I was so happy reading your article. I grew up in a dance academy and we lived above it. We taught Fox trot, cha cha waltz etc. The BEAT defines the style of dance to which it's related. My father was a tap dancer and we all danced and performed. Your point about the deliberate abstractness of the music describes the problem exactly. If I may stretch your point a little bit, when the body can't relate to the music, then it's only the mind. There is nothing wrong with that of course but, if you want to relate, then maybe we should try and start fully relating again.
I've long envied pianists (and guitarists, and to a lesser extent, bassists and drummers) who have the capacity to take advantage of the scenarios you describe. As a woodwind player, I cannot tell you how many times I've wondered what analogs are for us. We're secondary, add ons, for obvious reasons.
When I was a teenager first playing club dates, one of the best pieces of advice I was given was to learn to play "cocktail hour piano," a few songs from the (old) Real Book that could cover dead space while others in the band took a dinner break or something. It did not necessarily make me more money, but it did make me more hireable.
Must be something in the ether... You and Gioia both emphasized the prominence of the dance aspects of the music in your posts this weekend. Important stuff and great scenarios to present to your students, to be sure.
“We teach lots of esoteric things in jazz school except how to make a living.” I spent a couple of years on the board of the New School trying to make this point, and got blank stares for my troubles. Nice essay!
Thank you for the Hank Jones memory. One of my favorite songs is “Bird Alone” by Abbey Lincoln. Stan Getz and Hank Jones make marvelous contributions. Great piece!
I'm a retired sound engineer, have been a serious jazz listener for almost 70 years. So even though I'm not a musician, I can relate to all of this! What many younger musicians may not realize is that great songs with lyrics provide an additional musical "hook" for people like me -- as I get to know the music, the more I am able to follow more complex and interesting improvisation! I'm thinking of some of the older tunes that became the staple of giants like Prez, Desmond, Bill Evans, and Tatum.
Your discussion of James P. Johnson playing "What Is This Thing Called Love" takes me back to my DJ days, going through the station's LPs and discovering gems and getting educated via the many anthologies. A great collection from New World Records, "Jive At Five: The Style-makers of Jazz 1920s -1940s" (NW 274), has Johnson's version and then Sidney Bechet's amazingly propulsive rendition right after.
I've had a one-hour weekly volunteer gig for a few years in our regional hospital's Sounds for Healing program. I play standards and the occasional jazz standard, just the heads. After years of playing other instruments, I didn't start fooling around with piano until I was in my 20's and didn't understand jazz changes for years, until my new neighbor, a jazz pianist, taught me chords. I'm a mediocre jazz pianist – poor time, fluffs – but I get compliments anyway. That's how I know that the person offering appreciation is not a musician!
So I have a rudimentary left hand, like a very minimal rhythm guitar, sometimes anticipating the beat, more often on the beat; and once in a while behind the beat, when remembering the chord takes longer! Your post here gives me something interesting to observe and improve, as I play in my living room and at the hospital.
I think if we mention Hank Jones etc we have to include Nat Cole, who was really the great transitional figure between swing and bop. And the night Al Haig introduced me to Jones all he talked about was Fats Waller. But the Nat Cole thing is essential, and Jones changed his touch and sound between the late 40s, early 50s, and his later years. Early on he had a crispness to his touch that, in his later years, flattened out sonically. This seems to have been a trend; I have even heard some early Tommy Flanagan that reflected this same evolution.
Thanks for writing this Ethan, brings up a lot of interesting questions about aesthetics in genre and instrumental knowledge! I'm curious, in your own playing, do you see having this skill as something that's really contributed to your creativity/unique sound on the instrument, or more as a fundamental/technical thing that's just good in terms of practicality and technique?
Thanks Erez. Yeah I guess I do play more of that kind of thing on the gig than many of my contemporaries. Even in The Bad Plus years, there were “stride” sections. However, my example is less important than the fact that I know McCoy Tyner, Bud Powell, Herbie Hancock, Kenny Barron, etc. etc. all can do it.
Very good question. Paul Bley and Andrew Hill: yes. Dave Burrell has even recorded in the style. I think Cecil Taylor worked in the 50s as a West Village pianist backing singers and stuff.
I was so happy reading your article. I grew up in a dance academy and we lived above it. We taught Fox trot, cha cha waltz etc. The BEAT defines the style of dance to which it's related. My father was a tap dancer and we all danced and performed. Your point about the deliberate abstractness of the music describes the problem exactly. If I may stretch your point a little bit, when the body can't relate to the music, then it's only the mind. There is nothing wrong with that of course but, if you want to relate, then maybe we should try and start fully relating again.
Right on
I've long envied pianists (and guitarists, and to a lesser extent, bassists and drummers) who have the capacity to take advantage of the scenarios you describe. As a woodwind player, I cannot tell you how many times I've wondered what analogs are for us. We're secondary, add ons, for obvious reasons.
When I was a teenager first playing club dates, one of the best pieces of advice I was given was to learn to play "cocktail hour piano," a few songs from the (old) Real Book that could cover dead space while others in the band took a dinner break or something. It did not necessarily make me more money, but it did make me more hireable.
