You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - Play Like a Great: Play Blues Like Oscar Peterson

Episode Date: August 12, 2020

In another edition of Play Like a Great, Peter and Adam break down the undisputed champ of heavyweight blues licks: Oscar Peterson.Links From This Episode:There's a brand new course from Open Studio - Block Chords Made Easy. Join Adam Maness as he teaches you a simple and clear way to understand the basics of locked hands and drop-2 voicings.Today's Open Studio Live Events (All times in EDT):1:00 PM - Adam's Daily Guided Practice Session (for Members Only)Thursday's Open Studio Live Events:1:00 PM - Adam's Daily Guided Practice Session (for Members Only)8:00 PM - Peter Martin + Mark Whitfield (guitar) Duo Concert on YouTube10:30 PM - Peter Sprague: Gershwin Meets Mary on YouTubeFor the rest of this week's calendar, follow this linkInterested in more music advice? Go here to browse our catalog of jazz lessons and courses available for purchase. And be sure to check out our All Access Pass - every course from Open Studio on every instrument.Let us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel.Follow us on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Yo, Peter. Yo. All aboard. I'm Adam Manus. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hearer podcast. Music and life advice and inspiration coming at you. He nailed it the first time, folks.

Was that right? He nailed it the first time for the first time. I was freeballing. That was just off the top of my head, man. I love it. I love it. Well, today's episode is sponsored by OpenStio. Go to Open Studiojazz.com for all of our online jazz education courses,

including all of our piano courses, Peter. We have a few. We have more than a couple. We have so many that I'm starting to confuse them, but I'm going to tell you one of them I'm not confused about because it's, it's, I've been looking at it the last few days. Block chords made easy. That is our latest course. Piano or otherwise, right? We like to listen to our members around here and they were screaming for like a year, something on drop two, something on locked hands. And so we made this drop two and locked hands course. Actually, some of the things we're talking about today with Oscar Peterson playing some blues. You think he could play some black chords? He might be able to play some of that down today. We'll break some of that down today. But if you want the full thing, go to openstudiojazz.com. and check out block chords made easy.

It's easy. It really is easy. You know I'd struggled with it for years. And all those members you said that have been asking for, that was me under different pseudonyms, just so now I can tell you you made the chorus. So it's all good. Go to open studio jazz.com and check out our new course,

block chords made easy today. Speaking of popular things, so I got like tons of emails about our episode where we broke down, what makes McCoy Tyner sound like McCoy Tyner when he's playing the blues. And we kind of teased out that we were going to do other episodes.

well, people have spoken and we need to be doing some other episodes where we kind of like break down the characteristics. What's so cool I think about doing it over the blues is everybody loves the blues. Everybody knows the blues. That's right. It's easy to like digest.

It's easy to understand what's happening. And I mean, it's just natural for us, I think, here to cover Oscar Peterson. Really, is there any better like jazz blues musician? No. A jazz musician who knows the blues, he's the king. Normally I'd be like, ah, there's others. but I'd have to give you an unequivocal, no, there's nobody better, you know,

and you can't really argue with that. So I'm going to choose from Night Train here, which is, I think there's no better example of him playing a ton of blues on this record. Over on the daily guide or practice session, we have this thing called the Monday Transcribers Club. Yes. Monday Transcribers Club. Starting back in September, we're going to do it again.

But in June, we did Oscar Peterson solo over. Bags Grooves from Night Train. Yes. And I thought we could listen to this solo and just break down some of the characteristics that make this solo a very much Oscar Peterson solo. You ready? Yeah, can we go back to that first part?

I know we just listened to it, but he's already hitting it there. Well, this is from Night Train, but I'm talking Bags Groo. You want to hear... Oh, Bagsgroove, sorry. Yeah, yeah. No, let's check out Bax Groves. Let's check out Bax Absolutely. Absolutely. It's pretty chill. It's pretty stuff to talk about already. Already we've got some... You know what I mean? Just wait. Okay, that's three.

Okay, before. Okay. I mean, there's so much to talk. I love this. Okay, so precision. Let's just talk about Oscar first. Yeah, sure. Precision within the groove and the time from the very first upbeat bolt.

