Monthly Livestream #59 with special guest Melissa Aldana!

Thanks to everyone for tuning in to today's super special livestream! In case you missed it - today the great Melissa Aldana joined us! In four years of monthly livestreams, this is the very first time that we've had a guest, and it's hard to think of a better one. Here's the recording.

I had some audio glitches at the beginning of the stream, so some of my introduction of Melissa got cut off. But basically - Melissa is one the the great tenor saxophonists in the world today. She travels internationally as a bandleader, records for Blue Note Records, has been nominated for a Grammy - and is just simply one of the best to do it. Melissa and I first met in when we were about 18, when she was a student at Berklee, and we've played together on and off every since. In the last year in particular we've done a lot of playing together, and will actually be at the Village Vanguard in NY from February 25th to March 2nd! This will be a quintet with Mike Moreno on guitar, Pablo Menares on bass, and Kush Abadey on drums - truly can't wait for this one.

We started off with a few tunes, first a standard "Nobody Else But Me", then a tune of mine that I wrote for Melissa called "The Middle of Everywhere". It's amazing to hear Melissa play my tune because it sounds so much better than I imagined it when she plays it! I'll include a chart of this tune down below, just in case any of you were curious. This tune is pretty new, and might change a bit, but here's the chart that we learned it from. Generally, I actually enjoy original music more if I see the music, just so I can have more of a sense of what's going on.

Then we had a question about "hearing" what you're playing - a very good question, especially for Melissa, who has incredible ears. What does "hearing" what your playing really mean? Like, how far in advance should we hear ideas. And what is an idea? Just rhythms, just notes, just a shape?

Melissa described "story-telling", which is the most important element in soloing. And also brought up an interesting idea about playing with a group, in that a solo isn't really a "solo" - it's really a group creation. She brought up that solos that we love (Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter), wouldn't be the same with different rhythm sections.

And for and ideal of "group story telling" in music, she mentions Miles Davis' second quintet, with Herbie, Wayne, Ron, and Tony. I asked her to name one track that we all should listen to today of that band, and she mentioned this "Yesterdays" from Live at the Plugged Nickel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI2fJcJ1a7k (I hadn't heard this recording either and listened today - yes it's incredible, everybody is at a creative peak in this recording. What a vibe, and also - swinging!)

Then had a question about my tune "The Middle of Everywhere", and some of the elements I used to compose it.

Then, we finished up with a request for the great Billy Strayhorn tune "Isfahan".

Was definitely one of the most special livestreams we've had so far. Huge thanks to Melissa for sharing her music and wisdom with us. And see you next month!

-Glenn