You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - An Analysis' Analysis

Episode Date: June 20, 2022

Peter analyzes Adam's analysis of Oscar Peterson! - Link to Adam's youtube can be found right here! - Link to the discounted Language of the Masters course can be found right here!Have a question for us? Leave us a SpeakPipeCheckout courses from Adam, Peter and more at Open StudioLet us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel.Follow us on Twitter | Instagram

Hey, Peter. Hey, what's up? Uh, I seem to still be talking to myself. Yes, that is true. Wow. Okay, this is going to take a certain level of self-awareness that I may or may not have. Well, let's see how it goes, buddy. I'm Peter Martin, and you are listening to the You'll Hear at podcast Jazz Explained. What's going on, everybody? I'm still rolling solo style here, having a little bit of fun. Adam is still up in the upper, Fjords of Minnesota, Minnesota or something like that. What a horrible accent I just said. It was both derogatory and inaccurate at the same time. Big apologies to everybody from up in Minnesota. But we wish Adam well and I know he's having some fun up there. But Adam is still going to be a part of the show today because what are we talking about here on the pod? We are talking about Adam Manus talking about and analyzing and breaking down the great Oscar Peterson. And specifically, what Oscar Peterson is not playing. And that's the title of Adams' wonderful, instructive, illuminating, an illustrious YouTube video from last week.

It's called What's Oscar Peterson Not Playing? And it's really a lot of fun when he first gave me the, told me what he was going to do. And he created this video really fast. We were in here working on something in the morning. And he said, you know what? I think I got an idea for tomorrow's YouTube video. And when he told me this, I was like, what? I mean, because basically the theme of the video is about how Oscar Peterson basically doesn't play five chords, especially on blues.

And I was just, I had to do a double tick because I was like, of course he plays five chords. I mean, Oscar Peterson is known as one of the greatest changes playing pianists ever. I mean, just playing really cool stuff, but always playing the changes, outlining the changes, playing cool alterations, playing cool bluesy stuff, whatever. but I never thought of him as just ignoring any particular chord like the five chord. But Adam really had some cool insights into this. And so I thought it would be fun if we just kind of went through the YouTube video because when we watch YouTube videos, of course, we can see them, which is fun. But when we just listen to them, they have a little bit of a different flavor.

So that's what we're going to do on the pot here. I'm just going to play it. And then I'm going to stop. We're going to break it down. We're going to have a little bit of fun. So this is Adam Manis on the Open Studio YouTube channel title is what's Oscar Peterson not playing. Here we go. When you think of pianist Oscar Peterson, you probably think of a sound kind of like this.

Okay, let me stop already. This is Peter back again, by the way. Okay, I love this video so much of Oscar Peterson, and we've got the transcription on there, which is really fun. But this is from live in Copenhagen and C Jam Blues. If you just search C Jam Blues on YouTube, you'll see this with Oscar Peterson. But what a great solo. break, right? It's so fun to see it. So let's just listen one more time. Okay, one chord, four corn. Wait, what was that at the end? Okay, so Adam says, wait, what was that at the end? And I'm already thinking, wait, okay, you're saying there's no five being played, but he does play the five. So that's what first got me like, whoa, let's check it out. That's the five chord. One more time, one more time.

What was that at the very end? Okay, that's what we're talking about today. That last cadence into the tonic makes Oscar Peterson Oscar Peterson. And if we want to know how we can get that sound for our own playing, we're going to have to break it down. And that's what we're going to do today. My name's Adam Manus. His name is Adam Manus,

and he's going to break it down, and we're going to break him down. Today, we're talking about Oscar Peterson's no five. Two-five. Okay, so he calls it Oscar Peterson's no-five, two-five, which is a really cool thing, but it's really important for this concept, realized because these examples that Adam goes through of Oscar Peterson's playing are all over

two-fives, which as we as we know as jazz musicians, it's so important to know what to play, how to navigate, how to play cool stuff over two-fives, how to personalize them too, because we think about all the great players and we're like, they all had a way to do it. And so I think that this insight into how Oscar Peterson does it over the two-five, by not playing the five, as we're going to see, is super instructive. Not that we have to do this all the time, although it is fun to do it, and I realize I kind of thought this,

I guess I stole it from Oscar Peterson or somebody, but so that we can think about, like, what are ways to break the rules, but make it sound right, you know what I mean? To make it sound great, to make it sound cool. As always,

this video is brought to you by Open Studio. You go to Open StudioJazz.com. That might be the most important part. Also, a lot of what we're dealing with today is covered in a course that Peter Martin and I made called Language of the Masters. You can see all these great transatlores. descriptions in the course.

