Bassist Phil Palombi

Scott LaFaro Clinic Files

For those of you who have read my article about Scott LaFaro in the fall 2005 issue of Double Bassist Magazine, here are the downloadable MIDI files I spoke of. I would like to thank my wife, pianist Sarah Jane Cion for her great playing!

This folder contains 6 piano MIDI files to practice over in the manner that I talked about in my article. You may need to adjust the loop length and/or quantizing depending on what MIDI program you import to. Also, to make things a little easier, Sarah played everything in a generic latin groove.

There are 5 different tonal areas, which are looped in 8 bar phrases. Since they are MIDI files, you can move them to any key you want, as well as combine them into chord progressions.

MIDI Piano Files

(12 kb)

Here are a few great GarageBand files. Originally, Sarah was going to accompany me during my LaFaro presentation at the 2005 International Society of Bassists convention, but that plan fell through. Instead, I had the idea of having her create a few GarageBand files that I could play along with. Unfortunately, GarageBand doesn't let you export MIDI files- sorry Windows users. If that ever changes, I'll be sure to post these clips as MIDI files as well. The file names are pretty self explanatory, but here's some more info: 1) My Man's Gone Now - changes: The complete chord progression to the song My Man's Gone now. 2) My Man's Gone Now vamp on B: A vamp over a B altered chord, voiced as Bill Evans 3) My Man's Gone Now vamp on E to B: A vamp over E min7 to the B altered chord. 4) Waltz for Debby- 3-6-2-5 alt: A vamp over III7 VI7 II7 V7 5) Waltz for Debby- 3-6-2-5 regular: A vamp over iii vi ii V7 6) Waltz for Debby- changes: The complete chord progression to the song Waltz for Debby.
GarageBand Files (240kb)
Photos of Phil's Bass
Apparently, the photo of my bass that I've incorporated into my website design has peaked a few luthiers' interest. As per request, here's a few more photos and a little information. The bass was made by J.B. Allen in Springfield M.A. in 1842. If you're wondering why it resembles a Prescott, it's because Allen was an Apprentice of Prescott. The upper bout is 21 inches across, and the lower is 29 inches across, which is why I had trouble getting the whole bass into one shot. The vibrating string length was 44 inches in these pictures, but I recently (Oct/1/05) had David Gage put a new neck on it which reduced the string length to 42 inches. That's David and me in the lowest row, middle photo (back when I wore my hair a little longer) circa 2003.

Scott LaFaro Clinic Files

Photos of Phil's Bass

Photos