Patrick! Wow man, thanks so much for putting this out. So happy you and others are liking the tracks. Amazing to hear you play on "how deep is the ocean" 🙏🏼
Phil is an old friend of mine and an amazing pianist, organist, guitarist, bassist and I seem to recall he plays a mean flute too. We used to play loads together in our home town of Nottingham UK. Good to see someone like Patrick picking up on his amazing backing tracks.
You put a smile on my face.I can tell how young you are :) I think you are missing some history ! Play alongs have been around since 1950's I still have vinyl records known as The Music Minus One. This was a company that founded in 1950 and their sing-along and play-along records quickly became an industry standard. The library included jazz combo works from such famed players as Stan Getz, Jimmy Raney, Bob Wilber, Buddy DeFranco, Glenn Zottola, Bob Dorough, Ira Nepus, Alan Kaplan, and more. I think one of the records I had was with Tommy Flanagan and band. The recordings allow the player to listen to the full recording featuring a soloist, but then pan the recording to remove the soloist so you could step in and play the lead. I still have some of these Vinyl records in my collection. I learned a lot from these recordings in my late teens early 20's. it's backing
I use iReal book for middle schoolers. It allows me to slow down tempos to help them stay in time. When they are in 8th grade, I have them play with the real recordings. Thank you for making me aware of Phil Wilkinson. This will be a great addition.
When I began teaching, there was no iReal so I used Aebersolds in lessons. Now, I use iReal Pro in almost every lesson I teach. I agree with you on all the points in vid re:”electronic” swing. For me, the main selling point of iReal is the ability to control tempo as one issue I ran into when I used Aebersold’s is that sometimes the track would be just a little too fast for the student’s level.
In these cases I just play piano for the student if the song I want to play with them is too fast for them! Or I just slow down the Aebersold if I have my computer with me (there are apps that can slow it down too).
Absolutely love Phil's tracks. They push you as a musician with occasional twists and turns and have an incredible energy (being made by a live musician)
One thing I love is how you listen to the track and respond to what you hear. One problem with iReal is that it punishes interaction. If you try to follow the record it won’t lead you anywhere. I love learn jazz standards because it follows the record curve in volume and intensity.
Patrick! First, KILLER soloing man. You have clearly achieved mastery, which is the elusive goal I’m chasing. Step by little step. Second, I’m at the point where I really need to put in the woodshed time soloing with some kind of backing tracks. This lesson has pointed me in the right direction. BIG Thanks!
You done good Patrick!!! As a drummer/Percussionist myself since the 60s. I was fortunate enough to have experienced "Woodshedding" with great records from my parent's Jazz collections and hitting the streets to play at Jam Sessions on Sundays or just listen to live Jazz from world-class artists local and visiting or later, playing in actual bands! That was also a period of some of the hottest organist like McDuff (whom I played with), Jimmy Smith, Jimmy Mcgriff , Lon Liston Smith, etc to cut my musical teeth on! There was even a series of recordings, at that time, called "Music Minus One" for play-alongs which, at that time period, had it's value too. Fast forward to the present...the internet and TH-cam which I like to call "The Oracle" with it's infinite sources of learning always comes up with exciting discoveries like YOU and your sharing of valuable goodies!!! Thank you for this "Coat Pull" of running down the pros and cons of play-along apps and discovering Phil and his generous and "Swangin'" tracks which comes in a time that I'm looking to Woodshedding again but to some more 'organically swinging' tracks to play with! BTW...big ups on your crushing alto solo man!!! very tasty indeed! My hip girlfriend turned me on to this post and you are a "new best friend" Gonna' partake in Phil's killer material to be sure too!!! Thanks again Patrick...keep Swangin' man!!!
I use iRealPro on stage for a jazz jam house band. Being able to have the changes in any key is very useful. I don’t much like playing along with it but have done to work through various things.
As a pianist, what I liked about the Jamey Aebersold recordings is that if you switched only to the left or right channel (it’s been so many years that I forget now!), you would only have the bass and drums backing track. Similarly, in iReal Pro, I can minus one the keyboard backing. Would love the same option with real musicians!
Unrelated tip: I am a jazz pianist who wears glasses. They kept falling down my nose because I was looking down all the time. I finally bought frames with cable temples that wrap around my ears. They are really comfortable and keep my glasses on my face.
I think a benefit of iReal book is the ability to change tempos and key signatures. It’s much easier now to practice something like Cherokee in all 12 keys in drastically different tempos.
i’ve struggled using ireal pro for a while and struggled to put into words exactly why, but i think you nailed it. it’s really useful for playing songs in non standard styles and also obscure songs, but actual humans just can’t be beat
Just discovered you Phil. The title of the video attracted me. I use iReal Pro when I have to, but I feel like another commenter said, like I'm playing in a box. I'll definitely be checking out Phil Wilkinson. Thanks for the information. Also, your tone is so rich and your playing is swinging and beautiful. It was a joy to listen to you vibe with Phil. Than you for posting.
