• Uncategorized

    Alien vs. Predator: (Aka: Finale vs Sibelius…)

    Finale’s layout and program logic can border on the extra-terrestrial, at least for me. Most of the musicians I know who have settled into Finale use have been set-up by other power users from across the great layman/expert divide. How do power users get this way? Not sure, but they would likely become engineers and understand Fortran if confronted with it, I’m sure. My friend and Finale expert, bassist Tom Hubbard is an example of this. He knows everything about everything. Just one of those type of guys. We did a barter agreement where I taught him some piano and harmony and he taught me Finale. I think he got…

  • Jimmy Raney

    Jimmy Raney’s polyrhythmic concepts (book preview part 1)

    Rhythmic subtlety was key in my father’s playing. He picked up on this originally from bebop masters such as Charlie Parker and Bud Powell and also bandmate Stan Getz and then incorporated the concepts wholely as the hallmark of his style. Such things as rhythmic displacement, polyrhythmic grouping and polymetric phrasing were a regular feature in their lines and particularly Jimmy’s. The first Just Friends 5/8 phrase is one I constructed from memory. If it’s not an exact replication, it was very typical of the things he played. The second phrase is from a 1974 live duo recording at Bradley’s. Originally played in key of D(?)The snippet is from last…