Tag: Dave liebman

A blog about jazz and related musings

The new audiobook by Dave Liebman: The Art of Skill

February 7, 2021

As an experiment about two months ago I recorded my reading of the book Richie Beirach and I produced called the Lineage of Modern Jazz Piano I then made it into an audiobook…

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Ear to instrument connection

The Benefits of the Ear to Instrument Connection

April 13, 2024

I recently watched a video performance by the amazing classical pianist Yuja Chang. I’ve seen her memorizing motion and heard her virtuosic playing...

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Robot watching JMS interview

My AI on how to be a better jazz improviser

April 1, 2024

I have created a AI chatbot called Jazz Master Chat that draws from 75 hours of interviews from my Jazz Master Summit event a couple of years ago. I interviewed...

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Guy playing guitar

How to improvise jazz better

March 28, 2024

What is jazz improvisation? Let’s first define what I mean by jazz improvisation. Jazz improvisation is a spontaneous conversation, but instead of...

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A cartoon gym

Three exercises for mastering your improvisation

March 20, 2024

As you improvise, how deep is your level of satisfaction? Do you feel confident? Do the lines coming from your instrument feel authentic to you or do you...

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Woman transcribing a solo2

The good and bad of transcribing solos

March 17, 2024

I was asked a question today by a young man eager to improve his improvisation. He asked for my thoughts regarding solo transcribing. Coincidentally, I also...

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Musician's Playground course card

How to improve your jazz improvisation

March 12, 2024

The title of this post is the question I constantly seek to answer for players like you: How can you improve your jazz improvisation skills? I’ve recently...

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Cuba slum

Ignacio Berroa on the realities of Cuba

February 22, 2024

I’ve been putting my custom GPT through some testing as I ask it questions from the collective interviews I conducted with over 60 jazz masters a couple...

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Perfection in practicing

February 19, 2024

I recently published a new video in my series on my AI called Jazz Master Chat. The video asked for tips on improving the effectiveness of practicing a musical...

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Evil machine playing sax2

The devil in the chip

February 10, 2024

More and more often I see musicians hating on artificial intelligence. I think the same can be said for artists in general. And I think that is a shame given...

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AIplaying Sax2

Artificial Intelligence and jazz?

January 18, 2024

Almost exactly one year ago, I wrote a post on an artificial intelligence called Chat GPT. In it, I asked the AI questions about playing jazz. A few people...

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Picture of Michael Lake

Michael Lake

Trombonist, author, composer, marketer

Pocket Jazz

The Pocket Jazz course is a completely redesigned series of online videos of no more than three-minutes each. Most of the lessons also contain short excerpts of tips and wisdom from masters like Ron Carter, Randy Brecker, Dave Liebman, Richie Beirach, Toshiko Akiyoshi, and many more.

Teaching & Learning Jazz

From this book, Richie Beirach and Mike provide great stories of jazz wisdom, a reflection on university jazz education including how to choose a school, an analysis of the Hollywood view of jazz education, a look at the psychology of education, and many other previously unexplored essential topics for both teachers and students.

Available in soft cover and digital editions.

Trombone Improvisation Savvy

Trombone demands different physical abilities from other instruments, but certain skills are universal such as connecting your instrument to your musical mind. Learn from exercises and audio files specifically focused on trombone that will help you improvise much better.