You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - Our Favorite Left Hands - #123

Episode Date: June 1, 2018

Today, Adam and Peter list their favorite pianists with amazing left hands. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I'm Peter Martin. And I'm Adam Manus. You're listening to the You'll Hear It Podcast. Daily Jazz Advice coming at you. Today we're going to give you our favorite left hands. What the hell does that mean? Man, I'm reading the, we're trying to get organized and have this. Not a script, but we got titles at least.

That's what it says. Yeah, what are we talking about? Left hands on piano. On pianos. Okay. No, this is good. This is good. Okay.

Cool. First of all, my favorite left hand is mine because I use it every day. Actually, you do have a really good left hand. Well, I didn't want to. Are we starting there? No. We'll get to it. Number one, listen to Peter Martin.

Oh, wait. Okay, so I'll kick it off then, I guess. Good. We'll go with Art Tatum. Can we call Art Tatum the Great Art Tatum? Well, for sure. Let's just call him Grart Tatum. Grart Tatum.

His great should just be part of his name. Yeah, I mean, his left hand was I. I mean, if you think his right hand's eye, then his left hand is basically the same. No, I mean, this is like one of the greatest left hands, you know, ever, really. there was no difference between his right hand. I just said that. Oh, yeah, yeah. No, really, like there's, but I'm reinforcing.

Oh, it's like you're the right and on the left. It's like there's no difference, right? We're the same. Yeah, I mean, obviously, from Stride to, I mean, he could play so fast and clean with his left hand. Lines that sound better than most people's right hand. And then just huge 10th chords, massive 10th chords that felt clean. And I just never heard him here. You never hear him play anything that feels bad or that clunks or anything.

Right. I don't know how he did it. And I think some of those tense in the left hand, he would go in and out of having, you know, like four note and even, I think, five notes. Five notes, yeah. Within that, but go in and out of it. Like, his arranging skills for that solo piano stuff, I think, are a big part of it. Like, it's almost like he had this huge, he knew he had this much bigger palette,

technical palette to work with for the arrangement and really took advantage of it, I think, in a very musical way. Because even like when we talk about the left hand, it's not like, I mean, he could do the two-handed lines, and he would sometimes go into that, but it was mostly like independent things going on. Oh, yeah, he would be doing a line. He would be doing the melody of the song with his right hand.

And then left-hand, he's doing these, like, super fast descending arpeggios. Yeah. And they're super clean and changing and their hip. And while doing that, he was like smoking a cigarette and texting with his two other hands. I don't think he was texting. Okay. Yeah, maybe.

Now, he was great. So, well, number two, then, wait, do we say we're giving seven left hand? No, we didn't. We didn't. We didn't say. We left it open-ended today. Yeah, we'll see what we can come up with here.

Or maybe he closed it. That's good. Well, is it too obvious then to go from Artanum to Oscar Peterson? I think because I'm about to do it. The logical pass. It is. So Oscar Peterson, you know, often referred to as a protege of Artatim, although I don't know that that was official, certainly influenced by him.

But to me, a very different player, you know. In fact, the main thing that maybe, actually binds them together is his mastery of the left hand and and a near if not actual equivalence of independence and usage of both hands that he had that they had that in common yeah a little bit different style but certainly had that independence yeah yeah and then you know Oscar Peterson may be doing and known for a little bit more work with trios and stuff although he you know to me what's cool is what he did with the great trio and I'm not saying the great well he is the great Grosker Peterson, but with his great trios is that, you know, there would be a fair amount

of solo piano in there, like in the introductions, not always Roboto, and sometimes that was some of the coolest left-hand stuff. Like when he would be playing those real simple bass lines and kind of going crazy with the right hand, and then, you know, he was like Tatum too and that his lines were, it was never like right versus left or one or the other. It was all combined in the different zones and using them as needed. But where he would go with those great bass lines and little things and then Ray Brown will come in and it was like, I mean, that's, that's edgy to like play a baseline and then call in Ray Brown and start playing it at a baseline. I think it's a great lesson, though, for modern pianists who we don't often, and shame on

us for incorporating our left hand in those same kind of ways. I mean, but we should. You do. I try. I'm going to go with my next pick here, number three, is Teddy Wilson. Oh, okay. You know, and maybe, OG, Teddy Wilson. Maybe not as much of a technician. you would say as like Art Tamer or Oscar Peterson, but had such a stylish left hand. Yes. And, you know, played with the great Benny Goodman Trio.

I'm going to go the great for this whole day. I don't care. It's been weeks since we line ice. Come on. Too late. No shame. But, you know, this was piano, drums, clarinet trio.

And really felt amazing. It felt like a whole rhythm section with that left hand. Developed his own style of left hand with some tense voicings and some syncopation in that in that, you know, swinging bass,

lines and stride and really had a stylish left hand and game changer for the left hand. I would say so. And I would say influential on Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson, I think, you know. Yeah, yeah. I'm no historian, but that sounds like it to me. For sure. So next, let's jump up a little bit more modern, although not totally up to today, but to a big influencer and a different kind of left hand playing, and that is the great McCoy Tyner.

