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You had a nice version of All of Me. I use to like to play this song myself when I was a young teenager. It's a classic jazz standard that I think is fun to play.
Originally Posted by BillM
RootSeventHird - nicely played. I was disappointed when it ended so suddenly. Your performance deserves a repeat or two.
IosPlayer -- I very much enjoyed your rendition of "Lush Life" -- for me, I thought I heard the influence of Tristano quite distinctly here. I don't know a great deal about Lennie Tristano, but he was in general regarded as a superb teacher of Jazz, and what little I heard of him tells me he was a Jazz practitioner who believed in incorporating many elements of 20th Century Classical compositional techniques into the Jazz language. In that sense, I regard him as a precursor to Keith Jarrett's approach, although Jarrett of course became far better known. Your "Lush Life", as an example, tends to be punctuated with side comments of high intensity -- sharp dynamic contrasts; exploration of ranges both high and low; occasional pungent dissonances; deliberate disturbances of the rhythmic flow at various junctures -- all of which I thought enhanced the experience, and never detracted, at least for me. Very satisfying -- thanks for sharing it!
Riddler -- Well, for me, a straightforward cover of Strayhorn's Standard really works very well indeed -- I can't of another Standard that is so harmonically complex and arises from the language of Jazz so organically. For me, Harold Arlen is only other one I think of who provided many American Popular Standards directly out of Jazz/Blues language. In your hands, the really quite complicated progressions sounded unforced and natural, and that very much to your credit!
jazztpt -- Well, I thought your improv had enough internal structure to keep it focused for the bulk of its 3 minute length -- I was getting a little sense of desperation in the last 20 sec or so, but you ended it with grace and aplomb. And your sense of invention is, as always, fluent, lyrical, rhythmically charged without being overpowering -- wonderful to listen to, in brief.
RootSeventHird -- A very straightforward cover of "Stella by Starlight" -- the bulk of Jazzers just love the chordal progressions of this Standard, and this aspect you underlined very sensitively. Thanks for sharing it!
Tim, That is so kind of you to take the time to give such a thoughtful response. Lennie was all you describe as well as being a colorful fellow. He once got into an altercation with the often argumentative Charles Mingus. Mingus wanted to resort to violence. Lennie agreed, on one condition, that all the lights be turned out. Lennie was blind. It is heartening to hear your positive remarks as recently I have been under fire for my lack of talent and ability. Though pretty confident, it is always welcome to get some reassurance from outside my own skull. Thanks.
Pianist685 Nice version of Smile. I didn't realize the original was like this. It made me listen to the original Charlie Chaplin orchestral version. It is so nice! It seems reminiscent of Victor Young's orchestral style.
jazztpt Island and The Causeway are such nice compositions and very well played. Your music really is an inspiration.
Tim Adrianson Really nice/accomplished playing. I especially liked the Marian McPartland. I use to love listening to her piano jazz radio program. She is probably one of the biggest influences in jazz piano.
Handyman Nice version of I'll be seeing you. It seems to use a rhythm pattern I mostly use. I learned it when I was an early teen and I still use it to this day
Riddler Nice version of Bewitched. I know coming up with convincing intros can be very hard. I think you did a great job! I also play this song.
You did an amazing version of Lush Life. I like playing jazz standards this way myself. At least I try
IosPlayer Extraordinary recordings of Lush Life and my one and only. I especially enjoyed your version Lush Life. Beautiful improvisations and playing. It is very accomplished. I can hear the Lennie Tristano influence. I also like playing these songs, but of course not nearly at the same level.
Beemer Nice playing! I have an uncle who likes playing the same way. He has the largest collection of popular sheet music (Readers Digest and others) that I have ever seen. It can be a lot of fun to just flip through those books and play a few songs.
RootSeven, great rendition of Stella. Makes me wonder why I never played it. These standards offer such great opportunity for expression. How did folks ever create them. A gift of the muse. I could feel the breath in your playing. I yearned for more space, but I wasn't the one playing! Thanks for that. I will PM you,
Your feedback means a lot to me. Appreciate the time you took to listen.
Originally Posted by IosPlayer
RootSeven, great rendition of Stella. Makes me wonder why I never played it. These standards offer such great opportunity for expression. How did folks ever create them. A gift of the muse. I could feel the breath in your playing. I yearned for more space, but I wasn't the one playing! Thanks for that. I will PM you,
I have enjoyed listening to the recent jazz pieces, but this is not a genre I have much experience either listening or playing. However I thought it an opportune time to dive in and get my feet wet. The biggest problem is that I don't know the blues and jazz pieces I have chosen from my book library so the tempo may not be appropriate. I am reluctant to listen to them online as I'm sure that the no doubt good performances would put me off posting. So here they are and I look forward to your comments: (Sorry the recording level on some might be a little too low)
I came up with this today, just playing with minor chord progressions. Goes from Gminor to Cminor, and uses a couple of unknown chords , one is D, Eb snd G, another is F G and B
Beemer – Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans This is the only piece in your second bunch of recordings I know. I am not a Jazz expert, either, but find your contemplative rendition quite appropriate and very good. I think I would play it in the same manner. Maybe I would try to put some more emphasis on the gently swinging accompaniment pattern (eights played as triplets). As far as the tempo of Jazz standards is concerned, there are a lot of examples where artists played up-tempo versions of slow songs and vice versa. As Cole Porter put it: anything goes. I cannot say much about the other pieces since I do not know them. One general thing: you have uploaded wav files which are always quite big (a lot of Megabytes). Mp3 files are much smaller without any considerable loss in quality.
Pianist 685, Thanks for your comment about DYKWIMTMO piece and advice about swing. My last set of uploads were MP3 at 320kB/s but I was not happy with the audio quality. I have invested heavily in top quality gear, e.g two matched pair Neumann KM184 condenser mics and want to get the best recording I can.
I do understand that the normal PianoWorld recitals only accept MP3 for various reason, but the Pianobar gratefully accepts any format provided it can be easily previewed. My understanding is that my WAV files on Box.com can be read by anyone without a Box/com account and that the file can be played by streaming, i.e. without needing to download it.
I tune my own piano, so maybe my ears are too sensitive to the quality loss of MP3 where data is discarded in the interest of smaller file size.
Beemer - Nice selection. Miss New Orleans is generally taken a bit faster, more a slow foxtrot but works at various tempos. Louis Armstrong/Billie Holiday did the first version in 1947. Five pennies is a lullaby so is spot on, it's from the Danny Kaye film of the same name, which was a Hollywood biopic of Jazz Cornetist Red Nichols from 1959. Louis Armstrong was also in the Five Pennies playing hmself. Louis' first appearance is set in the mid 1920s when he was in his mid 20s but in 1959 he was 59 First saw the Five Pennies when I was 9 and loved it , perhaps the first time jazz registered with me.
The song is usually played in B flat, but I like playing it in G. At some point I realized I can use the opening diminished chord as a connector. Since its the same chord in both keys
Originally Posted by jazztpt
RootSeventHird - Stella, nicely played with a cheeky key change for the second time round.
