Jason Lyon Music

Author: Jason

  • Cueing at the Alphabet Soup Kitchen

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    Jason
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    Yup, that’s spelled correctly. Cueing. I’m not talking about the delightful British pastime of standing in line for something and drawing a perverse comfort from covertly bitching about how ugly and stupid the people ahead of you are. Nope. Cueing musical parts. It’s more an issue in extended classical pieces than in jazz, but some…

  • Foxtrot Oscar Mic…

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    Jason
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    Bad mic technique is a real bugbear of mine. Sigh – the wedding speaker, the gobbler, the cupper, the wanderer, the human hurricane, the yoyo champ… Never mind those people who insist on using cheap “vintage” toys because they “look good”… Thank you for this, hairy sweary dude… (this stuff doesn’t just apply to metal and…

  • Hans Groiner – Jazz Legend

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    Jason
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    Learn from the fingerings of a genius. Here is a Meisterklasse from der Meisterspieler himself. Groiner, a piano and accordion virtuoso from Austria, takes all the wrong stuff that he doesn’t like out of jazz. He is known around the world for his improvements of Monk tunes and has performed to packed houses at New York’s celebrated Smalls Club. (Larry…

  • Don’t Screw with the Crew

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    I rather doubt that it’s made international headlines, but there’s a furore over a fracas going on here in the U of K over a certain TV presenter being suspended for alleged abusive behaviour towards an assistant producer while out on shoot. Jeremy Clarkson is a celebrity star and the show he presents, Top Gear, is a…

  • Re Person I Knew

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    Jason
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    Except I didn’t know him. This is the title of a Bill Evans piece dedicated to jazz producer Orrin Keepnews, who died last week just shy of his 92nd birthday. It’s an anagram of his name*, and seems an appropriate heading for an obituary. Keepnews was a contemporary with Jack Kerouac at Columbia, later a journalist,…

  • Don’t Fear the REAPER…

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    Jason
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    It used to be the case that digital recording and mixing was the preserve of the moneyed few. I recall being in a studio back in 2000 (not really all that long ago) and the manager showing me his pride and joy – a state-of-the-art rig running the then mystical ProTools in a dedicated lab.…

  • Just Give Me What’s Going Out Front…

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    These are the seven words a live sound engineer really doesn’t want to hear. I used to be guilty of saying it myself… So why doesn’t Darth Fader want to hear you say this? Because what you’re asking is practically impossible. I’m all for bands in small and medium venues playing “mostly backline” or “as…

  • Deciphering Jazz Chord Symbols

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    Jason
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    Jazz relies on a shorthand system of chord notation, which is not universal, not standard, and not terribly logical or consistent, at least at first sight. This article is intended as a brief general guide for people who are new to this quixotic system and aims to give you a grounding in what any given chord symbol…

  • Taxman

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    Jason
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    It’s that time of year. Up all night with a shoebox full of receipts, bank statements and a bottle of gin… Finally, you’re through it all and you promise yourself to be better organised and not leave it to the last minute next year… So anyway. A 92-year-old man gets called in for a tax…

  • How Not to Sit In

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    Jason
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    Don’t like to be personal round here, so I’ve kept the following story as anonymous as possible (so as to protect the guilty). But it’s absolutely true and it illustrates almost perfect technique in how to piss any band off… Anyway, on a gig a while ago, a guy approached me during a break and…