Psychology

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

Something is happening to today’s jazz. Why and what to do about it
I came across a brand new jazz album today by Ethan Iverson called “Every Note is True.” It is on the Blue

Uplift your playing: try something new
Thank you for all the positive comments and emails from last week’s post on building your health. As I thought about all those

The joy of practicing different
In my free improvisation course, Pocket Jazz, I dedicate a lesson to finding ways to mix it up in your practicing. Find

Getting over your guilt of not practicing enough
No, this is not a post assuring you that you don’t really need to practice in order to become a better player.

Michael Brecker on one’s individual sound
A friend sent me a link to a YouTube video with Michel Brecker talking about different topics as part of what looked

Musicians: getting over stage fright
Richie Beirach and I are about to release our new book called Teaching and Learning Jazz. As a promotion for the book’s

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