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Stella Home work for tonight

http://www.box.net/shared/dpn5p1mifg

Not very happy with this. First of all the recording sucks (too loud and getting clipped). Maybe I was too self-conscious about softening the left hand that I was distracted.

Please critique.

The key signature should only have one flat, making it the key signature of F in this case. If it doesn't it's written wrong, or the few I've seen are wrong. But I suspect it should only have one flat.


I don't understand your question. I remember a Dm, Am and a Bbmin7. If you mean do I play an Fmaj scale with the Dm and the Am then yes, sometimes, but it depends where I came from. I may want to use a B natural in the scales if I wanted a different colour.

Actually the only thing I edited was putting the word 'soloing' instead of 'playing' when I was refering to Jaki, and I also corrected my spelling of 'fuchsia' which I've since forgotten how spell again probably.


That sounds familiar.


Well it's worth working on. A very deceptive little tune. If you liked this you should also work on Little B's Poem because it shares some of the same ideas of 'nfp' that make it a bit hard to pin down.

Ok, I'm listening to it as I type. Like I said before you've come a long way this year. Your timing is pretty steady, and you seem to have a good grasp of what you want to do in your left hand.
But when I listen to the soloing I don't get a sense of direction. There's two things that I'm particularly trying to hear: the first is whether you are following any sort of guide-tones to give your choruses a logical direction or cadence, and I don't think I really hear that. The second is how you are outlining your phrases and whether the top and bottom parts of the phrase are a good interval (say you start on an A on the bottom and end up at a Bb) for the ear to reconcile everything that has gone between, and I'm not sure that is present either.
Those things being said, it's really not a bad solo at all, but it just seems to meander after a while rather then take a solid direction.

Other things to think about: Block chords? whole/half, half/whole scales, chromatic passing between less obvious notes, octaves in RH, call and response between hands.

And for what it's worth I'd still rather hear solo piano there JW.

Your comments are exactly my thoughts. What I should have done is think about all the issues I need to focus on. I have a short list. Instead I just played and lost direction.

The only good news is that I didn't get lost at any time.

My goal when I played was to soften the left hand. I accomplished that. That's the main good news.

There were many wrong chord tones. I can hear them clearly. I need to sit down and slowly work out each chord. I have the problem particularly on | E-7b5 A7b9 | G-7b5 D7b9 | section.

I know Chris would also criticize the solo shape. No build up.

And thanks for the positive comments too. Time was ok but not happy with articulation.

BTW - Scep, Chris posted the leadsheet up there somewhere. It's 2 flats. I'm not sure how these people determine key signatures. Yes there are in fact 2 flats used in the melody (Bb and Eb). The ending though has a 3rd one (Ab).

It would have made more since to just have the key signature in C. For most jazz tunes it makes sense.

Wow. It's hard keeping up with you guys.
@Jazzwee: Stella. not bad indeed! Nice statement of the melody and some really cool stuff happening in your solo!

What I do have a hard time with is the walking bass during the melody, it "should" be much looser and more '1-and-3' (I love the harmonic structure of Stella and really like to hear the chord) but it's hard to get it in iRealbook, (BiaB can do that btw).
Also I would really like to hear you play on your grand instead of your Roland. Another thing is your LH, much better now I think. but I do miss you not sustaining the chords (at least once in a while).

Re: Beatrice. Yes it's a deceptively difficult tune. First time I got I thought: "hey just a bunch of Lydian and some Dorian and . . ." but no.
I wouldn't discern the key as Bb, even there's 2 flats there in the score.
It's more of a Fmin thinge (which gives it's genius composition by starting on a F major chord (the opposite of a Picardy third ). I really do love the tune's ambiguity. The only Maj7(#11) chord I feel should be there is the Gb, not the Eb. Because I feel having two (#11) chords sort of kills the effect of the Gb. In Beatrice I look at the melody (apart from what my ears tell me) for guidance.
This is a bluesy folk tune in imho. And as a tune the melodic content should be the guide.
Look at the last four bars: Gm, GbMaj, Fm, GbMaj: with a F-minor pentatonic melody on top of the chords.
Sheer brilliance!

I think that the dude that wrote the chart was just fed up of writing all those flats.

Beatrice - no key signature.

Thanks Chris. I know exactly what you mean about the LH sustain. I thought of that too. I'm not happy with the actual left hand figures. The only success I had was in the dynamics.

There's a logistical problem with recording on the grand. Too much background noise early and too bothersome to others late.

I can't stand listening to this particular solo though. But it will take a little time to fix the problems that I see. It's not just re-recording.

Beatrice
Comments on Beatrice are very helpful. Astute observation on the Blues aspect of this. In the end, my open voicing on the GbMaj and EbMaj really became a F7b9 and a D7b9 and I started thinking about the large number of implied dominants.

It is deceptively simple but hard to make some overall statement. You've really done well with this tune.

Yeah, you guys are really on a roll! Alot to keep up with!

Anyway, here's what I think regarding Beatrice. I would definitely think of it as being in the key of F. However, I would take more of an F mixolydian approach, hence the Eb. Of course, Chris's idea of F minor works too. Alot of times it's not so much the quality of the key but just the key center itself. Either way, the Gbmaj7 does work with a #11 and I would consider it's function a tritone sub for C7, even though it isn't dominant... it's just a modal exchange. Then, the Ebmaj7 works like a flat 7 in the "mixolydian key", or it could be a tritone sub for A7, leading to the Dmin. The Dmin is vi and the Cmin is a passing type of 5 chord, being that it fits the "mixolydian key" but isn't dominant. Then I would just call the Bbmin a IV chord but again with another modal exchange. The Amin is iii then up to a regular IV, then a ii-V of vi leading to vi (Dmin). Then the last line is just a regular ii, the Gb tritone sub again, a modal exchange for 1, and another Gb tritone sub. Whew!