And this is a cool thing because McCoy's, you know, still with us. playing doing his thing and I heard him you know within the last two years or so and his left hand is still very strong you know I I heard him so much on records growing up before I saw him well I'd seen a video of him but he was very young and he looked I was I was so shocked by how small he looked because I'd always imagined him and I think it was partly just because he was young and he was kind of slight and skinny he's a big guy you know yeah yeah but I just from his recordings I always thought he was just this huge I thought he was like you you know, a wrestler, basically.

Yeah. Because of just the amount of force that he had. The power in the sound. Yeah, and a lot of that was the left hand. I mean, the right hand, there was a lot there too, but it was just like going crazy with the right hand. It just boom. And just that iconic, you know, it's like, oh, yeah, no parallel fists.

Watch these parallel fists. Right, yeah, yeah. But really able to bring out a huge sound. I mean, not a banger. Like, if you think about the McCoy sound being banging, that's like a lot of people imitating his sound. Like, when you really go back and listen to the way he plays, it's loud, but it's not banging.

Like, a lot of people miss that, you know. If only he can get a check for every time a modern jazz piano he plunks down, C and G, and then does some chordal voicing. And so, yeah, and what he really created, I mean, of course, you know, he's standing on the shoulders of Teddy Wilson, you know, left hand and all these great players, but Mary Lou Williams for sure. But, I mean, he really kind of pushed the envelope with the fourth voicing,

not that he's the first to play for us, obviously not, but in that style that he created, and it's very conveniently called. Cortle voicing? Well, the McCoy style. Oh, sorry. You know, doing his McCoy thing in the left hand. You know, for him, it's not the McCoy thing.

It's just playing jazz piano, I guess. How's McCoy's McCoy's thing? Man, he's not the best, but he's pretty good, man. It's not as good. Man, he's mastered the Herbie thing, though. He's got that down. No, but it's like, you know, when he runs, like, there's a lot of melodic stuff actually happening there.

And, like, a lot of it gets lost, especially when Elvin Jones is playing, because there's so much great stuff between the right hand and everything. But if you isolate and listen out to some of that left-hand stuff, you'll start to hear some stuff. It might have been kind of influenced from Bill Evans, I'm wondering too, because he loved doing this kind of counter melodies and stuff with the top of the left hand.

But McCoy Tyner, to me, kind of is coming out of that same thing, but just going more percussive, going more modal and forth. Well, I'm glad you brought up Bill Evans because that's my pick. Number five here is Bill Evans. You know, Bill Evans, truly a two-handed piano player, especially, you know, if you check out, you know, the duo records with Jim Hall, with Tony Bennett, you know, his solo piano game is strong. Yeah. The voice leading in the left hand is incredible.

And then, you know, even on the trio stuff, though, he had that very unique style of, you know, playing those block chords in the left hand with his lines. Right. You know what I mean? And that's a kind of counter melodies that sounded like to the lines and to the bass sometimes. Counter melodies, octaves in a lot of cases. and very clean, a lot of technical stuff going on, a lot of good piano stuff.

And, yeah, Bill Evans, one of my favorite left hands, for sure. Yeah, and I think he's, you know, he was also like a master, even at the trio setting of, like, the introductions. I'm thinking like, you know, waltz for Debbie. Yep. The, you know, the introduction

where he's really doing all this great left hand solo piano and then goes bam right into the trio and makes that adjustment. Totally. The left hand's still there at times, but it's like now it's working with the bass in a really cool and innovative way. That's awesome.

So let's, are we actually at 7 and we didn't try it? No, we're at 6. Okay, you know what? We're going to change it up. We're going to, we are going to give you less than we normally do. We're going to pull, this episode is so good that you'll hear it. We're done. No, just kidding. But we're only going to do one more. We're only going to do one. Okay.

We're going to do one more because this is complete. I feel like. If you feel another one we can add, but I'm going to jump right up to present day and say Jeff Keiser. I agree with this one. Okay, good. Oh, you didn't agree with the other ones? I didn't. Bill Evans, no, no, no. I think this is a really good call. Yeah, actually. He's, I think, one of the stronger or strongest of our modern, I mean, modern. I guess, yeah, he's kind of getting middle-aged, younger than me. But, but, but. Definitely modern, yeah. He's

modern, and I'm just saying he's not like 19 or 20. He's not a Wundukkindy anymore. He was, he was. No, but he's still influential, though. Yeah, he was playing with our Blakey when he was like 18 years old and stuff, yeah. But, um, I'm just saying he's not like 19 years old and stuff. But I mean his left hand And you know Next time I see it I'm going to encourage him I know he's about to do another trio record

