I Can't Play Piano

[two fingers]

Do you like this kind of Jazz @two fingers ?? Popular-Jazz or Jazz-Blues.

Vince Jones is my favourite jazz-crossover artist. He is played on regular radio, TV appearances, Jazz recording artist, headlining artist at Blues Festivals & Jazz Festivals.

Ballad with classic jazz AABA song structure.


Start it at 20 second mark (after jazzy piano intro). Very funky/groovy.


Swinging & bopping beat, very singable melody.

Sure. That's nice.

 

[Acoop]

Impatience and it really doesn't matter to you.

 

[retslock]

I enjoy various forms of jazz but the term is almost as broad as 'pop' music in it's range of styles. Like any genre there are good examples and others not so good. Sometimes I get the impression that some audiences are willing to except anything that musicians of repute come up with for fear of being seen as musically ignorant. Jazz can be self indulgent. It can also be beautiful, thoughtful, exciting and sensual.
Some players seem to have discovered the outside notes without realising that they are subject to choice in their usage just as tonally centred notes are. Logical melody and cadence to lead the listener's ear are still required in my opinion when outside notes are used. As always, it's the note choices and the space between them that the artist creates that produces art. It's not all automatically worthy of merit simply because it fits into the jazz genre.

 

[Geogio]

You like or you don't like it.

I love to listen to Ornette. All I had to do was listen and decide if I like it or not. I didn't have to pay anything, except for the albums.
There's no "getting it".

There was this old dude in my life and he was kind of jokingly referred to as the tattooed man... but this guy had been everywhere, world traveler old sailor, big game fisherman.... he told me a story about walking into the Five Spot in the 50's and seeing Ornette Coleman and his band with Hayden and whoever was Druming, live in a small Club.

This guy was from NYC, his wife and daughter were very entertaining and his wife pulled out this scrapbook and there's a picture of him in there wearing a Zoot Suit! Totally Decked out!

His bebop vinyls and stories were very enjoyable. A REAL fan, I head a lot of information. What a memory that guy had. Nice stereo too, top if the line Japanese equipment.

 

[Sam Evans]

I've heard the cliche "just listen to what you want" most of my life concerning musical tastes.
QUESTION? Is there someone out there voluntarily listening to what they DONT want to listen to?

In fine elevators all over the world.

 

[DrummerwStrings]

So I play bass (and guitar) right-handed. As such my right hand tends to keep time by plucking, picking, strumming - what have you. My left hand tends to do the things that make the notes sound out - the melody if you will.

Wellll.... when I try to play piano, all I can do is play out a rhythm with my right hand and play melodic notes with my left.... which is sort of the opposite of many popular songs. For example, the classic "Heart and Soul". My left hand refuses to keep the rhythm on the low end and my right hand refuses to play the lead bit.

I find trying to swap what my hands are doing about as unintuitive as trying to play bass or guitar left-handed.

That said, as long as my right hand is allowed to bang out a rhythm and my left free to play a melody, I feel as if I can hold my own on a piano. But swapping around is essentially hopeless.

Anyone else experience this frustrating phenomenon? Also, do they make pianos where the low notes start on the right side and get higher the farther left one goes? lol

Don't know about reversed pianos, but Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo" has the traditional rhythm section playing the melody, & the usual suspects for the melody holding down the rhythm:



The song's been covered several times - here's one with lyrics by The Jody Grind (released in 1991?):



The song starts @ 10.09, link in the description section.

 

[DrummerwStrings]

Gotcha. I don't spend a lot of time listening to Jack either. In case you haven't heard "Portrait of Tracy", I think it's worth a listen.

EDIT: Replace Jack with Jaco. Now to tell my spellcheck...

 

[DrummerwStrings]

Brings to mind a quotation I've heard attributed to Duke Ellington: "You have to stop listening in categories. The music is either good or it's bad. The most important thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen."

But I am not 100% sure Ellington actually said that. I just read it on the internet.

Don't know who was the 1st to say it, but I've heard plenty of other ppl say it, including B.B. King & Ray Charles.

Swap every "Jazz" in this thread with "Rock", (& "Free Jazz" with maybe "Arena Rock"), & the only thing that would change is the music samples.

 

[fdeck]

I play jazz. Oddly enough when people hear that I'm in a jazz band, there will always be that one person who will regale me with a lengthy explanation of exactly what's wrong with jazz. Too many notes, too cerebral, hard to follow, music for musicians. And the rules that jazz bands should obey: Always have a singer, no bass solos.

Gradually I've learned not to argue with people. I just tell them: "You would probably hate my band."

 

[Tom Bomb]

Jazz is a rude word. Jazz sayin'​

 

[J_Bass]

I play jazz. Oddly enough when people hear that I'm in a jazz band, there will always be that one person who will regale me with a lengthy explanation of exactly what's wrong with jazz. Too many notes, too cerebral, hard to follow, music for musicians. And the rules that jazz bands should obey: Always have a singer, no bass solos.

Gradually I've learned not to argue with people. I just tell them: "You would probably hate my band."

Don't forget you have to play the "right" notes.

 

[definenredefine]

Gradually I've learned not to argue with people. I just tell them: "You would probably hate my band."

This is kinda how I handle conversations about music generally. "Yeah I don't like music" or "yeah I have terrible taste in music." Easier than trying to explain the nonsense I listen to.

 

[definenredefine]

Also -

 

[zontar]

"Jazz is much too crazy, he can play it when he's old."
-Jerry Doucette

 

[two fingers]

Also -

Dude gets me.

By the way, the part about jazz musicians laughing at inside musical jokes is so true. Some dude will hit some random "bwap" on stage and they'll all be falling out laughing and the audience is left to assume somebody farted on stage or something.

 

[fdeck]

Dude gets me.

By the way, the part about jazz musicians laughing at inside musical jokes is so true. Some dude will hit some random "bwap" on stage and they'll all be falling out laughing and the audience is left to assume somebody farted on stage or something.

That's how they get away with farting on stage.

 

[ardgedee]

That's how they get away with farting on stage.

So it's not an in-joke like, "Oh dude, that's the same clam Parker blew in his second set at the Five Spot in November of '54! Hilarious!"

 

[two fingers]

So it's not an in-joke like, "Oh dude, that's the same clam Parker blew in his second set at the Five Spot in November of '54! Hilarious!"

I've found that at pretty much every jazz show I've been to, everybody on stage finds a way to work "nah nah nee boo boo" into their solo. And, of course, everyone else on stage laughs.... every time.

I should try it at my next gig. We're a variety band, but I'm sure I can work it into a funk breakdown or something.

 

[fdeck]

Maybe it's a regional thing.

 

[J_Bass]

I think it was FZ who talked about dumping your bag of guitar tricks in reference to jazz guitar.
If it was not FZ it was some guitarist who was at that same level.
What can I say? My brother subscribed to Guitar Player mag and as a word junkie I read it cover to cover every month, but it was about guitar so I didn't make any serious effort to store any pertinent details as they were discussed in terms I was not the least bit interested, in so I only got the bullet points not related to playing guitar.