Cambridge Jazz Co-op

15/06/2025

With only one tutor left before the summer break (don't worry, we'll be back in September), we welcome saxophonist and jazz educator, Mick Foster this coming Saturday.
He teaches on the jazz courses at the Guildhall School in London.
If you want to know more about this illustrious jazz man go here: http://mickfoster.org/bio
If you want to know what he's planning to do with us, then here's what he told me:
“For my session on June 21 I'd like to look at:
Whistman's Wood - John Surman
https://open.spotify.com/track/7hr8vm7sTDEUR1qFqKyq5x?si=0bc21a5110d845c6
Flamenco Sketches - Miles Davis / Bill Evans
https://open.spotify.com/track/6dRx7OUXfvosnXG3g9lWGi?si=2796a2b16b5f4a73
I've attached sheets (for those previous attenders on the mailing list). It'd be great if the participants could listen to the tracks first, and think about how much material is written, and how much is improvised.”

Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans · Kind Of Blue (Legacy Edition) · Song · 1959

01/06/2025

With only two remaining Jazz Coop's left before we break for the summer, (don't worry, we will return in September!), we have a great local saxophonist as session leader on Saturday 7 June.
Sam Miles will be familiar to many of you as both a very impressive pro player and a very sympathetic, well-prepared teacher. He's keen on this occasion to develop our understanding and facility on Rhythm Changes, the chords behind many bebop contrafacts/standards, developed out of George Gershwin's 'I Got Rhythm'. To do this he wants to look at two famous Rhythm Changes tunes: Charlie Parker's 'Steeplechase', and Denzil Best's 'Wee' (aka 'Allen's Alley').
If you go to YouTube or Spotify you can easily check out the melodies of these famous pieces.
I will obviously send out the parts to you when I get them from Sam. See you there!

19/04/2025

15/04/2025

Thanks to everyone who attended the very successful visit from Sam Bullard, exploring Rhythm Changes, and the rhythmic placements possible in a Monk tune based on them. It was great!
Next up on Saturday 26 April is the former Director of Jazz Studies at the Guildhall, the ebullient Martin Hathaway, a fine saxophonist, too, and a great teacher.
He has informed me that the tune he wants to work on with us is the Horace Silver piece: Gregory is Here.
I'll let you have the parts as soon as I get them from him though you can find versions of this tune on the Internet, of course. It's interesting for being from the early 1970's and featuring the Brecker Brothers, Michael and Randy, in their early days.
Do check it out on YouTube or Spotify if you don't have the album it's on.
More information will follow.

13/03/2025

Thanks to everyone who came along for the Enrico Tomasso session recently.
We have a regular Coop favourite who hasn't been to us for a while, trumpeter Shanti Jayasinha visiting us on Saturday week, 22 March.
He has been busy lately, "In 2023 he started running the Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and in 2024 was offered a senior lectureship role there, which he took up in February." https://www.shantijayasinha.com/full-biog/ will give you his amazing CV. He is almost as much a world musician as he is a jazzer, and often brings pieces with a Latin/Brazilian rhythms and influence to us. This occasion is no exception, offering us the Egberto Gismonti tune, Loro, and the justly famous Coltrane ballad, Naima based on Coltrane's original manuscript, apparently. (Parts are attached for you to peruse and download.)
Shanti is aware that the Gismonti tune is going to be quite tough for us, so I'm sure he will help us through it in various ways.

Shanti grew up in a musical family; his mother studied flute and piano at the RCM in London and his father was renowned as a boy treble in Sri Lanka. Both became music teachers. Shanti started cello at 8 years old and trumpet at 10, and was fully involved in musical activity throughout his schooling...

13/02/2025

Thanks to everyone who attended an excellent session with the peerless saxophonist, composer and teacher Alan Barnes, who was as affable, urbane and witty as ever. A great time was had by all, and a good turnout it was.
Next week, 22 February, we have the wonderful drummer, teacher and published author on jazz and improvisation Buster Birch. Buster is great: when he's not impersonating Buster Keaton (really) he runs some great courses, and writes some excellent books. His classes are always a delight.
This time, well this is what he's got planned for us:
"I am going to do "Close Your Eyes" this time, looking at the Gene Ammons recording. I've done a full arrangment and transcription. We can look at minor ii-Vs and also 2 feel vs 4 feel for the rhythm section. I've also transcribed his solo and there's some nice licks in there.
Here's the link to the original recording... https://youtu.be/RzwSyJ_CEac

If your'e on the Coop mailing list you'll get the link to the Google Drive folder with all the parts and handouts...
Please ask them to check out the parts, as its a transcription (with intro and ending) not the real book version! Ta."

https://geni.us/onlinejazzworkshopsRecorded at Rudy Van Gelder Studios on June 16, 1960Gene Ammons – tenor saxophoneTommy Flanagan – pianoDoug Watkins – bass...

