Tim Price Bloggin' For Rico- Friday @ Berks Jazz ; My man Randy Sutin.

‎~ A few words ....About Friday's Liberty Tap Room Gig in Reading, Pa via Berks Jazz Fest.

This band is special. Why? Because the vibraphonist Randy Sutin & I have played jazz in Berks-Reading area on & off for over 29 years. In between my gigs, teaching & workshops. To play, search the music & make a living too.
The picture below is from art least 27 years ago- in a cool biker bar that a few like minds tried to set up as a local jazz society. We had professional guests ( Scott Andrew Silbert the great tenor player/arranger for one! ) and more. Our agenda musically was simple...PLAY. We'd play " Joes" in Trenton, The base jazz club at Ft Dix on Sundays to name a few. And wake up the next day- and do our jobs in life. We also had Tuesdays at the then Shearton Hotel ( aka- pre; 18 years Veaslys Jazz Base ! )a few times a month to great crowds. In those days, I had no endorsements but also didn't think I was of the " level" to be asking. Years later they came without me asking , and I am grateful thousands of times over. Yet- after years of bringing top name leaders to " guest" with me at Berks Jazz Fest like Richie Cole ( 2 times! ), Lew Tabackin, Bill Goodwin, Rachel Z, Al Grey, Budessa Bros w/ Chuck Zeuren ,Bobby Zankel to name but a few- it's always great to continue to play with Randy Sutin. Not because he brings a set of Tibetan nipple gongs to the gig ( LOL !! ) , but because he's a world class vibes player & my friend that knows the deal. If you want to play jazz....it's something you HAVE to do. Not just once in a while, but it's your " jones ". Your life in a way. Expansion don't always happen in a major city either, it can go down anywhere. But you got to play. We've had so much fun too, at Ft Dix when I first met him- we were playing with the great baritone saxophone & flute be-bop legend Cecil Payne!! We've had some mega-fun & paid our dues driving turnpikes home at 3:30 in the morning , sometimes getting in at the butt crack of dawn.
This Friday joining us are two masters who I welcome warmly- they are friends and fellow travelers in the music. The great Jack Hegyi on bass, and Sean J. Kennedy on drums. Sean recorded one of my tunes with Yellowjackets saxst Bob Mintzer, he is a warrior & great educator. Jack is a bassist who I know from Cape May Jazz Festival & he has that thang- real grit in his bass feel and a great person to boot. Thinking on Cape May Fest- I did that 8 years, two times a year, and did workshops & features and the jams. Sad to see it go like it did- I hope it returns. Without venues that I might not of ever met Jack! Get my drift ? To play. Forget the gossip, the FB yak..it all goes away when the tune is counted off. And Friday we hit at 9:00. Come on by and hear why I call it Jazz-A-Delic !! SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC! See you there.
( Thanks for reading this too BTW- It's been on my mind. )

~ Tim Price


DON'T FORGET THESE CLINICS...

Tim Price Bloggin' For Rico-LET'S REMEMBER...jazz is personal expression.

Just some thoughts.......

Bird had incredible ears and gifted depth of creativity he picked out
the hip ideas that other musicians were playing and then added his own
to make those incredible new lines of his. He was mostly using his
ears!

THINK ABOUT THAT- the guy was ultra-melodic.Very very easy to hear.

Another way is that a musician can learn to improvise let's look at
the COLTRANE thought process. Trane was the opposite of Bird. He didn't
stop practicing and studying. He slept with his horn so that he could
start practicing the moment he got out of bed. He practiced on the
breaks at gigs and every other free moment he could find.

He was a searcher. He searched for new scales and modes from all over the world.
He studied out of violin books and harp books. He used the Slonimsky
book of scale patterns. Trane learned by studying as well as using his
own incredible ears!

As Charles LLoyd said to me " Bird invented the atom.....TRANE smashed
it."

So we have two very different ways of learning the mechanics of
improvisation but, and here's the big but, when Bird or Trane got on
the bandstand to perform neither of them spent much time "thinking"! In
performance they were both in the same state of incredible
self-awareness. The mechanics became unimportant on the bandstand and
the emotional side of their improvisations took precedence. They played
from their heart and soul. This is the key to their greatness. They
both had an incredible natural gift for being able to open themselves
up to their inner creativity and let out their amazing ideas with
wonderful ease, excitement and wonder.

In fact of all the hundreds of bands I've played in not one has ever
said to me, "play a mixolydian scale here" or lets only play a
diminished scale there.

Never! LETS REMEMBER.....jazz is personal expression.

:REMEMBER ~ you do not have to reinvent the wheel !!! ::::

Virtually all of Bird's solos have already been transcribed.Go study
some.

