Fellow web author John Baxter's resource "Mandozine.com" is a favorite of ours, and has accumulated terrific resources over the years. With the voluminous offerings is a helpful collection contributed by one of our favorite jazz mandolinists, Will Patton. Six different tunes with some terrific and helpful advice in the "music" heading.

Take some time to check these out, but get your printer ready!

Blues on the Corner
An exploration into the use of 4ths, particularly music of McCoy Tyner, known for his open, stacked 4ths signature sound.

Butch and Butch
Will introduces a clever head based largely on a variation of "Bird Blues," lending an acoustic sort of Bebop vibe

Hoodoo
This is a classic meld of the Patton style, a Gypsy Jazz vocabulary with an almost Brazilian Choro feel.

Jitterbug Waltz
The classic and not-often-enough Fat's Waller tune is a joy to hear, and a stretch to the fingers. We don't work on 4ths in melody often enough, and this tune brings the deficiency to light.

Nuages
This classic Django tune is one of his best, and some great tips on interpreting it.

Samba de Orfeu
This festive Luis Bonfa tune is a Best of Brazil favorite. Some great chord diagrams

Take some time to drop John Baxter a note of thanks for his great contributions to the mandolin world!

Read JazzMando review of Will Patton's excellent String Theory.

Posted by Ted at March 6, 2007 09:55 PM