December 2014 – CRAIG BUHLER JAZZ

Are your improvisations based more on the chord changes (Coleman Hawkins approach) or on the melody (Lester Young approach)? Many players look at the chord progressions and derive either arpeggios or scale patterns based on the indicated changes. Here is an exercise that will develop your ability to integrate larger leaps into your melodic flow.

To derive the maximum benefit, practice this pattern in all 12 keys around the circle of fifths using the background track provided below. If you have difficulty figuring out the pattern in the other keys, contact me for a FREE chart (no cost or obligation). Better yet, download “New Ears Resolution” to learn how to play any melody in any key BY EAR!

Several HONK fans have been asking me how to get a hold of the HONK “Clay Figures” album. The complete collection is now available as a download. The first HONK LP was released by Twentieth Century Records in 1973. The cover showed clay figures of the band. A second LP was recorded by 20th Century but never released as an LP. In 2004, both albums were remastered and released on a single CD. This package includes all 20 selections as well as the cover art and the booklet.

The songs are:

From the first album – I Wanna Do For You, So Much Easier, Don’t Let Your Goodbye Stand, Circles in Sand, Caught on a Greyhound, Another Light, We’re On Wheels, Hidin’ Out, I Wanna Stay, Money Slips Through My Fingers, Buckeyed Jim, Pipeline Sequence.

From the second album – Fortune Wheel, Dog At Your Door**, All My Time Is Free**, There Is a River**, Heatwave, Love Ain’t So Common, Please Remember, No One Is Waiting

** These 3 songs also appear on the Epic “Orange Album.” However, those recordings were produced a year later. If you are familiar with the Epic album, you will find it interesting to compare these earlier recordings done by Steve Desper at Cherokee with the later recordings produced by Henry Lewey at A&M Studios.