And you can find a discount to that course in the description of this video. Okay, yeah. So language of the masters, we actually break down this particular solo from Oscar Peterson. And we've got the full transcription. So highly recommend that language of the masters. We'll have a link as well on the YouTube and on this podcast description for you. Because we also do like Chickoria, Thelonious Monk, I think, Winton Kelly.

Yes, Herbie Hancock, a bunch of blue solos and just kind of geek out on them. have some fun. So before we get into the many examples that we have queued up for what Oscar's playing over these 5-1 cadences, let's talk about the where of what he's playing, because that is equally, if not more important than what he's playing. Okay, so what Adam's talking about here is, I kind of missed this the first time I watched it to tell you the truth, but it really is important. You know, there's like the what you play and then there's the when you play it or the where you play it, or the where you played, as he said, where. And that's like the positioning within the form.

A lot of times we think about, okay, it's the blues. These are the changes. It is what it is. But great players, and that can be all of us. You know, don't ever think like, oh, this stuff is too advanced for me. No, we're trying to highlight some things here that we can all play. We might not be able to play it just like Oscar Peterson, but we can take this concept. So it's like, how do you take this simple form but find those where places within that

to do something cool. And the timing of that and where it falls in the form is super important as Adam's about to break down. Every single instance of this no-five, two-five that we're going to talk about happens at the end of a major phrase. So we have a lot of blues tunes here, right, the 12-bar blues form.

And it happens there in bar nine and bar ten leading into the resolution of the tonic chord, right? Okay, so now he's just telling you, that's the where, that's the when. Bar 9 and 10 leading into the resolution. So it's not just about, I mean, bar 9 and bar 10 is where it happens. But to the listener, that doesn't mean anything because nobody's at a jazz club or watching Oscar Peterson on YouTube counting bars, right?

No, you're tapping your foot having a good old time. But where it occurs and when it occurs in terms of right before the resolution at bar 11, And that's something we can all associate with that tension and resolution in the story of the blues form. We also have some examples from a non-blue tune. And it happens over a 3625 at the end of a section, like a major A section, right? Or the end of the form completely. Okay, again, Adam, this is great. He's breaking down when and where on a different form besides the blues.

That's where he throws in this no-5-25. It's incredibly important to recognize that. Now, Adam's doing a cool thing here too. He keeps emphasizing the no 5, 25, this new nomenclature that he came up with. And that's important the same way that we would develop an idea and a solo. Like when we play something new, even though it has some connection with something that we know. So like he's saying no 5, 25. And 2.5, we've heard of that before.

all at least have heard the phrase if we don't know it intimately what a two five is or a two five one no five two five is like whoa that's a new thing what does that mean but there's something there it's not just random phrase that he's coming up with so he's kind of explaining it as he goes throughout the video by showing us instead of just telling us what it is but he gives it a name he labels it and then he repeats that same way you would repeat a new phrase and a solo so the listener can start to get used to it. Great stuff. It doesn't really work as well, you know, right at the top of a tune, even if there is a two five right there. That's not what this is about. This is more of an exclamation point kind of a phrase. This is something that you can use

as punctuation to really drive home the point that here we are at the end of an idea. Okay, so this is cool because Adam's sort of telling you he's getting inside the head of Oscar Peterson in a way that is very application based, right? So he's telling you how how basically we can apply this same technique by doing it at the right time. What is it and when does it happen? When can you use it? When do you apply it within the solo of different types of forms in the way that Oscar Peterson does by analyzing the way he plays? And I think, you know, when we look at Soles, this is some of the most important stuff. A lot of times we think about specific phrases that we would be able to lift from Oscar Peterson, for instance, over a 25 or 13625, whatever.