My personal favorites though are "Nows The Time " and "The Song Is You
". There are transcriptions of those solos around too. I'm sure if you
TRY to sing them along when driving in your car...you'll got the SHAPE
and HARMONIC PARTS in your ear.

By analyzing the already transcribed solos, you'll save yourself a lot of time if your main intention is to "learn more about his vocabulary".You'll find that Bird used a lot of the same priniciples and tricks over and over. After a couple of years study you should have a decent handle on the underlying concepts and then it's all about putting those principles to use in finding your own voice. I think any kind of transcription work you do well benifit your ear.


These are just some thoughts on this.Maybe it hits ya maybe it
don't.

But most of all keep trying-playing-listening.
That is MOST vital to personal growth.

For those of you in the Reading, Pa area - Stop by my saxophone workshops this Friday and Saturday.





TILL NEXT WEEK- Keep on and long tones is the ticket!

~ Tim Price





ALSO- Don't forget ;

Jazz Education....
With Tim Price
Study with Tim. ( in nyc or pa )
http://www.timpricejazz.com/st­­udy.html

Bring SELMER artist Tim Price to your college or school for clinics and
materclasses
http://www.timpricejazz.com/cl­­inics.html

On line lessons;
http://www.timpricejazz.com/le­­ssons.html

Articles on the masters;
http://www.timpricejazz.com/le­­ssons/insightarticles.html

Books for sale thru Amazon;
Great Tenor Solos;

Cannonball Collection.


~Bird-ology Studies to Improve Time, Phrase Lengths, and Intensity
Levels
Feel free to print out all the lessons to so you have them-
there is a massive bunch of information of mine on there.

http://www.saxontheweb.net/Price/Nov01.html

Tim Price Bloggin' For Rico- Jazz-A-Delic & beyond.

Creative thinking is the process which we use when we come up with a new idea. It is the merging of ideas which have not been merged before. New ideas are formed by developing the current ones within our minds. This evolution HAS to be brought on by practice. ( smile)

Ongoing creative thinking is the continuous investigation, questioning and analysis that develops through education, training and self-awareness. Ongoing creativity maximizes both accidental and deliberate creative thinking. It is a quest for improvement which never ends. It is an acceptance of and a looking for continuous change that differentiates between ongoing creativity and mental inflexibility. Ongoing creativity takes time and practice to become skillful. Ongoing creative thinking soon becomes an attitude not a technique.

The first step to take is to learn the creative thinking techniques so that you can use them deliberately to come up with new ideas. You will then be at an immediate advantage to those who do not know how to use them. You should then practice them to increase your skill at ongoing creative thinking. With practice you may even find it unnecessary to use specific techniques because you may soon have too many ideas without using them at all.

Check out this masterclass I did...
Tim Price's interview featured on BestSaxophoneWebsiteEver.com!

Tim Price Interview
www.bestsaxophonewebsiteever.com

Coming up...I got ;

Berks Jazz Festival- March 30th

Tim Price's Jazz-A-Delic @ Berks Jazz Festival
FRIDAY March 30th.....Sets @ 9:00

Tim Price Jazz-A-Delic ....includes ;
Randy Sutin- vibes-
Jack Hegyi- bass
Sean Kennedy- Drums

~And yours truly on saxes/ woodwinds/electro-bassoon

@ The Liberty Taproom
237 Prospect St
Reading, Pennsylvania 19606

ALSO TWO WORKSHOPS DURING THE JAZZ FESTIVAL ;

SAXOPHONE WORKSHOPS @ Berks Jazz Fest of mine at ZESWITZ MUSIC.
Friday, March 30 and Saturday, March 31. ( free)

Tim Price will host a special Saxophone Workshop at Zeswitz Music Store, located at 100 Gibraltar Road in Reading, at 4 p.m. (FREE)

PLEASE..If your a teacher in my area or a interested student...come and listen.
Studying music enhances children's ability to perform better at other subjects, improves coordination and boosts self-esteem. They learn to harmonize with others not just on a musical level. Music was part of mainstream education throughout most of history.
Through junior high upwards music is just as or even more important in the people's continuing education. Music is_THE_ universal language. By doing this students can pursue passions and learn how to share their thoughts with others directly in a healthy and peaceful way.

Music is a way of sharing and indeed experiencing the deepest aspects of our cultures. Education/ band in all forms of music has been essential in students most important moments, a part of life to be treasured. Daniel Boone has always had a stellar music program, with a framework that encourages and rewards commitment to personal growth! What I teach in Saxophone Workshops is things I've learned through
a life long study of music. This is NOT in books.

SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC...Hope this helps.

~ Tim Price

Tim Price Bloggin' For Rico- BIRD LIVES

Charlie Parker (Bird) passed away in 1955 – 57 years ago TODAY.