27/01/2025

As usual, a big thank you to all the people who attended the session we had with trumpeter Steve Fishwick. A great turnout for a very good event.
Our next visiting tutor is the ever popular saxophonist/clarinetist, composer, arranger, wit and raconteur Alan Barnes.
Alan, who should need no introduction is always enthusiastic and full of positive encouragement for everyone. I always find that after a session with Alan I take away at least one inspirational nugget that I can work on for the next few months.
Anyway, on this occasion he's has chosen two interesting tunes to run through with us: Zootcase by Zoot Sims. Please be aware: This is a 32 bar AABA format tune, there are many other tunes on YouTube called Zootcase that are NOT the one we are studying.
The second tune is the famous jazz standard, 'When Lights are Low' by Benny Carter. But with a difference! Many 'Real Books' have a middle eight that Miles Davis came up with, NOT the original Benny Carter middle eight that we are going to be dealing with, which is a more interesting and more coherent set of ii-ViI's.
If you are a regular attender will send the music through to you in the next day or two.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNf1xggRaNM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPyQ_B855wQ

When Lights are Low Carter Benny 1985 Benny Carter in Copenhagen From a club concert in Copenhagen in 1985 we see a jam with Benny Carter alto sax, Red Norvo...

13/01/2025

First of all, a big thanks to everyone who came along to the first Jazz Coop of the year last Saturday with Sam Miles.

It was a great turn out and a very insightful couple of hours, looking at among many other things, ways to add rhythmic coherence and phrasing to solos, something we haven't really touched on much lately.

This Saturday, January 18, we have another opportunity to get more help from a great pro player, the top trumpeter Steve Fishwick, who is increasingly away in Europe. I'm glad we were able to get him along this season.

He wants to go through the Blues with us, focusing on two tunes, the simple folk-blues See See Rider, a basic 12 Bar in concert Bb. First recorded in the 1920's by Ma Rainey, it dates back to the beginnings of jazz before the dawn of the 20th century. Later made popular by the Animals and Elvis Presley, I have attached a version for you with Jimmy Witherspoon singing live alongside some jazz greats: Ben Webster, Jimmy Rowles and Gerry Mulligan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siF-mgUXfnU

C.C. Rider
Provided to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises C.C. Rider · Mel Lewis · Leroy Vinnegar · John Tynan · Jimmy Rowles · Jimmy Witherspoon · Gerry Mulligan · Ben Webster Jimmy Witherspoon at the Renaissance ℗ 1988 © Originally Released 1960

For his second piece, Steve has supplied parts for a minor Blues in C minor by the hard bop pianist, Duke Pearson, Empathy. To spice it up further it's in 6/8 and has a solo form of AAB = 48 bars. So, something for us to get our teeth into there. The parts are attached for you to download and/or printout. With amazing solos from Freddie Hubbard and Joe Henderson on the original recording.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwnMbteqqeg

Provided to YouTube by Universal Music GroupEmpathy · Duke PearsonSweet Honey Bee℗ 1967 Blue Note RecordsReleased on: 1993-01-01Producer: Alfred LionComposer...

06/01/2025

Coop news, new season 2025 starts soon!

A very Happy New Year to everyone - I hope everybody has had a great holiday break and a chance to prepare for the delights of 2025.
At the Cambridge Jazz Coop we have a new programme starting next Saturday, January 11.
If you would like to see who we've got coming along to us, then head on over to:
https://cambridgejazzcoop.org.uk/wp/index.php/current-programme/ for a full list, and other details. The programme for this year contains some of the best UK jazz musicians around!
Our first guest tutor is the local saxophone star, Sam Miles, who's planning to guide us through two great standards, September in the Rain, and Stompin' at the Savoy.
Sam is a great jazz educator, kind and patient, with a gift for explaining what appears to be complicated in very simple terms. Don't miss this.
There will be more about the tunes when the parts are sent out, if you are on our mailing list.
See you there!

Current Programme Please always check this online schedule or our page before setting out in case any last-minute change of tutor occurs and check the other pages for further information regarding the Cambridge Jazz Coop if you haven’t been along before! Newcomers, guests and visitors wel...