Funny story - back in the late 80’s a mate of mine was busking in a tube station (subway?) in London, using Aebersold backing tracks. An old guy stopped, dropped some money in his sax case and stayed and listened. When he’d finished playing the old guy, with an American accent said ‘ nice playing young man, I bet you can’t guess who I am? ‘. No idea I’m afraid, he replied. American replied, I’ll give you some help ‘ A one, a two, a one two three ……
Love it!❤ My advice… learn the chords - Then do 100 choruses( reps) with just a metronome. Then ,,, get your backing track! You’re welcome ( take your time ?😂) Enjoy
I love this! Im a very beginner learning jazz, from Aimee Nolte and Open Studio. Just learning the first basic chords and tried playing a little with ireal pro. I felt like I was playing inside a box, can’t describe it but it definitely felt more like my old classical practice with a metronome than playing with a jazz standard. I was wondering what I was going to do when Im actually at the point to play along with something! I think if either of them hear about website this they would definitely promote it. Lovely performance btw.
I couldn't agree more. Playing with a robot almost deadens any flow or inspiration. It's handy for figuring out some basic stuff, but trying to improvise with any sort of feel is almost like swimming upstream. (My other iReal pet peeve is when folks show up for a gig, never learning the tunes, and using iReal pro as a fakebook, staring at the phones/iPads the entire time, but I digress.) I'm going to check out Phil Wilkinson now! Thanks!
Have you heard of Band in a box? It’s a Programm where you can type in the changes of the song you want to play and then it generates a backing track, that’s different every time you play it, based on recorded fragments of actual musicians that you can pick. I believe Ron Carter recorded some for this as well. You can also make it generate a solo in the style of whomever and you can view the transcription of that.
I remember Band a box already in the 90’s and I used to practice with it way before I heard about abersold tracks.I hardly had internet I think haha..they weren’t real musicians back then but it sound better than iReal pro cause the comping was different every time. I do use Ireal today mostly for practicing chord/scale changes.lowering the tempo for difficult tunes etc or looping a few bars.also as a guitarist who has duo gigs with only Upright bass mostly, the option to mute instruments is helpful. I also like Phil’s tracks especially great practice are the 2-5-1 series! Great to try different devices. That being said still nothing is more developing than playing with people or just the metronome.
I think of iReal Pro as the original DOS/Windows Band-in-a-box written for mobiles. I never understood why PG Music didn't do what iReal Pro did, They seem to not want to adopt the mobile platforms (Android & iOS) at all. iReal Pro have done a great job with a lovely app, that is now available on Macs as well, so the concept has gone full circle.
Huge thanks, Patrick. I didn't know about the Phil Wilkinson play-alongs. There's another one you didn't mention: the Realbook (fakebook), also put out some play alongs with real musicians playing (not sure who), Vols 1 & 2, but not vol. 3. They're prett decent. Okay, Ireal Pro: very helpful when just learning changes; main advantage is that you can slow down the tempo and change keys. I'm a not great trumpet player, good enough to get gigs backing singers sometimes, so I have to transpose to whatever key the vocalist is singing. You can change the keys and tempos with the Aebersolds, but you need a slow downer app (I use 'Transcibe' which I highly recommend). Good point about IRealPro being too "robotic". Also, the chord changes are not always "right" but I see too many players relying on this app, when they should be checking the questionable changes against other sources. Great solo, by the way. I sure wish I could double like that, but I'm still a ways off from that (Dizzy was the master of doubling on the trumpet; made it sound like he was playing a flute). I'll check out the Phil Wilkinson vids. This was very helpful to me, so again, mega thanks. (Oops, gotta change my outdated TH-cam name).
One think I think it may be useful now, is that if we use AI to separate tracks of instruments we can actually play with the recordings without actually playing over the solo. Like for example playing with the rhythm section of the So What? record but (sacrilegiously) removing miles solo with AI.
First off, love your playing.iReal is good for changes if you find a tune you don't know, and for drills, like working on the bridge to Cherokee or Miss Jones, but not much else for me. But it is convenient. And I agree I wish and hope Jamey takes his show online as well. Eveni though I have all of them, I'd buy an app that makes them available in a mobile setting. I wasn't aware of Phil's tracks but I will definitely contribute to the cause. He is doing Jazz a great service. Like you I grew up with Jamey's records (yes I'm that old) and still have and use them (in CD version uploaded to my laptop). A couple of play-alongs I liked from years ago were by two greats, Clarke Terry and Rich Matteson. Clarke's had both him playing and just the backing tracks. Rich's really explored some interesting changes, tunes based on some standard changes, and some of originals (live the tune Spoofy).
Hi Patrick. You make a lot of good points. I bought the first Aebersold records in the early 80ies and later switched to Band-in-a-Box. Since more than 10 years this software is using building blocks of chord changes from real live musicians to assemble a tune. Not perfect, but a much better solution to play along the chord changes you like to practice. I think the backing tracks are swinging and you can change the tempo, transpose and use different styles. By the way, I like your sax playing a lot. I first became aware of you during your collaboration with Emmet Cohen. Best regards. Peter
i have some bass students and use iReal Pro a lot to let them play bass oder the melody or improvise to the changes. You can't change the tempo or mute the bass in Abersold or other recordings. But i encourage my student to transcribe the great bass parts from Abersold recordings.
