You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - BONUS EPISODE - Our 7 Favorite Jazz Piano Albums for Beginners

Episode Date: July 12, 2018

Today, Peter and Adam list their 7 favorite jazz piano albums for beginners to check out. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Adam Mace and I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to a very special episode of the You'll Hear It Podcast. Daily Jazz Advice, twice daily jazz advice today. Twice daily. This is the first time we've ever done this. Two podcasts one day. Man, I'm so excited for a couple of reasons. That being the biggest one.

Two in a day. But also, we're getting back to our seven list. We've gone a couple days. I didn't realize how much I was going to miss it. It feels very strange not to do a list of seven. But today we have a list of seven. But that's not the reason we're jumping back in today with our second episode, right? Tell them why.

No, and it's not because we're bored or because if we wanted up the podcast game, we're doing just fine. No, we're doing today at 3 p.m. Central, 4 p.m. Eastern. We're doing our very first webinar on beginning jazz piano. So we thought we'd make a list of seven of our favorite records to check out if you're a beginner jazz pianist. Some of these we've talked about before. If you're an experienced jazz pianist, you probably know all of these backwards and forwards. but it's good to go back to them.

They're all really awesome. They're all sort of landmark recordings in the jazz piano genre. So I'm excited. And welcome to any new listeners who came, who are coming from the webinar. I'm sure we can give a shout out in the webinar to the podcast so that people can come hear it, right? Absolutely.

We will certainly do that. And just to say, I think our thought behind this list was they're four beginner jazz pianists, but these are not beginner jazz albums. These, I think most people would agree, are ones that you can listen to and learn from and enjoy forever at any level. But we were trying to put something together that would be inspiring specifically to someone that is just starting their jazz piano journey now. Yeah, albums that have like a lot of jam session standards, you know, that cover the blues. No one wants to hear actual albums by beginning jazz pianists.

Right, exactly. No offense, beginner jazz piano. Yeah, yeah. You know, it takes a little work. Yeah. But these will be things for you to, I mean, as you're starting, you know, learning this language and learning how to play it at the piano, I mean, it's going to, you can be very overwhelmed. But as we're going to talk about in the webinar and the reason we call it simple swing is that we really believe here. And I'm so passionate about a system of learning to play jazz at the piano that is inspiring and that you can inspire yourself from the very beginning. You don't need to. know a whole bunch of theory and what kind of, you know, dominant sharp nine and all that. We get into all that later. This is just about hearing something that sounds great, taking the

piano skills that you have, and starting to put some very simple voicings and melodies and even improvisation from the beginning with feeling, learning the swing field, learning to speak the language. It's kind of like if you were to learn a foreign language and you started out just by having someone that could speak it, say some things and just bonjour. And then you say, bonjour. And then, no, bonjour. But you're just, but you just. just imitating. We can actually get that quicker than you think. Instead of saying, okay, I'm going to teach you a word that means hello, but you have to, you know, conjugate it in this way. Curve your mouth in this way. We're just going to listen and imitate. And so these albums, I think,

go along with that in that there are actually some things on there that you're going to be able to reference, be inspired by as you start your jazz piano journey. Yeah, and these are, these are cultural albums, too. Like when you know, when you start meeting other jazz musicians, they're going to reference these albums. And if you know what they are, you're going to be kind of in the club already. So consider these your first seven essential jazz piano albums. Where are we starting with? Well, number one, we're going Oscar Peterson, Night Train. Straight down the middle of the pipe. Straight down the middle of the pipe. But what a great pipe to be right down the middle of it. It feels really good, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, this is, there's a reason that this is kind of, I mean,

this could almost be like, if we ever had to do a list of the one greatest jazz piano record of all time. I mean, it would be controversial to leave out anything, but I don't think anyone would have a problem. You could have other ones, but this might be the one. What I like about this one, especially for beginners, is, you know, Oscar Peterson, maybe not the most, like, pushing artistic boundaries even of his day, but this feels so good. Yeah. And the playing is so good. There's hard to deny that it's just not one of the greatest jazz piano albums ever made. Yeah, and I think it's kind of, you know, it's inspirational and aspirational. Totally. And accessible all at the same time, which is very hard to do, you know. I mean, there's some things on there that once you kind of start

