Piano
This page is a holding place for various piano things.
Playing the Blues.
Here is a Bb Blues backing track from YouTube to make practicing more fun.
Piano Videos
Dylan, its hard to know where to start this short history of jazz piano.
First choice is Oscar Petersen whose piano chops made him a popular performer even among people who didn’t like jazz. His long-time bass player Ray Brown is also one of the most revered bass players in jazz history. I chose this tune because its a basic 12 Bar Blues.
The Second Choice is Horace Silver, a great example of piano in the Soul Jazz tradition. Bobby Timmons, composer of Moanin’, also played in this tradition. This style did not focus on fast technical passages.
Short jazz history nugget: both Horace Silver and Art Blakey recorded with Miles Davis in the early 1950s. They left and each became important band leaders and mentors to the next generation.
Song For My Father is one of Horace Silvers’ most famous composition. The Left Edge jazz group plays this tune often. Follow this link for an 18-minute live version of this tune.
Third Choice: Its time for jazz piano history. Ragtime can be thought of a a pre-jazz music because it existed as written form before recordings, but Ragtime piano techniques became the first jazz piano style called Stride Piano. The left hand is responsible for both bass notes and chords. The “ bass - chord - bass - chord” pattern made the left hand stride back and forth, hence the name Stride Piano.
Art Tatum was the piano monster of of the 1930-50s. Previous important piano players were Jelly Roll Morton, James P. Johnson, and Fats Waller. This is a compilation of recordings the demonstrate the stride technique.
Fourth Choice: Herbie Hancock a pianist with a classical music background, was first associated with the Soul Jazz style and then played with Miles Davis. I chose Cantaloupe Island here because I think the combo should try this next.