Happy Birthday wishes out to America and all of her citizens during this July 4th holiday week!

The clips give a small glimpse into the artistry of “Papa” Jo Jones (drums), Jimmy Slyde (tap), and George Benson (guitar). Their mini-jam session is on a tune titled, “Mr. X”.

Mini jam session on “Mr.X” Listen to or work with an mp3.

* Click the encircled down-arrow to download this mp3 version of the clip to your computer.

Although there’s no piano in the clip, piano students can still interact with it and use it from an educational standpoint by doing any or all of the following challenges:

* Figure out the song form
* Figure out the key in which this tune is being played
* Figure out and write/play the melody
* Figure out and write/play the chord changes
* Write/play your own bass line for the melody/head, or the melody and solos too
* Write/play your own piano part for the melody/head, or the melody and solos too
* Do some transcription work on George Benson’s orchestral-like “hits and punches” only
* Do some transcription work on the solos of any or all three of the participants

That’s all for now. Have a great holiday week! Enjoy!

See you next post.