Students from
“Creating Compelling Intros”
Socorro D.C.
(pro arranger/composer/pianist)
Thanks so much, Michael. Great class! I learned so much.
Norman L.
(pro arranger/composer/pianist)
Michael's system for breaking down vamps and starting to improvise on them is ingenious. It also applies to other areas of jazz with repeated patterns, such as Brazilian music. His helpful observations about each student's setup and posture already helped ease pressure on my ankle when pedaling. Michael very generously offered a free coaching lesson between classes to help solidify the concepts. This class should be offered regularly by CJC. Highly recommended!
Melne M.
(guitarist/California Jazz Conservatory student)
I appreciated the overview you gave of various styles of intros, and it gave me some ideas that I’ll be able to mine for my own composing and arranging. The ideas of alluding to the main melody and using different approaches to vamps, some in combination with turnarounds or other harmonic content, especially resonated with me. I also really liked your “cherry picking” of chords in one of the tunes and making a melody from it for a new intro — that was very creative and sounded great.
Kimmi H.
(pianist/composer)
Michael's workshop was excellent! The number of tunes and variety of styles presented was super thorough, informative, and inspiring. In particular, I found Michael's live playing, alternating with videos and glimpses of written music, to be engaging and beautiful to listen to. His analysis of the recordings were helpful for me to understand what was going on with each piece. The prep email with the songs to be discussed, as well as the post-workshop recording and attachments were huge pluses.
Niko E.
(pianist/composer)
As a beginning jazz student and composer, I found Michael's workshop to be filled with incredible amounts of knowledge that greatly expanded my own musical understanding. He clearly came well-prepared with: an audio engineer, quality sound, multiple video perspectives, written sheet music to follow along, and over 40 different examples of introductions by well-known artists, along with his own intros that he played. Michael created a comfortable atmosphere for students of various backgrounds and experience to ask questions and get clarifications, and we were all engaged for the entire three-hour workshop! Afterwards, Michael sent us an email containing the key materials from the workshop, as well as ZOOM video recordings for us to use and rewatch. I know I will be rewatching this workshop over and over again to glean all the precious nuggets of information that will inspire my own originals.