Book Sale and Zoom Workshop III: Technique with Bach Loops
Well, after ten years we are moving to a new place. I've amassed quite a bit of stuff over the years and now would be a great time to pick up a print edition of Bach Shapes One, or any of my CD releases, at up to half off. This is also to clear the way for the FIVE, count 'em, FIVE new releases coming out this spring, starting with Bach Shapes: The Etudes on March 31st in four transpositions. More on that later!
"There are precious little tidbits in these videos"
"That was fun! It’s inspiring to hear your analysis"
"I really get a lot from these talks"
It's great to be able to interact and take questions. The topic for this meeting will be Technical Practice. To discuss this I'm going to be referring to a chapter in the new book called "Bach Loops." These are short looping technically challenging parts, directly out of Bach's music and sometimes altered. I will address:
* Outlining, the methods of teacher Abby Whiteside, which I discuss here: Jazz Ideas 6: Outlining
* Inclusive intervals, ways to approach wide intervals
* Releasing tension through repetition
* How I practice this in my daily routine
* Doubling on clarinet and/or flute
* Basic image, imagining the music before you play it
Just click on the date on the calendar, then the time, and you’ll enter an email and be all set! Even if you can’t make it live, I will send the recording and handouts afterwards.
The workshop will be free but with a suggested donation of $10-20, and will run 1.5 hours. Looking very much forward to it!
Sign up includes a coupon towards the Etudes eBook, and any relevant PDFs!
“This impassioned group swings…For this gig, the Octet had a great spiritual asset in the gently fervent playing of Ted Brown, a sage of melodic invention. I am grateful that Jon De Lucia has created this group: so delightful in whatever they play. You’ll hear it too. “
Michael Steinman, JazzLives
Saxophonist Jon De Lucia met the great tenorist Ted Brown in 2014, and got to play with him soon after. He was and is struck by the pure lyricism and honesty in his improvising. One of the original students of forward thinking pianist Lennie Tristano in the 1940s, Brown, along with Lee Konitz, is among the last of this great school of players. Later, when De Lucia discovered some of Jimmy Giuffre’s original scores from the Lee Konitz meets Jimmy Giuffre session of 1959, which Brown and Konitz both participated in, he knew he wanted to put a band together to play this music with Ted. Thus the Jon De Lucia Octet was formed. A Five Saxophone and Rhythm lineup with unique arrangements by the great clarinetist/saxophonist Jimmy Giuffre. The original charts featured Lee Konitz on every track, and the first step in 2016 was to put a session together reuniting Brown and Konitz on these tunes. An open rehearsal was held at the City College of New York, Lee took the lead and played beautifully while Ted took over the late Warne Marsh’s part. This then led to the concert you have here before you. De Lucia steps into Lee’s shoes, while the features have been reworked to focus on Brown, including new arrangements of his tunes by De Lucia and daughter Anita Brown. The rest of the band includes a formidable set of young saxophonists, including John Ludlow, who incidentally was a protege of the late Hal McCusick, who also played on the original recording session of Lee Konitz meets Jimmy Giuffre, and plays the alto saxophone, now inherited, used in the session. Jay Rattman and Marc Schwartz round out the tenors, and Andrew Hadro, who can be heard to great effect on Venus De Milo, plays the baritone. In the rhythm section, Ray Gallon, one of NYC’s most swinging veterans on the piano, Aidan O’Donnell on the bass and the other legend in the room, the great Steve Little on the drums.
Little was in Duke Ellington’s band in 1968, recording on the now classic Strayhorn tribute ...and His Mother Called Him Bill, before going on to record all of the original Sesame Street music and much more as a studio musician. The show was sold out at Brooklyn’s now defunct Drawing Room, operated by Michael Kanan and Stephanie Grieg. Along with the music previously mentioned, De Lucia had recently acquired some of the original parts from Gerry Mulligan’s Songbook session, which featured Konitz, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims and Allen Eager in another great sax section recording, this time arranged by Bill Holman. Here the band plays “Sextet,” and “Venus De Milo” from that session. Brown, here making the band a Nonet, plays beautifully and takes part in every tune, reading parts even when not soloing. Not included in this CD is an extended take of Konitz’s “Cork n’ Bib” and Giuffre’s piece for three clarinets, “Sheepherders.” Possible bonus releases down the line! Since this concert, the Octet has taken on a life of its own, covering the repertoire of the original Dave Brubeck Octet, more of the Mulligan material, Alec Wilder, and increasingly De Lucia’s own material. De Lucia continues searching for rare and underperformed material, rehearsing regularly in NYC and performing less regularly. One can hope there is much more to come from this talented group!
