Mike Lebrun

Dig Into Something

Curiosity is a beautiful thing. The desire to learn is one of the most compelling desires of the human brain. One of my personal shortcomings is the ability to consistently follow through with a singular trajectory.

I love and want to explore so many lines of interest, but sometimes that leaves me aching to expand my shallow, wide purview across too many subjects. Right now, I’m focusing on data science and machine learning, Don Byas, javascript and animated front-end web development and Joe Lovano’s approach to phrasing.

My point: Focus on gaining a deep understanding of at least one thing. If you’re like me, you are naturally inquisitive. Funnel that curiosity into a single stream for an extended period of time. The level of learning you will achieve, and the amount of brain you will engage…it will stretch you. ...read more

3 Cures for the Compositional Rut

Jazz tune writer’s block? We all know the feeling. In fact, I’ve also been in a massive blogging dry spell, having taken over a year off from this site. But in the spirit of this post, it only seemed fitting to blog about the idea of having no good ideas. Here are a few jump-starters to get cooking on your next tune when that elusive, perfect melody just isn’t coming to you.

1. Harmony Can Lead to Melody

For a long time I was embarrassed to retrofit melodies to the harmonies I would plunk out at the piano. Somehow the origin of my melodic content felt shameful and insincere, since I felt strongly that harmony served to reinforce melody, and not the other way around.

Upon reflection, however, I realize that revealing the perfect line over a set of chord changes is perhaps the very most natural and satisfying means for a improvisation-focused musician to compose. Think about it: we are “spontaneously composing” melodies all the time while playing over changes. So why not sit down until you’ve come up with a compelling progression, devise something lyrical that fits over it, add a pinch of rhythmically-engaging accompaniment, and call it a day? ...read more

On the Evolution of Kendrick Scott Oracle’s Covers and “We Are the Drum”

What do Flying Lotus, Kendrick Lamar, Sufjan Stevens, and Björk have in common? Besides their shared flare for artfully blending electronic and acoustic sounds, they are among the unintentionally curated set of non-jazz artists that jazz musicians, myself included, have almost universally anointed as worthy of seriously digging. And with its first three jazz albums, Kendrick Scott Oracle has dedicated a track on each to cover a song by one of these non-jazz artists.

In the band’s debut album, The Source, Scott arranges a contemplative version of Björk’s 107 steps. John Ellis’ melancholy bass clarinet sets up an evocative modern jazz ballad. But the song selection is as much a reflection of Björk’s influence on Scott as it’s an homage to drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts, who also covered 107 Steps back in 2004. ...read more

Saxophone Altissimo Systems and Your Hidden Second Octave Key

Learning to play in the altissimo (extreme upper) range of the saxophone requires patience, mostly on the part of the player, but also for whatever unlucky souls are forced to listen to your squawking. Progressing from squeaks to music is a process, but there are basic principles that should be isolated if you want to learn to control this demanding range of the saxophone.

2 key elements to playing in the altissimo range:

Throat Control – practice your overtones! There’s lots of literature on this, but Rasher’s Top Tones is the bible. Most of altissimo playing is controlled by your throat, not your fingers, so you MUST start here.
Fingerings – the saxophone wasn’t built to play in this range, and many “standard” fingerings are cumbersome to execute.

How can I settle on the right fingerings?

Ok, so you’ve developed great throat control through lots of overtone practice. But your technique is still not all that advanced up there. There are dozens of fingerings for each note on various fingering charts (see Ted Nash’s Studies in High Harmonics for a good reference), but most offer no guidance for which ones should be used together. Unfortunately it’s not so cut and dry, read on. ...read more

Highnote App: 1-tap key and tempo change, on the fly

In the past, I’ve used various pieces of software to alter the tempos and keys of recordings. Whether I want to slow something down to more easily transcribe a passage, or work on playing in different keys, the process involves (1) uploading said track so some program (i.e. Audacity, SlowGold, etc.), (2) finding the right combination of transformation buried in the dropdown menus, and (3) then waiting for the track to process. Plus, I need to be in front of my computer.

