Chris Thile in London Interview
Kudos to Mandolin Cafe staff writer Dan Beimborn on an excellent, insightful interview with living legend, Chris Thile. Dan had some prime moments to speak Read more»
02.04.12
Digital text format to dominate the future
We've personally found the iPad to be extremely useful for performance and practicing. The iReal b for practicing with jazz "Standards" accompaniments, the unreal Book Read more»
Sponsors below have truly incredible products
you should explore. Click banners and enjoy!
"Good improvisation communicates harmonic progression melodically. Effective melodies manipulate harmonic content through the use of guide tones and preparatory gravity notes, masterfully woven in systematic tension, release, and transparent harmonic definition."
September 28, 2009 | Coming up on Mel Bay's MandolinSessions.com
We are about a week away from our 36th article on the Mel Bay free online webzine resource www.MandolinSessions.com. Time flies, and it's hard to believe we've been contributing these bimonthly for six years, already!
In case you missed it, our last entry was a look at Diatonic Arpeggios based on closed finger patterns (FFcP), and for the October article we'll go from Major to Minor Arpeggios. This can be a valuable fingertip skill in readily interpreting chord members within major and minor scales, so be sure to check back. Meantime, review other past articles on our Mandolin Sessions archive page
September 26, 2009 | The National Parks: America's Best Idea
The premier of Ken Burns' latest documentary about the history of the U.S. National Parks, is tomorrow, Sept. 27, 2009. Even if you aren't into breathtakingly dynamic vistas, uniquely gorgeous cinematography, and American history at its finest, you'll still enjoy the incredible acoustic soundtrack of the series, including our favorite instrument, the mandolin (Peter Ostroushko, Jay Ungar, & Bobby Horton).
As you would expect, the show's music captures the spirit of the scenery beautifully. For more information about this critical element of the documentary, check out the website, Music in the Film.
Take a gander at this dreamy butterscotch-burst A5 mandolin out of the workshop of perennial JazzMando fave builder Austin Clark. We will testify personally that Austin's mandolins are as luscious in tone as they are scrumptious in finish.
Our own Signature Clark JM Two-point remains our "Go-to" stage mandolin, and we have yet to find anything we'd rather perform with live. Though the Idaho builder is currently in a 12-month backlog, his instruments are very much worth the wait. We'd encourage you to contact Austin about a Clark JM for yourself!
September 22, 2009 | Mike Marshall's unified string theory
We've had the privilege of spending some quality time with multi-instrumentalist superstar, Mike Marshall. A long commute to the Kansas City airport, a few years later a lunch with lifelong violinist partner Darol Anger and him before an impressive concert with uke phenom Jake Shimbakuru, and the thing that's most impressive is the indefatigable energy and boyish delight you enjoy from him on stage is just as transparent in person. When it comes to uber talent and energy, he's the real deal.
Never afraid to take on a new style, be it choro, complex Bulgarian polyrhythms, Bach violin Partitas, or simply a Bluegrass favorite, Mike is not afraid to tackle anything or play with anyone, partnering up one-on-one with some of the greatest musicians in the world. Enjoy this read from the Friday, September 18 (20009) Aspen Times, one of his most recent projects with the Trio Väsen , and his thoughts on the commonalities of music:
"It's amazing that we can have so much in common musically, all these common reference points--Irish or bluegrass or African or listening to the Beatles as a kid," said Marshall. "It's all part of this big stew of music. It just proves that music is one big thing, that the regional styles are important, but not as important as other things."
We hope you had a chance to catch the week's recent JazzMando "Tips and Tricks" entry on Turnarounds. Of particular note in this week's lesson is a terrific online article by Dr. Matthew Warnick, "Turnarounds: How to Turn One Chord into Four," brought to our attention by friend and jazz mandolin mentor, Paul Glasse. This concise page takes a deep look under the hood stepping you through some heavier music theory concepts like secondary dominants and tritone subs.
