Hello Whitehorse Middle School musicians!

This is a beginning, I'd like to introduce myself, I'm Laurie Lang bassist and composer and a musician coming to do a jazz residency with you and your orchestra. I'd like to invite all Whitehorse String kids to dialog with me as i work on jazz charts for the tunes we'll play together and some with just a professional group.

You are welcome to ask questions here or give me ideas to make the arrangements better.

Our Tunes will be:

C Jam blues (in the key of D)

My Favorites Things - in E minor (modal)

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

and a free improv tune that we'll play together.

Here is a photo of my family. We have a band, my 2 girls both started on violin but now 1 plays mandolin, ukulele, guitar, saxophone and trumpet and the other ukulele, piano and some drums. My husband plays sax and harmonicas and we all sing pretty well.

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But Not For Me

Our next jam is September 18th and the band is Ken Hoffman - sax, Doug Brown - guitar, Matt Rodgers - bass, and John Lombardo - drums. If you are a guitarist, take advantage of this opportunity to play without bringing your own amp. You can use Doug's.

Our featured tune is Gershwin's, "But Not For Me." Let's say you've listened to a number of recordings, memorized the head and changes, and can play a decent solo. What else is there to work on? Try to work out an ending. Some common endings are tags, vamps, and the A Train ending. One type of vamp involves looping a 2-5-3-6 progression. That ending works well on this song. Play the usual 2-5 cadence but land on 3 instead of  1. Then move to 6 and back to the 2-5. Loop as many times as desired and end with a clear ending idea. Confused? Listen to this version below by Stitt and Ammons and you'll hear what I mean. These endings generate excitement in the listener and are fun for the musicians.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RPZUKeVSMI

 


December 15 - Whitehorse Middle School String Jazz

Jon Vriesaker, Chris Wagoner, Mary Gaines, John Becker and Laurie Lang will join with the students of Jessica Wahl at Whitehorse Middle school for a great couple days of fun and improvisation traveling from Duke Ellington Blues to John Coltrane Modal and free jazz.

Watch for more about this!

jon-vsnroadduocropLaurie-promo July 2011

John Becker
John Becker