“Keep The Classical”
Overheard recently: a traditional bel canto voice teacher offering critique to a crossover student singing a jazz standard.
Vocal Jazz
Posts about vocal jazz.
Not The Special Part
Having a group of singers who can sing well together isn’t the special part. Thousands upon thousands of singers have learned to master vocal jazz and choral music over the decades, singing tight harmony in tune. As hard as it is, it’s not that special. What is special is finding […]
Who To Listen To Part 2
It matters who you choose to listen to. As I wrote yesterday, when my students are learning a jazz standard, I work hard to impress on them the importance of targeted listening. This is, after all, an oral tradition, and we can only sing these songs well if we understand […]
Who To Listen To When You’re Learning A Song
It matters who you choose to listen to. When my students are learning a jazz standard, I work hard to impress on them the importance of targeted listening. This is, after all, an oral tradition, and we can only sing these songs well if we understand that tradition. Even as […]
Best of Tin Pan Alley
I’ve spent a lot of hours listening to the great Tin Pan Alley songwriters – the ones who composed the core of the Great American Songbook/jazz standards. Along the way, I’ve developed some strong opinions about the songwriters’ output. Here’s my ranking of TPA songwriters. (Who did I select to […]
More Unison
Even the harmony master himself agreed. Gene Puerling loved unison singing. I can’t prove it to you, because the album is not available on any streaming services. I can’t link to a YouTube video because they’re all unavailable. But go and find The Hi-Lo’s singing “A Quiet Girl” By Leonard […]
Aces World Premiere 2023
This concert will be one for the memory books. One of the things I’m most excited about for Friday’s Rockford Aces 15th Anniversary Concert is a world premiere. With the help of the Rockford Education Foundation and the Rockford Choir Boosters, The Aces were able to commission a brand new […]
Shades of Blue Repertoire 2022-23
It’s my end-of-school-year tradition to publish the repertoire my ensemble sang over the year. With my sixth year at GRCC in the books, here are the pieces Shades of Blue learned and performed. This is the first year in which the ensemble stayed intact across both semesters – same four […]
Live Vocal Jazz
A recent request from the brilliant composer/conductor David Von Kampen in the Facebook Vocal Jazz Educators group sent me down a rabbit hole, so I’m sharing the request and my answer here. I ended up with two playlists. One from the pros and one from academic groups. Enjoy! (Note: I […]
On A Chanticleer Day
A brand new arrangement from Gene Puerling dropped today, courtesy of Chanticleer! Gene Puerling is a towering presence in the world of jazz and choral arranging. Having passed away just over 15 years ago, I wouldn’t have expected to hear brand new Puerling arrangements today; but a discovery in the […]