Jazz Standards Workshop

workshop four - 'jazz standards plus' - autumn 2008

our autumn/winter 08 program follows on from the previous 'jazz workshop' series. there are no hard and fast 'qualifications' you need in order to enroll but you will be most comfortable if you can read 'the dots' at around grade 3/4 and are familiar with the principles of ii/v/i and 'modulation' (you do not need to be a master, just have an enthusiasm to learn more!). although jazz is about every conceivable way of organising sounds and as ever we will be endeavoring to meet as many of these as we can fit in, our main focus will be harmony. what happens when composers start (playfully!) bending the rules with ii/v/i? how do we combat all those little additional symbols that come after the main chord symbol e.g. cm7b6 vs cm7b9? how far can a blues be bent out of shape and it still be a blues form? intriguingly we will find that successfully decoding a harmonic structure can suddenly define a stylistic genre! so, as you can see there will be a fair bit of cerebral work to do, at least intitially, but as i always maintain - the mathematic precedes the aesthetic but doesn't replace it; charlie parker put it more bluntly - 'learn the (chord) changes......then forget 'em'.

tuesday
october 7 14 21 28
november 4 11, monday 17 and thursday 20, 25
december 3 jam session

monday 17th nov greg abate will be rehearsing both groups ready for our combined big gig thursday 20th nov where he will perform with us as featured soloist (gig venue etc to be confirmed (but likely to be palace theatre, paignton)