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Hi Patrick! I love to play with Phil’s backings. I also enjoy the “Double Bass and Piano Tracks”. The don’t have drums but they swing!
Thanks for sharing the info on Phil Wilkinson and your insight on IReal and The Abersole play alongs Nice playing by the way maybe it’s me but I rarely hear or discover newer alto players these days 🙏🏽👍🏽
Appreciate the tip off…didnt know about PW. I use ireal pro too but often ill turn the crappy sounding piano off or ill just use the drumgenius app-streamed to a really robust bluetooth speaker array i have and its like practicing with a real drummer since the loops are from real and mostly famous drummers-as a really swinging metronome. But these full tracks are great. 👊🙏
Not nearly as killin as Phil's stuff but there's a programme out there called 'Band in a Box' which allows you to input chords and it will generate instrumental parts on the basis of it. It can do midi but it also has a big library of real professional recordings which it stitches together. It does a great job for jazz - swings about 10 times harder than iReal.
Great playing man! I've been looking for good backing tracks just to noodle and practice to. This video gave me info on the old ones to look to get and this great online resource.
Can`t agree more. Would be humbled and honored if you (the comminty here) gave our real-musicians playalongs a shot as well. Thanks and enjoy! 😌 (Berlin Backing Tracks)
Hell yeah thanks for sharing, will check these out. I do like irealpro as a teacher and player but it has its limitis. I often warmup with Irealpro on like a rhythm changes in a weird key like Db on upright bass and speed up the tempos, helps me with my time and intonation, but then I turn it off. Also a lot of my students keep pulling up these tunes that have specific hits and trying to play along with irealpro and it doesn't go well lol.
Not to mention that back in the day when Jazz was being played live on a nightly basis, the players were, for all intents and purposes, going to “school” every night and had the opportunity to hone their skills. Nowadays, I’m lucky if there’s one Jazz gig a week going on where I’m able to sit in on a tune or two. Let alone play it every night.
Hi Patrick, maybe you can assist me. I've composed close to 700 pieces, and especially focus on "New Jazz" and "Modern Chamber Music." I need something where I can actually enter music notation, rather then just chords. The idea is to use a computer notebook on my piano and do way with the ever-thickening binders I use. Have you any suggestions? Thank you in advance : )
I discovered Aerbersold LPs in the mid 70s in my public library, in the “Music Minus One” section. There have been many such recordings over the years, for classical pieces such as piano or flute etc concertos, where the conductor gives a tap to bring in the orchestra. I have an LP from the early 60s with Nelson Riddle for Sinatra arrangements, which contains lead sheets for the vocalist. Aebersolds we’re cool since the musicians were greats like Al Foster, Ron Carter, Adam Nussbaum etc. the actual rhythm section recording was done with a soloist, quite often Dave Liebman, who played the head and solos with the rhythm section, but in isolation. The solos were transcribed and available separately with the recordings, for further study. Personally I don’t like the tempos or feel of the Aebersolds for the most part. IReal is great for its flexibility, and I know players who use it for gigging. Myself, I use Band In A Box as it has a much more natural and realistic algorithm and sound. But hey who can beat a back up band in your phone?
Elitist claptrap! Obviously a promo for his 'mate' Phil Wilkinson. Any tool which helps you improve as a musician is useful. IReal Pro, Band In A Box, Musescore, TH-cam backing tracks, Reaper etc... can all assist your musical development. Go your own way and try not to listen to the noise.
Lmfaoooo Phil was not my "mate" before this video was made. I just boosted what I found to be a useful resource. Y'all need to stop acting like we don't look at these comments. So many conspiracy theories and BS going around online it's ridiculous. I'm giving my thoughts and opinions on this platform like I have the right to. Just like you can say whatever you want, I also can come back and set the record straight. I'm getting tired of looking at all of these ridiculous statements. Plus I even said in the video what I think iReal is useful for. I even praised them for making what they did. Do y'all watch these videos before you comment?
IReal let’s you practice bass lines and bass improves. Yes I am sure they could program the time to float a bit. In any case it is better than a metronome. Yes I would rather play with people. I know some players play with Band in a Box. That requires some set up. Thank you for the video.
Excellent points here all-around, Patrick. A question - do you every use IReal to learn changes to a new tune - creating an IReal entry entering yourself and making loops of turnarounds and other things like that?
I listen to the oldest recording I can find of the song (preferably from the movie/musical/pop radio debut) and learn the melody and harmony verbatim. No embellishments.
I think the thing about swing is that there’s no good way for a robot to electronically reproduce the way humans create emphases in the distribution of rhythm without it feeling too rigid. Sure, you can notate dotted quarter / eighth = quarter / eighth triplet all day, but that doesn’t tell you how to EXPRESS the rhythmic distribution. You can swing quarter / eighth triplets and straight eighths on both the back beat and on 2s / 4s because the emphasis and articulation of rhythmic values in swing are not evenly weighted or distributed. Computers, even with dynamic and articulative inputs, do not capture the same nuance humans have in our acoustic expressive methods and our imperfect applications of them.
