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Videos
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November 04, 2007 |
Leslie Cheung (1956 - 2003) was an actor and musician from Hong Kong and was my childhood idol. The song 追, meaning "to chase after" is a theme song from one of his movies 金枝玉葉 (literally "golden branches and jade leaves"), and is one of my favorite songs that Leslie sang. In this video I pay tribute to Leslie on my Tenor Saxophone.
The video is a slide show of Leslie's photos. Usually I record myself playing in the video but not this time because I don't want to ruin the Leslie moments. A number of people have asked me if I have sheet music for this song, however this particular recording is my arrangement and no sheet music exists. The background music was played with "Garritan Jazz Big Band" sample library, and the Tenor Sax was recorded with my Audio Technica Pro-3 clip on connected to Tascam US-122 USB interface, and Cubase LE. Hope you enjoy!
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September 23, 2007 |
Chick Corea is one of the most influential jazz pianists since Bill Evans, and is arguably best known by the typical jazz listener for his fusion composition Spain. This became apparent to me the last time I attended a Chick Corea live performance, when the audience went crazy and sang along with the melody when Chick played Spain in the encore. However Chick Corea's contribution to jazz is much more than just Spain. His performances spans numerous styles including classical, post-bop, avant-garde, Latin and fusion. His highly individualized, harmonically and rhythmically complex compositions and improvisations, combined with his lines which are at times angular at times lyrical, executed with flawless techniques, make his playing almost immediately recognizable. There is no doubt that Chick Corea is a true jazz Giant.
"Now He Beats the Drum, Now He Stops" is a composition from an early yet highly influential album of Chick Corea's titled Now He Sings, Now He Sobs. The harmonic complexity and angular melody well demonstrate Chick's personal musical style. In attempting to play this tune on my soprano sax, I am hoping to get a glimpse into Chick's musical genius.
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September 11, 2007 |
Being born in Hong Kong, I pretty much grew up listening to HK-pop of the 80s and 90s exclusively. Even when I first moved to Canada, my listening focus was whatever I could find on TV, such as Nirvana, Cranberries, Oasis, etc. Only until I started studying Jazz, and noticed some beautiful Stevie Wonder melodies in my Real Book, did I start trying to dig up his recordings. The song on which I heard Stevie's voice for the first time was Overjoyed. I was absolutely blown away by the simple (comparing to some bop tunes) yet incredibly elegant melody, and even more so, by the heart reaching lyrics. I almost had tears in my eyes.
At that time I still didn't know that Stevie is blind. I had seen a few pictures of Stevie, always wearing sun glasses, but only thought that it was his style. Later when I found out from a friend that Stevie has actually been blind since birth, I was in awe. What imagination must he have to conjure up images that he has never seen and translate them into lyrics? And what strength and persistence must he have to pursue his musical passion to the fullest, something that most people with regular eyesight cannot do? Not to mention he has learned to play the piano better than most of us.
In this video I play one of my favorite Stevie Wonder songs, My Cherie Amour, on the tenor saxophone. Originally released in 1969, the song is Stevie's autobiographical account
about a girl he was fascinated with while in school. I highly recommend that you listen to the original My Cherie Amour album and listen to the lyrics. Doesn't the song remind us of what all of us have been through the first time when we were in love? |
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September 06, 2007 |
Giant Steps is a composition by John Coltrane, and is well known amongst jazz musicians for its difficult and rapid progression of chord changes that progress through several keys. On Coltrane''s original 1960 Giant Steps recording, it can be heard that even Tommy Flanagan, a prominent piano player at that time, was having a tough time keeping up with the changes (it was still an amazing solo though, especially considering Flanagan was playing it for the first time!). To be able to play through the Giant Steps changes is often considered a milestone achievement in a Jazz musician's growth.
This video is my attempt to play the Giant Steps changes on my new
Akai EWI4000S Electronic Wind Controller
 . Playing it on the EWI is an added challenge because the touch sensor keys require much more disciplined finger techniques to make the note transitions clearly, which I am still working hard to develop. At this point my weakest link is the left hand''s 4th and 5th fingers, which are lacking in strength. I am glad that I bought the EWI because so far it has revealed many flaws in my finger techniques which I wouldn''t have discovered otherwise.
This is a short demo with 4 choruses of solo. In the first 2 choruses I only play against the drums to demonstrate the outlining of the changes. I still have much to work on though, such as increasing the speed and extending and further developing the solo. Back to more practicing!
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