Anyone into Jazz of any style or type?

I enjoy bop ('45's-'50's). Theloneous Monk is one of my favorites. He could make a phenomenal solo with just a few off time/color hits - quite insightful. There are tons of others that I like, but just thought I'd start the ball rolling.

I like ballads and some swing tunes. Acid Jazz is also nice, as well as latin stuff. I used to play in a Jazz Band and I had some good times there. Classics like stuff by the Duke and Count Basie never gets old.

I agree about Duke & Basie. The first swing I was introduced to hearing was Benny Goodman.

The only time i hear jazz is in a store or an elevator or when i'm skimming thorugh the radio and find a good song on. Good stuff.

You're a real aficionado, then...

Benny Goodman is some darn good swing. Pity I can't find very many mp3s of his recordings though, and I'm too cheap to buy a CD from the local music store.

What other Jazz artists does everyone listen to? I've been listening to a lot of Jazz again as of late and I would like to expand my horizons.

Dave Brubeck is great. He's the first to use non-standard time measurments in Jazz regularly. Also he's part of the Cool Jazz movement, so it's more accessible to most people.

I like older jazz I'm really not into the newer jazz they play on easy listening stations. I like Billie Holiday and Charlie Parker among others. I'm not a huge fan of the genre but I do enjoy the older stuff.

When I was in college, my roomate had a tape from George Benson. I don't know what song it was, but the organ player sucked. We both thought that he must have been a friend of the family who pressured George into letting him do a solo on one track

I'll bet you this here state alchemist watch that him being family is exactly what happened.

Billie Holiday is cool. Though I think I might prefer Ella Fitzgerald. Oldies are goodies. The new things aren't too bad, but I still prefer the sound that Jazz had back then.


Horrible solos really can ruin a good song. I'm curious to hear what that organ solo sounds like.

I dug up a recording of my high school Jazz band. I played a piano solo in it, so I thought maybe I could share. See if I sound anything like the organ solo. The song is "Riverscape", composed by Fred Strum. Some notes may sound a little harsh, but I was told to play louder.

[attachment removed to make room]

Whee, lovely music! *still hyper* I liked your piano solo, Quistis-sama! I..possess no instrumental talent...so all I can do is screech piercing notes...|||

(Actually, I dropped by and listened before you sent me the PM, but I forgot to comment...;;;)

That was a much better solo than the organist

Soloing like that is tough because you have to worry a lot about phrasing to keep it interesting as well as what notes your playing. If you're not careful, you get too conscious about what you're playing and then you're just hitting everything wrong.

I liked your solo. It seemed like you had a few resolution issues here and there, but it worked out because resolution can be more loose in jazz. I was just waiting for you to start ripping up some 7th arpeggios Then again, this is a slower song. I have a tendency to play fast and intense regardless of pace of a song

::Edit:: If I get the guts, I'll try to record a short snippet I wrote years ago and only remember half of it now.

Oh, thank goodness.


Yes, you are right. I find that if I concentrate too much on what notes I can/should play, I always have a bigger chance of playing a wrong one. If I don't think about it and just let my fingers fly to wherever they want to go, the result is much better.


I was a little nervous during the recording so I forgot about resolving. I'd play arpeggios but my band director always taught us that less is more, and repeating the same note over again in a creative manner can sound better than complicated solos.


I want to hear arche on the piano.

I'd like to hear arche-sensei as well.

Yeah me too, bust out that sheetmusic and tape recorder Arche.


Ohh very nice Quistis. So very talented on the piano you are.

I bet arche doesn't even need sheet music.


Ahh, thank you. I'm not all too good on improvised solos though. I do better when there is a written guide to follow, and I change it up a little bit.

Personally, I quite like it. It sounds like lounge music at some point. It gets better as it goes on, and I like the chords you use, especially in the 1:07-1:15 and 3:15-3:25 segments.


Pretty good job for not looking at your keys. You do some pretty fast finger work. I want a husband who can play stuff like this one day, and I'll force ask him to play night and day every once in a while.


Peer pressure, eh? It did not suck. How did you record it though?

Arche-sensei, I liked it. Then again, I have like no musical talent, so I can't critique it on anything. But it was fun to listen to, the entire 4+ minutes...

Thank you. Yes it's loungy . I did keep with a general rhythm scheme, but varied a lot overall. I love using chromatics and altering chord qualities. I've become comfortable memorizing the intervals with my hands so I can hit No 3 7ths and alter from there.

My teacher stressed velocity when I was starting out, so I can rip up and down very fast. I actually didn't go as fast as I can in this piece because my fingers are tight. One of my favorite things to do is play is a half diminished scale with the half diminished chord underneath it. It has a nice sound and then resolves well into a 7th of the same chord (i.e. C half Dim to C7)

I have a full sized keyboard, which is basically an electric piano. I put a disk in it and then hit record while playing. I had to finagle getting it converted over to a midi file, but fortunately I could.

As you can tell, I enjoy riding the pedal I guess I like the dissonance created with sustaining notes and the resolution when the sustain is ended. It's used too much, but hey, I can't break the habit yet

Wow, that's quite good. I don't know why, but I have trouble with chord transitions. I never really use both hands when soloing, so I get so confused when I try to add the other hand with the chords.