For instance, here's one of the later sample turnarounds he details:
Ladybird Turnaround
"This next example is what is commonly referred to as the "Ladybird" turnaround as it comes from the last two bars of the tune written by Tad Dameron. The progression uses the tri-tone subs of the vi chord (Ebmaj7), the ii chord (Abmaj7) and the V chord (Dbmaj7). Though in this case all of the chords are voiced as maj7s instead of the dom7 chords we saw in earlier examples."
We are seeing more of our luthier friends on Facebook lately. It's always great to see the latest works of art from them, such as this tasty Bigleaf maple mandolin A5 back from Oregon builder, Andrew Mowry.
Facebook is a marvelously efficient way to keep track of good friends locally and across the globe. JazzMando site owner, Ted Eschliman also has a personal page to keep connect with several hundred of his closest mando friends: Facebook.com/Ted Eschliman. Let us know if you are a luthier and want your creations posted on JazzMando.com.
Meld an ergonomic sensibility, a stained glass artist's eye, and a childhood musicality nurtured in the home of a 30-year veteran rock bass guitar-playing mother, and you have the ingredients for an exciting line of guitars and fretted instruments. Such is the case with the highly successful Luna guitars, spawned from the creative genius and designs of Yvonne de Villiers. Founded with the intention of slimmer necks, more comfortable bodies, and player affordability, these guitars were uniquely inspired by stained glass concepts and Henna "body canvas" ornamentation. Universal designs and symbolism make these guitars resonate with the eye as well as the ear, inspiring musicianship.
We first saw these guitars on display at a NAMM show a couple years ago and were intrigued. One of our staff quipped, "Cool guitars; wish they made mandolins..."
Now this wish has come true, and we will be privy to a first hand look before their mass market release this winter. We look forward to bringing you the inside scoop soon, but until then, check out the Luna video:
We're pondering a future book project, going somewhat deeper with the Four Finger Closed Position (FFcP) fretboard assimilation strategies covered here at the JazzMando site, and crucial to the "Getting Into Jazz Mandolin" book published by Mel Bay. You don't really have to be into jazz to do either, and there are materials already on the site here that aren't in the book (and vice versa) that warrant more in depth exploration.
If you haven't already uncovered this treasure, we have a whole page on the site of more FFcP exercises, including pages from the book (Intro, Moving Up the Fingerboard), and many that aren't published (Super FFcP, Pentatonic FFcP, and Minor/Dorian FFcP). These are all free to download and can be an important part of your arsenal for attacking fretboard familiarity.
Have any thoughts on other FFcP concepts you'd like covered? Weigh in: Contact
For you iPhone/Touch users, Charlie Jones, JazzMando Field Reporter weighs in with his take on the Fretboard app. "It's not Mandomode explored, but it's pretty useful none the less. You can toggle the note symbols which is helpful. By default the root, 3 and 7 are emphasized.
You can also just click on specific notes to just be displayed or removed. In chord mode for example you could drop the root and then start looking for 3 note chord forms."
From the developer's website: "FretBoard is a reference tool--running on Apple's iPhoneTM and iPod Touch--for players of the stringed instruments supporting Guitar, Banjo, Bouzouki, Bass (4, 5 and 6 string), Dobro, Charango, Lap Steel and Pedal Steel, Mandolin, Violin, Viola, Cello, Lute, Viola da gamba, Ukulele, Dulcimer, all Chapman Sticks, all guitars and bass guitars tuned and set up for two-handed tapping, alternative guitar tunings and many other instruments. Currently FretBoard holds a collection of 111 instrument tunings in 15 instrument groups. FretBoard has an immense amount of music theory packed in a simple and intuitive interface guaranteeing fast access and easy understanding."
Purchase information and video demonstration: Fretboard
Space... the final frontier. Great line from one of our favorite TV series (and movie), Star Trek, but it also seems to apply to maturity in playing as well. It's as if "not playing" is the last thing a developing musician thinks to add to the arsenal of the techniques of finer ensemble protocols. We've had the fortune of participating in some groups recently that drove this point home quite well personally. What a pleasure it is to give, and to receive space.
