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jazzwwee

thanks for posting the recording. I really like what he did in 0:55-0:58 ish. I think harmonically he is playing Bbmin7 Emaj6th Ab7sus Ab7susb9, I think rhythmically he is doing something like group of 4 triplets followed by 5 tripets(I've heard James Williams do something similar. Let me know what you guys think about that passage, I could be wrong.

I think you have a point in that your teacher do have a solid technique to be able to play very even 8th notes constantly, but I do notice him accenting/attacking certain notes to give that rhythmic edge. I guess it's more precise to say play with good deliberate articulation than just playing harder.

Sounds good etcetera. As a listener I can't know how deliberate your ideas were, but they definitely sound cohesive and in control for the most part.

I know what you mean about hearing stuff and needing to connect to that. When I'm playing, instead of trying too hard, I've been trying to think of it more as censoring. I try to not play what I'm not sure about. Or not play if I can't execute something in time. So while I may hear something as I'm playing that I'd like to play... if I don't know it or can't get to it, I let it go. Of course I fail at this a lot, but I think it's helping.

I think really great players can swing over anything. I remember how my teacher in undergrad used to play with the guys in my combo, who were no where near swinging, but he still sounded awesome. It's all about your own internal sense of time, not locking into something out there. Of course, when everyone in the group is locking into the same internal source in each of them, that's when it's really good.

Ya, you sound good on this track. The bonus is when YOU like your own playing too. I've found that I rarely like what I play, but on those occasions that I do, it gives me enough impetus to keep going in the direction where I get more encouraged.

At times I have these great, great, incredibly musical, original and sublime ideas when I'm falling asleep too. I think maybe I should just arrange my gigs so I'm playing at 4am and everything will sound wonderful.
Although I've never rushed from bed to implement the ideas, I too wonder if they are really actually that amazing, or if they are just a subconscious 'wish' come true, and that if somehow we were to be able to transcribe what we heard, that the output would be pretty normal, or even bizarre.

Thanks Etcetra! I think that I've naturally been a clunky player unless I abandon the groove, but am now learning, or relearning, what it feels like to play in that groove.
Beeboss once mentioned that playing in the groove is probably the hardest thing to learn, and I tend to agree.

Hardest for me. I think everybody has their own hardest bit. For very many people I think it is the hearing aspect that causes most trouble. I do know people who have a better sense of groove than me who have never ever worked hard at music, so I am not sure exactly where it comes from. Maybe they heard salsa when they were in the womb or something.



That is a very familiar feeling. I can conjure it up anytime I am in a quiet place, it sounds like a big band in my brain, or an orchestra. I can hear the whole thing but I can't quite get a grip on what the individual parts are doing. It seems to just go constantly through my brain and I can tap into it when I want to, or just choose to ignore it.
The more I do this the more my musical imagination is expanded, and since I really started starting focussing on it I am never short of musical ideas. Still it is very hard to get them out of the brain and onto paper or through the fingers though.
Believe it though, those ideas ARE that amazing. If you can learn to access them and focus on them sufficiently and express them well enough you can be on the very highest level.

I agree too and I'm so far behind in this area. I guess there's an advantage if you're trained to be rhythmic from youth, as it is in some cultures.

Something that I was explaining long ago (maybe a year ago) in this thread was that I analyzed snippets of the waveform to see where his eighths landed. And the interesting finding was the the eighths that correspond with the 'let' in trip-e-let landed EXACTLY at the right spot each time. The 1st eighth is dragged to give it that straight feel but it's the swing eighth that doesn't waver.

I did confirm that with my teacher and they feel that pulse exactly. So those with a good swing know to precisely time that 2nd eighth in a pair. So it seems that even if the swing is ala Oscar Peterson or Brad Mehldau, if you can accurately hit your eighth on the 'let', you're golden.

Anyway, that's the 'factual' discovery that I had made. Other than that, swing is always described as a 'feel'.

Of course, easier said than done.

The "Secret" to great Salsa, Mambo, Latin, etc playing is dancing. Ie learning the dances.
There's no way you can learn that music by just listening. Sheik Yerbouti.

Funny guy.
But as for the rhythms, I can attest to the fact that its not the learning of the rhythms when you're young, but the constant exposure to them. My wife is from South America, and in her country 5/8 time is considered the normal pulse for dancing. When you hear it played you'd swear it's 3/4 time, because it has such a great pulse to it. I'm also certain that almost no one from that country knows the rhythm has 5 beats to each bar since they really only hear it as 'long one, short two'.
Unfortunately music has become more dummied down everywhere, so once the kids reach teenage years they start hearing more 4/4 pulse, and start replacing their aural heritage with that from somewhere else.

So where do actual triplets, as opposed to swung eighth notes, line up then? It seems that they'd have to be exact divisions of thirds to have the last third of the triplet line up with what you're saying, but I'm not sure this is true. Maybe the two don't mix?

All I know is I attempt to play triplets and uptempo 16ths as even as I can. But whether or not triplets are played exactly evenly divided is something I can't tell you.

What causes me confusion is triplet quarters. I recall some prior teacher tell me that you have some play with triplet quarters. But I've never tried varying it with some rubato thing.

But my question and research on this was limited to swing eighths.

Does varying triplets affect swing in a good way? That's really the only valid question here. If not, then personal expression could justify anything. If yes, then we better learn to do it the right way. I have to be honest that I have never asked this question of anyone.

Talking about blues -- I'm planning on doing Stolen Moments at my gig next week. This tune was a new discovery to me. I love the head. It was called at a jam and the only thing I was told was: minor blues solo. Don't worry about the rest.

Stolen Moments is a favorate. We play it as a piano trio. Listen to the Oliver Nelson original (from one of the great albums of all time, The Blues and the Abstract Truth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I777BcgQL9o


And then check out the fabulous Ahmad Jamal version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HClD5wy7K5s

This tune gets called a lot. It's probably a good idea to learn the distinctive intro and voicings, such as those used by Ahmad Jamal here above.
It's great jam tune because it has a powerful melody over delicious chords, but an easy blues to solo over.

I think the album this is on, "The Awakening", is one of the best piano trio records of all time. If you haven't heard it, check it out. All the tunes are great, and nobody does space and intensity like Ahmad Jamal.

Thanks for the new information here. I just listened to the two videos.

Knew nothing about the tune. I didn't even know Bill Evans was involved with the original.

I couldn't believe the space that Ahmad Jamal used. Amazing. That is something to learn from for sure. I would have been afraid to do that.

Funny jamal is coming up, I've been listening to live at the pershing for the last 2 weeks.

You know what those voicings are? I'm just using 4th voicings on the RH and the intro left hand seems to be just 5-1.

Let me know if there's something specific I have to do. The horns are playing the actual head. (I've got a trumpet and sax).

sounds good

What changes do people use for minor blues? Here's approximately what I use for C- blues:
Cm7 Cm7 Cm7 C7alt
Fm7 Fm7 Cm7 Cm7
Ab7 G7alt Cm7 G7alt