Nice story Glen! Modern tunes with non-functional harmony is certainly a challenge. No doubt that standard bebop tunes are much simpler. But when we challenge ourselves as we do here then nothing will seem hard anymore.

I have a teacher that feeds me only difficult tunes. Less of the uncomplicated ii-V-I standards in my list. If it doesn't modulate, I will probably not get to work on it. Not that those are unimportant but I guess his idea is that if we can work on challenging changes, we can handle bridging lines across any set of changes, simple or otherwise. He gets on my case at the beginning if I can't "play the changes" (vertical playing). That's like a bare minimum.

Tunisia is a great tune BTW. I haven't worked on it but I love listening to it.

I can't do Giant Steps fast (yet) and mostly it's because it's not something I work on much. I was actually planning on getting back to it. Most of Giant Steps isn't hard. There's just a couple of very short V-I's that are really hard to handle melodically. If I just practice ideas for those two (Bb7 - EbMaj7)(F#7 - BMaj7) then it's doable and a lot of it is just pattern memorization. Those two changes come out of nowhere and are such a quick jump in context

When I have nothing better to do, my teacher has students doing Giant Steps in every key!

Frankly, other than the tempo, Nefertiti may be more challenging. Fortunately we don't play Nefertiti at some impossible tempo.

I put up a video of Nefertiti on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hacRzlp9ZR4

I was going to post this to the beginners forum, since it is more of an example of practicing playing with a metronome, but I couldn't find the thread..must be overlooking it.

I've decided that Nefertiti was not meant to be played solo piano :-) Tough song to do anything with!!

7note, very nice! Loved that. I think I arrived at the same conclusion too. I've been trying this every which way the last week, and I was failing as well in coming up with a solo piano approach. I thought I was going bonkers

I like how you played it. Not too busy. Sticking to eighth notes actually made a strong pulse and made it really swingy.

I'm going to try your approach in my next practice.

I would rank this pretty high among the difficult tunes I've ever tried to play.



I think this is a better location since we're talking about Nefertiti (which is not a beginner tune) and this thread will be read by the same folks.

Yea, my default is, if you can't do much to dazzle with the harmony or melody, at least make it swing-- and subtract a lot. It's better to insert silence than a bad idea :-)

I got a couple of piano versions of this on ITunes (trios though, no solo piano). Michel Camilo's version is in 6/8 and so it lengthened the available time in each chord. That's one idea.

Uri Caine's version was to make this a modern and very fast bob tune.

Quite a limited selection of piano solos to listen to...

As in none that I know of :-)

LOL, 7 -- you suggested this tune! But what the heck. I enjoyed the challenge.

Thanks a lot 7, I like your rendition and your metronome technique was really helpful !
Do you let it click on the upbeat (the AND) of 123 and 4 for slower tunes to achieve greater control, so as to increase the number of clicks against which to check yourself ?

btw I think I'm going to get the Zoom Q3 so that I can hear what I sound like.

C-apple,
yes, if the tempo is really slow, you can take a coffee break between the two and the four, so you have to go to every beat below a certain tempo, and clicking on the upbeat works better for swing.

JW, Yea, I suggested it. I still think it's a good learning tune for modern.

Tom

7Note,
Very, very nice rendition of Nefertiti. No matter what I tried, I could not get a bearing on it.

Here is another version of GBPPH from the other night:
http://www.box.net/shared/btiko8zsx5

Then, in contrast - a bit of folk piano from the same session:
http://www.box.net/shared/z5ruu1ovol

Then this happened:
http://www.box.net/shared/jmo2eukcth

Thanks for your ears

Glen

Thanks 7. Please continue to post whatever kool stuff you're working on.

Glen, nice GBPPH. It sounds like you took most of the blue notes out and made it more modal than the original changes. I like that approach.

7note (Tom), I was impressed how quickly you owned this tune. After listening to it several times, I can see you've really heard this tune melodically.

An update on my end on this tune. I've been a little busy so it's hit and miss on practice time. I'm finally getting practice time now. The difficulty in this tune is hearing it in my ears melodically. Sure, I can run through the "scales" so to speak and I know it sounds repetitive and boring. I've been playing it at a faster tempo (around 150bpm).

Today, I just did it slowly and just listened and really focused on chord tones on downbeats so I can really grasp this difficult harmonic progression and also connecting those chord tones to the original melody. It's starting to sound better now. I'm just going to just repeat this process for a few days until it sinks in harmonically/melodically like it did for Tom. Like I said before, this is one of the more difficult tunes in that it is hard to hear the changes. Not really too unlike parts of Giant Steps where the progressions seem unconnected.

One of the difficult parts for me melodically is the last few chords where there's no melody in the original version. So there's nothing to go on other than the changes.

Quite a challenge!

Glen, GBPPH sounded great! I haven't abandoned GBPPH. I'm just not finding the free time. So I'm sure I'll be posting a recording of this too.

You had very nice voicings there BTW. The effect was in the spirit of the original. And your piano sounds awesome. I do all my recordings from a digital and I'm sure I'm losing out. But no choice as I will never get any quiet time (kids :))

Thanks 7Note and Jazzwee!

...took your suggestions to heart about changes in time (still a work-in-progress) and to bring out more of a modal sound...

Dave Holland plays it so very well, but I haven't played a bass for a long, long time!

Glen

7,

I'm curious...you played an f# in the melody rather than a g (6th to 7th bar over the Bb#11) Did you hear a version with that note in there? Or did you just like it better that way?

I'm still continuing to work on the piece, now with a metronome on backbeat (thanks 7 for that idea, btw), and am now finding some very cool harmonic transition ideas that help make more cohesive solo lines.

