Hi there!

This is Davell Crawford, back with Sonic Junction and today I'm pretty excited about this lesson. It is what you would call a 'lagniappe', down in New Orleans, a little something extra, a little bonus that we tend give to you. I'd like to think that in keeping with my familys tradition, I'm pretty infamous for my lagniappes so here we go, here is one..

This lesson is about setting up the tone of the music.  The groove of your song has alot to do with the tone you set in the beginning. Intros set the tone. They set you up for what's about to happen. You wait with anticipation to hear and experience what's coming after. I learned to play like this in the church, in the African American protestant churches from great musicians, unsung heros that changed my approach to music both in and outside of the church.

One of the most influential musicians in my life was the great Mr. Sammy Berfect. He was a great gospel musician that lead award-winning choirs around the city of New Orleans while playing and clubs around the country traveling and touring with various groups from New Orleans and had the respect of every pianist and Hammond B3 player from Jimmy Smith to riches group homes and Jimmy McGriff to Herbie Hancock and Billy Preston. In church or a club, you wanted Sammy to play for you you wanted him to bring that special at lagniappe to intro your song whether he played the whole song completely down from the top on whether he played a 4 bat intro on top of the song...you wanted him to set the mood with the band so that you, as the vocalist or the lead instrumentalist could come in and do what you need to do.

Here we study the intro with a gospel pianists eye, and pop pianists touch and a bit of a jazz pianists point of view.

Enjoy this...more to come. The key is, once you learn the song make it yours and have fun with it. Until next week, practice, practice, practice!

Davell

 

 

Topics and/or subjects covered in this lesson:
Gospel
B.B. King
Davell Crawford
Please Send Me Someone To Love
Percy Mayfield
Introductions