Mike Stern, A Step-By-Step Breakdown of the Guitar Styles & Techniques of a Jazz-Fusion Pioneer
Serie: Signature Licks Guitar
Formato: Softcover with CD - TABLATURE
Autore: Joe Charupakorn
Artista: Mike Stern
Scopri la magia di un asso di chitarra Mike Stern con l'edizione speciale di Assoli d'Autore che includono le interviste e le lezioni con Stern, informazini esclusive sull'attrezzatura, l'analisi approfondita di 14 titoli e in più un CD audio con tutti gli esempi musicali del libro. Le canzoni sono: After You • Jigsaw • Like Someone in Love • One Liners • Play •Sunnyside • Swunk • There Is No Greater Love • Tipatina's • Wing and a Prayer • e altre.
Larghezza: 9.0"
Lunghezza: 12.0"
128 pagine
After Blood, Sweat & Tears, Stern returned to Boston and played with saxophonist
Jerry Bergonzi (who he met through his teacher, the late Charlie Banacos). He also took
over Bill Frisell's spot in trumpeter Tiger Okoshi's Tiger's Baku, a band that Frisell helped
put together. In 1979, Stern landed his next big gig, with drummer Billy Cobham. During
a gig with Cobham at the now-defunct Bottom Line in New York City, Miles Davis (at the
suggestion of saxophonist Bill Evans) came to check out Stern. He liked what he heard
and Stern got the ultra high-profile gig for Davis's 1981 comeback tour. It was a major
milestone in Stern's career, and one that catapulted him into jazz stardom.
Stern played on three Miles Davis albums: The Man With the Horn, which featured a
burning solo on the first cut "Fat Time" (named in Stern's honor for both his great timefeel
and his at-the-time, corpulent physique); We Want Miles, a great live album; and Star
People, which also featured guitarist John Scofield, who was recruited as a second guitarist
because of Stern's then drug and alcohol problem. Having gradually become unreliable,
Davis ultimately let Stern go, to sober up.
During this time, Stern reconnected with Jaco Pastorius, playing in his Word of Mouth
band. They also played together nonstop when Stern lived above 55 Grand Street, a New
York City jazz club they played at since its inception (not to be confused with the 55 Bar
on Christopher Street, where Stern currently plays twice a week when he's in town). Jaco
wound up crashing at Stern's pad and the two were inseparable, playing at all hours of
the day and blowing lines over changes. Alas, they were also doing "white lines" to the
point of losing control. Stern checked into rehab, and in 1985, the cleaned-up guitarist
rejoined the Miles Davis band. Pastorius, however, never cleaned up. The drugs and alcohol
had severely impacted his mental state and behavior for the worse, and in 1987, during
an altercation with a bouncer outside a nightclub in Florida, he was tragically beaten
to death.
Since his tenure with Miles Davis, Stern has gone on to perform and record with
Michael Brecker, the Brecker Brothers, Bob Berg (with whom he co-led the Mike Stern/
Bob Berg band), Jaco Pastorius's Word of Mouth band, Steps Ahead, David Sanborn, Joe
Henderson, George Coleman, Ron Carter, Jim Hall, and Pat Martino, among others.
Stern has also recorded numerous solo albums-the first being Neesh, in 1983, which
was recorded for Trio (a Japanese label), right after Stern first left Miles Davis's band. It
was recently re-released, but only in Japan (on Absord Music Japan). In 1986, Stern
signed a deal with Atlantic Records and recorded Upside Downside. This marked the
beginning of a 15-year association with Atlantic Records that spawned ten albums and
three Grammy nominations. In 2004, with the demise of the jazz department at Atlantic
Records, Stern recorded his first album for ESC Records, These Times (now available on
BHM Records). In 2006 Stern moved to Heads Up International Records for his release
Who Let the Cats Out?, which garnered Stern a fourth Grammy nomination. A live DVD,
Live-New Morning The Paris Concert was also released in 2006, by independent
German label, lnakustik. This DVD featured Richard Bona, Dennis Chambers, and Bob
Franceschini. In 2009, a sequel to Live-New Morning The Paris Concert was released
and features Tom Kennedy, Dave Weckl, and Bob Franceschini. Big Neighborhood,
Stern's most explosive guitar album to date, was also released in 2009 and featured virtuoso
guitarists Steve Vai and Eric Johnson, among others. Stern's earlier Atlantic recordings,
with the exception of Play and Voices (which are still available through Warner
Music), are now distributed by Wounded Bird Records, a CD-only re-issue label.
