, great vehicle for teaching this voice-leading
- Remember use of major and minor blues scales and try starting major blues scale on the 6th
- Riff making and transcription always encouraged
Here are C concert charts and YouTubes for both songs:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwfhjtwOZDA]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sr7BXinJMw]