But the kind of when and what and why you play something can be a lot more instructive and illuminating to our playing if we can get at that. And it is simply brilliant the way Oscar Peterson threads these through his solos. It really adds some weight to the end of phrases, to the end of phrases, to the end of sections. It helps to establish the forum and it helps to bring his listener down very gently and beautifully

at the end of each phrase. Now that we know when Oscar uses this no 525, let's look at what... Ah, he said it again. No 525. Driving that point home, making it a thing, as we say. But it isn't.

It's not functional harmony. It is not the paint by number... Okay. Now, what Adam is doing here is something that we really believe in deeply here at Open Studio and at the You'll Hear a podcast. And that is when you're trying to figure out how to play, how to incorporate a new technique, how to learn how to get better, how to improvise something that's more interesting that you did

yesterday, you have to simultaneously, if not before you're worried about what to play is to figure out what not to play. Okay. And also, once you figure out something cool to play like that, you're going to play like that, this, when not to use it and how not to use it. Okay? Because it's like you can use, you can come up with something and then make it sound wrong by not using it in the correct way. So you've got to learn what it is and how not to use it. If not before, at least at the same time as you're learning how to use in this case, the no five, two five. Almost sounds like a no fly

zone or no fly list or something. But this is the no five, not the no fly. outline the chord changes kind of playing that you get from the last 30 or 40 years of improvisational instruction or from goofy ass YouTubers. It is not this. Okay, it should just be noted that Adam pointed to himself in the video as he said goofy ass YouTubers. I didn't say that. And I didn't point at him. He did. It is not even this.

it's not so these are all like you know kind of typical ways of playing five to one and he's got some cool examples with notation up there and none of them are wrong it's just not what oscar peterson does so that's fine where you're outlining you know like an altered sound or the tritone substitution sound it's none of those things throw your preconceived notions about outlining chords as a way to uh bring your listener home, throw those out the window, because that's not what we're doing here. What we are doing is this. We're still building tension, even with this, which is what I'm calling a heavy tonic sound. The five is just the one.

I think that's Barry Harris's voice in the back of my head, as I said that, because that's something that musicians from that generation. Okay. Oh, sorry. I paused. Preach to us again and again and again and maybe someday we'll all get it. Yeah. Yeah, so what he's talking about here, heavy tonic sound, and he's going to go more into this.

Such an important concept. I've never heard it put this way, but it's something that really resonates. And this is where we have, especially over more traditional kinds of forms. And by traditional, I mean things that are like recognized to people, like the blues, like rhythm changes, like, like, you know, anything that people kind of connect with, even when they don't know that they're connecting with it. Like, they don't know that that's a blues, but they like the way it sounds and they know where it's cycling through and where it's coming from and where it's going. So when you have a deep understanding of what the tonic is and what the melodic possibilities and implications of that are, as you move throughout the entire blues, not just on the one chord,

the stronger chance for success you're going to have really being able to connect things in a way that are, you know, really high level. They seem more basic, but they're super high level. The five is just the one. And Oscar proves that throughout this solo here. from this live recording of CGM Blues. It happens like six times during his long solo. And we can learn from that.

So let's look at this. So Adam's got a great point here. Like when we're trying to learn stuff and analyze a solo, it's not just about learning the licks, but it's like learning the concepts. And when you hear something that's repeated and that works well and that resonates with you and resonates with most listeners and it's done multiple times,

that's something that you want to focus in on. That could be a lot of little cool details, but those things that are repeated, those larger scale concepts are the things that you really want to make sure you get out of it. This first bit of language that we heard, let's listen to it here. Did you hear it? There it was. Let's hear it again. Listen one more time. Okay.

And a lot of like, we've already heard this phrase like four times in this video. We're only four and a half minutes into it. But that's exactly how you learn this stuff. That's how you lock it and listen to it over and over again. focus in on those specific parts and let your ears acclimate to them. It's good enough for the listener, for the fan in you

to just hear something once and then move on to something else. But if you want to be able to incorporate these concepts or even have the chance of incorporating them into your playing, you've got to listen to them over and over again intently and the right parts and start to make those connections.

