LearnJazzPiano.com archives: Concert Blocks

Brotherdavies -- 08/25/2006, 05:46:46 -- #29482

There seem to be so many ways of playing Block Chords. The chapter in Levines Jazz Piano Book will take me a long time to work through, I'm not ready for such an in depth analysis at this stage. What appeals is playing an octave in the right hand and then filling in the gaps with some notes. And that's where some advice would be welcome - filling in that octave. As I play solo piano, my left hand is busy - so I really like the Concert block concept (Alberto illustrates this in one of the Melodic Voicing files)of playing chords etc in the left hand whilst using the right hand to play melodies in blocks. It seems like cheating if I don't use the three fingers between thumb and pinky in a block but a good blocky sound seems to be achievable by perhaps using one note within the octave (e.g. minor third) Something I like do is play the octave with 3 notes in between and then for the next melody note shift the octave a whole step and play the same middle notes. Anyy more ideas? CHEERS! Bro'

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