Must be something in the ether... You and Gioia both emphasized the prominence of the dance aspects of the music in your posts this weekend. Important stuff and great scenarios to present to your students, to be sure.
“We teach lots of esoteric things in jazz school except how to make a living.” I spent a couple of years on the board of the New School trying to make this point, and got blank stares for my troubles. Nice essay!
thanks Chuck!
Thank you for the Hank Jones memory. One of my favorite songs is “Bird Alone” by Abbey Lincoln. Stan Getz and Hank Jones make marvelous contributions. Great piece!
Billy Hart also admires “Bird Alone”
Thanks, a wonderful post. I'm a professional pianist and I agree with everything you said here.
Cheers!
What a marvellous piece!
thank you!
I'm a retired sound engineer, have been a serious jazz listener for almost 70 years. So even though I'm not a musician, I can relate to all of this! What many younger musicians may not realize is that great songs with lyrics provide an additional musical "hook" for people like me -- as I get to know the music, the more I am able to follow more complex and interesting improvisation! I'm thinking of some of the older tunes that became the staple of giants like Prez, Desmond, Bill Evans, and Tatum.
Great stuff - and what a lot of pianists need to hear!
Thanks Brian!!!
Your discussion of James P. Johnson playing "What Is This Thing Called Love" takes me back to my DJ days, going through the station's LPs and discovering gems and getting educated via the many anthologies. A great collection from New World Records, "Jive At Five: The Style-makers of Jazz 1920s -1940s" (NW 274), has Johnson's version and then Sidney Bechet's amazingly propulsive rendition right after.
I've had a one-hour weekly volunteer gig for a few years in our regional hospital's Sounds for Healing program. I play standards and the occasional jazz standard, just the heads. After years of playing other instruments, I didn't start fooling around with piano until I was in my 20's and didn't understand jazz changes for years, until my new neighbor, a jazz pianist, taught me chords. I'm a mediocre jazz pianist – poor time, fluffs – but I get compliments anyway. That's how I know that the person offering appreciation is not a musician!
So I have a rudimentary left hand, like a very minimal rhythm guitar, sometimes anticipating the beat, more often on the beat; and once in a while behind the beat, when remembering the chord takes longer! Your post here gives me something interesting to observe and improve, as I play in my living room and at the hospital.
good luck with the journey!
I always think of Thelonius Monk as listening to this style of piano played on a warped record.
Thelonious Monk was always in his own category -- and recorded literally dozens of foxtrot piano tracks. It was a big part of his style
“Let’ Cool One”.
Before a foxtrot, grab a whisky and play a tango. Remember this order: Whisky, Tango, Foxtrot.
WTF for us ballroom folk is Waltz Tango Foxtrot
[rimshot]
I think if we mention Hank Jones etc we have to include Nat Cole, who was really the great transitional figure between swing and bop. And the night Al Haig introduced me to Jones all he talked about was Fats Waller. But the Nat Cole thing is essential, and Jones changed his touch and sound between the late 40s, early 50s, and his later years. Early on he had a crispness to his touch that, in his later years, flattened out sonically. This seems to have been a trend; I have even heard some early Tommy Flanagan that reflected this same evolution.
I should indeed have mentioned Nat Cole. I regret the error.
Can I please have 2 tickets for that cruise, hopefully never come back from it and Foxtrot till the End Of Time
Dave McKenna played this way his entire career. I can play all standards in this fashion. You can too !
Ron Carter told me he liked Dave McKenna, which was quite the endorsement. (McKenna was famous for walking bass lines at the piano.)
Thanks for writing this Ethan, brings up a lot of interesting questions about aesthetics in genre and instrumental knowledge! I'm curious, in your own playing, do you see having this skill as something that's really contributed to your creativity/unique sound on the instrument, or more as a fundamental/technical thing that's just good in terms of practicality and technique?
Thanks Erez. Yeah I guess I do play more of that kind of thing on the gig than many of my contemporaries. Even in The Bad Plus years, there were “stride” sections. However, my example is less important than the fact that I know McCoy Tyner, Bud Powell, Herbie Hancock, Kenny Barron, etc. etc. all can do it.
Totally! More for my own thoughts, I wonder which of the more experimental/creative/avant-garde pianists can do this...
Very good question. Paul Bley and Andrew Hill: yes. Dave Burrell has even recorded in the style. I think Cecil Taylor worked in the 50s as a West Village pianist backing singers and stuff.
ahhh thanks for this insight!
Do you have a URL for Jones' 1956 version of "What Is this Thing Called Love?"? (Was able to locate different versions, but not that specific one.)
Per Discogs, that song doesn't appear on SOLO PIANO; https://www.discogs.com/master/627046-Hank-Jones-Have-You-Met-Hank-Jones has details. But there are a couple of online tracks from that recording that demonstrate Jones's foxtrot feel, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5yZl9--3Dw and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEYTKYOq3JM.
not offhand, I have the LP
believe that there's some miscommunication somewhere...