Quick question: Can you actually tell if a cat used iReal to learn standards? Seriously. How can you tell? And if he/she did...who givs a fuk? I'm old bro. Probably twice your age and learned how to play tunes including standards along with the funk/r&b and latin tunes by listening to records and later reading charts on paid gigs with cats who were twice as old as me. It wasn't easy. These days, younguns are using the digital shit to get hip to tunes. I say more power to them. This thing gets them closer to their thing FASTER than having to fuck around with records you could barely afford to buy (true story: when I started playing, i couldn't afford jazz records, so I listened to the radio and WAITED for the tunes to come on and learnt from that.). I bailed out after watching about 45 secs of your spiel when I started to get riled about the mention of the validity of the idea that it's jive to learn from a phone app. Who cares? At least the phone app is accurate and transposeable. Then there's also the tempi that you can set to push your workout. In any case, these things are tools for shedding to get you ready to play with people, nothing more. Hell, at my middle age I use iReal and the other Fakebook apps to dust off old shit I don't know or used to know but haven't played in a long time or straight looking at it at gigs where someone calls out some bullshit standard in a key that I haven't played in or for singers. Bro...this iReal thing is a non-issue. It all boils down to whether or not a cat can play. Even that is suspect because what the fuck does that mean anyway? Learning 200 standards in all keys is jive because (wait for it), you can't get paid. It's better if you can play a Doobie Brothers, EWF or ABBA for money. You can still take killer solos and better yet, strangers dig you because you're making them happy for a minute. I'm too damn old now to give fux about cats who can play over changes or Coltrane or Anthony Braxton tunes. BTW...have you thought about starting your own weekly YT gig a la Emmet Cohen or Miki Yamanaka? I don't know where you're living now, but I think it would be cool if we could tune in every week and watch you blow through tunes for an hour or so.
No disrespect to you or to Phil Wilkinson's excellent backing track, but I think you (and a lot of others) are missing the point. iReal Pro isn't a performance medium, it's a practice tool, so the fact that it doesn't sound like "real musicians" isn't critical. This is a tool that allows you to learn and work difficult songs at slower tempo; to loop particularly problematic passages until you can get them right; to drill common cadences (e.g. iii-vi-ii-v-i) in all 12 keys. You can't do any of those things with backing tracks like the one in the video, just as you wouldn't use iReal Pro in a performance scenario. Saying that backing tracks are better than iReal Pro is like saying a wrench is better than a hammer -- each is the most useful for different purposes.
I think the real sticking point in this comparison is the time feel vs metronomic rhythm. You cant learn this with Ireal pro, or band in the box and etc.
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Patrick! Wow man, thanks so much for putting this out. So happy you and others are liking the tracks. Amazing to hear you play on "how deep is the ocean" 🙏🏼
Your tracks is the best!!!
@@citylidamj8898 thanks so much 🙏🏼
Phil! You've done it again!!! I need these!
@@BrianJacksonmusic Brian my man!! Long time, hope you're well. We gotta hook up!
Coming from someone who doesn’t have the culture and the community support. This is really the next best thing!
Phil is an old friend of mine and an amazing pianist, organist, guitarist, bassist and I seem to recall he plays a mean flute too. We used to play loads together in our home town of Nottingham UK. Good to see someone like Patrick picking up on his amazing backing tracks.
Phil makes great tracks, we def have to step up as a community to support him
You put a smile on my face.I can tell how young you are :) I think you are missing some history ! Play alongs have been around since 1950's I still have vinyl records known as The Music Minus One. This was a company that founded in 1950 and their sing-along and play-along records quickly became an industry standard. The library included jazz combo works from such famed players as Stan Getz, Jimmy Raney, Bob Wilber, Buddy DeFranco, Glenn Zottola, Bob Dorough, Ira Nepus, Alan Kaplan, and more. I think one of the records I had was with Tommy Flanagan and band.
The recordings allow the player to listen to the full recording featuring a soloist, but then pan the recording to remove the soloist so you could step in and play the lead.
I still have some of these Vinyl records in my collection. I learned a lot from these recordings in my late teens early 20's.
it's
backing
I use iReal book for middle schoolers. It allows me to slow down tempos to help them stay in time. When they are in 8th grade, I have them play with the real recordings. Thank you for making me aware of Phil Wilkinson. This will be a great addition.
When I began teaching, there was no iReal so I used Aebersolds in lessons. Now, I use iReal Pro in almost every lesson I teach. I agree with you on all the points in vid re:”electronic” swing. For me, the main selling point of iReal is the ability to control tempo as one issue I ran into when I used Aebersold’s is that sometimes the track would be just a little too fast for the student’s level.
