| LearnJazzPiano.com archives: kind of blue... | |
| BlackWhiteKey -- 12/17/2006, 16:03:54 -- #31763 | |
| any remarkds on this great album? any favorites? my favorite take would have to be All Blues, especially miles solo. i'm a trumpet player my self, and i could of gone virtuoso on soloing in this song, and i'd never get a solo to sound as good, and simplistic as it is. | |
| Styles -- 12/17/2006, 19:20:28 -- #31763 | |
| There are so many moments that make every song my favorite on the album. So What is a good song, but just a little too skeletal for me. When playing it, I have to take it outside or I get bored. Freddie Freeloader is just blues, but is done in the modal style, so of course Coltrane and Cannonball stretch out and slay this one. Blue in Green just shows how much Bill Evans meant to this session. His use of rubato in the song makes it so surreal...and his voicings..we all know how deep and brilliant they are. As far as playing a song, I like All Blues the best because its so malleable. SO many ways you can go with it, which is the beauty of modal jazz. Plus its real easy to create thematic material in a solo, because you don't have to worry about making sure you are on the right chord because it of modal structure. Plus you can take it outside easily on the turnaround and it sounds great. I thing Herbie Hancock's style of playing this one with Miles' Quintet set the bar, as well as his solos on So What. As far as listening, I love Pelican Sketches. Bill Evans does such nice comping on this song. He's not just playing his famous chords, but is building tension between mode changes, inspiring movement in the solos. What I like about Bill is he is a PIANO PLAYER. Not a modal player, bebop player, just a piano player. His melodies are so original, his use of counterpoint, dynamic control, and intonation...he practically made that album. And to play this song, where each scale is played as long as the soloist wants and you have to HEAR when he is changing modes, the communication has to be telepathic. When it all came together, it was like scenes from a movie playing out in sound waves. | |
| Jazz+ -- 12/17/2006, 19:55:04 -- #31763 | |
| I like to play Blue In Green, because the chord changes are interesting to me. I don't like playing All Blues as much because it's in a 3 meter. | |
| jwv76 -- 12/17/2006, 21:59:42 -- #31763 | |
| Pelican Sketches? I don't remember that one. Is that Flamenco sketches=Flamingo Sketches=Exotic Bird Sketches=Pelican Sketches? LOL All Blues is a fun tune to play because it's a total crowd pleaser,no matter what you're audience, if it's a jazz audience or a non-jazz audience, people can relate to it. I might be wrong here, but I believe that Kind of Blue is by far the most commercially succesful mainstream jazz album of all time. People who know next to nothing about jazz will have that one in their collection. | |
| sykora -- 12/18/2006, 00:40:44 -- #31763 | |
| Personally: Blue in Green = great lounge piano. Weird form, awesome changes, haunting melody. Advanced background music as a solo pianist. So What = totally a show-off song. Love to take left hand solos. Very easy to quote stuff in general for modal songs - everything from Mos Def's "Umi Says" to John Williams' "Cantina Band." All Blues = I don't play a lot of triplet feel blues so this is a nice change. Don't like the V to bVI though. Flamenco Sketches = never adapted this to solo piano. However I have been told that the song is "great sexy jazz" music. Freddie Freeloader = not a huge fan but I'll do it sometimes. | |
| Styles -- 12/18/2006, 08:09:11 -- #31763 | |
| lmao sorry about that | |
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