We explored this in a recent weekly installment of JazzMando Tips and Tricks, "Respect the Silence. Take a few moments to review.
We've just been introduced to the intriguing work of a builder from Austin, Texas, Stefan Passernig, who interprets the some of the two-point D'angelico mandolins, with some modern twists. His words, "The contemporary designs are all worked out implementing ancient traditional proportions."
Click pictures for closeup
"On this mandolin I used Pear-wood (from Tirol, Austria) for the back and the sides, mahogany for the neck and alpine-spruce (from Switzerland, the closest tone-wood I found to the origin of the pear-tree) for the top. The pear-wood is on the softer, light-weight side--not much of a looker (some faux-woodfigure pattern with the varnish helps visually)." He elaborates, this selection of woods adds a dryness while retaining warmth. The finish is oil-varnish as a base, worked over with spirit-varnish/french-polish as needed.
We particularly enjoy the look of the Art Deco holes; this is a nice departure. His finish work is intriguing, especially on the complementary burst on this ruby-burst pickguard.
On his other mandolins, he mainly uses more traditional mandolin tone-woods, Red, Engelmann, and European Spruce; as well as soft and hard maple. His aspirations for future projects include similar departures on F and A body instruments.
September 5, 2009 | "Run To You," Coconut and The Duke
You know you're in for a visual treat when a music video includes mandolin, trombone, ukulele, baritone sax, and a Precision bass, let alone the creative audio potential. Coconut and the Duke are back with another colorful entry in their exclusive "Cover of the Month" interpretation of Bryan Adams', "Run to You." Talented mult-instrumentalist "The Duke," outdoes himself on this one.
September 3, 2009 | New LR Baggs "Venue" DI box/tuner pedal
We're back from field testing the new "Venue" from LR Baggs, and have nothing but rave reviews! It's always nice to have sleek, simple, and capable all in the same compact package, and this is what you get with this efficient floor DI box/tuner.
"Sweet," "clean," "rich" are all qualities that leap to mind in evaluating this fretted acoustic musician's answer to a maiden's prayer. We tested it on an Austin Clark JM Signature mandolin, and found additional vibrant tone character we had never heard before coming through the high quality church sanctuary PA. Brilliant mids, crisp highs, and warm lows danced through the auditorium, and its 5-band adjustable EQ gave us plenty to play with to get the maximum sonic potential from this glorious instrument.
Of course this is the back end of what we hoped to achieve with a professional quality DI box, but on the front, the ability to step up sound with a "boost" footswitch, as well as an effective state of the art chromatic tuner (and mute) switch makes an attractive package for the mandolinist hoping for easy stage tuning and rapid volume changes for soloing. Battery check button is nice, but with only a 40 hour capability we hope to add a 9-volt adapter soon (not included). The unit also includes a ground loop eliminator and notch filter, though we hadn't experienced the resonant feedback with this instrument necessary to engage within the setting we experimented.
We also opted to use the auxiliary send/return effects loop to include an Electro Harmnonix "Holy Grail" reverb unit for additional atmosphere. The sturdy package is roadworthy tough, comes in a convenient carrying pouch, and includes no-slip footing to keep it from traveling off the stage when you kick any of the switches. List price is $399, and expected to street price in the low 3 bills.
September 1, 2009 | Impulsive Ebay score: Eko electric bowlback bouzouki
Once in a while you hit the mother lode on Ebay (not often...) as we did with an Eko electric bowlback bouzouki acquisition. For two and a half bills we captured this interesting artifact that's long on panache and large with tone. We've kept the Italian-made artifact tuned the way it came, octave pairings on the wound courses, Gg Dd AA EE. The neck is slightly warped, but it plays amazingly well, and some of the best lower register tone we've ever heard out of an amplifier. Included below is a demo of its sound.
Disclaimer: In the 'Information Age' of the 21st Century,
any fool with a computer, a modem, and an idea can
become a self-professed 'expert." This site does not
come equipped with 'discernment.'
Subscribe to this feed
September 30, 2009 | Spinal Tap on jazz...
