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But, what if you're bad at it?
The debate; talk or not, has been around a long time. Is jazz an art form ("the music should speak for itself . . . " "if they (the audience) don't get it, they wont get it") or is it entertainment?
In ye olde days, there was an MC, listen to those old recordings At The Blue Note.

I'm not sure myself, which category I belong to, at some concerts, I don't want to hear the band crack some jokes, or even talk to me, I want to hear them play (like at a classical concert).
However if it's in in a club it's another ballgame. Last week I went to listen to Bobo Stenson's trio (man, what a trio!!) at a jazz club, Bobo was talking between each number, commenting on his compatriots playing, "next tune is based on . . ", etc.

Mix in sixteenths as well, start on the 2 and and play over the barlines.

Lucky you. Bobo is one my favourites.
I remember I saw Miles play at one gig in the 80's and he didn't even bother to face the audience. Luckily I had seats in the choir stalls so I got a great view of him.

As far as "talkies", I have to admit I'm one who's bad at it. And at first, just to try it out, I let the singer talk over our playing, even. But it's just not my style. What I do though is talk to the audience a lot during the break and that's really what allows me to get their input.

So many times, my mic is unused, perhaps until the very end when I announce the last tune and say thanks. I don't announce the names of tune. Sometimes the singer will do it if he/she is involved.

I'm very comfortable with the audience though and I will often wave at people I know and I think we're pretty relaxed. But my leaning is towards the Bill Evans way at the moment.

From what I was taught -- at this tempo, you'd have to swing really hard. Straight playing is not going to work. And then mix in the 16ths so you get a balance of straight vs. hard swing feel. Also very legato at this tempo on the hard swing. 16ths can be detached. I think the tension and release will come from mixing a straight (16ths) vs. hard swing feel. Stick to too much of one or the other and I feel it starts to sound the same. I'm also thinking now of maybe having more accent control at the slow tempos (more variations).

There's the mic for the singer in front of the band, but I guess this was during the solo so the singer stepped aside.

Me sing? LOL. This is why I improvise (to compensate). I lost my voice at puberty and never got it back. I did sing before that.

yea that works, good concrete tip!

What's the 'Charloff pinch' ?

And not mixing the 8th lines with too many retarded triplets. Listening back to recordings they're all over the place.



That's what I think aswell. Not sure how to achieve it. Any ideas for solos to transcribe?

Actually it's Chaloff, from Madame Chaloff.

I think that in general it means the use of finger articulation (finger pull). From this book that I have (Contemporary Piano Technique - by Stephany Tiernan -- which is based on Madame Chaloff's teachings), it starts off with finger articulation before it goes into arm and wrist.

It's just another variation of an articulation that could bring out a different sound. Typically I think of finger pull as something done at piano/pianissimo but here it's a high velocity move.

The problem is that most high end artists will probably play these at triplet sixteenths to full 16ths with phrasing variations of slower notes for short moments so most of us probably can't play that.

So I'd have to think...

I've had a lot of tunes like this lately too and I probably overdo the triplet 16ths too.

The way I was shown it is that you start with say your 2nd finder extended and virtually flat on a key and then, when completely relaxed, you very sharply pull the finger into your palm. If you do it fast enough on a real piano you can get the note to sound twice with the single pull, this is good.
At least so I was told.

JW - of course Chaloff not Charloff

The other point was that you breath out while you do it. Reminds me of martial arts (Hai!). I guess it's supposed to prevent tension. So basically the initial exercises were to do this at high velocity. Stacatto at first and forte. On the video it looked like a very fast flick.

Supposedly this came from the Russian school of technique.

It's interesting because it's something to add to the toolbox.

Everyone's too quiet so here's Solar...comments welcome. It's short.

EDIT- I did a Take 2...some things I tried didn't work out so well but there's mix of approaches.

Solar
http://www.box.net/shared/vy0l7rghqpnxusjiyest

Very nice to have Madame Chaloff brought to my attention. I must admit I have never heard of her before. But I know a good thing when I see one, so I used Google, found some interesting info, and a reference to an old thread on Pianoworld. Reopened the thread, ordered the Tiernan book and DVD, and will soon find out if the trick mentioned here work on my old upright, which is a little slow on repetitions.
Thanks for some really useful info.

Sounding good JW. You are really improving at a fast rate. So much more rhythmically assured than before, and many more ideas in your playing. good work.

nice playing JW. Some quick scales here and there. You're style is developing.

Perhaps I'll post one of Solar sometimes. Probably slower and I still need like a month of work. But I might. It's a great tune!

Nice JW! As the other's are saying; well done, good work!

Well at least you guys came back to life! ...and THANKS!

I thought it was crazy to try those fast lines at this tempo. I wasn't intending to post this so that was good for courage

BTW - faster playing is coming from Chopin 10/1 (thanks Chris!). Fingers are more surefooted and if I can just relax a bit more I could probably maintain it. Although this tempo really pushes my limit here. That was awfully fast for me.

Beeboss, I can hear too many rhythmic problems though. It really irritates me to hear it. Especially when when the legato suffers for a moment. I guess technical problems show up more at higher tempos. At least I'm hearing the problems so that's good.

Knotty - what is my style developing into? You probably know it more as an observer. I'm too close to see.

Jazzwee, good stuff. Things are coming together in there. For my taste, I still hear alot of notes that seem to be getting emphasized that don't feel right... either by being emphasized at the wrong time or by just not being good notes in the first place, except maybe as passing notes. Hard to pinpoint... but something to be aware of maybe? Are you familiar with Jimmy Amadie's Jazz Improv book?
http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Improv-H..._1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318867586&sr=8-1
I often suggest his other book on harmonic foundations, but this one's good too. Gives an in depth look into tension and release. I think your ideas are definitely becoming more structured and directional, I'd just suggest trying to get a little more solid in giving shape to the underlying harmonies by staying closer to chord tones more frequently, or emphasizing them more. Just my opinion of course .

By the way, have you ever thought of just recording solo lines RH with no comping or backing track? This can really help bring to light how well your ideas are in sync with the changes.