Despite Stern's enormous status as a world-renowned jazz-fusion guitar virtuoso, his
prodigious technical abilities (which he seamlessly combines with a heartfelt lyricism),
and his impressive history onstage with countless jazz legends, Stern is a humble and
grounded musician whose sole mission is to constantly grow as a player. "The more I
know, the less I know" is one of Stern's favorite quotes, and it is indicative of his approach
to music, as a neverending quest.
For this Signature Licks edition we have enlisted Mike Stern as a consultant. He offers
not only unique analytical and historical insight for each selection but also a special private
lesson, to help you understand the theory behind his burnin' lines. And indirectly,
large portions of the information in this book have been gathered over the years, during
my studies with Stem and om itnessing countless live shows.
ONE ON ONE WITH MIKE STERN
What was the first jazz solo that had an impact on you?
Well that's a hard question because my mom used to playa lot of jazz records so I always
heard jazz around the house. I started playing when I was 12, but I was 17 when I started
getting more into jazz. I guess it was something off a Miles Davis record. One of the
first records I used to scope was Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage. That was one of the
first albums that I checked out and tried to play along with. At the time, I was listening to
more blues, rock, and Motown, and playing along by ear.
When you played along with Maiden Voyage, were you soloing over it or were you
trying to play the actual parts?
I was doing a little bit of both-the actual parts and the solos.
Do you remember the first solo you transcribed?
Yeah, it was a Joe Pass solo. I picked a blues because it's an easy form and Joe's solo
had a lot of inside bebop. It was a medium swing, not a real fast tempo.
Did he playa lot of sixteenth notes in the solo?
He was playing a lot of eighth notes, just a lot of really cool bebop lines. Joe was a very
clear, inside player in a lot of ways. He didn't go outside the key too much, and it was very
clear what he did when he did go out, the way he outlined it. He was amazing like that.
There was a lot of bebop vocabulary; he used to play with Oscar Peterson. It took me
about three weeks to transcribe the solo. I had to slow the record player down, which
almost ruined the record. Finally I taped it and finished the rest. Later on I showed it to
some people and they said most of it was wrong [laughs]. But doing it myself was amazingly
helpful.
After you learned the solo did you take licks from it and use them in your own playing?
A little bit, and some of the phrasing, too. It's like when you read a book or short storyyou
don't memorize every word; you just take certain things away from it and then enough
of the remaining information goes unconsciously into your brain, or in the case of music,
into your ear. Over time, if you take from enough different solos from different people, you
don't sound like just one guy.
For a long time now, I've been more into copping piano and saxophone solos. But
when I was first transcribing, it was guitar because it was my own instrument-and that
was hard enough. But like I said, transcribing lines for myself was really helpful; I got a lot
more out of it that way than from reading it from a book.
Were you writing out the solos?
Yeah, I wrote them down. Then I'd read through it, not so much to cop licks but more like
reading a magazine or a short book, where you might remember a couple of phrases and
quote from it-you don't memorize every word. Some people go too far and memorize the
whole solo, but the idea is to learn how to phrase unconsciously and then twist it around
your own way, as a kind of springboard for your own ideas. That way you get a vocabulary
in a certain style; for instance, if you want to work on your bebop vocabulary, you do
a lot of bebop players. I did a bunch of guitar players at first-Joe Pass, Jim Hall, Wes
Montgomery, George Benson-and then I got into horn players.
INTRODUCTION
DISCOGRAPHY
THE RECORDING
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MIKE STERN'S GEAR
ONE ON ONE WITH MIKE STERN
BOP 'N ROLL: A LESSONS WITH MIKE STERN
After You - Mike Stern - 1986
Jigsaw - Mike Stern - 1989
Like Someone In Love - Words: Johnny Burke, Music: Jimmy Van Heusen - 1944
Odds Or Evens - Mike Stern - 1991
One Liners - Mike Stern - 1997
Play - Mike Stern - 1999
Showbiz - Mike Stern - 1996
Sunnyside - Mike Stern - 1996
Swunk - Mike Stern - 1994
That's What You Think - Mike Stern - 1997
There Is No Greater Love - Words: Marty Symes, Music: Isham Jones - 1936
Tipatina's - Mike Stern - 1999
Upside Downside - Mike Stern - 1986
Wing And A Prayer - Mike Stern - 1996
Italiano
English