06/12/2024

As usual, a big thanks to everyone who enjoyed the visit from the superb Buster Birch last Saturday. Doing Mack the Knife as a mambo was a master stroke as it kept the rhythm section busy and introduced the idea of the clave, while getting everyone playing a lot of the time. He also had us memorising the melody and the changes, too, which was quite an achievement!
For our last Coop of 2024 we have a visit from the virtuoso pianist Mike Gorman. Mike is a regular member in the bands of guitarists Jim Mullen and Nigel Price. He first came along to us over 20 years ago: I still remember his clear and amazingly helpful explanations of the harmony of 'Have you met Ms Jones?', so he's always been a favourite tutor of mine.
This time he wants us to consider the beautiful Jerome Kern piece: The Folks Who Live on the Hill, as either a samba or a bossa nova. That'll be fun, I'm sure.
There are many versions of this jazz standard, some very schmaltzy, on YouTube and Spotify with which you can acquaint yourself.
Mike is also suggesting a warm-up via a 'Blues with a bridge' which he's going to compose and send through the parts for later. I will of course forward them to you when they arrive.
Don't miss this last CJC before the Christmas bedlam takes over. We are resuming on Saturday 11 January 2025.
Merry Christmas to you all!

27/11/2024

First, a big thanks to everyone who made it along to the very interesting workshop given by Rob Luft as part of the Cambridge Jazz Festival (which was rather splendid, too).
Following swiftly on, this Saturday, 30 November, we have one of our favourite tutors (in fact Rob Luft name-checked Buster as having been a great motivator for him when he was starting out).
Buster Birch is a great drummer/percussionist but most of all a teacher. He has the gift of making the complicated simple and clear! He's also a published author with a series of very successful books available via Amazon. https://www.busterbirch.co.uk/biography will tell you more.
As a result of his busy schedule he's not very easy to get hold of, so this is a rare opportunity to meet him and get his pearls of wisdom concerning all aspects of jazz and improvisation.
On this visit he's planning to look at the jazz standard, Mack the Knife. This time with a twist; it's going to be in Mambo/Latin time

Here’s the YouTube link to the recording of Mack The Knife that we’ll be learning. It’s from an album I did with the latin jazz band “Heads South” featuring Steve Waterman on trumpet…
https://youtu.be/8vv0COjm2OE

Here’s the link to the google folder with all the sheet music, handouts and play-along tracks…
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1LJImA20SuQ4FwaaqlIjjXk58hf0FOJtI?usp=sharing

I’ve also got a new website, which I just launched last month. It’s all been rebranded. There's over 80hrs of video lessons, including 6 different musicianship courses. I now offer a 14-day free trial for anyone to sign up to, which gives you full access to everything on there… https://www.learn2playjazz.com

Award-winning musician, educator & author with 4 series of music tuition books published worldwide on Amazon, Kindle and Apple Books.

16/11/2024

PLEASE NOTE THE TIMING OF THIS WORKSHOP: 1pm - 3:30pm!
Our next Cambridge Jazz Coop is special in many ways, so PLEASE do read this carefully as quite a few things will be different! Just for this event, though, which is going to be quite remarkable.
We have TWO tutors for this session on SATURDAY WEEK, 23 NOVEMBER: Award-winning guitarist, composer/band leader Rob Luft and his sax/clarinetist Joe Wright.
THE VENUE IS DIFFERENT: It's going to take place at the Junction, Clifton Way Cambridge CB1 7GX. It's an easy walk from the railway station!
THE TIMING IS DIFFERENT: It's taking place from 1:00 - 3.30pm, NOT in the morning.
YOU WILL NEED TO BUY YOUR TICKET IN ADVANCE FROM THE JUNCTION BOX-OFFICE: 01223 511 511 / [email protected] (online is best)
It will only be £18, but, as well as getting your ticket in advance via the box-office, you will need to pay for parking: If you get your ticket validated by the box-office you will get a discount: https://cambridgeleisure.co.uk/daily-parking-tariff
The Junction website page below will tell you everything that you need to know about Rob. He is a (genuinely) award-winning, rising International star of Jazz (coming to us from Germany/Switzerland where he's been on tour). This event is unlikely to be repeatable and is entirely thanks to the Cambridge Jazz Festival !
https://www.junction.co.uk/events/workshop-jazz-improvisation-with-rob-luft-joe-wright/

Book tickets for Workshop: Jazz Improvisation with Rob Luft & Joe Wright at J2 at Cambridge Junction. Part of the 2024 Cambridge Jazz Festival Award winning jazz guitarist, Rob Luft and saxophonist & Clarinetist Joe Wright will be working on preselected standards and sharing their approaches and con...