I was always taught ‘A’ voicings by my dear jazz teachers in the UK. I found that I need to change the position of the notes in certain keys and to create a tighter sound. It was only coming to France that I discovered that these ‘B’ voicings I had already been using were commonly taught and were particularly suitable for kids with small hands to get going with jazzy sounds at an early age. Instead of using the Aerbersold 12 key exercise method which is taught at the conservatoires, I split the ii-V-I exercises into two sections:

• F – Eb – Db – B – A – G
• C – Bb – Ab – Gb – E – D – which leads into playing Tune Up (Mile Davis) and others

Blue Bossa.

Just an hour and a half this morning. In Blue Bossa I have been playing around with substituting the Ebm7 with a pretty standard chord on its tritone – A13/#11. The technique is to put play the one and the seven with your left hand, place your RH thumb one tone above the root and play the major triad (root position) +2.

So in this example to play A13/#11:

LH: A and G

RH: B C# D# F#

Altered Dominant Chords

After playing with vocabulary on dominant chords with a pupil yesterday, I have been trying different voicings including the b9 and the#9 – nice tense sound!

So good to be back on my keyboard – especially with this wonderful song. It was the pain expressed by Miles Davis’ trumpet that gripped me. I have been studying Wynton Kelly’s various phrases version, which I shall post on my Musescore channel. So after some Hannon warming up, I revised the melody – then this Wynton Kelly intro.

So I thought, why not apply the same style to the section which starts with Dm? So that’s what I brewed up.

I couldn’t bear to be without a piano for two whole weeks..no teaching, no studying or creating..Catastrophe! So I spent many a happy, sometimes, frustrating hour with my wonderful wife replacing all the bridle straps – the little straps that pull the hammers back in place ready for the note to be played again.

Before:

After:

Phew!!

Yesterday, I thought I would help a friend here in Hastings by cleaning up his lovely old Pohlmann upright piano. The sustain pedal wasn’t working and Eb 4 was sustaining without the pedal. An inch of dust revealed a marble stuck under the pedal mechanism and I vacuum cleaned the whole instrument. So far so good. The next phase was a bit traumatic. The vacuum cleaner started popping of the bridle straps (little straps with tabs that reset the hammers after the notes were played). At present I have ten notes not working! I have managed to order new straps and am avidly studying the YouTubes. It doesn’t look easy but the straps arrive today and I have another ten days to ride the learning curve! Never shy away for accumulating new skills!

A few scales always work up an appetite before breakfast. Today I focused on the diminished scales – nine-note scales, sometimes known as half-whole scales. Like the diminished chords, there are only three on your keyboard. I tend to play a favourite chord (usually a diminished or a 13th/b9), play the scale a few times and try out a couple of nice fun phrases around the scale. Woah.. Gimme some caffeine!

During my past years as, “Yer local town pianist”, I have been playing a lot of my songs in keys that my fingers were used to – so today I have been grabbing the Real Book and playing them in their original keys. Today – that wonderful song, Misty by Errol Garner. You can find it played in different styles here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ7v7mdzK08. I have downloaded the PDF – but it’s rubbish – so I am transcribing bits of it into Musescore. Let me know if you would like a copy! (and the preferred format. It’s FOC!)

It’s not in the Real Book – at least not in my 6th edition – but that old WW2 classic, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, was crying out to be transposed into Eb – so I did and enjoyed the refrain when it changed to G. Joy!