Our Playlist column features music curated by our faculty, students, and staff and focusing on an interesting idea or theme.
By Prof. Michael Tenzer
The best jazz pianists are as inspiring as ever, but the art of transcribing what players play has really come into its own since the advent of scrolling scores on You Tube, not to mention applications that help with the transcribing. (There are now some superstar transcribers out there.) If you haven’t taken the time to discover what the pianists actually do when they play, you owe it to yourself to do it, and you will be devastated in the best way. Savor these six tracks; there’s lots more out there too.
Chick Corea: “Windows” (1968)
This is one of Corea’s signature compositions: it’s a jazz waltz showcasing his spare, crisp pianism and ringing harmonies.
Bill Evans: “All the Things you Are” (1963)
The consummate Bill Evans (“Uncle Bill”) in a sweeping fantasia on a jazz standard celebrated for its constantly modulating melody and chords. Evans’s imagination is monumental and his touch is like silk.
Wynton Kelly: “All Blues” (1959)
For me he is the swingingest and bluesiest of all jazz pianists. This is from the most popular jazz album of all time, Miles Davis’s “Kind of Blue”.
Brad Mehldau: “It’s All Right with Me” (2011)
https://youtu.be/EJUJuS7Wjyk
Mehldau is a powerhouse with Bach always on his mind. You can’t believe it’s improvised. Wait until you get to the left hand triplet-y part in the middle.
Thelonious Monk: “Don’t Blame Me” (1962)
Thelonious Monk, he of the divine laughter and chords that stab you with a feather. Monk was one of the great composers of the era, but here he plays a standard (as only he can).
Art Tatum: “Blue Moon” (1955)
Art Tatum was such a virtuoso that a musicologist coined the tern “tatum” to refer to the smallest perceptible rhythmic value in music.
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