Posts by Michael Lake
The art of living in troubled times
I received an email today from a musician friend who is having a very hard time of things right now. He’s far from the only one, but his emotional outpouring of sorrow and hopelessness inspired me to share my belief in what I’m calling the art. The art of living in times of dark clouds…
Read MoreWhen Richie Beirach first met and played with Hank Mobley
Richie sent me his reflection of meeting Hank Mobley for the first time. I was up at Don Sicklers loft one afternoon working on some stuff with Don, and Hank came. Don introduced me, telling Hank that I was a jazz pianist and was playing in a band with Dave Liebman. Hank smiled and said,…
Read MoreRichie Beirach’s thoughts on comping for Dave Liebman
I asked Richie Beirach to explain a little about his comping for his friend and colleague of 50 years, Dave Liebman. As usual, when Richie is asked something, he’s never short of an enthusiastic response that nails the essence of the answer. This is what Richie wrote: For most piano players, Lieb is not easy…
Read MoreRichie Beirach’s great lesson from Chet Baker
As I collect interviews for the Jazz Master Summit, I want to post a few interesting excerpts. I think these will help demonstrate some of the value, entertainment, and musical wisdom you won’t find in other places. One example was the tribute to Lyle Mays I asked of Mark Eagan last week. I had the…
Read MoreMark Egan remembers Lyle Mays
As part of the upcoming Jazz Master Summit, I interviewed Mark Egan, the bass player of the quartet that recorded those early Pat Metheny albums The Pat Metheny Group and American Garage. That group consisted of Pat, Mark, Danny Gotlieb and Lyle Mays. At the end of my interview with Mark, I asked him to…
Read MorePlaying jazz like your life depended on it
I’m almost half done with the video interviews I’m conducting with some of the greatest jazz players and teachers in the world. Soon, these will be made into an online event called Jazz Master Summit. Sign up on my home page in order to be notified as I get closer to releasing this unique event.…
Read MorePutting the fun back into practicing
This morning I asked subscribers to suggest questions that I could ask Jim Pugh and Bob McChesney since I will be interviewing each of them within the next few days. I am creating a week-long event consisting of interviews with great players and teachers. I’ll be sharing more of this as the date for the…
Read MoreGetting the most out of Trombone Improvisation Savvy
I got an email recently from an owner of Improvisation Savvy who wrote that he isn’t getting what he had hoped he would from the book. He was looking for chord/scale instruction to teach him jazz improvisation and felt that the book was, therefore, for more advanced players. For anyone publishing materials for skill development,…
Read MoreHal Galper’s demonstration of results
In a world craving instant gratification and immediate results, players learning the craft of jazz live a somewhat frustrated existence. Results are slow to come. Spoiler alert: improvisation is hard. I watched a video today that I hadn’t seen in a while, and it reminded me that in the hands of a good teacher, instant…
Read MoreThe key to satisfying jazz improvisation may not be learning all the scales.
A trombone player who bought Trombone Improvisation Savvy a while back wrote that as an orchestral player proficient at reading music, he feels overwhelmed when looking at chord changes. He wrote that the book isn’t giving him what he needs in terms of chord scales to practice until they become part of muscle memory. He…
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