In these cases I just play piano for the student if the song I want to play with them is too fast for them! Or I just slow down the Aebersold if I have my computer with me (there are apps that can slow it down too).
gotcha! I’ll research a slowdown app and have my students get it as well, thank you for the suggestion. 🙏🏻🎶
@@ColinthePulkrabekamazing slowdowner. Research done. Lolol
🙏🏻🙏🏻🎶
Absolutely love Phil's tracks. They push you as a musician with occasional twists and turns and have an incredible energy (being made by a live musician)
Eagleheart Jazz Chanel has tasteful backing tracks as well 💛
One thing I love is how you listen to the track and respond to what you hear. One problem with iReal is that it punishes interaction. If you try to follow the record it won’t lead you anywhere. I love learn jazz standards because it follows the record curve in volume and intensity.
Just discovered your playing a few days ago, there's just no way of listening without a ginormous smile. Thanks for what you do!
Patrick! First, KILLER soloing man. You have clearly achieved mastery, which is the elusive goal I’m chasing. Step by little step. Second, I’m at the point where I really need to put in the woodshed time soloing with some kind of backing tracks. This lesson has pointed me in the right direction. BIG Thanks!
You done good Patrick!!! As a drummer/Percussionist myself since the 60s. I was fortunate enough to have experienced "Woodshedding" with great records from my parent's Jazz collections and hitting the streets to play at Jam Sessions on Sundays or just listen to live Jazz from world-class artists local and visiting or later, playing in actual bands! That was also a period of some of the hottest organist like McDuff (whom I played with), Jimmy Smith, Jimmy Mcgriff , Lon Liston Smith, etc to cut my musical teeth on! There was even a series of recordings, at that time, called "Music Minus One" for play-alongs which, at that time period, had it's value too. Fast forward to the present...the internet and TH-cam which I like to call "The Oracle" with it's infinite sources of learning always comes up with exciting discoveries like YOU and your sharing of valuable goodies!!!
Thank you for this "Coat Pull" of running down the pros and cons of play-along apps and discovering Phil and his generous and "Swangin'" tracks which comes in a time that I'm looking to Woodshedding again but to some more 'organically swinging' tracks to play with! BTW...big ups on your crushing alto solo man!!! very tasty indeed! My hip girlfriend turned me on to this post and you are a "new best friend" Gonna' partake in Phil's killer material to be sure too!!! Thanks again Patrick...keep Swangin' man!!!
I use iRealPro on stage for a jazz jam house band. Being able to have the changes in any key is very useful. I don’t much like playing along with it but have done to work through various things.
As a pianist, what I liked about the Jamey Aebersold recordings is that if you switched only to the left or right channel (it’s been so many years that I forget now!), you would only have the bass and drums backing track. Similarly, in iReal Pro, I can minus one the keyboard backing. Would love the same option with real musicians!
Unrelated tip: I am a jazz pianist who wears glasses. They kept falling down my nose because I was looking down all the time. I finally bought frames with cable temples that wrap around my ears. They are really comfortable and keep my glasses on my face.
I think a benefit of iReal book is the ability to change tempos and key signatures. It’s much easier now to practice something like Cherokee in all 12 keys in drastically different tempos.
I imagine most people use it for the chord changes, not necessarily as backing tracks.
I'm glad this wasn't just a "here's a problem" video, rather a "here's a problem, but here's a solution" video. Phil's tracks are great!
i’ve struggled using ireal pro for a while and struggled to put into words exactly why, but i think you nailed it. it’s really useful for playing songs in non standard styles and also obscure songs, but actual humans just can’t be beat
I agree that Phil’s rhythm section swings more than jazz robots, lol. Thanks for your swinging and the info Patrick!
Just discovered you Phil. The title of the video attracted me. I use iReal Pro when I have to, but I feel like another commenter said, like I'm playing in a box. I'll definitely be checking out Phil Wilkinson. Thanks for the information. Also, your tone is so rich and your playing is swinging and beautiful. It was a joy to listen to you vibe with Phil. Than you for posting.
Funny story - back in the late 80’s a mate of mine was busking in a tube station (subway?) in London, using Aebersold backing tracks. An old guy stopped, dropped some money in his sax case and stayed and listened. When he’d finished playing the old guy, with an American accent said ‘ nice playing young man, I bet you can’t guess who I am? ‘. No idea I’m afraid, he replied. American replied, I’ll give you some help ‘ A one, a two, a one two three ……
You play with so much beautiful emotions Patrick. A true master of the alto with your own romantic sound. Well done 👏
Love your thoughts here Patrick. Thanks for sharing this new resource with us!
Two cool chaps working together and sharing good practice on how to improve. Cheers folks!
Sorry for the second post. Had to mention your sound. It's juicy! Absolutely beautiful tone. Thank you PB
Love it!❤
My advice… learn the chords -
Then do 100 choruses( reps) with just a metronome.
Then ,,, get your backing track!
You’re welcome
( take your time ?😂)
Enjoy
I love this! Im a very beginner learning jazz, from Aimee Nolte and Open Studio. Just learning the first basic chords and tried playing a little with ireal pro. I felt like I was playing inside a box, can’t describe it but it definitely felt more like my old classical practice with a metronome than playing with a jazz standard. I was wondering what I was going to do when Im actually at the point to play along with something!
I think if either of them hear about website this they would definitely promote it.
Lovely performance btw.