to learn to play jazz piano, you realize like, wow, I'm never going to be able to play that. I mean, I still feel that way. Any pianist would feel that way about Oscar Peterson. Yeah. But at the same time, like, he kind of makes it feel simple. Well, he makes everything seem so easy that it's just like, jazz is great. Yeah, yeah, effortless. And like, you know, like, you. You know, if you go on, I was looking at that, you know, interview and demo he did with Dick Cavett from the, from, I guess, the early 70s or something. You know, physically, I got to see him play. Did you ever see him play live? No, I never did. Man, I saw him a couple times.

I mean, actually, my first jazz concert, you know, when I was 14 years old. Nice. But then I saw him later. I got to meet him. And just to see the way that he physically looked and played the instrument was exactly like he sounds on this record, just effortless, fun and love and everything. What you got for number two? So number two, I wanted to do a big one that was influential to me when I was first starting. That's Bill Evans' portrait and jazz.

This is a really great trio record in that there's a lot of interplay between the trio. There's a lot of standards, autumn leaves, come rain or come shine, what is this thing called love? A lot of tunes that you can learn. And Bill plays, especially on this album in this era, not simply, but it's easy to transcribe. Like the autumn leaves solo is one that a lot of people start their transcription process with, and you get a lot of great information about it. Man, talk about vocabulary for this music. I think that's, it's so great.

I think all these albums, I think we can't underestimate or understate the value as you're starting your jazz piano journey. And as forever, as you're doing it, is immersing yourself in the sound of jazz piano. You're going to be at the piano, of course, practicing. But I think getting that with just the same thing, you're learning that language and hearing the best of the best in a really clear and concise way and inspiring, you know. And what's great about, like, our first two picks here is they were recorded pretty close together. around the same time, and they couldn't sound different. I mean, it's the same instrumentation, but the sound is totally different on both of them. The feel is totally different.

Both great. Well, and it's really, I think the thing that links them, I mean, certainly is the jazz and the swing and the certain groove, but even more so it's just the piano. Yeah. You know, and so like Oscar Peterson's approach to instruments very different from Bill Evans. I mean, they both were really technicians in a lot of ways. It had very advanced piano techniques, but it just shows you, you know, the possibilities that are there. All right, speaking of technicians, who do we have for number three?

Well, number three, I'm going to go, I mean, you know, Herbie Hancock, my man, Herbie Hancock. This was pretty good that I even made it to number three without getting to Herbie because he's usually at the top of my list. But in particular, his record, Maiden Voyage. Nice. This is, you know, you could say that it's one of his more accessible, if not his most accessible. I think it is, yeah. Records. But it's, you know, one of his best, too.

I mean, the quality levels there, you know, to your point earlier about, like with Oscar Peterson, maybe not pushing a whole lot of boundaries like he did in other. times, but still pushing the boundaries because that was Herbie's thing. Just great playing. Like this one's great too because now we're moving away from trio playing, so we're getting some just fantastic comping and interactive rhythm section playing outside of the trio. I mean, with the rhythm section, but while the horns are playing and stuff. So there's some interesting things to be inspired as a beginner on that. Great compositions that are very accessible to play and important for the vocabulary of this music.

Yeah, I like that too. because of the compositions, I mean, Maiden Voyage isn't, you know, it's two chords. Right. And it's an easy melody to learn. And then, you know, you learn about sus chords and then all this. And you learn, you know, that was, to me, that's the first introduction in trying to play over one chord. Right. Which is a whole different thing from Bill Evans and Oscar Peterson, you know, those two records before that is it's a skill that you have to learn.

But there's no better person to learn that from that, Herbie. Yeah. And I love stuff like this, you know, like on that particular track, you know, on Maiden Voyage, those, the limited chords, but sitting on from it. but it's that sus-cord. It's a very modern sound. And I love for, I think, beginners to, like, get into something that some people hold back, and all that's for later. No, it doesn't need to be.

