Dave Evans explains the uses of the accordion bellows shake. In this video, Dave describes the uses of the double and triple bellows shake in jazz, zydeco and cabaret music. He includes detailed instructions about how to perform the shake as well as techniques for adding accents to play with the rhythmic aspects of accordion.

Listen to Dave’s music here

Dave playing with the Band Who Knew Too Much on myspace

The Band Who Knew Too Much CDs available here

click here - to add this post - to your social network

Mark Hannaford piano, Sam Anning double bass and Allan Browne drums playing ‘Darn that dream’ at Bennetts Lane jazz Club

Check out their latest CD
Shreveport Stomp

click here - to add this post - to your social network

Fran Swinn’s composition – Inform – for Jazz quartet and acrobat, featuring Eugene Ball – trumpet, Fran Swinn – guitar, Tamara Murphy – double bass, Ben Hendry – drums and Rockie Stone – acrobatics/aerials. Inform is a collection of short pieces written with the rhythm and form of the various circus apparatus in mind and performed with a focus on interaction and improvisation, thus creating an ensemble of five. This clip is of the final chair stack with drummer Ben Hendry assisting. Sound recording by Myles Mumford. Video by Leo Dale.

Fran Swinn trio album available here
Fran Swinn on myspace

Rockie Stone’s website
Tamara Murphy’s website

click here - to add this post - to your social network

You know those conversations you have with people about being a musician or artist: questions like – “So How’s the music going?” and “Are you in a band?” Doug DeVries, Anton Delecca, Shannon Barnett, Mal Webb, Anita Hustas, John Fleming, Colin Hopkins and Justin Dwyer got talking about what follows the question – “So what do you do for a crust?”

click here - to add this post - to your social network

Marios Cafe marked 25 years of serving the arts community last night with an all star band in front of a large crowd at the Fitzroy Town Hall. I’ve posted this short clip of Paul Williamson blowing all the cobwebs away. Have a look at his very popular sax lesson for Digital Pill here

Thanks to the two Marios for an incredible gig and all of their support for live music over many many years. You can visit their new website here

click here - to add this post - to your social network

Kate and Adam and Ariel Valent, together known as Invention in Time, perform Fast Giraffe from their latest CD Falling by Design. Played on marimba (wooden) and vibraphone (metal) this piece is one of the duo’s more jazzy, up-beat original compositions.

Visit them online

on Myspace

Buy the CD

The album is also available on iTunes

click here - to add this post - to your social network

Guitarist Lucas Michailidis details his unique triadic approach to comping and improvisation. Included is a comprehensive guide to all triad inversions along with how these can be superimposed to generate a range of extended chords and alternative possibilities.

Click > HERE < to download a pdf of the lesson

Here’s some links to Lucas’ music

His website

and also this is a link to all his music on iTunes

click here - to add this post - to your social network

Cam Robbins demonstrates a classic device for jazz improvisation on the clarinet, rhythmic register jumping. The video contains several examples and Cam demonstrates how to use the technique over one and two chord sequences.

Here’s some links to Cam’s music

Cam playing with Skazz

and also this is a link to all his music on iTunes

click here - to add this post - to your social network

Anton Delecca explains the uses of chromatic scales in jazz improvisation and as a warm up excercise for sax. In this video, Anton describes three excersices for warm up that improve tone and dexterity and are very useful to enliven passages of improvisation.

This video works together with a pdf of the lesson available here

Visit Anton website

Anton’s album is available on iTunes

click here - to add this post - to your social network

Paul Williamson explains the uses of bebop scales in jazz improvisation. In this video, Paul’s first post for Digital Pill, he describes the construction of bebop scales, jazz articulation, the use of a metronome and how bebop scales place the chord tones firmly ON the beat to create an “inside” sound in improvisation. The video together with the pdf download explain the uses of bebop scales over major, dominant and minor scales.

Click the links below to download a pdf of each of the lessons
Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
Lesson 5
Lesson 6

Listen to Paul’s music here

Paul playing with Way out West on myspace

Way Out West – Old Grooves for New Streets available from iTunes

and from CDbaby

And last but not least check out this footage of Paul I shot at the gig

click here - to add this post - to your social network