ALSO - BIRD LIVES- is the title of Ross Russell's biography of Charlie Parker too.With few exceptions,Bird is a player you have to listen to and just enjoy because he was so great.

As for the music, Bird was in a league of his own. He didn't really play music, he intuited it from somewhere else. Someone once asked Bob Dylan how he wrote all those great classic songs, and he said they just came to him.WELL- Bird woodshedded to get the chops, and he was a technical master of the alto sax, but what he played didn't come from long hours of practice. He was his own influence.There are many things and thoughts here as well.

Take some time today- and this week and celebrate Charlie Parker.Also read Ross Russell's book on Bird- you have to! In his brief career, Charlie Parker transformed jazz, spontaneously extending the harmonic and rhythmic range of the music in his fluent improvisations. Only Louis Armstrong and John Coltrane have had as dramatic an influence on other musicians. Broadly considered as one of the greatest saxophonists of all time, he was crucial in the development of the bebop movement. Many of his compositions have become standards including "Billie’s Bounce", "Ornithology" and "Confirmation". Two of his albums, Jazz at Massey Hall and Charlie Parker with Strings, have received the Grammy Hall of Fame award.His playing was highly acclaimed during his lifetime and to me, he was the most inspirational and beautiful saxophonist ever. To me, Bird was a great blues player as well. He had a way of playing the blues that not only inspired thousands of saxophonists but helped many of us hear a newer way to be expressive on our horns.Be it emotionally or technically.

It reads like a fun, well-written novel, the main character of which is a fascinating and charming--musical genius. Parker was a man of vast appetites to match his gifts, and Ross Russell relates the offstage antics which were marked by chronic defiance: throwing his saxophone out of a hotel window, walking into the ocean wearing a new suit, standing up the promoter of a Paris jazz concert, eating twenty hamburgers at a sitting, riding a policeman's horse into a prominent Manhattan tavern, and accommodating the steady stream of women who threw themselves at him. Parker mastered his craft while a teenager.

Every record collection deserves " Bird with strings". I always loved the records where Bird was playing tenor with Miles as well. Something special about that music- a essence and grace that Bird had.

Milestones
Half Nelson
Sippin At Bells
M. Davis (Tpt) C. Parker (Ten) John Lewis (P) Curley Russell (B) Max Roach (D) Aug 1947
Savoy S3440-42-43

Little Willie Leaps
Milestones
Half Nelson
Sippin At Bells
M. Davis )Tpt) Charlie Parker (Ten) John Lewis (P) Nelson Boyd (bs) Max Roach (D)
S3440-41-43b Aug 1947

These recording are on the "Immortal Parker" set, 5 Vols and the Complete Savoy set.

ALSO- Phil Schaap's morning radio show "Bird Flight." He features the music of Charlie Parker every weekday from 8:20am till about 9:45am. I don't know where you're located, but internet call letters are www.wkcr.org. If you're in the NYC area, it's WKCRfm, 89.9. Phil does do a very thorough job of presenting Bird's music.

A tribute Bird record I always loved was " Birds Night Out". A really well done memorial for Charlie Parker – cut with Cecil Payne on baritone sax, Phil Woods on alto, and the great Frank Socolow on tenor – all jamming on 4 of Bird's best known compositions! Burning and stretching out in freely creative lines and working here with a rhythm section that includes Duke Jordan on piano, Wendell Marshall on bass, and Art Taylor on drums. The album was recorded live at the Five Spot – and titles include "Parker's Mood", "Steeplechase", "Buzzy", and "Scrapple From The Apple". Woods is in classic high form, and Cecil sounds out of this world. One of the best Bird tributes- kind of hard to find but worth it.

At a point in a conversation with composer multi-instrumentalist/ film composer Gil Melle, Gil told me that Bird wanted to record with Edgard Varese. I can only imagine what that would of sounded like!

A TRUE MUSICAL GENIUS.

BIRD LIVES....Listen to Charlie Parker and enjoy his music.

Till next week- Tim Price



Don't play the saxophone. Let it play you.
Charlie Parker

I realized by using the high notes of the chords as a melodic line, and by the right harmonic progression, I could play what I heard inside me. That's when I was born.
Charlie Parker

If you don't live it, it won't come out your horn.
Charlie Parker

Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art.
Charlie Parker

They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art.
Charlie Parker

You've got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.
Charlie Parker

Tim Price Bloggin' For Rico- THE SONG IS YOU.

We have all remarked when an innocent child speaks their mind and reveals something candid, with no worries about consequences, failure, or judgment that makes us think. We also know there is something envious about that special quality; raw freedom to express with no fears or hang-ups. When a young student drums on a desk, draws on a paper, or sings, sincerity is at its best. And it’s all valid because it’s sincere.