Because it's a little bit more advanced harmonically. But I almost think it's a great time to get into that before you fully theoretically understand what it is. Because the theory kind of messes you up in a way. A little bit. You know, and so you really know both the sound, the vocabulary, and the theory, and then you've practiced it for a number of years. But, I mean, it's a great thing being a thing. at the beginning of that journey where you're kind of, you're naive, but you can use that to your

advantage. So I think learning some different sounds, some more advanced harmonic sounds before you get intimidated by the theory is a beautiful thing. That's great. All right, I'm going to go, from my next pick, I'm going to go Bud Powell, the genius of Bud Powell. For me, this is a sweet spot record for Bud Powell. What a cocky title. I love it. I know. I wonder if that was his idea. Probably was not, by the way, at that era. But there's some great tunes on here, T for two, Parisian thoroughfare, hallucinations. just one of those things. Really, really good standards, and the playing on here is pretty exquisite.

Especially if you want to get some bebop sounds in your playing as a piano. I do. I want it. I want to give it to me. This is some stuff that you can absolutely lift. The sound on this is great. And this is, in my opinion, when he was playing his strongest. That's good.

Okay, so next, what are we on five, I think? What was that? I think we're on five, yeah. Okay, so I'm going to go, you mentioned T for two, which is interesting because that is on this album. Art Tatum, Piano starts here. Nice. Now, I've mentioned this album before, and this was super inspiring to me. It was kind of the thing, especially for solo piano.

My dad had this record and played a lot from when I was really young. So I heard this record a lot. And Artatum, it's funny, you say, beginning jazz piano, how far from beginner could we talk about? No, but this is goals, life goals. This is right. Yeah, this is the truly aspirational. But I'd say that this is probably his mind. most accessible kind of compilation of tracks.

I agree with that. That you could go. And he does T for 2 and he does, you know, St. Louis Blues, your favorite, one of your favorite tunes there. And, you know, how high the moon. Very simple tune. Of course, he goes crazy with it. Somewhere of the rainbow on this one?

No, but someone to watch over me. Someone to watch over me. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's a great arrangement. He does go on somewhere over the rainbow. Yeah. I copied that.

I mean, as best I could once. It was hard. And then Willowee, for me, I love. love. And all the tracks are like really short on there. It's like very, um, digestible. And like, you know, as you say, this is, this is like the mountaintop. This is the Mount Everest that, that we may never get there, but it's fun to be on that same pathway going that, going that direction. All right. So for number six, I'm going to go a little bit more into the modern era, just a, just a hair. And that's Chick Corea's, now he sings, now he sobs. I remember the first time I

heard this. I'd never really heard Chick Corea. I've been playing jazz piano for a couple years. And I heard this. And I didn't know that a piano could sound like that with that percussive attack. And the long, even lines that sounds like everything is perfectly weighted. And I mean, what a great sound this album has. And, you know, the language on this, too, is still played today. It still sounds incredibly modern. You know, young jazz pianists still lift from this and use this as a way to kind of get that angular pentatonic sound. Yes.

You know, you get these, these sounds from him, especially the first track Matrix. A lot of people transcribe the solo. It's kind of, it's an easy, it's a hard solo for sure, but it's easy to hear. It's an F blues, you know, so you can really kind of dig into that one. And I think, too, to remember, like, as, you know, when you're at that beginner level, it's such a special time because you can, you know, it's like when you move into a new house or, you know, you can, there's a reset going. Because if you're beginner jazz piano, you're already a pianist most likely. You can play the instruments.

But this is like the first time that you're getting into something new. And what a great time to start your listening out in a way that you have some great stuff to aspire to. So you might not get a year or two years, maybe six months, depending on how much time you have. You might not get to the point where you could even transcribe that chikaria solo. But what a wonderful thing that you've had these months of enjoying and listen to it. Like once you get to the level where you could do that, you already know the solo in you. You can sing it. So it's like, don't wait until you get to the advanced level to start listening to this stuff.

Be preparing because that's, and that's going to give you the swing, the feel you're going to understand his style, all that kind of stuff. Yeah, just to maybe experiment and see what you like. You know, maybe you like modal jazz more than you like cool jazz or you like bebop more than you like modern jazz, whatever. You know, listen to a variety of stuff when you're starting out. Absolutely. Okay, so for number seven, I'm going to go, everything we've done so far has been a pianist album as well. And so I'm going to vary a little bit from that and go with Miles Davis, kind of blue.

