I thought Johnny Smith would be appropriate for this month’s motivation.  His 1953 LP Moonlight in Vermont gets a lot of play around here.

 Johnny’s playing is so far over my head I rarely attempt to work any of it out, but years back I did work out his chord melody to Moonlight in Vermont. Of all the chops/licks I’ve stolen from my musical heroes, I’ve probably gotten the most mileage out of the seven bars below.

His chord voicing’s are a bit of a stretch at first but after doing them for a while they’ll start to feel natural. So if you want to sound like a jazzer, take the time to work this out, you’ll be glad you did. RIP Mr. Smith