Final blog for this season

 Looking forward to our culmination on Wednesday night at the Main Street Commons!

 ExtravaBANDza is on Thursday 8/28 morning at 9 AM.  Section Leaders need to arrive by 8:15 AM

Check out this nice article in MyEdmondsNews and consider sharing the link?  These events are for us but also to help our community enjoy your efforts. INVITE friends and parents please.

https://myedmondsnews.com/2025/08/edmonds-woodway-hs-jazz-colony-combo-workshop-to-showcase-student-and-professional-talent/

Here's the plan for Wednesday8/27. All members are expected to bring their own chair and stay for the whole event to support each other. There may be pizza at the conclusion (probably around 7:45 PM).

                1)  Michael Glynn/Rimmy Le – “Astros”

                2)  Andrew Fox/Max Bartron – “Royals”              

                3)  Max Bennett/Scott Swanberg/Forrest Aubrey – “Nationals”

                4)  Brandt Fisher/Don Tran – “Rangers”

                5)  Joel Steinke/Talli Kimani – “Giants”

 

Here's last week's summary from Joel's Giants Combo - thanks to Talli for writing good blog summaries :)

 One-Liner Summary:

Joel’s core teaching → Music is about channeling raw power and life energy through rhythm, intent, and diatonic foundations — better to have energy and grow into the notes than have notes with no fire.

Joel’s Philosophy of Music

• The reason we play: to feel and cultivate power, strength, and life’s intensity — mixing aggression with sensitivity.

• Life constantly tries to strip your power; music restores it.

• Listening to jazz recordings builds that energy.

• Energy > Notes: it’s better to play with raw intent and fix notes later than to play “perfect” with no energy.

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 Observations from Listening (“Devilette” – Dexter Gordon)

• The bassist and drummer created energy changes that people felt.

• Lesson: if you play with the right energy, people connect, even if every note isn’t perfect.

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 Harmony & Notes (Practice Concepts)

• Diatonic triads = 3-note chords built from the scale.

• Diatonic = “within the scale.”

• Dorian mode = major scale starting from the 2nd note. (Ex: G Dorian = F major scale starting on G.)

• Practice idea: play scales in thirds (up and down).

  • Ascending example: F–A, G–Bb, A–C, Bb–D …

  • Descending example: A–F, Bb–G, C–A …

• Learn to recognize scale degrees + what comes next.

• Use diatonic triads in solos.

• Exercise: play triads up in one direction, down in the other.

• Sing the notes → helps train ear + connection.

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 Bebop Principle

• Bebop = all about rhythm.

• The notes matter, but it’s rhythm and energy that give it life.

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