Ed On The Web:
I recently set up my new YouTube channel (edsaindonmarimba) for the purpose of posting some solo marimba performances featuring music from various genres. The marimba is a beautiful instrument that has a lot of depth and color from which to draw from and create many moods. While I'm known as primarily a vibist, I have always enjoyed playing the marimba. One thing that I especially like about the marimba versus the vibraphone is the expanded range and various possibilities with the lower range. Through the years on vibraphone, I've worked on developing a pianistic approach to mallet keyboard playing along with techniques that fully utilize the four mallets in solo playing. These techniques are fairly easy to transfer on marimba. In addition, some of the dampening and deadstrokes that are effective for playing the vibraphone are also effective on marimba. Playing piano since I began playing the vibraphone has been helpful when it comes to playing the marimba in terms of dealing with harmony, developing arrangements, orchestrating, use of counterpoint and improvising.
Through the years, I've had the pleasure of teaching quite a few wonderful marimbists at Berklee College of Music. With the marimbist's high level four mallet technique, well-developed musicality and great ears, I've been amazed at how quickly they grasp and apply the concepts. Some of my past students include: Hidemi Murase, Nanae Mimura, Pius Cheung, Eriko Daimo, Setsuno Kutsuno, Chieh Huang, Aya Shinozaki, Momo Ishikawa, Yui Koda, Alex Delgado, Jeremy Barnett,…
Some of the topics covered in the marimba lessons include Four Mallet Techniques, Theory and Harmony, Approaches in Developing Arrangements, Improvisational Concepts, Orchestration/Arranging Concepts (that utilize four mallets). Musical styles address American Folk Songs, Pop (The Beatles), Movie Themes, Jobim Bossas, Piazzolla Tangos, Choros, Latin, Contemporary Jazz (Jarrett, Corea, Metheny) and songs from the Great American Songbook (Gershwin, Porter, Carmichael,...).
Comments from Players:
Gary Burton: Ed, you sound terrific! Excellent, loose swinging melody lines, nice steady groove. And, a perfect example of a solo that develops, that unfolds like a story, instead of just being a collection of familiar phrases. I was captivated immediately and had to listen all the way to see where it was going to go. That's the way to do it.
Joe Locke: I don't know anyone who can do this, quite like this. GB is the 4 mallet man, but Ed is equally adept, using different vocabulary ... his own, plus some wonderful nods to the great pianists. And the thing that knocks me out about Ed is that this is only one aspect of his playing. Check out the YT vid of Green Dolphin St w/ Lieb to get another side.
I seriously think this should be transcribed by someone and then attempted by marimba players. I wonder who would be able to make the notes AND get close to the jazz feeling Ed has here. It'd be great to see some literature out there like this. Fantastic work, Ed!
In a recent interview, Joe raved about marimba player Ed Saindon, calling him “the guru of mallet jazz.” (“You’ve got to search ‘Saindon’ and ‘marimba’ on YouTube,” he enthused. FYI: I followed his advice, and the results are pretty cool.)
David Friedman: Quite beautiful Ed. You make the marimba sing!
Man, Ed, stupendous! I loved every note. It grooved, it swung and you made me tap my feet and my jaw at the same time, which was kind of a drag because I was eating a bowl of Müsli. (only kidding, of course.) How could I have missed this? Excellent!
Pius Cheung: Ed's imagination of music always transpires through his playing and teaching. The way he 'orchestrates' music through the marimba and/or vibes is astounding. He has certainly been an inspiration for me to learn how to use the marimba to it's best advantage, but never forgetting the true goal of artistic expression.
Nanae Mimura: I truly love Ed's marimba solo performances. I wish I could play like him! Ed's marimba playing is so musical and has so much groove. I'm hoping to go back to the US in 2013 and take more private lessons from Ed.
Eriko Daimo: One of the main reasons why I studied in Boston was to study with Ed Saindon. Ed is a very encouraging and heartwarming teacher. I am always inspired by him. I love the way he conceives music with no boundaries or barriers. He loves and plays Bach and Mozart just as well as he plays jazz standards. As a classical musician myself, that is most admirable. To quote Ed, "Music is music. It's all the same 12 notes."
Ed and his wife Pam had invited me and Pius Cheung to his house for Christmas. That was also something very special for me since I had never seen a "Real Christmas". I thought that was only on TV until I visited his house. It was also extremely nice of Pam and Ed to invite me to their house since I was an international student and didn't have a family in U.S.
Stefan Bauer: outstanding and beautiful, the piece, your playing, phrasing, time etc - really!!
Information regarding the scheduling of lessons and payment is available on my website under Music Education/Lessons. Here's the link: Private Lessons
We just created a new YouTube channel featuring clips of me playing solo marimba. I'm planning to record and upload more clips that will feature solo marimba as well as marimba along with percussion and drum set. The clips will cover a variety of styles. Subscribers to my new YouTube channel will receive notification of new uploaded clips. The YouTube channel name is: edsaindonmarimba Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/edsaindonmarimba. All of my vibraphone and marimba videos can also be viewed on my website as well.
Thanks.
Ed
We just uploaded 15 clips from my Boston Sunday brunch gig at 75 Chestnut Street with clarinetist Bill Novick. Gustavo shot and uploaded the footage from his front row table at the restaurant. I played this gig for many years with the great Herb Pomeroy. Playing Sunday brunches through the years with Herb was my Sunday school education. Billy is an inspiration to play with and we always have a blast. The crowd noise might be a little loud at times but we have no problem with it. The customers and people that work at the restaurant are always nice. As I mentioned many times, duo playing is my favorite kind of playing. Here are a list of the tracks that can be viewed from my website (under Videos) or on my YouTube Channel here:
Easy Living, How Insensitive, Everything I Love, It Could Happen To You, Don't Get Around Much Anymore, Stella By Starlight, Bluesette, Moon River, The Days Of Wine And Roses, Pennies From Heaven, Invitation, Triste, Chega De Saudade, Chelsea Bridge, Liebeslied
For anyone that would like to take a private lesson and can't make the trip to Boston, I'm now available for lessons via Skype. Areas covered in the lessons include: technique (fulcrum grip, dampening skills, approaches to sticking, utilization of four mallets), solo playing concepts, improvisational techniques, comping (voicing techniques and concepts), jazz theory, repertoire development, how to practice,...For more information, please go here.
Joe and I played a duo concert at Berklee College of Music in Boston on Tuesday, July 26th. It was a special treat for me to have Joe come to Berklee and play duo vibes with him. Joe's playing, as always, was simply incredible. We had a nice hang (along with Gustavo Agatiello) at the house for a few days prior to the concert.
We had such a receptive and supportive audience. Many of the vibe students and local vibists were in attendance as well as marimbist/Berklee faculty member Nancy Zeltsman. It was a treat to have our good friends Christos Rafalides and Mike Blake there. Christos, Mike and his son Drew drove up from NYC. Vibist Andrew Nittoli came up from Philadelphia.
Here's the set list: Love is a Planchette, Hope, Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams, Blackbird, Snowfall in Central Park, Jitterbug Waltz, Stella By Starlight.
We had hired someone to videotape the concert, but unfortunately they totally dropped the ball. The good news is that Gustavo brought his FlipVideo camera and recorded the concert. I'm very thankful that he did and the music was documented. The entire concert footage is now up on my YouTube channel. We numbered the tracks and left in the talking in order to be able to view the entire concert as we performed it. We hope you enjoy the footage. Joe and I are very pleased about the performance. Ed
Ed's YouTube Channel