Exercises for all instruments to improve your intervals, technique and ears. For those that own the book, if you haven't yet, please do write a review of the book on Amazon or on the saxophone forums. Here is some feedback I recently received from some great players and teachers:
“Jazz musicians have naturally gravitated towards the music of JS Bach for years, so a book like this one has been a long time coming. Jon has done a wonderful job capturing various snapshots of Bach’s seemingly infinite musical language, organizing these shapes in a setting that could be very useful to improvisers. A truly interesting and enjoyable book that will hopefully lead to more volumes in the future.”
–Miguel Zenon, International Touring Artist
“A valuable tool for students who would like a refreshing change from regular forms of scale exercises. The challenging intervals and ranges would give any serious player a good workout! Thank you for this wonderful addition to our study materials!”
– Kenneth Tse, Professor at University of Iowa, President of the Comite International de Saxophone
The book is now also available in store at Virtuosity in Boston, Eble Music (Groth Music) in Minnesota, Performers in Chicago along with Roberto's Woodwinds in Midtown Manhattan,the Buffet Showroom on 35th st. and Music Espresso, Jamey Aebersold's Jazzbooks.com, and Van Cott Music along with my site, where if you use the discount code 'NASA' you will received 15% off on your order. The book is on Amazon as well but I am pulling back from selling it there as the author barely receives anything after Amazon takes their cut, please do purchase directly! The book is great for interval and ear training practice, and can also really contribute to your motivic improvising. 4 jazz etudes at the end point the way towards using the material improvisationally, but blog posts on the new Bach Shapes sub-blog will go even further. Our first series has been on the great Paul Desmond, you can read all three entries at www.jondelucia.com/blog. Bachshapes.com will also be a future source of updates on the book.
Also next week I will put on a Recital at the City College of New York with the great pianist Ray Gallon. We will perform originals by myself and Ray, along with a couple standard tunes.
City College Faculty Recital
Thursday November 8th, 12:30 pm
Shepard Hall, 259 Convent, Room 95 on basement level.
The Jon De Lucia Octet Releases Live at The Drawing Room with Ted Brown in Summer 2018
The Octet was scheduled to play at Sir D's Lounge today but it was sadly cancelled due to emergency renovations at the club. We will perform again soon and have a ton of new music to present so stay tuned.
In other Octet news, the tracks are mixed and mastered for the Live at the Drawing Room recording that we did with the great Ted Brown back in the fall of 2016. This was an amazing experience as we were able to play and record many of the arrangements from the original Lee Konitz meets Jimmy Giuffre album with Ted, who recorded them in 1959. We were even able to put together a reading session with Lee himself. These, along with some of my arrangements of Ted's great tunes and others make up the body of the recording.
Right now the record is scheduled to be released on Gut String Records and I am raising funds to print CDs and design the package etc. If you feel that you would like to contribute, any donation of $20 and up will get you a copy of the CD when it is released. I have set up a PayPal link here: www.paypal.me/jonpdelucia.
The Jon De Lucia Octet returns to celebrate Lee Konitz
I am excited to bring my five saxophone Octet to St. John's Lutheran Church in the West Village this Sunday at 3:30pm as part of Janet Sora Chung's awesome series, St. John's Presents. This time around we will be focusing on some arrangements that Lee Konitz, now in his 90th year, originally played on in the 1950s. This includes tunes from the Gerry Mulligan Songbook Recording, Lee Konitz meets Jimmy Giuffre, and a few of my own inspired by the great altoist. The band will also feature the great Steve Little, who recorded with Duke Ellington, Paul Simon, Sesame Street and more! Above is a short video of the band doing "Someone to Watch Over Me," from the Giuffre album, thanks to Michael Steinman.
Keep an eye out for the recording from last year's concert with Ted Brown, I hope to have it finished and released very soon!