I mean, just like right in there. Yep. And then making it seem so easy, but it's just so precise. Yep. But wrapped up with so much, you know, organic life to the line. It's not like a robot. No. But if you were to look at it on a graph.

it's a little bit like a row. It's got the precision of a robot, but the love of your grandmother's warm embrace. So those turns, first of all, are precise. Even when I just played was not as clean. Getting them precise between the hands, that relaxed is pretty awesome. So there we go.

But check it out. Wait until the second chorus. I get so excited, though. Still relaxed, but damn. Still the same amount of space, though, for Ray. And they go straight. So Ray kind of takes it here. And it's a great solo.

And we'll, we should do a whole Ray Brown, Dave. I'm going to skip ahead here. Let's just talk real quick because sometimes this, people don't notice this. Oscar Peterson's comping at this tempo or slower, ballad, or really anywhere, but especially this kind of, you know, mid-slow kind of swing to anything on the slower side. His comping behind base souls, usually Ray Brown, is so amazing. Like how he holds out these cores. It sounds so simple.

It's just like, oh, he's just. playing each measure, but his very light, rhythmic, but precise attack, like when he comes in and then holding it out. Like we always think about give a lot of space for the bass and all that kind of stuff. But I think from a textural standpoint, he's giving that space, but the instrument's ringing, he's pulling the tone out. It's like this beautiful kind of harmonic bath for Ray Brown's the playing. He's battles, right?

He's just like, yeah, I agree. I agree, man. And he's the light touch. Yeah. Ooh, sweet down. This is towards the end of race solo. We'll listen to the last. And then when he goes short and then comes off.

He's the best. He's the best. So I hate to stop the groove here. There's our first real Oscarism. Yeah. So he turns on, and this is something that you can do immediately. If you don't know about this, welcome to the fun house because this gets really fun. So it's a C7.

Welcome to the Tererome! It's a G blues, right? And over the four chord here, we have C7, right? He literally just turns on a, on like, it's like a five tuplet, right? Like a five-plate. Yeah, yeah. 5-16 notes kind of situation. So that's a C-7 chord from the bottom up, G, B-flat, right, which is the dominant seventh of a C, C and E.

That's it. It's just a C dominant seven chord. Yeah, exactly. That's what he does. Let's back it up just a little bit. Hear that again. Right there. This is the first chorus.

Listen to that again. it, juxtapose. This kind of goes out of time there. Yeah, he loves that four to three on the one. Here's our next Oscar Oscar Peterson here. It's like a four, five, three.

He's doing it all over the solo. And even on that, that's just a four or three, too, right? That's like a four or five three. Yeah, and I think what, you know, what really rewards this very simple way of playing is, it goes right back to how he started the solo, how he started the melody, that rhythmic precision, that spacing, that authority to come in right within the group, whether it's a triplet, whether it's a 5-16th note, you know, whatever, is coming like right smack dab in the middle of it.

And then he's so precise, he can get off. He can let it fly. Kind of push it, pull it back. Like with that one, you know, he's doing sort of like a, you know, like he lets it go or whatever. He's stretching it, pushing it. It almost like averaging it out as he goes. But this lick here, it's not even a lick, it's just a piece of language. It's the blues.

It's just literally like, we're in the key of G. It's just C, D, B, right? It's just the four, the five, and the three. And he uses it all the time. And he's on the five, he's on the five chord now, right? Yeah. Yeah, he's on the two going to the five. Yeah, let's hear it again.

It's so fun. Huh. Back up a little more. Yeah, the two and five. A little some bluesy double stops. Another characteristic. So he'll do that. Right.

So he's got the D on top. Again, the four, five. And then the rest of the lick, that five stays on top. You know what I mean? That's just the best. Let's keep going here. Bluesy double stops. Yeah, he's very never afraid to play that leading to that major seventh up to the tonic,

you know, and to play around that dominant seven, major seven, on the one. He did some. something here when he got to the C7, when he got to the four chord. Yeah. And this is another Oscarism right there. Get back to that maybe a little more. Here's the four. He sort of, he hints back at G7 back to the four, giving that the four chord yet

another five one in the middle of it. He loves the ones to the five. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he loves a five one. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of like when he's like the six to the two. Yeah, exactly. It's just all the.

