My name is Marc Sabatella, and I welcome you to my web site!
Some of you may know me as a professional jazz musician and educator or through my involvement with music software; some are more familiar with my photography; some with my painting or other visual art; some might even remember me as a former systems programmer or know of me through other interests we share. I am perhaps best known online as the author of A Jazz Improvisation Primer – the freely browsable text that has been read and appreciated by countless musicians around the world since 1992.
I hope you find what you are seeking here, and maybe even discover some things you didn’t realize you were looking for!
Other Scale-Based Voicings
There are other logical ways of constructing voicings; too many to describe individually here. Most approaches are similar in that they they associate a scale with each chord and construct the voicing from notes in that scale. By using a scale approach, you can devise your own patterns for voicings....Read More »
Close Position and Drop Voicings
The simplest voicing for a four note chord is the close position voicing, in which all the notes in the chord are arranged as close together as possible. For example, a C7 chord might be voiced in close position as “C E G Bb”. This is referred to as root...Read More »
Polychord and Upper Structure Voicings
The basis of a polychord voicing is to play two different chords at the same time, such as one in the left hand and one in the right on a piano. The relationship between the two chords determines the quality of the resultant chord. These are always two handed voicings...Read More »
Quartal Voicings
A style of voicing made popular by McCoy Tyner is based on the interval of the fourth. This type of voicing is used most often in modal music. To construct a quartal voicing, simply take any note in the scale associated with the chord, and add the note a fourth...Read More »
3/7 Voicings
It is somewhat of a shame that the most common type of voicing used by most pianists since the 1950′s has no well established name. I have seen these type of voicings called Category A and Category B voicings, Bill Evans voicings, or simply left hand voicings. Because they are...Read More »
Kevin Lee & Andy Sydow @ Dazzle
Kevin Lee & Andy Sydow
Corbus Plays Zappa
Corbus Plays Zappa
Lair o' the Bear
I have painted at Lair o’ the Bear many times and I never get tired of it – this is one of my favorite locations near Denver. This is my first iPad painting at this location. It was a challenge, because the sun was bright and...Read More »