I've fallen into the trap of falling down rabbit holes chasing the improvisation bunny, waiting for perfection to emerge before uploading here. Putting an end to that today. I wanted to attempt a ballad and thought it would make for easier improvisation. In many ways it turned out to be the opposite. 🙃 I chose the Oscar Peterson/Prez version of the tune and am copying Barney K's comping style - just straight quarters, which I think fits the circumstances. Any constructive feedback welcomed! @Coach Gabriel Sebrian @Coach Marc-Andre Seguin

I've been working on this, focusing on voice leading and arranging. It came up in the Q&A this Saturday (I was struggling with one voicing). Thanks to help from Marc, I addressed that issue. Still a work in progress (I need to smooth it out), but here's where I am. This is my own arrangement of a great Duke Ellington tune. https://youtu.be/R8xjdyB2ns4w

Not a jazz tune, but since Marc started today's call with a mandolin reference... This is another original tune of Jeff's and the first time I've ever played "my grandfather's mandolin" (or any mandolin) in public. It was written many years ago as a tribute to his grandfather, an immigrant to the US. And a very timely tune these days. https://youtu.be/JGzbxzdn_CM

After showing the work leading up to this, here is the chord melody followed by an improv. I also did a version where I comped and played the head, but it was too long - so I just end after the improv. Elements of what I played are definitely in the various previous etudes for scales, guide tones, and arpeggios. I did practice the various steps daily and eventually things began to fall into the improv. The only real plan I had for the improv, was that I wanted to start going down the scale - since the melody goes up and I wanted a contrast. I also targeted the "out" notes in the various diminished chords in the song. So I land on the Ab against the F dim, the F# against the C diminished, and C# on the E diminished - even though those notes are not diatonic to the key of the song (C). This is also different than the melody of the song which is 99% diatonic to C (except for a single G# at the end). To me, I heard those notes in the chordal movement and it felt very natural to play them.

Turning 45 this year, so I got myself a present 😎 This is a 2001 Ibanez JSM100, first year of production, made in Japan. Built to replicate John Scofield's 1981 AS200, the guitar he's been playing his whole career. Mine is from that first batch. A lucky find from a dear friend who was clearing out part of his collection and kept this one aside for me. Today was the first practice session with her. Still adapting to the feel, even a great instrument requires adjustment when you switch. But I wanted to document the first day, so I played a Bb jazz blues over Tenor Madness changes and called it JSM100 Blues. Nothing fancy. Just noodling with target notes, chromatic approaches and neighbor tones. Letting the guitar talk a little on day one. Hope you enjoy it 😊🎸🎶