Jazz | Michael Stegner

qo @ The Blue Whale on Thursday

December 18, 2017 Michael Music

This Thursday I’ll be playing at the legendary Blue Whale in the Little Tokyo area of downtown LA. David Binney and I will be opening up his night with our electronic duo, “qo”. We play from 8-9pm.

Here is a video poster with a music sample from one of our tracks (click here if you can see the video):

The rest of the night will be a star-studded night, with members of Thundercat, Knower, Jacob Collier’s band, etc.

The Blue Whale is located at 123 Astronaut E S Onizuka St #301, Los Angeles, CA 90012.

Cover is:

$15 general admission

$10 students (21+)

Leave a comment Blue Whale, David Binney, dtla, Electronic Music, Jazz, qo

Sonata Form and Jazz Solos Rethinking what it means to "solo" in jazz

January 12, 2017 Michael Lessons, Pedagogy, Practicing

A couple of years ago I began to shift away from using the word “solo” with many of my jazz students. This was especially the case for beginning improvisers or the ones who were preoccupied with the chord progressions or playing a barrage of disconnected patterns or licks. Many of them started to sound way better in a very short amount of time.

Solo and Sonata Pic » Read more

Leave a comment Improvisation, Jazz, Jazz Improvisation, Jazz Lesson, Jazz Piano

Beginning Jazz Piano Lesson – Swing Scales

June 22, 2016 Michael Lessons, Pedagogy, Practicing

Swing Scales

This video lesson covers how I begin with every jazz piano student. Swing scales are great because they enable students to focus on their groove and time-feel from the start. Rather than load students up with harmony and theory information, prioritizing the groove should sustain itself through the whole process of learning to play jazz and modern music. Here’s how we start: