Rob Michael: Guitarist

Rob Michael & Steve Uccello explore the Jazz Classic “Autumn Leaves”

// February 8th, 2010 // Comments // Rob Michael

Often viewed as a “Jazz 101″ kind of tune, Autumn Leaves has to be one of the most commonly played and recorded standards of the idiom. In terms of playing an entire set, this meeting was the first time Steve Uccello and I had played together and that is the perfect time to cherry-pick from the Standards repertoire.

Based on the Cycle of 5th’s, this tune is a remarkable vehicle for improvisation.

Dig it!!

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Excerpt from Live duo show featuring Steve Uccello and I - Pionsenka Dla Stasia (Song For Stasia).

// February 6th, 2010 // Comments // Rob Michael

Though I typically play these shows solo, yesterday, I had the good fortune to have Monterey-based bassist, Steve Uccello come to the studio to join me during my first Ustream concert of the year. Steve and I met via Twitter last year and together organized a wonderful house concert.

It was super cool to play again. Look for more of these excerpts in the coming days.

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Rob Michael and Jason Parker hanging with tomorrow’s Jazzers.

// January 21st, 2010 // Comments // Rob Michael

My friend Jason Parker and I played a fun duo gig this past Friday at Addison Elementary School in Palo Alto. Jason is one of my valued connections that I’ve had the good fortune of making via twitter and his excellent blog. Having had many great online discussions, we decided to meet and play this gig together.

Jason went to school in this neighborhood as a youngster where he was turned-on to jazz and the trumpet by none other than Dizzy Gillespie some 35 years prior.

We, hopefully, brought that experience full-circle by playing some tunes and taking questions from the students. I was super-impressed with the attention that these kids gave to the music and the intelligence they displayed via their questions and observations. Kudos!!

Here is some of the music that we played just 10 minutes after meeting one another.

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Christmas Collaboration on YouTube

// December 24th, 2009 // Comments // Jazz, Rob Michael, twitter, video

This really great Christmas surprise comes courtesy of my friend Rahsheen.

He took the initiative and added some more holiday mojo to my solo guitar version of White Christmas.

Dig it.

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Season’s Greetings from Rob Michael, Solo Jazz Guitar: White Christmas

// December 20th, 2009 // Comments // Atmos, Guitar lesson, Jazz, Rob Michael, video

via youtube.com

My way of giving thanks for all the wonderful support I’ve received this year. I truly appreciate it.

Happy Holidays!

Posted via web from AtmosMusic

Why in the world would I give my music away for FREE?

// December 16th, 2009 // Comments // Atmos Trio, Jazz, Rob Michael, widget

A couple of weeks ago I conducted an experiment with the Atmos Trio bandcamp site.

It was toward the beginning of the holiday season and I was in a giving mood, so I priced all of Atmos Trio’s albums (which include sheet music along with music files.) at a “Pay what You Want (even nothing)” price. I’m accustomed and happy to giving music away for free. I’ve always offered individual song downloads for free and had a low minimum price set for albums. But I offered everything for free to anyone who was interested.

Over the course of the 3 Day Special, many more people than normal downloaded the 2 albums “Atmos Trio” and “Atmos Plays Waters.” They helped spread the word about the opportunity for “Free Atmos Trio tunes”on Twitter and Facebook. It was nice to get such a favorable response from people who seemed genuinely appreciative of the music.

But something else rather interesting occurred as well: More than 50% of those that downloaded opted to pay for the music. Some paid far more than any price I would consider setting. Was this merely the result of a period of actively promoting the music? Maybe. Should I price my music at the ”Pay what You Want (even nothing)” price all the time? Maybe.

Why in the world would I give my music away for FREE? I would much prefer people hear the music and form some opinion on it rather than have it be locked away behind a price tag somewhere.

That’s why.

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