Mr.

This has always been an interesting one...... In my current church, it starts with the leaders wanting to see you invested in both the life of the church and your personal journey. Yes, being able to play helps, but the most important thing to them is "where is your heart at?" Are you plugged into a Core Group (mid week meetings) or do you have people around you to help/pray with you. Are you willing just to serve wherever that may be? The other important thing is they want you to show that worship is an important thing for you personally.....After all, no one should be getting up to play if they think it's more about them than the Big Guy 😁

Steven Wilson - 4 1/2, To The Bone Fish - Weltshmertz Frost* - Falling Satellites, The Rockfield Files Pendragon - Men who climb Mountains Trifecta - Fragments The Backstage - Isolation Steve Hackett - Seconds Out Genesis Revisited Matt Berry - The Elephant Man, Gather, Phantom Birds Lonely Robot - Please Come Home, The Big Dream, Under Stars, Feelings are Good, A Model Life Video Link: or

I GOT IT!!!! Ok, it's taken me nearly a month but I now understand the Form of Take the "A" Train! I went through loads of different versions of it until I came across one by the BBC Big Band Orchestra where I was able to hear all of the sections clearly AND was able to sing the melody over the solos which helped me start to understand it..... now playing Study 1 over that WHILST singing the melody is killing me, BUT I UNDERSTAND IT and thats the important thing!

Hi Stephen, thanks for taking the time to reply. I'm slowly making sense of what the Plan says, but perhaps I'm missing something as I'm struggling to hear the chord changes after the first 32 bars in any of the recordings I've listened to. IF you have time and wouldn't mind shooting a short explanation of a version of Take the A Train along with a shot of the album cover so I can get the same version, I'd be very appreciative. Jazz is a very different world compared to the Rock/Metal world I grew up in!

Hi guys n gals, Just wondering if theres a walk through type of thing of any Jazz Standards where each section is pointed out? I've been really struggling with this and whilst in theory it seems simple, to me as a novice its really knocked me on my butt! I've heard Stephen say that Take the A Train is an AABA piece, and each section is eight bars and I've worked out the A section, but the B......darned if I can find it as theres several 8 bar sections before the A section comes back! Does such a thing exist?? It would really help me in understanding even one song which would mean that I could then take the same idea to another one! Anyone??? P.S. I think you're all amazing......😜

I've just got into Swing When You're Winning by Robbie Williams, two drummers split the tracks. Ralph Salmins & Harold Jones..... The thing I need to work on now is trying to learn the heads! I've always struggled with learning songs from memory, but can read them from a sheet fine! I think thats gonna be my biggest challenge....getting over my own hangups and trying to really learn the heads before playing them

I'm very new to Jazz having come from a Rock/Metal/Folk/Country/Orchestral background but a lot of the gigs I'm getting asked to do currently have some Jazz parts in which I just can't bend my head around! The current headache is the Crucifixion track from Jesus Christ Superstar which I've clocked at about 272 BPM!! It also has a repeating 5/4 Swing piece so as I've now got time to properly get into Jazz, I thought I would! I've been playing along (just the Ride pattern and Hats on 2 & 4 ) to several tracks that I've found both with and without vocals on to try and get a good balance of pieces. Particular favourites are Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga doing The Lady is a Tramp, Robbie Williams doing Aint That a Kick in the Head, Art Blakey Moanin' & Glenn Miller In the Mood....

Easiest place for me to say is Bath, England as its both the nearest city to us and one of the few places people outside of the UK might have heard of..... apart from London (and no, we are nowhere near London!)