Oscar Peterson – Cheek To Cheek (From the album “The Song Is You”) [LOTW #92]
Here is another very tasty Oscar Peterson lick. Again, very diatonic except for the b9 over the F7 chord. It’s his use of rhythm and swing with some nuances that makes all of his lines so great. He loves to use triplets as well. If you notice in the video there is a slight delay […]
Oscar Peterson – C Jam Blues (From the album “Night Train”) [LOTW #91]
Oscar Peterson was my ultimate favorite pianist growing up. He had the most influence on my beginnings. To this day I can’t get over the clarity in his sound, articulation and touch when playing his lines. Everything is is so clean and elegant. Best of all, he just swings and swings and swings till the […]
Benny Green – Celia (From the album “That’s Right”) [LOTW #90]
This one is on the longer side but there are so many good lines in here I had to add it all. Benny Green is so great at organizing his playing so it sounds clean. He takes phrasing to a new level by using motifs and development to flavor his solo. Check out the different […]
Benny Green – Just A Tadd (From the album “That’s Right”) [LOTW #89]
Benny Green is well known for his extremely fast double handed bebop lines. Here is one of them from Just A Tadd. It takes a long time to get your LH as strong as your RH, but Benny has obviously done it, and it sounds awesome! To work on double handed lines like this one, […]
Benny Green – Greens (From the album “Greens”) [LOTW #88]
Here is a very nice blues lick with a lot of varying rhythms. This line can be used in an actual blues of any bluish progression that is moving down in half steps. Enjoy!
Benny Green – Decidedly (From the album “Greens”) [LOTW #87]
Once again, another nice 2536251 progression that fits perfectly. Benny uses approaches very well. Especially approaches that are anticipating another harmony. For example in the first measure after he gets to the F# he jumps back up to an A over the Bb7 chord. If he were using the chord scale this note would be […]
Jazz Piano Lick Of The Day #86 – Benny Green – “Wiggin'” (From the album “That’s Right!”)
As you might begin to see there are similarities that exist in Benny’s Lines. He loves to use the #11 over dominants to approach the 5. For example in measure one he jumps back to the F#, to approach the 5th of C. He also use the #11 in measure 3 to approach the 5th […]
Benny Green – Celia (From the album “That’s Right”) [LOTW #85]
Here is another great line that strings together two 2-5’s back to back. Benny Green’s line seamlessly flow together with ease with his use of approaches, bebop scale passing tones, and motif ideas. There’s a reason he is one of the greats. When approaching this lick outline the chord tones and use approaches and passing […]
Benny Green – Just A Tadd (From the album “That’s Right”) [LOTW #84]
This one kicks off our Benny Green series. I absolutely love Benny’s playing. It is very phrase oriented and it always sounds perfect. His lines fit together like a puzzle. All the harmonies connect so well as if there are no holes. This line here is a great line to finish up a 36251 to […]
Mulgrew Miller – Thinking Out Loud (From the album “Hand In Hand”) [LOTW #83]
This is a great maj#5 line to use to spice up major 7th chords. You can use this line over all major 7th chords and especially to end 2-5-1’s. Mulgrew is just using a major scale but adding a #5 into the mix instead of a natural 5. He then comes down with some other […]