I just bought the package deal off Phill Wilkinson's website because of Larry, i think he owes you a drink Larry.
Nice playing! Encouraged me to bring out my old Aebersold CD's and check out newer play-a-long options.
I couldn't agree more. Playing with a robot almost deadens any flow or inspiration. It's handy for figuring out some basic stuff, but trying to improvise with any sort of feel is almost like swimming upstream. (My other iReal pet peeve is when folks show up for a gig, never learning the tunes, and using iReal pro as a fakebook, staring at the phones/iPads the entire time, but I digress.) I'm going to check out Phil Wilkinson now! Thanks!
It’s always a treat to hear you Patrick!
Phil deserves the shoutout!
Thanks! I just listened to one and straight away I noticed the liveliness of the bass ! cOOl !
Have you heard of Band in a box? It’s a Programm where you can type in the changes of the song you want to play and then it generates a backing track, that’s different every time you play it, based on recorded fragments of actual musicians that you can pick. I believe Ron Carter recorded some for this as well. You can also make it generate a solo in the style of whomever and you can view the transcription of that.
I remember Band a box already in the 90’s and I used to practice with it way before I heard about abersold tracks.I hardly had internet I think haha..they weren’t real musicians back then but it sound better than iReal pro cause the comping was different every time.
I do use Ireal today mostly for practicing chord/scale changes.lowering the tempo for difficult tunes etc or looping a few bars.also as a guitarist who has duo gigs with only Upright bass mostly, the option to mute instruments is helpful.
I also like Phil’s tracks especially great practice are the 2-5-1 series! Great to try different devices.
That being said still nothing is more developing than playing with people or just the metronome.
I think of iReal Pro as the original DOS/Windows Band-in-a-box written for mobiles. I never understood why PG Music didn't do what iReal Pro did, They seem to not want to adopt the mobile platforms (Android & iOS) at all. iReal Pro have done a great job with a lovely app, that is now available on Macs as well, so the concept has gone full circle.
Huge thanks, Patrick. I didn't know about the Phil Wilkinson play-alongs. There's another one you didn't mention: the Realbook (fakebook), also put out some play alongs with real musicians playing (not sure who), Vols 1 & 2, but not vol. 3. They're prett decent.
Okay, Ireal Pro: very helpful when just learning changes; main advantage is that you can slow down the tempo and change keys. I'm a not great trumpet player, good enough to get gigs backing singers sometimes, so I have to transpose to whatever key the vocalist is singing. You can change the keys and tempos with the Aebersolds, but you need a slow downer app (I use 'Transcibe' which I highly recommend).
Good point about IRealPro being too "robotic". Also, the chord changes are not always "right" but I see too many players relying on this app, when they should be checking the questionable changes against other sources.
Great solo, by the way. I sure wish I could double like that, but I'm still a ways off from that (Dizzy was the master of doubling on the trumpet; made it sound like he was playing a flute).
I'll check out the Phil Wilkinson vids. This was very helpful to me, so again, mega thanks.
(Oops, gotta change my outdated TH-cam name).
Hitting the nail on the head as usual! 🙏
One think I think it may be useful now, is that if we use AI to separate tracks of instruments we can actually play with the recordings without actually playing over the solo. Like for example playing with the rhythm section of the So What? record but (sacrilegiously) removing miles solo with AI.
moises app
@@AdiStoenescumoises app does that? Wow!
Nice sound on the horn man :D Love the alto this way - and good comping from philwilkinsonmusic
First off, love your playing.iReal is good for changes if you find a tune you don't know, and for drills, like working on the bridge to Cherokee or Miss Jones, but not much else for me. But it is convenient. And I agree I wish and hope Jamey takes his show online as well. Eveni though I have all of them, I'd buy an app that makes them available in a mobile setting. I wasn't aware of Phil's tracks but I will definitely contribute to the cause. He is doing Jazz a great service. Like you I grew up with Jamey's records (yes I'm that old) and still have and use them (in CD version uploaded to my laptop). A couple of play-alongs I liked from years ago were by two greats, Clarke Terry and Rich Matteson. Clarke's had both him playing and just the backing tracks. Rich's really explored some interesting changes, tunes based on some standard changes, and some of originals (live the tune Spoofy).
Hi Patrick. You make a lot of good points. I bought the first Aebersold records in the early 80ies and later switched to Band-in-a-Box. Since more than 10 years this software is using building blocks of chord changes from real live musicians to assemble a tune. Not perfect, but a much better solution to play along the chord changes you like to practice. I think the backing tracks are swinging and you can change the tempo, transpose and use different styles.
By the way, I like your sax playing a lot. I first became aware of you during your collaboration with Emmet Cohen. Best regards. Peter
Buying vol.2 rn gonna use it as motivation to learn all of those tunes
i have some bass students and use iReal Pro a lot to let them play bass oder the melody or improvise to the changes. You can't change the tempo or mute the bass in Abersold or other recordings. But i encourage my student to transcribe the great bass parts from Abersold recordings.
Hi Patrick! I love to play with Phil’s backings. I also enjoy the “Double Bass and Piano Tracks”. The don’t have drums but they swing!
