Welcome to the Piano World Piano Forums Over 3 million posts about pianos, digital pianos, and all types of keyboard instruments. Over 100,000 members from around the world.
Join the World's Largest Community of Piano Lovers
(it's free)
It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!
Hey, I was practicing Keith Jarrett's Paint My Heart Red. Found a transcription of it from his Carnegie Hall solo.
The key is in D, but clearly the melody and harmony is A major based. How would you guys analyze the chord progression? He uses dominants E7 and B7, and A sus is the "root".
It's almost like using an A mixolydian mode. He then modulates abit where he uses a G#, like in the F# minor 9th chords.
When I play a song, I always try to have a root base thinking to relate the chords. This isn't typical 2-5-1.
Actually it's similar to his song So Tender. beeboss I think you sent me a lead sheet of that once. some unusual dom7th in there if I recall.
the left hand's a pain, he does all these big octave jumps and then fills in the chords. I got small hands and don't play over octaves. so I ain't playing that note for note.
Hey, I was practicing Keith Jarrett's Paint My Heart Red. Found a transcription of it from his Carnegie Hall solo.
The key is in D, but clearly the melody and harmony is A major based. How would you guys analyze the chord progression? He uses dominants E7 and B7, and A sus is the "root".
It's almost like using an A mixolydian mode. He then modulates abit where he uses a G#, like in the F# minor 9th chords.
When I play a song, I always try to have a root base thinking to relate the chords. This isn't typical 2-5-1.
It sounds like the A is a dominant pedal to me. Maybe a bit more B minor than D major, but as you rightly say it does not follow an obvious 2 5 1 kind of thing so it is hard to be sure what he was thinking.
Did you look at it though? You don't have to like it but you could critique what he's doing.
I had a listen but turned it off. like i said if I don't enjoy the music i won't bother. the funny thing is I read a quote from some jazz musician who said all the piano students at berklee etc. sound like him and want to copy his style.
he's the "it" thing, I just never dug it. Same with Hiromi or Eldar. they got chops and virtuoso technique but the music lacks a deepness to it.
I like the European players much better. Here's a German lady you probably never heard of, on ECM:
I can hear Bradisms in a lot of the younger players. He is pretty influential already. I like him a lot more than I used to and would certainly put him a whole different class that Hiromi and Eldar, but I do get what you mean. I saw him play about a month ago and it was pretty dull actually, even if that wasn't really his fault. I like that Julia Hulsmann, very nice.
Did you look at it though? You don't have to like it but you could critique what he's doing.
I had a listen but turned it off. like i said if I don't enjoy the music i won't bother. the funny thing is I read a quote from some jazz musician who said all the piano students at berklee etc. sound like him and want to copy his style.
he's the "it" thing, I just never dug it. Same with Hiromi or Eldar. they got chops and virtuoso technique but the music lacks a deepness to it.
I like the European players much better. Here's a German lady you probably never heard of, on ECM:
And she sounds like other fine European players to my ear: Marcin Wasilewski, and Bobo Stenson come to mind. I guess it's pretty hard to avoid the influences of those around you, especially if you're trying to learn a genre.
So Redux, who influences you?
Recordings of my recent solo piano and piano/keyboard trio jazz standards.
Well if any of you do watch it, it's an incredible level of Bach-like sounding improvisation with two hands. I've watched him do two handed improvs before but this is is superfast. I'm just amazed at the thought process that allows this ambidextrous type of creativity.
It's hard enough to solo at that tempo with one hand for a top level player.
