Jazz piano lovers, I'm pleased to offer you a unique new master class exploring 15 advanced ways to snazz-up your jazz. I promise you a swell time with this unique in-depth master class

Blessings and keep swingin!

http://youtu.be/3CGOSToQWv0

Dave Frank
NYC

great stuff -- thank you dave!

Thank you, sir........I gave copies of your JOI books out as Xmas presents to a couple students last year...I enjoy your work.

dave, here's a thought -- how about a master class for folks who study classical piano? perhaps some (jazz) exercises that help us with fluidity, getting outside the box, improvisation aka chick corea's mozart sessions or gabriela montero's bach & beyond. how cadenzas used to be played (improvised). god knows we need help loosening up!

Dave, thank you for doing this -- it's extremely useful for me. I'll be trying to work with each of these ideas in my practice sessions. I'm a little puzzled by the double arpeggios, though. Aside from the iiim over IM, what combinations are you using over the changes? And do you think of both hands together as a single chord while improvising, or are you building a line off of the right hand and just letting the left hand follow (if you know what I mean)? I'm going to try to piece this together by listening,playing and listening more, though I'll certainly get there faster (and maybe more accurately) if you can explain these points. Thanks.

Usually 1Maj7/3m7, 1Dom7/3m7b5/, 1m7/b3Maj7, 1m7b5/4mMaj7, 1mMaj7/b3Maj7+5..it's generally a superimposition of the arpeggios a tenth apart. You might try when making double arp lines to lead with the left hand, and have the RH follow. Just make simple ascending/descending melodies comprised of these double arpeggios. Lots of practice of the individual double arps for each chord in the tune as a warmup would be helpful, try visualizing the double arps without playing them..

DF

Beautiful! Thanks for the follow up and the very clear explanation. I'm excited to give this a try, and I'll aspire to someday use these double arpeggios as nicely as you do.

Not sure what Dave Frank meant when he typed this quote below, can somebody interpret? Thanks

"Usually 1Maj7/3m7, 1Dom7/3m7b5/, 1m7/b3Maj7, 1m7b5/4mMaj7, 1mMaj7/b3Maj7+5"

How do the left hand styles in the video all apply on slow ballads?

sorry for the long time no answer..for ballads you can use a slow 4/bar with what we call a "windshield wiper" sometimes - meaning quickly arpegpiated ascending, the doorknob in a 2/2 rhythm, the faux stride, the double arpeggios, and the unison rhythms..any questions feel free to write..

Dave

the LH plays a 1Maj7 arpeggio at the same time the RH plays a 3m7 arpeggio, they're a tenth apart, and so on..

DF

Got it!

The "wind shield wiper" , what a great nickname!
Is that like when you quickly roll up the 4 note close voicing, sort of like a single stroke guitar strum or harp would sound? Like the so called "chorale" ascending arpeggio but done quickly so it arps up in less than half a beat (guitar glissando)?

you got it exactly)

Dave,

Do any of your youtube videos demonstrate ballad style playing?

this 8 part Bill Evans master class goes *deep* into it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpRpAShR9lQ

DF

Dave,

What rhythm pattern do you recommend for Faux Stride on ballads? Same as in the Never Be Another You video? You did played a 2 bar pattern like this:
Root on beat 1 (every 2 bars), then a chord on beat 3, then another chord on the "+ of 4", then a pickup note in bass on the "+ of 3" to get back to the root on 1 again

Also, I think 4 to the bar would be good too on ballads.

Thanks,
rintincop

It wouldn't be a set pattern per se on ballads, for faux stride you might spend a bit more time in each register, use LH octaves as connecters, and use tenths. In other words, keep a 3-4 note counter-melody going in one register in the LH, then jump down for one or two hits, then back up in an irregular rhythm. Four to the bar works well on ballads, some played as blocks and some windshield-wipers:)tenths nice if possible..

DF

Dave ,

Which Master Class online goes deep into right hand blowing?

Thanks,
rtc

Charlie Parker (Ustream)
Lennie Tristano (YT)

I just watched your excellent Charlie Parker Master Class, thanks, and I have a couple of questions.

Isn't that "Lennie's Pennies" you are demonstrating the eighths, triplets and sixteenths over?

Do I hear a slight accent on the first triplet, and also on the first of every four sixteenth note grouping?

Do I hear a slight accent on the "+" in your eighth notes in addition to the accent on the first of every four eighth note grouping?

Dave

Do I hear a slight accent on the "+" in your eighth notes in addition to the accent on the first of every four eighth note grouping?

rtc

Dave

Do I hear a slight accent on the "+" in your eighth notes in addition to the accent on the first of every four eighth note grouping?

rtc

it's not intentional, perhaps it's an unconscious inflection..or perhaps I was just unconscious at the time:)the basic feel is the 4 group of swing 1/8th with a natural accent on the first of the four, beyond that things may inflect a bit..

Does the first of the four sometimes get displaced? In other words, do the four note groupings sometimes get played in "forward motion", meaning the four note groupings start on an "+" (upbeat) instead of a downbeat?

that was Lennies Pennies BTW:)

here's another version:

http://youtu.be/ayuWYPQHkMc

DF