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I suppose this is a semantics issue. 'Key' repetition is so often used to describe Grand vs. Upright behavior (playing the same note).

So obviously you're not talking about that.

But just an observation: My teacher has a very heavily weighted Yamaha S6. He plays very fast on it. He likes it heavy.

After playing Chopin 10/1 for many months here, it doesn't seem to matter to me either whether the keys are heavy or light. At least I haven't noticed it. (I'm typically playing it at 120 -- which is equivalent to 240bpm in jazz).

I was trying to play 'Ambleside' today, a great tune by John Taylor
Kind of a British giant steps with a sequence that modulates in major thirds and augmented harmony to boot. Fiendishly difficult.
You can see it here if you like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfTFa7H_Eb8

sorry don't understand embedding youtube vids

What a beatiful tune and rendition! My kind of jazz. It really did have a John Taylor kind of feel. I've never heard this before (perhaps my John Taylor collection is rather measley -- limited selection in iTunes before).

Now I observe that when you're playing fast lines your hand pretty much stays put. (That was my question from earlier and it seemed to be answered).

Could you post the changes?

Thanks JW

You can check the JT version here ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekCwS1HW5JM

Approx chords are ....

Abmaj7 | Eb/G | Fsharp m7| B7
Emaj7 | Ebm7 Ab7 | Dbmaj7 | Dm7 G7 |

then repeat starting on Cmaj7
then repeat starting on Emaj7 (but miss out last bar)

Eb7b9sus | Abmaj shrp5 |G7b9sus | Cmaj7 shp5 | B7b9 sus | Emaj7 shp5 |

Tag - Eb7sus 4 bars (but i played 8)

Its a weird number of bars as well

if you pm me i'll send you the chart

Youtube won't display over here (some Country Limitation related to UMG content). Too bad.

I'll see where I can buy the track.

Just looking at the above it's that augmented section that is very unusual.

Beeboss, nice playing on Ambleside. As always, I like your approach. I'm not familiar with John Taylor but I checked out a few things on YouTube... stuff we can see here anyway. I like his style. Any particular disc of his that you would recommend?

Thanks Scott
John Taylor has made many many wonderful albums as leader and also appears on many others by other leaders, notably Kenny Wheeler. I would recommend 'Angel of the presence' as one of his best trio cds. Also, if you dig the ecm chamber jazz vibe then 'Azimuth 85' is outstanding for my tastes.
If you like Kenny Wheeler then 'double doubleyou' and about a dozen others are incredible.

JW, 'Ambleside' appears on some different cds, but probably the one on Peter Erskine's - 'Time being' is one of the best. I am sure that is on itunes

Beeboss, John Taylor's style is similar to my teacher's so I naturally gravitate towards that. Thanks for the specific recommendation. When I was on a lookout for his CD's a couple of years back, there was a limited selection on iTunes.

I may have asked this before but who else do you know plays in this style? I call it 'pianistic jazz' (lots of subtlety in piano).

Jt's style is all his own and nobody else plays like it.
But in the same ballpark you will find Bobo Stenson, Stefano Bollani, maybe Enrico Pieranunzi.

Nice stuff, BB! I'm always impressed by your voicings, melodic lines, and especially your control over your fingers.

I'm in the mood for sharing too. I've been thinking about what Gyro has advised to new jazz improvisers on many, many threads about 'digging in' and just improvising, not letting theory get in the way, etc. On some of those threads I, or others have stepped in and said that it's a bit more difficult than that, especially if you want to sound like you're playing jazz. However, I've always thought that what he says has always held a grain of truth. If one wants to improvise, then just do so.

Well, what follows is me improvising, digging in, and not letting any particular tune guide my playing. This is after playing lots of Wayne Shorter and Billy Strayhorn tunes, and thinking lots about half/whole dim scale stuff.

Hope you take the time to listen:

http://www.box.net/shared/9dcn4jfhsvla7ku5x3j0

Very cool scep! I've always enjoyed playing like this but haven't ever really stuck to it as an approach... not sure why. I guess I'm still preoccupied with being able to play "correctly", whatever that is . But I definitely think what you're doing is interesting to listen to. It's free, but still has stuff to latch on to. Have you listened to Denny Zeitlin? I just picked up one of his solo piano cd's "Precipice" and he plays alot like this. I think of it as "free with direction".

I just remembered I had a couple of "free" recordings that I did on my keyboard awhile back when my piano was in need of tuning. They're kind of messy but thought I'd share anyway.

http://www.box.net/shared/girddzk56qj3r6b0n29q

http://www.box.net/shared/d17gabaoptbk9x57c46l

I always feel like after doing this that the main thing that holds me back is having more vocabulary and better technique.

Sceptical that was excellent. great playing. For a kind of free improvisation it hangs together really well, the bits all lead towards the next bit, which is thing that I always find had about free impo.
I agree with you about the gyro approach as well. Theory is good but only if it aids interesting playing. We gotta dig in and play what we feel and let the theory move to the background otherwise we are just playing music by numbers.

Scott, also great playing there. So many good ideas in those pieces. I especially like the second one, really melodic, sounds, and you are open to going wherever it takes you. It could have gone on longer for me.

Hey thanks, Scott. I haven't yet listened to Denny yet, but thanks for that lead. I'll check him out tonight.

Scott, I really like the second improv alot. Some very cool exploration of chords and the different ways they can fit together. The first one was good too, and reminded me of Monk for the first half or so. I suppose the second one was more interesting in that like Beeboss said it went in some interesting directions, and you capable of going in those directions.

I also agree with your comment about what holds one back in playing improv is technique. I wish I could play all of the things that I think I can play. As it happens (and can be heard on my recordings) my technique gets shaky when I try things that aren't necessarily under my fingers in that I'm also trying to really improvise rather than fall back on fingerings and phrases that I might be comfortable with.

One day...

Thanks Beeboss, your comments are much appreciated!

Scep -- I listened to part of it earlier it sounded SO SO good. But I was interrupted and am still catching up. I'm about to leave for vacation so Scott and Scep, I'll complete the task of listening tomorrow.

Scep - like I said earlier, I thought was really good. Now listening to it a second time, it really is some sophisticated work. I liked that you stayed in a progression long enough for it to sink in. The LH stuff was very interesting. I've never heard you mix up the hands like this before.

There was not a boring moment in there. And I don't know what technical deficiencies you claim to have. In this kind of setting I don't hear any. Swinging too even at the blistering tempos.

It may be free form but it felt structured somehow. I didn't feel like you were going so randomly.

A big kudos to you Gyro Jr!

Delightful stuff here Scott! I like the 1st one best. It felt like it was going somewhere.

I have not tried free playing to the extent that you guys have done. I'll experiment with this too. It sounded like a lot of fun to do.

Great stuff!