I've also found that superimposing the same melody a 2nd 4th or 5th up on the same chords with some slight mods can give one some very interesting melodic ideas. If for nothing else it can also provide one with a different way of looking at the harmony, and how it really was intended as probably a 'vibe' rather than a progression.

Is anyone else still interested in posting their ideas? So far it's just been me and 7.

I'm thinking of doing some other N tunes soon, if anyone wants to join me. Naima, Nardis are two that may appeal...?

Skepguy, N tunes..haha! That's a coherent theme, I guess.
I'm out of town and just have my laptop and a foggy memory to rely on. No keyboard.
Ab Db Gm7-5 C7 Bmaj7 Bmaj7+5 Bbm7-5 Eb7+11 Emaj7 etc.
Those are the first nine measures I used (I think)
If it was measure six, I bent the melody to fit the chord, which is not really proper, but I do it anyway. That's my best guess of the measure you mentioned.
I really like the structure the metronome imposes. I think it makes for better lines.

[OT] Not Nerf or GBPPH.
But . . . I just had to share this with you - solo playing discussions et al.

Marvellous solo version of Butch & Butch by Keith Jarrett
[/OT]

Very Nice Chris!

Sad Story -- Monday was Keith Jarrett's concert in L.A. I had and expensive Orchestra ticket, not too far back. I've been talking about it for weeks. I bought the ticket in November.



Monday came...and I forgot...By the time I remembered, it was already Tuesday.

JW, Ouch!

That is so sad.

Anyway I had a bash at Nefertiti, that is one tricky tune. Its a bit of a first take job so there is quite a lot of room for improvement, especially on the changes!

http://www.divshare.com/download/10810750-7f2

And something quite different, a blues. I was trying to not play the changes on this one which is actually harder somehow,

http://www.divshare.com/download/10810896-33a

That is really, really sad!

But hey, maybe you could phone up Keith, explain the situation, and ask if you could go to his house and hear him noodle around for awhile. I'm sure he'll be accommodating.

A few comments: Very cool arrangement. I love some of your voicings, and really love some of the solo ideas too.

This is great to hear different people's interpretations of how to tackle this piece.

Anyone try the idea of transposing the melody up and keeping the melody the same yet?

And beeboss, what type of recording device and piano are you using? Great, great sound just on my computer speakers!

I haven't listened yet -- but I just wanted to say that I'm glad everyone is back from various vacations. Although I wasn't on vacation, I was way too busy, and that caused me to forget the Concert(:( ).

If any of you know Keith personally, then perhaps you can ask if he can spare me a ticket...(he already got my money). The sad part is that I'll have to fly somewhere to see him in the near future.

I'm really making headway on Nef but just have to make sure I'm not missing the form. I'm really enjoying practicing this. However, it is frustrating because I'm not that good at slow swing. If you don't play this thing slow, each tonality only lasts a bar so it is like playing Giant Steps...

You really challenged us Tom!

Beeboss, that sounded great! I loved that. It's a true solo piano style and gives some great ideas (and the first solo piano style I've ever heard on this tune). You made it sound so full. By the way your recording sounds like a concert hall. New piano right? (What is your piano?)

And those Chick/Hancock strumming of the strings was really neat. Gave me a smile.

I've wanted to play this more like solo piano rather than swing (because I will likely play this alone most of the time), and I couldn't easily figure out how. Now you were quite creative here so I'm not sure I can copy your LH moves. But what I heard was that you just gave a hint of a beat while letting it flow.

You guys are way too advanced so I can't quite do this as fast.

.

Thanks guys for all your kind comments.

As there seems to be interest in my setup I will just describe it briefly for you.
I have just got a new grand, a 30 yr old yamaha C5. It is wonderful, especially in comparison with the other crap pianos i have owned.3 pedals as well which i am loving.

For recording i have a motu ultralight interface and i record onto an imac in logic. I have one quality mic (akg 414) and 2 cheap and cheerful C3000. I am surprised by the quality of these, I bought them on ebay for less than $100 each. Actually nefertiti was done with only these cheap mics as my 414 was lent to a friend. I am also quite impressed with the recorded sound and only wish i had more space so i could get a bass and drums in my room.

Dave - I would really be surprised if there was ANY audible difference recording into mac/logic rather than a hard disc recorder. Having previously spent a few years training as a sound man I know that the ear can be easily fooled by comparison tests and it can be pretty easy to convince yourself that something is wrong and needs improving when all that is really required is moving a mic a few inches or repositioning the piano. I don't have particularly fantastic ears for studio work but I would definitely have to listen pretty loud on some very good speakers to even hear any difference between my $600 414 and one of the cheap $100 C3000s. If you have logic already you may as well give it a go though. It really is an amazing program, and very easy to use.

Fine, fine work beboss!

Glen

Dave,
I'm listening right now to Nefertiti. OMG! Very very high concept, and you actually made it a piano piece! You took a piece that is already far out, and you took it even further out. Great choices. The recording sounds professional.

Isn't this a neat thread or what? Great stuff here all around. It's hard to compete with you guys as I cannot do it in such a professional form without mistakes. But maybe I can do a rough version this weekend (be easy on me). Like I said, this is actually very tough for me.

Just from listening to different versions here, I've been torn among different choices of tempo, swing/non-swing, rubato/strict time, faster/slower, 4/4-6/8. Unfortunately until I started hearing from all of you, I really didn't know what it could sound like.

Other tunes, like a complex-Dolphin Dance, at least has a "reference". I can see though that from the range available with 7notemode's version and Beeboss, one could jam on this all day using different styles.