It's blues and church all wrapped up together. Again, another. So now he's messing with that. of the triple. What? A little locked hands, maybe? A little locked chords made easy. So that's a block chord I want to just note real quick.

So that's the C7 again. He does so much magic on the four chord. I feel like for Oscar, like that four chord is really where he sets the whole solos up. Like that's where he's like answering his initial statement. It's like the exposition of the story, right? Like he's created the theme. And then the four chord is where he really lets the interesting stuff happen. Yeah.

And then that resolution and the turnaround is like the end of the story. But on this C7, you know, to my ears, he treats that not like C7 like that. It's like G minor six. Uh-huh. Like it's very G minorish so that our ears stay in G. Yeah. It's just he's like he's going from G dominant to G minor. Yep.

Yep. That is eye-opening for me. That, I mean, that... It's fantastic. And, I mean, it really just plays into the whole concept of like, you know, even when... That you're always in the ton of key on the blues. Totally. You know, no matter how sophisticated your harmony substitutions, four core, five, chord, two,

three, six, two, but it doesn't matter. You're always... And that's a really, like, sophisticated kind of essence of what the blues is, I think, especially in the jazz setting. See what I'm saying, man. Oscar's... He's going to hang out here with this. And then pull back.

Yeah. So there's another thing going on here. That, this thing, right? That movement that we all should know, he uses this all the time. Anytime there's like a one, I hear you do this all the time too, actually. This sounds good. I like it. Like you have a long stretch of a tonic chord.

Yeah. Of like a G7. You don't have to just stand there on the... With strong core tones, and I am a jazz robot. Like, you hear Oscar, and he'll almost always move that pattern, right? Right, so we have G, A minor, 7, B flat diminished, up to that G over B, right?

He's doing that all over the place. Oh, yeah. I wrote a tune years ago. I haven't played it so long called Blues for OP. fittingly enough and it's like this would be embarrassed if I can't but it was like yeah but it was like one two one two three four but you'll hear him do this even when it's like

it really came from that even if he's doing like like he's head yeah yeah yeah yeah like he'll do that movement that it really is a foundational piece of language it's like the most soulful Methodist hymnal well wrapped in you know wrapped in just a warm jazzy blanket, you know. Soulful Methodist, Tyndall. Listen, well, listen for it, because he does it a few more times. Full spread voicing.

So just to, but just to sum up what that voicing style is, that's spread voicing. It's where he's got octaves in his right hand with a note in the middle, right? Usually the fifth, right? Yeah, so I think he's like, something like that. Yeah, like a fifth or like a fourth.

Yeah. This is a... But you have a four-note block chord in your left hand. Like, there's some voicing in your left hand. And then some spreads. Hmm. Something like that. Yeah.

But that's the style he's doing there to end up. Isn't that great? Yep. Man, that's so good. Oscar Peterson's the greatest. He's the greatest. You know what I mean? So there's a bunch of your Oscars.

The precision of the rhythm. Yeah. The breaking up of a chord, like the turning. on an entire chord, very Oscar-ish. All the other ones we mentioned. There were so many that we, that's the thing about the Night Train album.

Every solo is like, like we could play C-Jam Blues here, and it's the same thing, full of Oscar-isms. That's right. Everything is an Oscar. This was him. It's almost like he's playing his stuff all the time.

He's really been shedding his Oscar stuff. Oh, good stuff. All right, if you want to learn more about Oscar Peterson, and all the greats of this music, go to Openstudiojazz.com, because that's what we're talking about over there. We're talking about Oscar Peterson. That's right.

We're talking Herbie Hancock. That's right. We're talking Winton Kelly. We might even talk a little Jeff Keeser. We might talk a little Adam Manus, the modern masters. Hello. We might talk a little Keith Jarrett, but we're not going to play his music. Because we're not allowed to.

But we are going to continue this series because it's really fun. It's fun to just like talk about the defining characteristics of all these great musicians. Yeah. That's fun. And we're learning. So we have Wittenkenkenken. We've been mentioning Winton Kelly. But maybe we do someone a little more modern next time.

What do you think? Yeah, like red garling. Until then. Talking about block cords. Thank you.