Bach Shapes and Other News
Some of you have signed up for this list when you ordered my new book, Bach Shapes: Diatonic Sequences for Saxophone. I truly appreciate you picking it up and ask that you spread the word so that Bach Shapes can be found in more stores worldwide. If you haven't yet, please do write a review of the book on Amazon or on the saxophone forums. Here is some feedback I recently received from some great players and teachers:
“Jazz musicians have naturally gravitated towards the music of JS Bach for years, so a book like this one has been a long time coming. Jon has done a wonderful job capturing various snapshots of Bach’s seemingly infinite musical language, organizing these shapes in a setting that could be very useful to improvisers. A truly interesting and enjoyable book that will hopefully lead to more volumes in the future.”–Miguel Zenon, International Touring Artist “A valuable tool for students who would like a refreshing change from regular forms of scale exercises. The challenging intervals and ranges would give any serious player a good workout! Thank you for this wonderful addition to our study materials!”– Kenneth Tse, Professor at University of Iowa, President of the Comite International de Saxophone
The book is available in store at Roberto's Woodwinds in Midtown Manhattan,the Buffet Showroom on 35th st. and also at Music Espresso in Boston. Jamey Aebersold's Jazzbooks.com, and Van Cott Music along with my site. The book is great for interval and ear training practice, and can also really contribute to your motivic improvising. 4 jazz etudes at the end point the way towards using the material improvisationally, but blog posts on the new Bach Shapes sub-blog will go even further. Our first series has been on the great Paul Desmond, you can read all three entries at www.jondelucia.com/blog. Bachshapes.com will also be a future source of updates on the book. Also in classical news, I will be participating once again in a great kids' concert at the Brooklyn Museum with the Brooklyn Conservatory Community Orchestra on November 18th, more info here.
Jon De Lucia Group, Brooklyn CD Release Concert Tomorrow at the Drawing Room!
Concert this Friday
Hello, this is a gentle reminder that we will be at the Drawing Room tomorrow night for our Brooklyn CD Release concert. Come celebrate the release of my new record and also my book which will both be available at the concert for discounted rates. You can still buy tickets on eventbrite and rsvp to the Facebook event below, otherwise you can pay at the door. Wine and snacks available. Hope to see you there! You can pick up a CD at the show, at my new online store, www.jondelucia.com/shop, or on iTunes, here.
Jon De Lucia - Sax, A Clarinet
Greg Ruggiero - Guitar
Sean Smith - Bass
Tommy Crane - Drums
May 19th, Friday, 8-10 PM
The Drawing Room
56 Willoughby St,
Downtown Brooklyn by Jay St.,
You can see the Facebook event here, Eventbrite event here, where for $15 dollars you can purchase an advance ticket.
First, the new Jon De Lucia Group CD, first in 10 years, is out this month on Fresh Sound New Talent. The band includes longtime collaborators Greg Ruggiero, Chris Tordini and Tommy Crane and features all original compositions of mine. You can pick up a CD at my new online store, www.jondelucia.com/shop, or on iTunes, here.
This band, minus Chris Tordini, will be performing at the Drawing Room on Saturday, May 13th at 8pm, in downtown Brooklyn. You can see the Facebook event here. I will be posting tickets for sale through Eventbrite shortly to the event page.
New Book for Saxophone
My new book will come out on May 25th, and is available for pre-order now! I am very excited about this project, a book for diatonic scale patterns taken from Bach's solo works. It is a great work out for all instruments, and a wealth of material relatable to improvisation. I recently wrote a short article about the book for The Best Saxophone Website Ever.
Jon De Lucia Octet
To celebrate the release of the book, the Octet will be performing some fugue inspired material on May 29th at Sir D's Lounge in Brooklyn. See the event page here. Michael Steinman has been kind enough to record this group several times, here is a clip from our last show at Greenwich House Music.
Jon De Lucia Music on Facebook
If you haven't done so already, please do like my musician page on Facebook. I will regularly be posting updates there.
New release on Fresh Sound New Talent in January 2017. All original music by Jon De Lucia with quartet. Recorded live to 2-inch tape with Greg Ruggiero on guitar, Chris Tordini on bass, and Tommy Crane on drums.
Liner notes by Dave Sumner:
It’s gotten to where Jon De Lucia can weave a melody between heartbeats. His sound, grown more expansive with time, shows its strength when coalescing into the softest voice. It’s a big reason why his every note is a solemn one, even when his alto sax is booming out a solo, and it’s the source of the quiet nobility that flows within the confluence of songs of a cheery demeanor and a focused intensity.