Enter Highnote. It’s an iPhone app that allows you to take any track that’s on your phone’s iTunes, and in a single tap, change the key, tempo, or any combination of the two. Similar to my previous post covering 3 groove and intonation focused apps, this is a hyper-focused app with a focus on clean and effective execution. Want to play over giant steps along with Coltrane, but up a half step? No problem! Need to slow that down a bit to get the hang of it? Done! ...read more

Experimenting with Melody, Harmony, & Rhythm

“…it’s so hard to describe music other than the basic way to describe it – music is basically melody, harmony and rhythm – but I mean people can do much more with music than that. It can be very descriptive in all kinds of ways…”

~Charlie Parker from an interview conducted by Paul Desmond (1954)

The more I ponder Bird’s fundamental decomposition of music, the more I discover how aptly anything musical can be described by its harmony, melody, and rhythm. There’s still that lingering, intangible “much more,” the part that gives music meaning. But let’s save the “much more” for another post…

As improvisers, we strive to use our instruments as a medium for channelling the musical thoughts that are trapped inside our mind’s ear. When I sit down to practice, I want to focus my routine around activities what work the mental and physical muscles that will get me closer to this goal on two fronts: working on my ability to execute the sounds I hear is one piece of the puzzle, but I’m also constantly looking to develop my ear and my mind’s ability to imagine new sounds. These sounds can be harmonic, melodic, rhythmic, or a some combination of the three. ...read more

50 of Today’s Best Jazz Pianists

Adding to my previous top 50 sax and trumpet player posts, I think it’s time to show the piano, keyboard, and organ some love.

Looking for an answer to something like this? “I love Bill Evans, Monk, and Keith Jarrett. But I don’t even know where to start with most of these modern guys.” Well, here’s a list of contemporary pianists that will get you off on the right foot. I recommend starting at the top and working your way down.

Preface

The following lists represent a group of amazing jazz musicians.

This is entirely my opinion. If you know jazz, you probably disagree with me.

In fact, I would hope you disagree and have an opinion of your own. Jazz is an inherently subjective matter. Creating a finite list and then applying a rank-order to anything this personal is an absurdly biased exercise. Thus, this is by no means the gold standard, nor is it a survey or peer reviewed study, and the exact rank order should be taken with a humongous grain of earthy salt scraped from the bed of the Dead Sea. ...read more

New Music: Tigran, Katie Ernst, & Makaya

From local Chicago friends to Armenian prodigies, musicians worldwide continue to knock my socks off with their new releases. Here are three recent albums that span the vast array of music that gets lumped under the unassuming and all-too-broad label of Jazz.

Tigran Hamasyan: Mockroot

Tigran made his first journey to Chicago 2 weeks ago, and after attending my first Tigran live show, all I can say is “wow.” His music is rhythmically complex, but somehow it still manages to groove insanely hard. I call it Armenian folk jazz metal, maybe Armymetazz? I’ll workshop that. But for all the intensity this group brings during the hard-hitting grooves, they balance it out with sparse, melodic interludes. The contrast can be schizophrenic, but that’s also part of the appeal. He sings, whistles, and tickles the ivories as well as anybody in the business. I’m so glad Nonesuch is now backing Tigran’s efforts, since he has deserving of wider recognition for many years. Get it on iTunes. ...read more

3 iPhone Apps That Improve Your Groove & Intonation

As some of you may be aware, my day job is in mobile app software development. So, when I come across useful, intuitive apps that actually help me solve real problems that I face as a musician, I get really excited!

I’ve been using Pitch Primer and Time Guru with some regularity for over a year now. I recently also came across Double Time, and let’s just say it’s revealing glaring issues in my time, which you will witness for yourself below. These apps might not win any design awards, but the highly specialized utility they offer makes them invaluable practice tools.

Let’s go through each of these three iPhone apps, and along the way I’ll demonstrate how and why I use them in my quest to become a better musician.

Sorry Android users, only Time Guru offers an Android version, but please, don’t even get me started with the follies of Android… ...read more

An Improviser’s Tour de Fourths

Back in the late 60’s and 70’s, fourths were the hippest thing since sliced bread. Jazz entered the age of treble-heavy bass and electric fusion, and musicians were overlaying fresh-sounding (at the time) intervallic fourth patterns over all sorts of funky modal groove tunes.

But fourths are so much more than just a few licks to plug in. Let’s explore the harmonic and intervallic possibilities the fourth creates. I hope to open your mind, your practice routine, and your playing. After all, it’s called a perfect fourth for a reason!

Let’s start from the beginning and work our way up.

What is a fourth?

Let’s take 10 seconds and cover the extreme basics. The fourth is an interval. In the key of C, moving from C to F is moving from 1 to 4 if you number each note sequentially: ...read more