Hello

Hi there, 

I'd like to say a quick thank you for visiting my new webpage.  At the moment there is still a fair bit still in the works, but I hope you enjoy what I currently have here.  Most important is that I have uploaded four original songs recorded last year with the hope of getting funding to record and distribute what will be my debut CD.  Please take the time to listen to them and let me know what you think.  There is an email link and I would love to hear from you.  If you would like to contribute to a debut recording, please get in touch. 

Over the next couple months, I'll be very busy performing at Stage West and their production of the Young Frankenstein Musical, but I will still be playing a few jazz gigs while the show is running.  On June 1, 2016, my quintet will be playing the final concert of the Cliff Bungalow jazz series.  I'll be joined by Andre Wickenheiser, Jon Day, Kodi Hutchinson and Tyler Hornby.  For this concert we will be playing a few brand new compositions of mine, as well as a few arrangements that I'm very proud of and will certainly be on my debut CD when it happens.  Other repertoire for the concert will be pieces written by a couple of my biggest writing influences, Tom Harrell and Kenny Wheeler and one or two select standards.  Another exciting show is on May 7, I'll be playing with the Prime Time Big Band when we welcome Al Kay back as a special guest.  He is a remarkable trombone player and one of the best in the country, so it's sure to be a great show. 

As I mentioned before, there are still features I want to add.  Primarily, I want to add a page to download exercises.  I have been teaching saxophone and jazz improvisation for many years and I have written many exercises for students, some are long some are quite short. The ones that I will be adding to this website are sample solos for many standard jazz songs.  While the goal of improvising is to be creating a new path, I have found it to be beneficial to many students to hear many concepts in written solos before they can incorporate them into their own vocabulary.  The idea behind each one of these written solos, is to aid a student in hearing how a concept sounds by playing them with a playalong or other accompanying device (such as the iReal app or Band In A Box).  Most solos will include examples of chord resolutions and some will add specific concepts such as adding the flat nine sound. At the moment I have quite a few exercises handwritten, as I add them to music notating software I will add them here.  If you would like to be contacted when each new exercise is posted, use the contact page.  Please mention the jazz exercise downloads and I'll let you know when new exercises are posted.  

That's all for now.  I hope to see you at a gig. 
Please come and say hello,
Keith 

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