During my visit to Berklee College of Music yesterday, I was shown an amazing online resource that I believe is the only one of it’s kind. The Stan Getz Library is an online searchable database that allows you to enter any jazz musicians name and see all of the recordings they made not only as a leader, but all of the recordings that they played on as a sideman as well. If you enter “Paul Motian” for example, you get to a page with 73 listings. Each listing includes a click through to a full page about the album, including all of the standard record catalog listings, as well as all of the musicians that played on the recording (with each name being clickable once again to see all of the recordings they played on). I am a huge jazz fan, and have always loved the incredible network of musicians - each playing on so many other records. This community atmosphere has always been very interesting to me, especially when compared to the clan-like atmosphere in rock.

I strongly recommend checking out the catalog yourself. It is a great tool for jazz educators who are interested in both the history of jazz and finding great recordings to play for their students. Thank you Berklee!

If you’ve ever had a puzzled guitar player in your jazz band, then this is a website to send them to when they have questions about how to play chords. Meet ChordFind.com.

I run into problems with students who read only TAB when I give them jazz ensemble charts. As a tuba player, I’m really not equipped to help them out if they have questions about how to play chords. While the student usually brings the chart to their private teacher (if they have one), it doesn’t really help them out during the rehearsal. They often sit there not plugged into the amp, strumming along in silence. In an effort to help these students out, I found a fantastic website to help them out. Users can enter any chord under the sun and get a visual representation of how to play the chord on a virtual fretboard. There are also numerous variations possible for each chord that users can view as well. Finally, once the user has the chord they want, they can click on MIDI and it will play the voicing shown. Pretty hip.

It’s an easy-to-use site, and I recommend showing it to your guitar players. I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Earlier this school year, a 6th grade student in my colleagues general music class was presenting a report on the music of The Beatles.  The students are encouraged to bring in CD recordings to enhance their presentations.  When the student stood up to present, he asked for LCD projector to be turned on and logged into Google.  He then went straight to Google Video.  The teacher immediately stopped him and asked what he was doing.  He replied “I’m showing a performance of The Beatles singing “Help!”.  He then brought up a televised performance of The Fab Four singing away with their mop-top haircuts.  The teacher was amazed - then she asked me if I knew about this feature of Google Video.

Once again, the students often know more about technology than we do.  I thought that the only types of video on Google Video were people doing silly things - like putting Mentos in Diet Coke and watching the result.  I immediately started searching for jazz performers and I found tons of free videos of the giants of jazz - all legal to use in the classroom.  If it’s on TV from that era, it’s “Fair Use” to show it in the classroom.  With performances by John Coltrane, Duke Elllington, Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie, and more, you can’t beat this incredible free resource for showing your students “live” performances of the masters.  It should be noted that many of these videos are now posted on the YouTube site.  Your school might block this site (mine does) so check it out before you use it with your students.  While many videos are available for download they may require access to the YouTube server in order to play them.  Look for videos that are posted on the Google Video server - most schools do not block it.  I think you’ll be as amazed as I was when you see the amount of educational content available.

I welcome your comments and suggestions.

I had a fantastic experience this past weekend presenting a session titled Internet Resources for Jazz Educators at the IAJE Conference in New York City. I had never been to an IAJE Conference before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. There were at least 100 people at my session, there were many excellent questions, and it was great to meet so many fabulous educators afterwards. Hats off to IAJE - they really know how to run a conference. Great sessions, amazing performances, and the opportunity to meet many of the legends of jazz while walking around the lobby. I plan on attending and presenting at every IAJE event in the future. If you’ve never been and you’re a fan of jazz, I urge you to start making plans to attend the 2008 conference that will be held in Toronto, Canada.

To check out my presentation, click HERE. You can also visit my website and click on “Links” for many more useful jazz links.

I welcome your comments and suggestions.