Mulgrew Miller – I Remember You (From the album “Wingspan”) [LOTW #81]
Mulgrew Miller starts this one of with the Eb7 Bebop scale but quickly defers to some extensions by going to the b13, the note B, jumping to the 3rd, then going #9, b9, Gb then E. In measure 2 he resolves to the fifth of the Abmaj7 chord and plays a diatonic pattern which he […]
Jazz Piano School Ep 41 : Improvising Rhythmic Motifs
By do some solo’s sound boring and some sound awesome? Rhythms. Rhythms in jazz are the feel good mojo that spices up your solo. They are at the heart of our soul. In order to make our solos pop and have the feel good feeling to them we need to add rhythms to our solo that have contrast. If we are playing all eighth notes and quarter notes on downbeats, our solo’s will sound bland and dry. In this episode I give you many different ways to practice your rhythms in order to spice up your solo.
Jazz Piano School Ep 40 : The Altered Scale
When you’re first learning jazz it’s hard to get that jazz sound that gives tensions and sounds like we’re not playing like a baby. It might sound to you like you’re playing is sooo beginnerish still. Well here’s how to change it. By learning the altered scale we will immediately give our playing lots of tension and color by using the extensions in this scale. Enjoy!
Jazz Piano School Ep 39 : The Tritone Substitution
We as jazz musicians have a lot of freedom to change progressions and harmonies in a tune. How exactly do we do it though? In this podcast I’ll teach you a foundational concept that will lead to many more reharm opportunities while soloing, comping, and playing solo piano. Enjoy!
Jazz Piano School Ep 38 : How To Develop Your Solos
As I’ve said before jazz is like speaking a language. We know that person in our life that won’t stop talking. They just talk and talk and talk. It’s never fun to listen to them. The people who take their time and say something meaningful are the ones to listen to. We want to be those people on the piano. It’s extremely easy for us as pianists to play and play and play because we have a percussive instrument. We can just bang away on the piano and not reazlie we’re not leaving space. In this podcast I’ll teach you how to focus your mind so you can develop your solos and say something meaningful.
Jazz Piano Voicings – Think Like A Big Band
By Sam Griffith A few years ago, Wynton Marsalis participated in an documentary on HBO that featured him directing a group of prodigious high-school jazz musicians. Wynton gives tons of great feedback to the musicians, especially to the pianist of the group. In a discussion about comping, Wynton gives several awesome conceptual ideas for the pianist to explore. […]
Mulgrew Miller – If I Should Lose You (From the album “Live At The Kennedy Center, Vol. 1”) [LOTW #80]
Here is a nice solo break Mulgrew Miller uses over a dominant 7th chord. He starts on the #11 and runs down the altered scale until he gets to the second measure. At this point he has a nice skip pattern he uses to get back in to the altered scale at the C natural […]
Mulgrew Miller – If I Were A Bell (From the album “Live At Yoshi’s Vol. 1”) [LOTW #79]
Mulgrew Miller made a huge impact on jazz history. He will be forever remembered. Here is a nice line over a 2-5-1. He uses the same pattern over both the two chord and the five chord. He goes from the b9 to the #9 to the 3rd then back down to the natural 9, b13 […]
Chick Corea – Tones For Joan’s Bones (From the album “Number Two Express”) [LOTW #78]
I love how this line starts. It is such a cool sound over a dominant chord. If you’re thinking in terms of F7, he starts on the natural 13, the note B then moves to the b7 ,#9, 5th then root. Its a nice fourth pattern that can be used in lots of different ways. […]
Chick Corea – Autumn Leaves (From the album “Rendezvous In New York”) [LOTW #77]
Here is a fingering pattern from Chick Corea, used in Autumn Leaves. In this line Chick is repeating a 4321, 4321, fingering pattern and selecting certain notes to match up. I would say this line is more about a texture rather than focusing on specific notes. When you get to the level these pros are […]
