I just finished two solo transcriptions of saxophone master Sonny Stitt playing the blues which you can download for free on my transcriptions page. I believe it's important to learn and analyze the musical language of the masters when studying any particular type of music. Thus, a study of Jazz saxophone would not be complete without digging into Sonny Stitt. 

Bud's Blues is a recording from 1949 with Stitt on Tenor. It is a Bb blues, transposed to C for tenor sax. Stitt plays one chorus of the melody followed by four choruses of improvisation.

Cool Blues is a recording from 1958 with Stitt on Alto. It is an Eb blues transposed to C to alto sax. Stitt plays one chorus of the melody followed by six choruses of improvisation. Then, after laying out for 3 choruses for the piano, he plays two more choruses of improvisation and one last chorus of the melody.

Happy flashback Friday, y'all. On this day 5 years ago, The Party Band was celebrating the release of our debut album Transcendenta, at an all-day, all-ages, showcase of local music called Pure Cosmic Bop / Heavy Space Jams 4: The Meltdown. Big thanks to everyone that was involved, from all of the bands that performed, to the sound engineers who worked long hours to make the show go off without a hitch, to the venue crew for accommodating such a raucous collection of bands, to the fans who supported our kickstarter, bought merchandise, or just came out to the show. Lastly and most importantly I want to thank the band for putting in the time and energy to write, rehearse, perform, and record our original music. 

Order a physical copy or download the Party Band's debut album here: 
​https://nicebass.bandcamp.com/album/transcendenta 
(CDs out of print but vinyl records are still available!)

Enjoy this video from Sunday Gras at Allways Cabaret. The Band is Sabertooth Swing and the personnel is: Dan Ruch - trumpet / Joshua Ratner - trombone / Seth Bailin - sax / Romain Beauxis - guitar / Spike Perkins - bass / Rob Montgomery - drums

Video shot and edited by Mike Parks

Since August, I have had the pleasure of working with the ReNEW SciTech Academy Marching Band as the Woodwind Instructor. The band is comprised of mostly first-year students between 2nd and 8th grade.
This carnival season, the students will be marching in 8 parades, playing a challenging repertoire which they hone at rehearsals every day after school. 

The Sweet Sound of Uptown will appear at the following parades:
Friday, Feb 22 - Krewe of Excalibur - 7:30pm
Sunday, Feb 24 - Krewe of Femme Fatale - 11am
Wednesday, Feb 27 - Krewe of Nyx - 7pm
Thursday, Feb 28 - Krewe of Chaos - 6:15pm
Friday, March 1 - Krewe of Hermes - 6pm
Saturday, March 2 - Krewe of Iris - 11am
Sunday, March 3 - Krewe of Bacchus - 5:15pm
Fat Tuesday, March 5 - Krewe of Zulu - 8am

Thanks to Johnny Ginn and Care Diem Films for shooting this video at the Dumaine St Gang secondline feat. the Young Rollers and Da Truth Brass Band. 

Earlier this year, legendary drummer Tony Allen came to New Orleans and put on two amazing shows with Kumasi Afrobeat Orchestra. After the success of that first weekend, Tony and the lovely folks at the Music Box Village decided to do it again! October 12-13 we will be kicking off the Fall season at the Music Box with another fantastic show featuring Fela Kuti's longtime drummer and pioneer of Afrobeat music performing with a number of local artists: Kumasi Afrobeat Orchestra, Rhythms of Congo Square ft. Bill Summers, and Bounce Stars Ha Sizzle and DJ Lil Man. Get your discount advance tickets at: www.musicboxvillage.com

Enjoy this clip from February's show with Tony Allen

Performed with Sabertooth Swing this morning on two local media outlets to promote the band's new record Extinct Possibilities. Thank you to WWL channel 4 and WWOZ for featuring us. 

You can buy the Sabertooth Swing record (CD and digital download) here: ​https://sabertoothswing.bandcamp.com/releases

Got to perform at Muses parade with Bate Bunda this year. It was a blast, and the highlight was seeing some of the floats that well represented 'A Night at the Museum.'

Didn't get a shoe but what I did take away from the experience is the feeling that big parades like this are extremely wasteful. Performing towards the back of the line, we were literally marching through a river of plastic. Little bags that throws come in were everywhere. Beads, bottles, and cups littered the streets for the whole route. 

How can we do better? Why do we produce tons of plastic just to throw it all in a landfill? If we insist on producing this much stuff, we might as well invest in compostable bio-plastics that are not harmful to the environment. Why must this be the price for fun?