Live on Zoom every month!
Jazz Workshops for VIP members!
Every month we run a live Zoom jazz workshop, often featuring our guest tutors, who are some of the most highly respected and qualified jazz educators in the UK. The topics covered include a wide variety of things that are essential for all jazz improvisers, from deep dives into jazz theory and harmony to jazz improvisation techniques and concepts.
VIP members can get access to the workshop by clicking the button below.
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Sat 2 May 10:30am
This month I’m joined by Tommaso Starace, a highly respected saxophonist on the British and European Jazz scene.
Born in Milano, Italy, Tommaso started playing the saxophone and studying music at the age of 18. He moved to the United Kingdom in 1994 where he graduated at Birmingham Conservatoire with a Bmus first class honours and later at the Guildhall School Of Music and Drama with a Postgraduate Degree in jazz studies in the year 2000. He has performed with some of the most respected jazz musicians including Paolo Fresu, Dave O'Higgins, Fabrizio Bosso, Billy Cobham, David Liebman, Kenny Wheeler, Stan Sulzmann, Paolo Pellegatti.
In 2004 he collaborated with award winning oscar film composer Dario Marianelli ( 'Pride and Prejudice' and ' The Atonement' ) recording music for 'This Little Life', a BBC drama for Channel Four. In 2008 Tommaso was awarded with an Honorary Membership by Birmingham Conservatoire given to him for his significant contributions made across the years within the various branches of the music profession.
Tommaso has peformed at many Jazz Festivals and Clubs across the world, including: The Purcell Room, Blue Note Milano, Cadogan Hall, Eleuthera All That Jazz Festival, London Jazz Festival,Time in Jazz Festival, Nuoro Jazz Festival, Brecon Jazz Festival, Torino/Biella/Genova Jazz Clubs, Mito Festival, Chur jazz Club, Luzern jazz Club, and many more.
During this workshop Tommaso will be focusing on the importance of time, space snd groove.
As a saxophonist Tommaso knows so much how easy it is to get stuck in scale, patterns, and harmony theory, but what really matters is time and groove and interlocking with the rhythm section.
As he puts it… “imagine you can get hold of any group of notes and improvise a dance with them, and learn to acquire rhythmical freedom and not be dictated by patterns that you fit in different parts of your improvisation robotically, ending up creating a solo that feels square rather than round and malleable. Time dictates ideas, not the opposite.”
In the workshop we’ll be focusing on some of the great jazz musicians from past and present, and explore some exercises that ground you more in time and swing feel.
This will be practical class, not just a theory lesson, so please make sure you have your instrument ready to play.
Everyone is muted in the class, so you are welcome to play along as much as you like, or just tune in and observe. Either is fine. There is also a Q&A session at the end of the class.
The workshop lasts approx 1hr and starts at 10:30am
If you are not already a VIP member, you can get a free invitation to the class by signing up for a no-commitment 14-day FREE trial, which gives you access to everything on the site, including over 100 hours of lessons and courses.
If you can’t make the live session a video recording of the class will be available in the lesson vault.
Just click the button to get the Zoom link.
You need a VIP subscription to join this session.