With his 2006 release Face No Face, De Lucia provided signs of what was to come. Songs cut from the same canvas upon which he paints renditions of Japanese folksongs speak to the pursuit of a zen-like existence on an album shaped by the forces of turbulence. But even within those challenging environs, De Lucia’s melodic interludes point to the emergence of a grace under fire.
It was years later and with a new ensemble that Jon De Lucia revealed what was only hinted at previously.
His Luce Trio led out with strong classical influences by embracing both Handel and Bach in the improvising-friendly medium of Baroque music.
Recorded in the historic St Ann and the Holy Trinity church, the 2012 release Pieces, Vol.1
zeroed in on the reverential tones that he once merely dabbled in.
It’s an album of sheer beauty, and looking back, it’s almost blindingly obvious that De Lucia had discovered the sound most suited to him, a sensation not unlike the sun majestically appearing out from behind dark clouds.
But this wasn’t the pinnacle of De Lucia’s creative development. There was the matter of how to re-enter a straight-ahead jazz environment and adapt that approach so it thrives even when the post-bop skirmishes render the attainment of serenity a formidable endeavor.
De Lucia’s newest album, As the River Sings, is positive evidence that he’s advanced toward that end.
Greg Ruggiero’s electric guitar provokes the dancing flames on “Snake Creeps Down” and Tommy Crane’s drums instigate a punctuated chatter on “Festa,“ and yet the tone from De Lucia’s alto sax wills an undercurrent of peacefulness upon the boisterous tempo. And when De Lucia is the one inching the temperature up, it’s only as the shadow to bassist Chris Tordini’s brighter light on “Up Out.”
The melodic sighs of “Caterina” and the two-part “Sinus Suite” are the motions of flickering candlelight, tiny repetitions of emphasis and enchantment. That the heat rises on “Caterina” doesn’t magnify the flame, but acts as the necessary reminder that melodies, no matter how lovely, too, can burn. And “Stirring Curds” shows how a solemn ambiance is no obstacle to expressions of immaculate tunefulness. The melody twists and turns with a beguiling grace, and the rhythm section proceeds as if humming the tune under its breath.
And as has become De Lucia’s talent, the softest sounds on As the River Sings resonate with the greatest strength. Like a heartbeat.
Praise for Face no Face and the Luce Trio:
“Boston-based alto and soprano saxophonist De Lucia stitches together edgy improvising with surprise-filled writing that sounds both mysterious and eminently accessible.”-Bob Young, The Boston Herald
“De Lucia is refreshingly personal in his improvisations and the charts apparently are fairly flexible, leaving a lot of space for soloist and supporters to stretch out. Let’s hope the fresh air continues….”-Stu Vandermark, Cadence Magazine
“The alto saxophonist creates music that moves deliberately, with melodies that are as rich as they are gentle… This music, so finely created by Messrs. De Lucia, Ferreira and Tordini, shines with intelligence and spirit.”-Richard Kamins, Step Tempest Blog
“De Lucia imbues solemn austere music with a candle’s flickering warmth.”-Dave Sumner, birdistheworm.com
“This is a stunning recording. Adventurous, organic and an incredibly intimate performance that should cut a incredibly wide path for both jazz and classical music lovers.”-Brent Black, Critical Jazz
“An incredibly beautiful and interesting take on early music.”-Mark Saleski, somethingelsereviews
Jon De Lucia is a Brooklyn based saxophonist and composer.
Originally from Quincy, MA, Jon has become an integral part
of the New York scene. Predominantly a student of jazz, he
also has a deep interest in the folkloric music and instruments
of Cuba, Japan, Ireland and Italy, having performed on a
variety of ethnic flutes, drums and stringed instruments. Jon
has led his groups and played as a sideman in Boston, New
York and all over Japan with such musicians as Bill Crow,
Michael Kanan, David Tronzo, Bob Moses, John Lockwood,
Billy Mintz, Steve Little, Putter Smith and Thomas Morgan.
He leads the Jon De Lucia Group, and the baroque
improvising Luce Trio. In 2017 he will be publishing his first
article on Lester Young for the Jazz Research Journal, along
with a saxophone exercise book derived by the music of JS
Bach. He has released two records as a leader and continues to
compose, perform and teach privately in New York City.
