Carmen, I, too, took about 30 years off from playing, but not to damage my joints with hockey! (although skiing is mostly what I do here in the mountains). Doing similar stuff (big band, community band, funk band, wedding band, etc. – forcing me to double, triple, and even quadruple). I used to see Richie Cole back in the day; man is he…

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I fully understand your query on diminished chords. My experience has been that once I understood that the diminished chord is the upper structure of a dominant 7th b9 (from the 3rd), the sound and technical aspect fell into place much faster. Thank you Barry Harris!

Being in a wedding band means you’re always on your toes with regards to reading, especially with funk rhythms. I recommend Mike Longo’s book on Reading Syncopated Rhythms in jazz.

Not too dissimilar to my own journey; now 65 and playing in a wind ensemble, big band, and wedding/funk band. Haven’t climbed the Michael Brecker mountain completely, but can play some of the stuff. It’s a long haul (been back at it actively for 10 years now), but there is loads of good web-based instruction now that didn’t exist back in the day.

Working on starting lines on as many different notes (relative to the chord) as possible. Also working on some arpeggio (chord) superimpositions – mostly the dominant 7 built on the second degree above the root (i.e. using the #4 for a lydian dominant sound). Working on stabilizing my 2nd octave G & G# (cracking for some insane reason), and,…

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