Russ Nolan’s September 2014 DownBeat Magazine Woodshed Article

Russ Nolan’s September 2014 DownBeat Magazine Woodshed Article Featured in Keyboard School – DownBeat’s Guide to Learning Jazz Download the PDF:  NYC Saxophonist Russ Nolan Downbeat Magazine Woodshed September 2014   Russ Nolan | Jazz Educator and Clinician Bring Russ to your School for a Jazz Workshop and Concert

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Travis Sullivan – New Directions CD Review (Posi-Tone Records)

CD Review of Travis Sullivan’s New Directions  by Russ Nolan     Although New Directions was released two years ago, it is certainly worth another listen—or several. One value that NYC Alto Saxophonist/Composer/Arranger Travis Sullivan and I share as composers is to craft a set of music

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‘Tell Me’ CD featured on WBGO The Checkout

‘Check out’ the Interview with WBGO The Checkout Host Josh Jackson on Russ’ latest release ‘Tell Me’ HERE           Link to this post!

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Joel Frahm Tenor Sax Solo Transcription from Live at Smalls

by Russ Nolan (note: if the manuscript is not clear in full-screen mode, you may try to rewind–worked for me– or you can download the .pdf file here: Joel Frahm-Short Rack Solo-Smalls Live ) Short Rack Tenor Solo by Joel Frahm With his permission, I would like to

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Jazz Composition and Improvisation—One and the Same: Part 3

by Russ Nolan Jazz Composition and Improvisation:  The Melodic Development of Sonny Rollins More Oleo Examples from Part 2:   Link to this post!

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Jazz Composition and Improvisation—One and the Same: Part 2

by Russ Nolan Jazz Composition and Improvisation: Melodic Development of  Sonny Rollins’ Oleo Let’s take Sonny Rollins’ classic, ‘Oleo’ as a musical example. I picked Oleo for two reasons: 1) It is an example of melodic development in itself, and 2) It’s common to just ‘run changes’

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Jazz Composition and Improvisation—One and the Same: Part 1

by Russ Nolan Jazz Composition and Improvisation: Two Speeds Composition and Improvisation are one and the same, just at different speeds. Composition is Improvisation out of time and Improvisation is Composition in real time. Every piece of music is a penned improvisation and every improvisation is a

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Teaching Jazz As A Language Part 3: Are You Relevant?

by Russ Nolan Teach Jazz Students to be Relevant Jazz as a Conversation Finally, as important as it is to give beginning improvisers the proper tools to build with, it’s equally important to reinforce the idea that these tools are only the means to the end, not the

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