To what Oscar plays here. Okay, so what is going to? going on here. So check it out. So we have a D7 on the two chord. This is in the key of C C. J&Bloose. So this two chord is a D7. That's notable because every single two chord we're going to hear Oscar Peterson play today. He makes into a dominant seven. It's not a minor seven. He plays a dominant seven. But look at what he does on this dominant seven. How C major is this? This is why this is a heavy tonic sound. Look at the big movements here. Right on the on beats one, on beats three,

on beats one. That's a C major triad. And then look what he does right there at the beginning of the five chord. That's down a C6 chord. Then he does this. And you could see there is a G major triad at the end, but that's not how I think he's, I mean, he's not thinking that, right? And I love this when Adam gets into saying what Oscar Peterson's thinking. A lot of times people would be like, well, you don't know what he's thinking. Maybe he's thinking G. But because Adam has presented this and listened to it a bunch of times and at least he's putting a really good case to say that from analyzing the flow of what he's playing with his improv line there

that it doesn't function as a G major chord there. I would totally agree with him. It's kind of a moot point in terms of what is he thinking? Because we'll never know. The thing is even if Oscar Peterson was still with us, if we played this form and said, what were you thinking at that point? He wouldn't say G major.

He also wouldn't say heavy tonic sound. But he would say, I'm thinking about playing a swinging bluesy line that goes along there, that goes along that 2-5-1 back to the tonic. And I think that it's totally fair game for us to be able to then take from that to, like, analyze and see, well, how does he accomplish that? How does he play that thing in a way that it's like, wow, that's that Oscar Peterson sound? And how can we grab hold to a little bit of that?

This is more of, it's this movement. the B-flap agreed to the C, to the tonic. Creating a little bit of tension there at the end, but then down right back into like a C-6 sound. But this is so heavy on the tonic. It's so heavily C. That couldn't be more C. And it should be noted here that Ray Brown

is not playing heavy tonic sound at this part. So this is something that works over the actual changes. A lot of times when we talk about substitute, This is not a substitution, this heavy tonic sign. It's not like you're substituting a C-7 for the D-7 and the G7. This is floating something on top that just works even as the root movement and the chord changes flow through those measures and those positions, those winds of the blues at that particular part.

See how he's playing it? This G clashing over maybe the F-sharp on the D-7. It should clas, but it doesn't. that feels so much it definitely doesn't feel like you know something like different sounds so spelled out of you know these spelled out versions of two five ones that's not what goes on here in oscar peterson's brain as he's resolving these things now he does do that in other places but it is a big part of his sound this heavy tonic sound right all right that's such great stuff and i'm just i'm going to leave it there on the video but just to say that check out the rest of

Adam's video, he kind of shows these same examples on a couple of other tunes and a couple other times. But what he just said there is really important. It's like he does this, but he doesn't, he does a lot, but he doesn't do it every time. That's so important. Like once you get something that works and sounds good, that doesn't mean you should or have to or that it's even advisable that you do it every time. Because the whole thing is like use it at the right time. Have that as part of your vocabulary, part of your tools in your toolbox, but have other things too. Heavy tonic sound.

And look, we get excited about these things when we learn them and then we're going to try to put it in our playing all the time. But we don't want to be one-dimensional players even when we're taking from the masters like Oscar Peterson. All right. So as you do take this, and it should be noted, like whatever instrument you play, this is so valuable. It's almost more valuable if you're not a pianist

because you can incorporate these types of techniques in a way that doesn't. sound like you're copying Oscar Peterson as much as if you're doing it on piano. No problem with that, but it can be a little intimidating because it's going to be hard to be Oscar Peterson as good as Oscar Peterson. He's always going to be better at being himself. But when you take these to other instruments, the same way as pianists when we learn, you know, Miles Davis lines or, you know, Ray Brown, whatever, adapting them to the piano, we have an opportunity to kind of tailor them to our style, if you will. So there you go. That is Adam Manus on.

on Oscar Peterson and what not to play, when not to play over a five-core, even when it's there. So that was fun. Hope we enjoyed it. We're going to have Adam back soon. But until then, you'll hear it.