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Saturday, December 19, 2009

A Matt Wilson Christmas



Getting with the xmas spirit, today at Four on the Floor we bring you a Christmas themed lecture/recital from the brilliant New York jazz drummer and master improviser, Matt Wilson. This concert was produced by Brooklyn Jazz Wide Open, an organization dedicated to promoting live jazz in the Brooklyn area.

First, a nice improvised drum solo, complete with the requisite xmas jingle bells. Notice how Matt gets such a lovely sound out of the drums (of course, his nice Craviatto drums certainly help!) and his sense of melodic phrasing and rhythmic design is really musical:



And next, a brief lecture and demonstration by Matt on how he conceptualizes improvisation. Some real deep and honest ideas from Wilson here:



I quite enjoyed this. Here Matt performs an improvised duet with a 4 1/2 year pianist from the audience. Great !



And of course, it's xmas time so here's a nice 4/4 uptempo version of Vince Guaraldi's Charlie Brown Christmas classic "Christmas Time Is Here":

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