Ahh, I see. You can go faster? May we hear? I like half diminished and seventh chords as well, though I'm more likely to use the latter.


Very nice equipment you got there. One day I'll have to move my piano into my room or something so I can record a thing or two.


I like riding the pedal, too. I was allowed to do that all the time in Jazz band and got used to it as well, so I am always reprimanded for my bad pedal work during my piano lessons (unfortunately, my piano teacher only does classical).

Don't break the habit if you continue playing Jazz. It could be a nice habit to have.

When I'm doing more structured stuff, I find it hard to do both hands also mostly because of rhythm issues. I'm not very good doing anything meaningful with my left hand except block chords or octaves.

I'll have to actually practice for a bit to get my velocity up more. I can go much faster more consistantly when I regularly practice my Hannon excercises and scales. It would probably take me a month of regular practice to get my velocity up to 3/4ths what it was when I was in high school.

Or get a very long chord for a mic

My teacher was a professional jazz musician in RI. Guitar was his primary instrument, but he was still phenomenal with his worst instrument, the piano. He liked classical piano and guitar as well as jazz. His son told me that when he practiced in his living room while his son had on music videos, his father would copy the guitar solos without ever hearing them before. He was very good at understanding what others would play.

That's where I fail. I'm not as good at hearing others play and mixing in with them. I have a tendancy to be very loose and willing to make tons of mistakes. I find the mistakes to be part of the value at times especially when playing a jazzy style. I just wish I could get into all the standards but I just don't take the time to practice all the chords in all keys with all qualities to be perfect with any key at any time

But at least you use that left hand for more than single bass notes.


You must have been quite the virtuoso, eh? I haven't done my Hanon in a while. I generally don't like them very much. But if it helps, I have no choice.


Hmm, that, too. Well, I'll look around. The only recordings I can make until then are on the flute or my voice. If I sing a song, will arche also sing a song?


Ahh, those people seem like prodigies most of the time. Very good ear, and probably has perfect pitch.


Like Art Tatum once said, "There is no such thing as a wrong note." But I have a tendency to not want to "mess up", so I follow the Count Basie motto of "if you find a note tonight that sounds good, play the same damn note every night."

Well, I sacrificed repetoire for technique when I was studying piano. That basically meant that I didn't do as much actual classical pieces. But when I'm loose, I can fake things much better and I don't worry as much about what notes I hit. When I'm not loose, I get uptight about what I'm hitting and I can't get myself out of trouble as easily. I'm not a naturally talented person like most people I know who play instruments.


Not on your life! You'll never hear me sing .

A greate vocal jazz is Lambert, Hendrix and Ross. I highly recomend them. They're from the Bop era and is just awesome.

Ahh, that's quite good. I am a contrary case: my technique isn't all that good. I'm sure that comes in rather handy, the faking things bit.


. . . what about your daughter? I demand more recordings from your end of things. This is a Jazz thread, and although discussion is always good, I think Jazz needs to be played and heard.


I've heard Hendrix before and I quite like it. Haven't heard the other two though, but I'll see if I can download anything. I've been madly downloading some Django Reinhardt these days.


ADDITIONAL POST:

I found a microphone extension cord today, so I was able to make a short recording. My technique probably sucks badly, but . . . yeah. This is the FFVIII Piano Collections arrangement of the song "Shuffle & Boogie". Have fun listening, and please critique if you can. Maybe I could do some recordings for the Classical thread, too.

[attachment removed to make room]

I'm slow but I get there. That was good Arche!

EKE is right it does sound like music I would hear in a lounge but that's not a bad thing.

Again Quistis, very nice.

Thanks.

Quis, I'll listen to yours a bit later. I've got some music playing now and don't feel like changing it (nothing bumps New Order on my computer ).

:edit:

I listened to the piece Quis . That must be fun to play. It's got a lot of freedom areas to branch out to play on some hackneyed minor pentatonics as I would probably do

I recently saved one of my fake book sessions. I guess I'll put it up here when I get the file exported.


:edit2:

Here's the piece. It's Unforgetable played very loosely. For some reason I made a lot of pauses, which I'm not sure why. Either I felt at the time it was what I wanted to do or I was fishing The harmonic structure is pretty loose also as I didn't like the fake book's chord presentation. I didn't prep this, so it's fairly raw, but I have very little tolerance to polish anything anyway (hence why I don't play with other people - I have no interest in making what I play sound perfect).

Yes, it is quite fun. Would you like the sheet music to it? I bet you can do a much better job of it than I can.


I thought the pauses was you exercising your artistic license.


I really like it, it's quite calming and beautiful. This shall go on my playlist as well. Nice work, sir arche.

I'd love the sheet music for it.

Ah, yes, that's it...artistic license

I'm honored

I played in the Jazz Band back in High school. We did a recording last year of our "Best of 2006" It was pretty cool. Although I wasn't the best soloist, I soloed all the time. Guess thats what happens where you're the lead tenor. Oh, well.... I still think that Jazz is the greatest music on the planet!

I love jazz! I love playing it and listening to it. I'm not really fond of the newer jazz, or smooth jazz, though. It's the older 1920s to 1950s jazz that I like.

jazz is the best fourm of music ever invented every aspect of my life has somthing to do with it. the only podcasts i have are of jazz and i play the alto sax.