Jazz Masters

When intonation becomes a deliberate color
I have one last but very important thought to add about intonation that I think rounds out this series on pitch. Don’y

Lessons from the great Paul Bley
My fascination with pianist Paul Bley goes way back, and I was reminded of this while putting together a new video lesson

Frank Rosolino ‘sheds’ Round Midnight and Invitation with Lou Levy
This very rare recording is truly a treasure. It was shared with me by Barry Kierce who received it years ago from Rick

Another story from the new book by Richie Beirach and me
Richie and I have been writing a book on jazz education called Teaching and Learning Jazz: From tradition to technology – A

The new book by Richie Beirach and me
Throughout the past year, Richie and I have been writing a book on jazz education. It is called Teaching and Learning Jazz:
What is the jazz vocabulary and how you can learn it?
I recently listened to a podcast from Brent Vaartstra of LearnJazzStandards.com. Brent does a nice job with his podcasts, and his latest should give us all some food for thought.
A personal note to share from David Amram
The great composer, instrumentalist, and humanitarian David Amram replied to my post the other day on the book Richie Beirach and I put together on the film Whiplash.

Michael Lake
Jazz/latin trombone, author, multimedia artist, marketer

Why is jazz taking a back seat to band in school?
As I frequently do, I was searching yesterday for high school jazz band directors with whom I can share some of the jazz educational resources

A conversation about jazz with an Artificial Intelligence
As artificial intelligence is creeping into so many applications these days, I thought I’d share what it “thinks” about jazz and improvisation. To do that,

A taste of the Ukrainian spirit
A buyer of my book Alto Trombone Savvy wrote me a very sweet email and informed me that he cannot directly receive the book but is making