Integral for drummers 🥁
Thanks for the tip! Will check these out!
Damn, I had no idea the masters were on the aebersold recordings! I will revisit. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing the info on Phil Wilkinson and your insight on IReal and The Abersole play alongs
Nice playing by the way maybe it’s me but I rarely hear or discover newer alto players these days 🙏🏽👍🏽
I'm new to jazz chords[ ?]. I use iReal Pro to learn the chord shapes and how the songs are constructed. works for me at my level.
PATRICK I JUST DOWNLOADED IT YESTERDAY
Thanks for the info, valuable resources. Changes reminded me of A Foggy Day in London Town
Appreciate the tip off…didnt know about PW. I use ireal pro too but often ill turn the crappy sounding piano off or ill just use the drumgenius app-streamed to a really robust bluetooth speaker array i have and its like practicing with a real drummer since the loops are from real and mostly famous drummers-as a really swinging metronome. But these full tracks are great. 👊🙏
Great playing! Aren’t you the guy who also channels japanese game music?
Thanks Patrick 🍁
Not nearly as killin as Phil's stuff but there's a programme out there called 'Band in a Box' which allows you to input chords and it will generate instrumental parts on the basis of it. It can do midi but it also has a big library of real professional recordings which it stitches together. It does a great job for jazz - swings about 10 times harder than iReal.
Great playing man! I've been looking for good backing tracks just to noodle and practice to. This video gave me info on the old ones to look to get and this great online resource.
Phil is great! I use his stuff all the time
Can`t agree more. Would be humbled and honored if you (the comminty here) gave our real-musicians playalongs a shot as well. Thanks and enjoy! 😌 (Berlin Backing Tracks)
Just got to say…………GREAT PLAYING!
Sound, articulation and ideas!
Great video! Simon Peter King also has some great backing tracks too!
Thanks SOOOO MUCH Patrick !!! (soooo true !)
🤯 Wow! Thanks man! 🙏🏽 This is brilliant
So sick. Always great advice from Pat. 🤘🏼💚
Thanks a lot Patrick!! I real is helping me but this is way better!
Sounds great man! Good thoughts.
I'm a bassist, I will need the Melody line for those jazz standards...And I prefer Band in the Box for that.. :)
Intelligent guy. Great advice. Great playing. Thanks!
This is incredible. Thanks for making me aware of it, and terrific solo.
Hell yeah thanks for sharing, will check these out. I do like irealpro as a teacher and player but it has its limitis. I often warmup with Irealpro on like a rhythm changes in a weird key like Db on upright bass and speed up the tempos, helps me with my time and intonation, but then I turn it off. Also a lot of my students keep pulling up these tunes that have specific hits and trying to play along with irealpro and it doesn't go well lol.
Thank you!
I am playing gypsyjazz, but I use Phil's backings many times.
I like your playing.
Curious if you've seen the Peter Erskine play along apps where you can mute individual players etc, will definitely check out Phil Wilkinson too
Absolutely correct. I could never make a connection to iReal Pro.There should be a solution that listen to your playing.
Not to mention that back in the day when Jazz was being played live on a nightly basis, the players were, for all intents and purposes, going to “school” every night and had the opportunity to hone their skills. Nowadays, I’m lucky if there’s one Jazz gig a week going on where I’m able to sit in on a tune or two. Let alone play it every night.
I love iReal Pro. Its good to hang with metronome time then its good to hang with musicians.
Hi Patrick, maybe you can assist me. I've composed close to 700 pieces, and especially focus on "New Jazz" and "Modern Chamber Music." I need something where I can actually enter music notation, rather then just chords. The idea is to use a computer notebook on my piano and do way with the ever-thickening binders I use. Have you any suggestions? Thank you in advance : )
I discovered Aerbersold LPs in the mid 70s in my public library, in the “Music Minus One” section. There have been many such recordings over the years, for classical pieces such as piano or flute etc concertos, where the conductor gives a tap to bring in the orchestra. I have an LP from the early 60s with Nelson Riddle for Sinatra arrangements, which contains lead sheets for the vocalist. Aebersolds we’re cool since the musicians were greats like Al Foster, Ron Carter, Adam Nussbaum etc. the actual rhythm section recording was done with a soloist, quite often Dave Liebman, who played the head and solos with the rhythm section, but in isolation. The solos were transcribed and available separately with the recordings, for further study. Personally I don’t like the tempos or feel of the Aebersolds for the most part. IReal is great for its flexibility, and I know players who use it for gigging. Myself, I use Band In A Box as it has a much more natural and realistic algorithm and sound. But hey who can beat a back up band in your phone?
Elitist claptrap! Obviously a promo for his 'mate' Phil Wilkinson. Any tool which helps you improve as a musician is useful. IReal Pro, Band In A Box, Musescore, TH-cam backing tracks, Reaper etc... can all assist your musical development. Go your own way and try not to listen to the noise.