If there's anything I know about theory, it's that there is always more than one way of looking at it. Especially on tunes like this, and really most jazz tunes. In the end it just depends on what sounds right. The theory really only helps with figuring out why it sounds right.

Mostly things are diatonic, but I use some altered dominant stuff in there too. The triad pairs are based on finding two triads that outline whatever scale(s) works over the chord. Here's the book I learned about it from:

http://www.amazon.com/Intervallic-I...mp;s=books&qid=1295021780&sr=1-1

I'll listen to your Stella recording later and get back to you.

Brilliant addition to the vocabulary. How does he deal with the fact that there's six beats though? You'd have to be playing triplets? That's quite a limitation.

Not sure what you mean here? Are you talking about how to play triad pairs in 6/8?

Just listened to your recording of Stella. Sounds good to me! Left hand is nice... punches in the time well. I think you're doing well learning to feel your way through the changes as far as your lines are concerned. Seems like your trying to follow your ear. I used to play more "wandering" like that (I still do to some ears), and I think it's good for finding your own sound. However, when I first met with Willie Pickens he told me that I was skimming the surface and needed to dig in more as far as finding little hooks in the changes. He got me to do this by isolating parts of the tune and searching out more "conventional" ideas to play. I would then write them out and build various "roadmaps" or complete solos. Also he made me transcribe, which I had mixed feelings about. Now I think it was helpful, although I've not really done that much of it. It does help with finding ideas though. I really think some pianists are pretty wandering anyway, like Keith Jarrett. He seems to be more free of direction and focused more on the moment, whereas someone like Oscar Peterson is a little more contrived, to me anyway.

Scott, I meant that two triad pairs makes 6 notes. So there's a little bit of math here to make it fit in a 4/4 tune with 8 notes. Either you vary the length of some or you play triplets.

I'll listen to your version again and see how you handled that. This was just my initial gut reaction. I studied a lot of intervallic playing but not necessarily a two triad concept. But I really liked the effect of it.

You are very accurate on your comments about what I do. In a lot of ways, during playing I do it by singing in my head. So that was a good observation. Now there could be debate on the best methodology for a solo. The problem with just doing it by ear is that you may end up on an unintended chord tone (which I heard many times) just due to the subdivision of the bar.

I don't want to overdo the structured kind of playing that what you say suggests. I do that in Giant Steps where each note is accurately following chord tones at all times and more intervallic approaches. But it can sound mechanical too. There I'm trying to break out of the structure and using my ear more.

Now intervallic playing interesting because in many ways, it is difficult to hear. And that's why it sounds interesting. I'm finding that I play on a tune intervallicly if I work on the tune that way. Unfortunately, at least for me, intervallic playing doesn't automatically transfer to all tunes without some practice. For example, I've never done intervallic practice on Stella. The minor ii-V's are not that intuitive as far as triads. Requires some thinking (melodic minor scales).

Scott, after watching your video, I see you're making a 4 or 5 note shape with each triad. Really nice sound. But it gets repetitive don't you think?

I've not been good at implementing patterns BTW. If I don't hear it in my ear I just hesitate.

In any case this is fantastic mixed in with everything else. The gems in this thread are just amazing.

Can't use the triad pairs too much I guess, just like anything else. There are alot of different patterns that work with them though... still working on that.

I've spent alot more time working on patterns the last couple of years. Practicing them enough I've started to hear them as whole ideas that can fall into tunes pretty easily. The thing is to find a couple of good ones that work in alot of scenarios and then stick with them and try them whenever possible. I especially like patterns on tunes that have more static changes.

Scott, I should have posted the two triad ideas that I played earlier. It really worked for me. I guess if you don't think of it as a pattern but look at it intervallically as two available triads, the sound changes.

In Stella, my weak points were the minor ii-V's. Once I pictured triad shapes in each, it just changed my approach.

Too bad I overwrote the recording on the keyboard. It was a lot better than the Stella I posted.

I was also at my child's piano school and I was sitting there playing Beatrice for a full hour. Just slowly and deliberately. I think I will actually play it on the gig on Sunday, as a ballad.

The tune actually reminded me of Good Bye Pork Pie Hat when I really got into it.

I'm too busy this weekend to record but next week I can. Nothing to fancy, but just ballad solo piano style (just for you Scep).

I was just practicing for the gig and pressed the record button on the keyboard.

Solo piano - All the Things You Are
http://www.box.net/shared/qy1dxp5zu6

I wasn't planning on playing it at this tempo at the gig but spontaneous practice just to see where I really am, faults and all. The LH got lost a few times but the RH was solid. Got a little confused with the form at the beginning (always the effect of the record button).

Not bad, not bad indeed. I like your lines, nice swing, but those accented notes were a bit in my face (maybe it's pushing the digital to hard . . ?). When you started loosing up with the LH and started a counter-point I went "yeah".

Thanks Chris. I'd like to make the LH do something more interesting when i do a medium swing in solo piano. Haven't figured it out yet. Nothing distracting to the rh. Please describe examples or even post.

The DP is more sensitive to velocity than i!ve experienced on the piano at FF. Maybe because my grand is voiced down. So i'm having to learn to lighten up a bit. It's less than my original stella though so I'm getting used to it.

I thought RH time was good though. Imrovement from prior solo piano stuff. There was no metronome on this.