So I'm not familiar with this one. How many lists has this record been on? I love how we're like promoting the best-selling album, jazz album of all time. Like it needs a lot of promoting. Like it needs it. You know, Peter and Adam have validated kind of blue. Didn't we put this on our deep cuts? Hidden gems.

Yeah, but this is the thing. So obviously we're looking at this totally from a pianist standpoint today. and a beginner pianist, and we look at, you know, it's funny because we're thinking, I think, I'm thinking first of Freddie Freeloader the solo, Witten Kelly, and that's the only track, isn't that the only track he's on? It is the only track of time, yeah. So, I mean, most of the record is Bill Evans, which is great on there, too. Well, but another beginner thing is, are those voicings Bill Evans does on, on, what is the

flamenco? Oh, so what? So what, so what voicing? I mean, those are like iconic voicing. That's right. You got to learn those. You got to learn those sometimes. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, so there's, I mean, there's so much on this, you know, for a pianist. But I would say specifically the Freddie Freeloader solo that Miles plays and that Witt and Kelly plays are very accessible. Like that's going to be some of your early solos that you can learn. I know in the course, the jazz piano for beginners, I think I'm already, or do we do that in the intermediate? I think we're already into the Freddie Freeloader solo a little bit. You start getting into it, yeah, yeah.

And so, again, this is great stuff to have in your ears as you start. and just one of the best sounding jazz albums ever made. Totally. Well, so we hope that you enjoy this list of sort of seven essential jazz albums for beginners for jazz pianos. Jazz pianos, pianos, pianos can't listen to albums for jazz pianists. You know what, this podcast is going to be around for a while. We're future-proofing. That's true.

And if there's ever jazz pianos, you know, like AI technology has developed that. What's old is new again. That's right. So is there somewhere where can people go for this webinar? We're going to try to get this up before. They can come here to the studio, but it's starting in about three hours, so you better hurry up and come to St. Louis. No, if you go to OpenStudio Network.com slash webinar, you'll be able to access the webinar.

We invite you to join in. You kind of normally have to register, but if you go there, you can just register right as you're joining. It's free. It's open to everybody, not just pianist either. Yeah. If you just want to, it's going to be about an hour, maybe a little bit longer, but I'm going to demonstrate, just do like a little mini lesson we're going to do, and you're going

to be there to help fill in anything that I miss. And there's going to be replayed a little bit after. Yeah, we're going to have a small window, I think, for replaying. So even if you hear this a little bit later, you can go check out that page and it also show you maybe some for... If this works out well and folks like it, but, you know, our idea is just to share a little bit of a lesson so people can see a demonstration, do a little bit of a Q&A, and then we're going to talk about it and have a special offer for jazz piano for beginners. Nice. And maybe even, I don't want to give anything away, but maybe even something a little bit beyond jazz piano for beginning.

A little personal, maybe? A little personal, a little EJ, a little element. I don't know we're not supposed to give it away. Don't give it away, don't give it away. But what we, what we're hoping to do is just sort of show the open studio style, the Peter and Adam piano style of like, of the system that we think that we've really unlocked for folks that are in any place in their jazz journey at the piano,

we've got something for you to inspire you. And mainly to like, I mean, look, there's a lot of methods out there and some are good, some are not, and everybody has a lot of choices. I think what we've developed is a way to learn this music in the most organic way, the most joyful way. Swing. We're going to be talking about swing and groove as much as worth way more than we're going to talk about C7-sharp 11 and all that. Like this is going to really be, you know, mostly for the beginner, getting up to the intermediate level, but like a way to join in with this music and be a part of it of this wonderful music called jazz and not be like, oh, there's secrets out there. I can't participate. You're going to be jumping right in. That's great. So we're live at 4 p.m. Eastern and 3 p.m. Central.

We're going to have it up at openstudio network.com slash webinar. It'll be there for a little while afterwards if you're late to the party here. If you're listening at 5 p.m. Eastern, you know, you can still go and check it out for a little while at least. And yeah, if you go, you'll hear it.