Kevin Sun

Two years ago, I wrote a short entry about vibing on this blog after hearing some stories shared at Harvard by Greg Osby and Joe Lovano about their experiences as young students of the music. Today is International Jazz Day, so I thought I'd break the radio silence on this blog by sharing an excerpt from my senior thesis, which is a collection of nonfiction essays about my experiences learning how to improvise and exploring the New York jazz scene these past few summers. This essayette is called "Vibe." Hope you enjoy. “Vibe” 1. vibe ( va ɪ b), v. a.  To make oneself averse or hostile to another person (usually through body language, tone, indirect signification) ; to give negative vibes, so as to signal disapproval: "That motherfucker was vibing me so hard after I lost the form on that last tune. Smalls sucks.” derivatives vibey (va ɪ b- ē ), adj. a. Possessing an unwelcoming or negative vibe; actively vibin...

When I was kicking around ideas for a final project in my acoustics class last semester, I toyed with the idea of comparing sonic profiles of different saxophonists in a solo saxophone context. The project was pretty quickly shot down after my professor pointed out the obvious problem of dealing with the slew of variables beyond my control: different mics, mic placements, recording environments, etc ., which I'd only be able to isolate if I did my own recordings (definitely not interested in checking that out).  Although the project ended up being a nonstarter, it ended up as an excuse for me to dig through my library to find instances of extended a capella  performances. I found plenty of lengthy cadenzas, but far fewer solo tracks from records. One of the first that came to mind was Joe Henderson's "Lush Life"  from Lush Life: The Music of Billy Strayhorn (1991). There are plenty of transcriptions of this solo floating around the Internet, and I've found my...

Vibe ( vaɪb) - v. 1. To give negative vibes to another, as to signal disapproval: "That motherfucker was vibing me so hard after I held out that major third on that minor I on "Softly." If I were Rich Perry, he wouldn't have vibed me for doing that—Rich does that all the time." Related Forms Vibey ( vaɪb- ē) - adj. 1. Possessing the aura of one who vibes: " I was not digging that guitar player, man. He was one vibey-ass motherfucker, what with calling "Take Five" in 7. Asshole." * * * * * Joe Lovano and Greg Osby were here at Harvard last week to perform with the Harvard Jazz Band on a concert celebrating Blue Note Records. Over a dinner with the band, I had a chance to ask about what advice they had about dealing with vibing on the bandstand—particularly at jam sessions. Both said similar things: play confidently when you get up to play with cats you don't know (Joe said that if you played confidently enough, you won't e...