Category awesome Norm.
You brought out the C min blues sound really well, and handled the difficult bridge superbly.
Your new keyboard sounds great
I can't believe how your vocals kept in tune for all those minutes.

Congrats for winning the 4 jazz lessons. Be sure to tell us what you learn.

Thanks Cus. I really appreciate your encouragement. Playing the bridge felt a bit like finger spelling on the keyboard; the movements were similar to playing a guitar. Needless to say, I played around with it a lot.

The piano teacher already gave me some Youtube links to review:

Michael Wolff



Peter Martin



Mulgrew Miller



And of course, he recommended the Mark Levine Book

Hey Norm
How did your first lesson go ?
Thanks for the videos. I liked the Michael Wolff one the best - his idea of G7 blues over F7 was great. It's something that I tried, and it sounds good.

Great! But I have more homework to do:

1) 2-5-1 Shell voicing practice

2) Just Friends with the Root in the Left hand and the 3, 7 and melody note in the Right.

3) Blues using I7 (7 9 3 13), IV7 (3 5 7 9), and V7 (3 5 7 9).

My wife is more than a little concerned. I may be getting way too compulsive with this piano thing.

time to get rid of the wife

The dogs, yes. The piano, maybe. My wife, never. She is my core, the very fiber of my being. My heart, my soul, the absolute and unequivocal love of my life. To me, she is music. And whatever words I use to describe the depths of my feelings for her do little justice to the fact. She is that tonal center to which I resolve, undiminished by our 22 years together. She is music. She is my wife.

WOW, beautiful Norm! How does she feel about you?

DF

that stroke a chord ...

Well boys, it's obvious you are all keeping the form.

Norm
You did so much in just one lesson.
And I'm glad to know that you and your wife are more than Just Friends.

My new favorite lesson is #21.

Hey Norm

The Jazz Piano Book by Levine has a very nice analysis of Just Friends and harmonization w shell voicings - he does a nice job explaining it.

Just Friends has been my tune of the month - I think it is a great practice tune - has everything - two five ones, diminished, tritones. Been working it up and down the metronome. I guess a lot of people are working on this tune. Everyone should. I mean why Buck Trends?

The feelings are recapitulated reciprocated!

My piano instructor regards the Levine book as the essential text for my course with him. Early on in class, he flipped to that harmonization and suggested strongly that I work on it. That was an offer I couldn't refuse.

... pivot chords, mode changes, Picardy Thirds -- something for everyone!

Michael Leibson's analysis of John Klenner's "Just Friends"

Hey Norm and Ron
I love these types of tunes - everybody seems to know them, but do we really know them ? This tune, as your article points out, gives us harmonic options.
The more I study All The Things You Are, the more I think the A section can be interpreted as Db maj, as well as the traditional Ab maj.

Norm
How are those jazz lessons going ?

Ron
Can't remember if I welcomed you but it's great to see you on this thread.

It was also quite instructive seeing Leibson reverse engineer the song, noting what problems Klenner faced in composition, what substitutions and solutions he used, and how it may have morphed into its final form. As he admits, he may be wrong. But as he states, "I find the speculation worthwhile. The question of how a work is created can lead to fresh perspectives, occasional revelations, and – quite often – to inspiration."

As you may remember, I've been studying Advanced Reharm techniques. Here I play Andy LaVerne's reharm of My Melancholy Baby.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbPvUXfLGo8

Really nicely played Cus. I like the video work, too.

This is very nice of you Knotty.
How are your gigs ?
And if you have time, I'd love your opinion/ report on your Keith Jarrett concert this weekend.

Hi Cus

Play Melancholy Baby just one more time! I've said it many times before, but there is a breezy, dreamy, romantic, and in the case of this particular tune, brightly melancholy flavor to your playing. Your harmonizations made it more of what is. Your playing makes you more of who you are.

I'm working on making more of myself too. That's why I'm sticking with the piano teacher. I'm still working on Just Friends. I recorded a version of How High the Blues for him, and I'm learning the difference between Practice and Performance.

There's so much more to learn...

Hey Norm
Thank you for your kind words and your feedback. I'm glad the cheekiness came through, as I far prefer these versions of Melancholy Baby to the sad ones.
I'm two thirds of the way through Andy LaVerne's harmonization book. By spending 10 min a day studying his theory and 15 min a day studying his reharmed songs, I'm gaining my own harmonization vocabulary.

I'm on for listening to your latest How High the Blues. It's great you're developing your own voice. Stick with Just Friends for as long as you like, even spending half a year fully exploring a song is fine.

Are compositions in your goals ? I think they would be a good way for your voice to come out.

I did have a feeling that you would stick with your jazz teacher.

Thanks Cus,

Here's a couple of versions of How High the Blues:

One through MIDI, with a few measures of Just Friends added:

How High the Blues #1

One through the Mic, with a swing rhythm track pulsing in the background:

How High the Blues #2

Compositions lie ahead in the future, I've more to do...

Very nice Norm.
I can tell that you've been practising your voicings. How are you choosing them ?
You're playing the blues version fast, if you slow it down a touch, it might help to get your triplets more even.
You are improving in Giant Steps each time.

My new favorite lesson is #22.

Nearly finished Book 1, hey Ron ?
Glad you're enjoying it.
Book 2 tunes get even nicer.

This thread seems to have ended way back on 3 Dec 2012. What happened?

hehe 2Shlow, you are right. After 1,237,434 reads, this thread ran out of posts. Thanks for finding it again on page whatever.
I'm interested in how you are doing with the JOI course.

Hi Cus, and welcome 2Shlow!

Wow, I just got the email notice that this thread is back up. Sorry about being AWOL. My piano teacher has swamped me with enough homework (Compings and voicings and heads, Oh My!) to leave little time for JOI.

Anyway, Cus, in answer to your question, the voicings are primarily:

(b)3 (b or #)5 (b)7 (b)9

or

(b)7 (b)9 (b)3 (b or #)5

with an (#)11 or a 13 occasionally added in the right hand for extra spice.

Well, back to the grind.

Hey Norm
Nice to hear from you. Yeah I'm attracted to the #11 sound and have started to work on it as part of spicing up my ionian chord-scales. As with all things, it's easier in practice than in actual improv application.
I agree that it is not practical to work on 2 jazz methods. Glad you're still loving your jazz.

still here!
good to hear from everyone!