Jazz Jams at Noto’s: An Interview with Guitarist Steve Hilger
Every other Thursday night, guitarist Steve Hilger hosts a jazz jam in the lounge of Noto’s Old World Italian Dining at 6600 28th Street SE. Located in the Grand Rapids bedroom community of Cascade in...
View ArticleJazz Improvisation: Some Assembly Required
Last Monday night, on my way home from a rehearsal with Big Band Nouveau, I got to thinking about how different jazz improvisers sound from each other. In our sax section alone, we have three solo...
View ArticleA Crummy Storm Season and an Upcoming Video Tutorial on Circular Breathing
Well over a month has elapsed since my last post. I look at the date of that post, April 1, and think, Right. April Fool, everybody. It sure fooled me. My exuberant expectations for this storm season,...
View ArticleVideo Tutorial #3: Circular Breathing
Circular breathing has something of a sensationalist aura about it, but its mystique exceeds its mystery. There’s no secret to acquiring the skill other than to learn how it’s done and then work at it...
View ArticleGetting the Feel of a Key
Before I launch into the topic of this post–a quick tip of the hat to Big Band Nouveau for Thursday night’s outstanding performance at The B.O.B. in downtown Grand Rapids. I think this was our best...
View ArticleJazz Jams in Grand Rapids
Something is happening with jazz in Grand Rapids. Overnight, it seems, the art form which hitherto has garnered lots of respect but little support is coming into its own in this area. People are...
View ArticlePlaying the Sax Again after a Forced Hiatus
Back in April 2012, I wrote about how it felt to pick up my sax again after weathering the worst case of bronchitis I have ever experienced. In short, after three miserable weeks away from my horn, it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Rhythm Changes: An Etude to Build Jazz Technique
Here’s a little bop-style etude I created to help build your chops for rhythm changes. No surprises here; I wasn’t striving for cutting-edge ideas but for simple building blocks of jazz vocabulary. Me...
View ArticleBook Review: The Scale Omnibus by Francesco Balena
Francesco Balena operates the website Saxopedia, a tremendous resource for saxophonists and jazz musicians of every stripe. If you play the sax—or, for that matter, any instrument—and you are not...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to Practice the Giant Steps Cycle: Video Tutorial and Supplementary Material
My preoccupation with John Coltrane’s tune “Giant Steps” now ebbs, now flows, but always continues. I’m not the most fabulous alto sax man who has ever played the changes, certainly not in the league...
View ArticleStorms and Jazz: A Late Summer Update for 2015
A few months have elapsed since my last post, which covered the Great Galesburg Earthquake.* I’ve been quite busy with book editing and copywriting and with a move in June from Caledonia to Hastings....
View ArticleWhat Is Jazz? Revisited: A Millennial Look inside Pandora’s Box
Always one to open new areas of inquiry, searching out pristine topics glistening with intellectual dew, I recently posted this question on Facebook: “What is jazz?” Actually, one or two others before...
View ArticleWhat Is Jazz? Revisited: Part 2
Having dispensed with my rambling prelude, in part 1 of this article, to the question “What is jazz?” let’s get to the question itself. What is jazz? The answer used to be fairly simple, involving...
View ArticleGood-Bye, Phil Woods: In Honor of an Alto Sax Legend
When I got the news last night that Phil Woods had died the day before, on September 29, 2015, I was stunned. Not Phil Woods! Not my main man, my hero on the alto sax whom, among the luminaries of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pentatonic Angularity for Jazz Improv: Two Exercises
When was the last time I shared a practical exercise for jazz improvisation on Stormhorn.com? It has been ages, hasn’t it. So let me rectify that as best I can by giving you something substantial to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pentatonic Licks with the Altered Dominant Chord
What? Another Stormhorn post so soon? Yes, I’m on a roll. This post is a continuation from the last post, which offered a couple practical exercises on angular playing using pentatonic scales. As I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My New Phil Barone Soprano Saxophone: Wow!
I. LOVE. My new Phil Barone soprano saxophone! I mean, I seriously dig this horn. When I sold my vintage Yamaha YSS 62 “Purple Label” a couple years ago, I went into a period of minor mourning. But...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to Practice the Giant Steps Cycle: Video Tutorial and Supplementary Material
My preoccupation with John Coltrane’s tune “Giant Steps” now ebbs, now flows, but always continues. I’m not the most fabulous alto sax man who has ever played the changes, certainly not in the league...
View ArticleStorms and Jazz: A Late Summer Update for 2015
A few months have elapsed since my last post, which covered the Great Galesburg Earthquake.* I’ve been quite busy with book editing and copywriting and with a move in June from Caledonia to Hastings....
View ArticleWhat Is Jazz? Revisited: A Millennial Look inside Pandora’s Box
Always one to open new areas of inquiry, searching out pristine topics glistening with intellectual dew, I recently posted this question on Facebook: “What is jazz?” Actually, one or two others before...
View Article