Our attraction to music is a personal one. Sure, there are peer pressures, and multi musical purposes, but somewhere in our hearts we have our own musical tastes. To step forward and play what you feel might be your best move.I feel it’s tragic to not explore music and life through creativity and self development. I respect the ideal of traditional development of needed musical skills but not at the cost of creativity. No one should have to wait some undetermined amount of time to compose something or even think about composing something.Ditto with improvisation. Same with any writing or art. It’s sincere. It’s in the moment.

The path of a true "artist" is a rocky road.

It's like walking up wet glass at times but after a while it's fun.It is your business to keep the channel open.You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you.You'll note a slow emergence almost imperceptible. it will be something you never forget.

Now's the time tell a genuine story, speak the truth, and someone will appreciate it.It is part and parcel of being an artist.

Keep the channel open, and try your best.You'll learn something special.


Been talking to my students about the many aspects of the creative mind set.
Trying to just expand more ideas and thoughts.

Here's some things that I'm coming up with ;

Creativity is the bringing into being something which did not exist before, either as a product, a process or a thought. Right? So let’s apply this to ALL levels of saxophone playing, thought and improvisation.

You would be demonstrating creativity if you:

· Played something which has never existed before.

· Reapply an existing lick or concept into a new area musically.

· Develop a new way of looking at something (bringing a new idea into existence).

· Change the way someone else looks at something.

We are all creative every day because we are constantly changing the ideas which we hold about the world about us and our relationship with it. Creativity does not have to be about developing something new to the world, it is more to do with developing something new to ourselves !!

When we change ourselves, the world changes with us, both in the way that the world is affected by our changed actions and in the changed way that we experience the world. It’s a thought process. It’s past a mouthpiece change..it’s a MIND SET !!


Creative thinking is the process which we use when we come up with a new idea. It is the merging of ideas which have not been merged before. New ideas are formed by developing the current ones within our minds. This evolution HAS to be brought on by practice.

Ongoing creative thinking is the continuous investigation, questioning and analysis that develops through education, training and self-awareness.

Ongoing creativity maximizes both accidental and deliberate creative thinking. It is a quest for improvement which never ends. It is an acceptance of and a looking for continuous change that differentiates between ongoing creativity and mental inflexibility. Ongoing creativity takes time and practice to become skillful. Ongoing creative thinking soon becomes an attitude not a technique.

The first step to take is to learn the creative thinking techniques so that you can use them deliberately to come up with new ideas. You will then be at an immediate advantage to those who do not know how to use them. You should then practice them to increase your skill at ongoing creative thinking. With practice you may even find it unnecessary to use specific techniques because you may soon have too many ideas without using them at all.

By the way...The picture at the top of the blog is me and Hank Crawford- from the early 1980's. Hank Crawford was a friend who I met in Chicago in the 70's. I played the Jazz Showcase in Chicago opposite Hank & Calvin Newborn when I played w/McDuff.
Hank at a point had small big band- that was very effective for his excellent arranging that he hired me for a lot. He picked great tunes too from things of his to the Isley Brothers & Carol King and Bird. Playing with him on gigs was an education.Hank Crawford....always sent me a Christmas card & when I got married he sent a card as well. To me those kind of things go past money, fame or anything....he defined the word soul in just being Hank.
By the way sax equipment heads- his mouthpiece had no name. Just a plain rubber piece with teeth marks & a LaVoz reed. The picture below was in "Swing Journal" in the early 80's. Been thinking of him a lot- great inspiration and friend.


Thanks, and keep on your path.

~ Tim Price




Some good things coming up- hope to see you there!!!


Tim Price's Jazz-A-Delic @ Berks Jazz Festival March 30th
Sets @ 9:00

Tim Price Jazz-A-Delic ....includes ;
Randy Sutin- vibes
Jack Hegyi- bass
Sean Kennedy- Drums
~And Tim on saxes/ woodwinds/electro-bassoon

@ The Liberty Taproom
237 Prospect St
Reading, Pennsylvania 19606

By the way...a special heads up on the guys close to my area.


SAXOPHONE WORKSHOP

Zeswitz Music Store | 100 Gibraltar Road Reading, PA 19606 | 610‐406‐4300 |


FEATURING TIM PRICE

MARCH 30 & MARCH 31, 2012

ZESWITZ MUSIC STORE
FREE AND OPEN TO ALL MUSICIANS AND GENERAL PUBLIC

Part of BERKS JAZZ FESTIVAL.


Friday, March 30th 4:00PM


Topics Include:
- Sound production
- Using the right gear
- Harmonics and Altissimo
- Jazz Improvision
- Practicing Techniques
- Creating Melodic Shapes
- Sight Reading

Saturday, March 31st 1:00PM
Jazz Clinic


Focusing on ‘real time’ improvisation
With guest bassist Bruce Ketterer