Lmfaoooo Phil was not my "mate" before this video was made. I just boosted what I found to be a useful resource. Y'all need to stop acting like we don't look at these comments. So many conspiracy theories and BS going around online it's ridiculous. I'm giving my thoughts and opinions on this platform like I have the right to. Just like you can say whatever you want, I also can come back and set the record straight. I'm getting tired of looking at all of these ridiculous statements.
Plus I even said in the video what I think iReal is useful for. I even praised them for making what they did. Do y'all watch these videos before you comment?
Phil is great, so is Engelheart for backing tracks, also Mr. Sunny Bass.
Cool 😎
Good talk brother
IReal let’s you practice bass lines and bass improves. Yes I am sure they could program the time to float a bit. In any case it is better than a metronome. Yes I would rather play with people. I know some players play with Band in a Box. That requires some set up. Thank you for the video.
14:34 Damn!!!
Can I take the drums out of Phils tracks using ireel pro?
Excellent points here all-around, Patrick. A question - do you every use IReal to learn changes to a new tune - creating an IReal entry entering yourself and making loops of turnarounds and other things like that?
I listen to the oldest recording I can find of the song (preferably from the movie/musical/pop radio debut) and learn the melody and harmony verbatim. No embellishments.
ah you solo players have it so easy, only one part to worry about😅 Great playing and thanks for pointing the way!
Whats are Your thoughts about jamkazam?
I have written 3k songs in itealpro. Gonna move em to finale and then Daw..
So have a better suggestion than IRP?
What is it?
Is Phil recording with real drums or playing to prerecorded drums? Swings great though!
Talk about it! 😭💪
Any new video on your thoughts on this??
I would never know the fingerings for anything if i didn't have the diagrams on ireal
I think the thing about swing is that there’s no good way for a robot to electronically reproduce the way humans create emphases in the distribution of rhythm without it feeling too rigid.
Sure, you can notate dotted quarter / eighth = quarter / eighth triplet all day, but that doesn’t tell you how to EXPRESS the rhythmic distribution. You can swing quarter / eighth triplets and straight eighths on both the back beat and on 2s / 4s because the emphasis and articulation of rhythmic values in swing are not evenly weighted or distributed.
Computers, even with dynamic and articulative inputs, do not capture the same nuance humans have in our acoustic expressive methods and our imperfect applications of them.
what if I play piano? Is it a version where Phil is playing only the bass?
Hi from Brazil. I know that you love Japanese Music and Sax. Do you know Masato Honda and T-Square? Masato is the best musician of the world.
Quick question:
Can you actually tell if a cat used iReal to learn standards? Seriously.
How can you tell?
And if he/she did...who givs a fuk?
I'm old bro. Probably twice your age and learned how to play tunes including standards along with the funk/r&b and latin tunes by listening to records and later reading charts on paid gigs with cats who were twice as old as me. It wasn't easy.
These days, younguns are using the digital shit to get hip to tunes.
I say more power to them. This thing gets them closer to their thing FASTER than having to fuck around with records you could barely afford to buy (true story: when I started playing, i couldn't afford jazz records, so I listened to the radio and WAITED for the tunes to come on and learnt from that.).
I bailed out after watching about 45 secs of your spiel when I started to get riled about the mention of the validity of the idea that it's jive to learn from a phone app. Who cares?
At least the phone app is accurate and transposeable. Then there's also the tempi that you can set to push your workout.
In any case, these things are tools for shedding to get you ready to play with people, nothing more. Hell, at my middle age I use iReal and the other Fakebook apps to dust off old shit I don't know or used to know but haven't played in a long time or straight looking at it at gigs where someone calls out some bullshit standard in a key that I haven't played in or for singers.
Bro...this iReal thing is a non-issue. It all boils down to whether or not a cat can play. Even that is suspect because what the fuck does that mean anyway? Learning 200 standards in all keys is jive because (wait for it), you can't get paid. It's better if you can play a Doobie Brothers, EWF or ABBA for money. You can still take killer solos and better yet, strangers dig you because you're making them happy for a minute. I'm too damn old now to give fux about cats who can play over changes or Coltrane or Anthony Braxton tunes.
BTW...have you thought about starting your own weekly YT gig a la Emmet Cohen or Miki Yamanaka? I don't know where you're living now, but I think it would be cool if we could tune in every week and watch you blow through tunes for an hour or so.
Waiting for AiRealPro. Ai band for practice. Whaaaa. 😂
real
No disrespect to you or to Phil Wilkinson's excellent backing track, but I think you (and a lot of others) are missing the point. iReal Pro isn't a performance medium, it's a practice tool, so the fact that it doesn't sound like "real musicians" isn't critical. This is a tool that allows you to learn and work difficult songs at slower tempo; to loop particularly problematic passages until you can get them right; to drill common cadences (e.g. iii-vi-ii-v-i) in all 12 keys. You can't do any of those things with backing tracks like the one in the video, just as you wouldn't use iReal Pro in a performance scenario. Saying that backing tracks are better than iReal Pro is like saying a wrench is better than a hammer -- each is the most useful for different purposes.
I think the real sticking point in this comparison is the time feel vs metronomic rhythm. You cant learn this with Ireal pro, or band in the box and etc.
Band in a box?