Bill Evans, being asked his influences, once said he learned "structure" from Lennie Tristano. Of course I think I understand structure: there are A parts, B parts, there's Rhythm Changes and the Blues--but this is all elementary. Do you have any idea what Bill Evans might have meant?
Great question, Nomen. You can really hear the Tristano influence on Bill Evans in some of Evans' early recordings such as "Oleo." It think he may have been referring to how one improvised phrase follows another, and how to string phrases together to build a solo. Using motifs and varying them to create interest. So over the underlying structure of the tune, like you said with A and B sections, there's the structure of the improvised solo. Does that make sense?
Great tune, don't think I've heard it on piano like this, there seems to be an avante garde influence in places, I'd be interested to know which "free" pianists you consider an influence?
Interesting observation, James. I think that I've always been able to play Rhythm Changes in a given style, like swing, bebop, etc. But my goal is to express myself on them as well as I can on other tunes, rather than "paint by the numbers." In this direction, I've probably been influenced by Keith Jarrett, Ornette Coleman, and Sonny Rollins. In terms of the way they play with motifs and are freer with their phrasing. Wayne Shorter too, although I don't love the version the of Cottontail he recorded with Herbie. I've also always liked the part of Herbie Hancock's solo piano version of Round Midnight, where he goes "out." It's from the album The Other Side Of Round Midnight. Have you heard that version?
Yes, that album has an all-star group of musicians. I have most (in checking, a lot rather than most :-) ) of Dexter 's albums. It is interesting watching you play as there's a great love of jazz in there from the early stride stuff to the more modern jazz stuff and you mix it up. I was only seeing some free in places in 5:10 - 5:30 on this. In quite a few of the ones you often have some abstract ideas which come out, I was wondering who the main influences were on you in that area that's all. Prebop is a good name. That early 40s period was an important time in jazz, Live at Mintons Charlie Christian I believe was a big influence on the jazz guitar greats that emerged in the 50s.
At 5:10, it's probably the influence of Tatum. Not so much in the choice of notes, as much as how he'll temporarily abandon the underlying accompaniment and sense of beat with those flurries of notes. The notes themselves there are from the diminished scale, kind of outlining the major chord with a parallel melody in each hand. Speaking of Minton's I'd like to listen more tot he recordings that have come out over the years, documenting the birth of bebop there. An amazing time period. It's funny about the whole style issue. I used to want to develop a consistent "modern" approach, like Chick and Herbie have. But my playing naturally included the whole stylistic range of jazz, more like Earl Hines or Jaki Byard among others. Now, I'm embracing this fact because not many players have it in the same way. I was lucky in that I knew and studied with some players who developed their initial style before bebop, like Billy Taylor and another great musician named Hale Smith, who's not as well known. I got the feeling of stride from watching them play and absorbing it, from a few feet away. So I'm trying to pass along some of that in my videos.
Shows you just how ahead of his time Tatum was then! Minton's is smoking, 1940 I believe, you could really feel the bebop thing starting to happen there. It must have been an exciting time for both the musicians and the public in those clubs in the early 40s and really starting to feel bop develop. Dexter was one of the sax players I got heavily into when I got the jazz bug yonks ago, I would listen to him for hours, this was before I even knew a lot of the standards myself or was familiar with most of Herbie's 60s and 70s stuff as a pianist! Yes, I appreciate you sharing these ideas, as well as your knowledge of jazz history, always interests me what you have to say on these tunes too.
Agreed! And I'm sure all that listening to Dexter is still with you, on a deep level. Yeah, Tatum had it all. I think his recording of Aunt Hagar's Blues contains all of jazz history, even through the avant garde.
Just came across this channel today. I'm enjoying Ron's playing and insight.
Hi Joe. Thanks - that means a lot to me!
Bill Evans, being asked his influences, once said he learned "structure" from Lennie Tristano. Of course I think I understand structure: there are A parts, B parts, there's Rhythm Changes and the Blues--but this is all elementary. Do you have any idea what Bill Evans might have meant?
Great question, Nomen. You can really hear the Tristano influence on Bill Evans in some of Evans' early recordings such as "Oleo." It think he may have been referring to how one improvised phrase follows another, and how to string phrases together to build a solo. Using motifs and varying them to create interest. So over the underlying structure of the tune, like you said with A and B sections, there's the structure of the improvised solo. Does that make sense?
Great tune, don't think I've heard it on piano like this, there seems to be an avante garde influence in places, I'd be interested to know which "free" pianists you consider an influence?
Interesting observation, James. I think that I've always been able to play Rhythm Changes in a given style, like swing, bebop, etc. But my goal is to express myself on them as well as I can on other tunes, rather than "paint by the numbers." In this direction, I've probably been influenced by Keith Jarrett, Ornette Coleman, and Sonny Rollins. In terms of the way they play with motifs and are freer with their phrasing. Wayne Shorter too, although I don't love the version the of Cottontail he recorded with Herbie. I've also always liked the part of Herbie Hancock's solo piano version of Round Midnight, where he goes "out." It's from the album The Other Side Of Round Midnight. Have you heard that version?
Yes, that album has an all-star group of musicians. I have most (in checking, a lot rather than most :-) ) of Dexter 's albums. It is interesting watching you play as there's a great love of jazz in there from the early stride stuff to the more modern jazz stuff and you mix it up. I was only seeing some free in places in 5:10 - 5:30 on this. In quite a few of the ones you often have some abstract ideas which come out, I was wondering who the main influences were on you in that area that's all. Prebop is a good name. That early 40s period was an important time in jazz, Live at Mintons Charlie Christian I believe was a big influence on the jazz guitar greats that emerged in the 50s.
At 5:10, it's probably the influence of Tatum. Not so much in the choice of notes, as much as how he'll temporarily abandon the underlying accompaniment and sense of beat with those flurries of notes. The notes themselves there are from the diminished scale, kind of outlining the major chord with a parallel melody in each hand. Speaking of Minton's I'd like to listen more tot he recordings that have come out over the years, documenting the birth of bebop there. An amazing time period. It's funny about the whole style issue. I used to want to develop a consistent "modern" approach, like Chick and Herbie have. But my playing naturally included the whole stylistic range of jazz, more like Earl Hines or Jaki Byard among others. Now, I'm embracing this fact because not many players have it in the same way. I was lucky in that I knew and studied with some players who developed their initial style before bebop, like Billy Taylor and another great musician named Hale Smith, who's not as well known. I got the feeling of stride from watching them play and absorbing it, from a few feet away. So I'm trying to pass along some of that in my videos.
Shows you just how ahead of his time Tatum was then! Minton's is smoking, 1940 I believe, you could really feel the bebop thing starting to happen there. It must have been an exciting time for both the musicians and the public in those clubs in the early 40s and really starting to feel bop develop. Dexter was one of the sax players I got heavily into when I got the jazz bug yonks ago, I would listen to him for hours, this was before I even knew a lot of the standards myself or was familiar with most of Herbie's 60s and 70s stuff as a pianist! Yes, I appreciate you sharing these ideas, as well as your knowledge of jazz history, always interests me what you have to say on these tunes too.
Agreed! And I'm sure all that listening to Dexter is still with you, on a deep level. Yeah, Tatum had it all. I think his recording of Aunt Hagar's Blues contains all of jazz history, even through the avant garde.