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>>But was he doing jazz? Or some neo-classical improv?
It's his solo stuff. In-line with Carnegie Hall last year and the one on record. It's pretty possible that this one will go on an album, seeing how great he played, and the audience was perfect. He joked all night and just burned. It's definitely jazz. Just a different kind.
It's unclear whether he played any "tunes" or if all was improvised. If it was tunes, none of us knew them. He played something that I have never heard him play before as his last piece. You might call it neo-classical I guess, but it was a mix of romantic, yet very swingy. It was one of the most beautiful, but the whole thing was absolutely spotless.

Jean-Michel is awesome. I had a great time with him. It was really fun to do a lesson completely in French. He needs to write a book on his thoughts, because it's something else. Let's just say I need to sing a lot more. And play some Bach inventions / Magdalena. Funny because Dave suggested the exact same thing the day before
The hour flew by, but now I got enough to work on for a few years.

I wonder how Mehldau is going to be Sat. night. I have a feeling it's going to be very classical. We'll see...

>> man, Knotty, 1st Row...You're really spending the big bucks...
I don't think the tickets were any more expensive than the others. I think you just had to be there when they opened the counter. And Dave was. Really, you wouldn't want to have sat anywhere else.

Just to give an idea of the seat ...

oh wow ! what a nice stage !
Yeah Dave is lucky to always get the best tickets.
Could you please elaborate on you needing to sing more ?

>>Could you please elaborate on you needing to sing more ?
Here's an example.
Take Bach invention #10:
http://www.free-scores.com/download-sheet-music.php?pdf=186
Assuming you don't know it perfectly already. Sight sing the right hand, then sight sing the left hand.
You could fairly easily sight read it. So ok, you see a triad up or down, you can easily play it. But can you sing it? What about those other scales, and the rest?
Can you sing the bass as easily as you sing the melody?

And if that's not torture enough, there are a lot more ways to torture yourself just with that one invention (or any other, this one happens to be easy).

Such a pretty tune under which to be tortured.
No I didn't know the tune before.
My singing for the RH stuffed up at the modulation to D maj at the end of the 3rd line.
I couldn't really sing the LH very well. What about you ? I've noticed that you sing your walking bass lines.

Is the point of this exercise to help one's melody to sing ?

Great, I would have loved to have been there. There is always a new solo Jarrett cd out every few years so there is never that long to wait. I am sure that enough have been saved up for posterity as well.

That's pretty close miking, hmm, not my choice.

Thanks for the show and tell Knotty.
I wouldn't mind a piano lesson speaking French.

Bach seems to pop up know and again (but then his music is masterful). I asked Palle Danielsson about his playing, where does his ideas come from, etc.
"Bach. I play a lot of Bach" was his answer.

A great exercise along the same model is sing LH - play RH and v.v.

On the Carnegie hall cd there are a few imperfections with the sound imo, when J is tapping his foot it creates a slightly nastly slap back reverb from the hall. It is not enough to detract from the amazing performance and by any other standards it would be a great sound, but in comparison with most J recordings any imperfection stands out however small. Maybe they are trying to minimise that with closer miking, possibly.

Bach, yes, masterful. I play Bach most days, and for years I only played Bach and jazz. Now I find my tastes are a bit broader and I can enjoy playing other classics more than before.

Part of the mystique before was it was hard to get a ticket to a KJ concert because he rarely plays. Looks like he's on an annual schedule now so there's no rush. I'm skipping his upcoming show over here since I prefer the trio performances.

I need to see Chick. I haven't seen Chick live yet. He does come here often but timing has always been bad.

Cus,
Your ear is much better than mine. A good reminder that all that classical ear training is really valuable.
The point is to hear all the voices, not just the melody. I can see why Bach would be great for that. Although I think I spoke a bit fast calling the piece easy. Sure isn't easy to me

Speaking of KJ, I've been transcribing KJ's version of BBBB and I was playing with the record. I felt like I was cheating because the tone of the Nord Piano matched KJ's tone. I was impressed with myself (almost) I only wish I can actually sound like that on the acoustic.

I found a really good approach to playing with the record though. I have a looping program with slow-down features on an Iphone App. I play the selected section and can adjust the tempo of the actual record to 50% or something. Then I have it fed into the mixer and presto! I'm playing with the trio.

It's really simple because the only thing I bring to the keyboard is my Iphone.

Still -- transcribing -- which is a rare thing for me -- is so TEDIOUS. GRRRRR! Like 2 hours a chorus...(including memorizing and practicing).

Oh you're too kind Knots. I actually find it extremely difficult to hear the separate voices Bill Evans uses.

Please report back on Mehldau !

>>Still -- transcribing -- which is a rare thing for me -- is so TEDIOUS. GRRRRR! Like 2 hours a chorus...(including memorizing and practicing).
Well, I will not tell you how long it too me to memorize / practice the last Fats I learned then ...

LOL--well I can guess. But my brain is fried after a transcribing session.

Although there's so much beauty in seeing how the masters do it and having it on your fingers, especially with KJ stuff. I hope it actually sinks in.

Finally listened to one of the two disks in Rio, Jarrett's most recent solo recording (I think). Really good stuff.

I haven't posted any playing for a while so here is one I did today.

If i were a bell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-M6W9Q7HKA&feature=youtu.be

Beeboss, nice job as always. Your playing is strikingly influenced by KJ. Now that I've been transcribing, I'm noticing even your phrasing takes so many elements from him. Clearly you've spent so much time studying his nuances. I can't even begin to capture all the details. I'm just noticing bits here and there.

Something else I noticed and wanted to ask. I'm so used to the bass walking in jazz. Yet here you don't. What guides you in deciding that you will not walk the bass?

I was transcribing BBBB as I mentioned earlier and that appears to start with a two-feel.