Which is cool Which is great But he's done a couple Solo piano records that I think are just amazing He's a master He's a master that And I want him to do more of that Because the world needs that

And his left hand is just I mean he's got the incredible technique Which is fine But he has great ideas And like he executes on those ideas With the left hand With that same kind of keys or clarity That he has in the right hand

He gets them working together and, you know, I mean, I know that he got a chance to be around Oscar Peterson some and was influenced, like all of us were, but I mean, he really got, like, I think, a direct connection kind of tapped into that in a great way and then combined it with some really cool modern stuff. Yeah, I mean, you can hear the history of the music and not, you know, his right hand, obviously, but in his whole, his whole play, including his left hand, he's got all that stuff. He's got all the Hank Jones, got all of Oscar Peterson, he's got all the Phineas, newborn. Well, but I mean, it's a little unfair because he's from O'Clair. Is he from O'Clair, Wisconsin? I think he is, yeah, yeah. You know, the cradle of jazz. That's right.

It's where he grew up, so that's where he got it. He didn't practice. So one of my favorite recordings of him where you can really hear what he does with the left hand is that Max Jazz recording, Live of the Dakota. Do you ever ever heard that one? Yep. So he does, the first tune is stomping at this Savoy, and they do this, stomping at the Savoy. Yeah. And they do this crazy intro.

And, I mean, he just does all these cool, seamless lines between his right and left hand. Yeah. It's incredible. I got to go back. That's a great. That's a great sound and live record. Oh, it's amazing. That's a great room.

I love that. And Max Jazz, that was kind of a high to Max Jazz. Yeah. That was awesome. Was that a, who engineer? That's a great sounding. I don't know who was the engineer on that. That's good stuff.

I'm just, I just, while you were waxing eloquently on Keyes, I just did a quick Wikipedia search. I have access to a private server of Wikipedia here so I can do such things. Jeffrey Keyes, I was correct. Definitely from O'Clair, Wisconsin. And did play with R. Blakeet at age 18. That wasn't just, I was just sort of saying that, but that was actually correct. So there you go.

Yeah, no, there's some actually great videos on YouTube of Kieser when he's like 15 or something. 16 maybe in his high school jazz band. Oh, yeah. Just like tearing it up. Oh, yeah. That's crazy. It's crazy. It's crazy stuff.

Well, that's a nice little list. Six, I think. I'm feeling good. Six left hands. That adds up to three pairs, right? That's three pairs of left hands. Yeah, so that'll round out our list today. Please go to you'll hear.com to leave us a message and let us know

what you want to hear. Don't forget to leave us a rating or review. We're going for six stars, even though that's impossible. Come on, man. Nothing's impossible, man. Keep your head up. No, the ratings, like, we actually, I don't know, I haven't even shared this with you, Adam.

Okay. A little behind the scenes. All right, all right. We are climbing up the iTunes podcast, the Apple podcast charts. You're kidding. No, no, no. We are climbing up in,

I haven't quite figured out the category, that's the problem. Like, they don't have an official jazz category, but if you go search, like, for jazz, and podcasts. Like, we are climbing up fast. So what helps with that is people listening to it and liking it, reviewing it,

sharing it with your friends. I'm just throwing it out there. But it's not one of these things where we're like the number five jazz-specific daily podcast with a guy named Peter, right? I mean, that's not that. We're already that. We're number one on that. Yeah, yeah.

No, that I'm not worried about. I just hope that Peter Bernstein doesn't have a daily jazz podcast. Exactly. All right, we're number two. Yeah. We're trying to spread the love out here. That's all. Yeah, cool. And then, so as always, we do have our special going on for Open Studios. All Access Pass. It's exclusive to our You'll Hear at listeners. You're not going to find this offer in an email or anywhere else. Don't share. Don't share.

Just for you guys. You can get 10% off our annual All Access Pass. That's every course that Open Studio offers. Just enter You'll Hear at 10 in the offer code field at checkout. And you can save 10% on that. Enjoy. There's tons of piano courses. There's bass, trumpet, from Sean. Jones, Warren Wolf is on there, Hutch. This is a good roster. I'm going to call an audible here because that was our question the other day. And I'm going to say, for anybody who's our loyal listeners that are still listening to this episode, this will be a little test. Okay. Okay.

We're going to give them an even better deal. What? Yeah, but they got to give us that, okay, we can't make them give the six star because you're right. It is impossible. Five star review. Take a screenshot of that. Okay.

Five star review. Okay. Is this against the terms of unconditionally? of we're not buying this review we're asking if you're feeling it five-star review on iTunes screenshot that send that to adam at open studio network.com that's his email I mean that's your email address right it's my email address um and then when you do that Adam is going to send you something very special offer even better than what we just mentioned so give me give me your reviews and uh you will get something very special from Adam I don't know we're going to talk after

this podcast to see exactly what that is going to be nice better than what you just mentioned in the offer. That's all that it's been. All right. Well, you'll hear it.