Hi everyone,

Here's the third video from the recording session.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBhdeP0ntM4[/youtube]

We definitely had a good time recording this music..

For information about ordering the music on disc and download, please see:

http://www.greghoward.com/azul/

Wonderful!
Can't wait Cambria replies to my last week email ordering this cd (plus a couple of extra items, of course)

Very cool.
Full of wonderful energy!

thanks, Bruno and Ric,

As I was putting this together, I was really amazed at John's phrasing, and the way that he and Brian key off of each other. What a pleasure to play with such instinctive and creative musicians....

Man! This one wasn't initially on my radar when you were soliciting suggestions for the second video but I really enjoyed this. I loved the dirty Stick melody that ran through the beginning and, of course, John's horn playing was sick.

Note: the boys have been throwing that word "sick" around so much that it has inadvertently slipped into my vocabulary

I would drop $20 on that whole video if ever that should become available.

Insanely cool - really enjoy watching each one of you playing off each last bit - how the tune comes together and evolves. You can't chart that - it's musical magic.

Yep, Greg, to my opinion, you should really consider that option.

Blazes! The Seer goes up in smoke! What a conjuring of sonic energy, with John D'earth's firy flugelhorn, Brian Caputo's smoldering drums and Greg's infrastructure of electric strings to infinity!

John's long, lean lines are very clean at this incredible 4 times 4 speed - amazing to behold on any valve instrument. He seems to instinctively know where the key notes should be placed to make the group improv "compositional" and each song distinct (the rest is just part of the ride).

Then Greg damps down the flames, jarring loose a more settled sub-rhythm with even greater harmonic and melodic sensitivity.

What a great way to improvise (name the song later) and what a perfect assemblage of instruments, techniques and styles. The result is, well, kind of blue in a universal way - blue as the stratospheric sky.

I love love the pentatonic stuff on the horn in the second half of this piece. And Gregs ears really shine in some of his echos and harmonic movement. It's really great because you guys committed to that sound, the fluglehorn kept to the pentatonic beautifully for a long time and used blue notes for variety towards the end. not a 7th in sight

really fun.

Brett

Thanks for the comments everyone!



Gene, I've started calling this "spontaneous composition" instead of "free improvisation", as it seems to fit the band better, and isn't as scary to people who don't want to hear "chaos"

I'd like to make a DVD of this but the editing takes a long time, so it may have to wait a while. Just close your eyes and listen to the CD in the meantime....maybe I'll post a 4th tune before the year is out.

Thanks, Glenn,

This piece, and the two before it were all recorded exactly in sequence as you hear them on the CD, so 2,3,4 is one piece of music. The distorted Stick entrance offered the perfect place to break the tracks.

Brett, I learn so much about harmony playing with John. He's "the seer" for sure, I "the novice". I also appreciate your analysis of what's going on in the music. And yes, this is a fun piece, the whole record has a nice playfulness to it...

Emmett, you have tapped into the real joy of this band for me. Like playing tennis or chess, if you want to get better, you play with someone who is more skilled. The melodies that John comes up with are so creative and memorable, I find myself humming along with this record like any other..

Thanks again everyone...