Cool ATTYA by Brad Mehldau! I don't even know what's going on there but I like it. . For me, Brad ranks as one of my favorites along with KJ and Bill Evans. The thing with Mehldau, I think, is that he's really pushing the boundaries of what is accepted as jazz, which for some makes him seem too "out there". I don't know if I would even really call him a jazz musician at times... more of just a brilliant improviser. But I really think his influence is going to be huge. I guess we'll see in a couple of decades how widespread his reach becomes. In particular, I'm really impressed with his ability to bring a level of sophistication to music that in it's original presentation is very basic or even boring. Stuff that most jazz musicians wouldn't even touch... like this for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_tbVd2qm9E
Others have complained that Brad is the wrong influence to younger jazz players because to them, he doesn't demonstrate the afro history of jazz. Supposedly he's the white version of jazz.
Now since I've studied a lot of Brad, I think this assessement is wrong, like him or not. I've heard Brad play bebop style (his version of Solar is pretty much Bebop influenced). When he plays solo piano, there's stride. His swing and syncopation seem unusual and I've since discovered that it sounds like his teacher Fred Hersch. If you watch some of the interviews of him, he's steeped in Charlie Parker, Coltrane, etc. and can play a lot of their lines. He just added all other music to the list.
Because he's taken jazz to new levels with ambidexterity, odd meters, non-swing, pop/rock covers, it's non-traditional. Is every Jazz artist supposed to be limited to playing some newer version of ATTYA? Well, apparently he does that too but he steps beyond.
My only problem is that what he plays is so virtuoistic that it's impossible to copy. So all I can do is observe.
I suppose he's not one to learn the basics of jazz from since it's too far from the original form but I think it's refreshing to see where one can take jazz into. Maybe it will lead players to experiment.
Beeboss, you experiment a lot too in non-traditional directions. So you've got that spirit in you.
I remember that video of him playing duet with Kenny Barron. Their styles are so different it actually clashed. Mehldau's playing is too stark and jagged compared to the more expected soulful style of Kenny Barron.
One thing though, I think because of the pop covers and non-swing, Mehldau is probably bringing in new fans to jazz. At the last concert I saw of him, he filled Disney Hall to capacity. Shocked me that there were that many Mehldau fans in Los Angeles. He's competing at the highest level now since he can draw crowds as large as KJ or Herbie.
Others have complained that Brad is the wrong influence to younger jazz players because to them, he doesn't demonstrate the afro history of jazz. Supposedly he's the white version of jazz.
Now since I've studied a lot of Brad, I think this assessement is wrong, like him or not. I've heard Brad play bebop style (his version of Solar is pretty much Bebop influenced). When he plays solo piano, there's stride. His swing and syncopation seem unusual and I've since discovered that it sounds like his teacher Fred Hersch. If you watch some of the interviews of him, he's steeped in Charlie Parker, Coltrane, etc. and can play a lot of their lines. He just added all other music to the list.
Because he's taken jazz to new levels with ambidexterity, odd meters, non-swing, pop/rock covers, it's non-traditional. Is every Jazz artist supposed to be limited to playing some newer version of ATTYA? Well, apparently he does that too but he steps beyond.
My only problem is that what he plays is so virtuoistic that it's impossible to copy. So all I can do is observe.
I suppose he's not one to learn the basics of jazz from since it's too far from the original form but I think it's refreshing to see where one can take jazz into. Maybe it will lead players to experiment.
>> That youtube channel has loads of great stuff to check out as well. Should keep me busy. I agree. Good find.
>>I think us Europeans have less cultural baggage with the whole idea of what jazz is or is not. We have some different traditions over here. Europe doesn't have the whole segregation baggage. It's not until I came here (in the US) that I realized the profound effect it had on the american culture.
. For me, Brad ranks as one of my favorites along with KJ and Bill Evans. The thing with Mehldau, I think, is that he's really pushing the boundaries of what is accepted as jazz, which for some makes him seem too "out there". I don't know if I would even really call him a jazz musician at times... more of just a brilliant improviser. But I really think his influence is going to be huge. I guess we'll see in a couple of decades how widespread his reach becomes. In particular, I'm really impressed with his ability to bring a level of sophistication to music that in it's original presentation is very basic or even boring. Stuff that most jazz musicians wouldn't even touch... like this for example:
