Notes on Oscar Peterson’s version of Greensleeves
oscar peterson’s version (based on ‘greensleeves’ on the oscar peterson trio album ‘another day’ - 1970 - mps/bap. (on vinyl only)
while this version was not played as a piano solo as the others were, i was looking for a fairly typical jazz piano approach to the song. oscar is in many ways the archetypal jazz pianist. in his playing can be heard many of the elements of style of the pianists that preceded him, and also his influence on many of the pianists that followed him. i have not attempted to do much more than indicate the way he harmonizes the head, and to add some other examples of his style that may be of interest
one very typical element is his adoption of the blues within his style and the effortless execution of those great blues licks adapted to fit the peculiarities of the piano as an instrument, that are his stock in trade. they often verge on what most would call ‘gospel’ licks.
his introduction is interesting – not wildly original – but effective, and adaptable to other songs that begin on a minor chord.
in the first section of the song (usually in a minor key), oscar basically uses chords the roots of which follow the cycle of fifths within one key signature, familiar to most of us in ‘autumn leaves’. as probably the most ‘covered’ song in the jazz, this opens up a number of alternative approaches to harmonizing ‘greensleeves’.
· lots of versions of ‘autumn leaves’, like oscar’s ‘greensleeves’, have bluesy flavors. this way of playing the harmony in ‘greensleeves’ allows blues licks to be judiciously played as part of the improvisation.
· try changing some of the minor chords to altered dominants or their tritone partners. this immediately begins to sound ‘bluesy’
· i have noticed that one element of oscar’s style that is evident here is his use of triads melodically in his right hand. many of us are familiar with mark levine’s idea of triads forming ‘upper structures’ within a two handed chord voicing. i think that, next to scales, many pianists have become reasonably fluent playing triads – inverting them, arpeggiating them, playing them as broken chords, and so on. in oscar’s version of ‘greensleeves’, there are many examples of triads being used in this way when he begins the improvised choruses. several opportunities occur over the first time ending, for instance, with the triads in the right hand. try making melodic patterns using the three triad notes, over the third and seventh in the left hand.
· on the head, oscar plays his big 2 handed chords often ‘rolled’ down from top to bottom – done very quickly – almost imperceptibly. rolling big chords from bottom note to top (the usual direction) is common as a way of dealing with big stretches, and often is done quite slowly, and often marks the pianist as an amateur trying to sound ‘rhapsodic’. but this rolling chords in reverse, i have noticed, has been done by lots of jazz pianists from bill evans on, yet it is hardly ever mentioned as a typical element of modern piano style.
There are no comments, leave a comment.
Jazz Piano Notebook Series
Volume 1 of this educational jazz piano book contains 15 jazz piano exercises, tricks, and other interesting jazz piano techniques, voicings, grooves, and ideas Scot Ranney enjoys playing.
"Latinesque"
Volume 2 has 14 jazz piano exercises and tricks of the trade, and quite a bit of it is Calypso jazz piano related material, including some Monty Alexander and Michel Camilo style grooves. Jazz piano education is through the ears, but books like this can help.
Volume 3 contains 12 jazz piano exercises and explorations by the acclaimed jazz piano educator, pianist, author, and recording artist Tim Richards.
Tim wrote the well known "Exploring Jazz Piano" and "Improvising Blues Piano" books and has several others to his name.
Volume 4 is by Jeff Brent, a jazz pianist, composer, teacher, and author of "Modalogy" and other acclaimed jazz theory and education books. In this book Jeff shares detailed analysis of transcriptions of live performances. He covers everything from the shape of the songs to the tricks and licks he uses in improvised lines to the ideas behind his lush chord voicings.
Most Recent Discussions
Articles
Piano for Adoption Scam
Aprender Jazz en Piano
BEWARE: FREE BABY GRAND PIANO SCAM
Oh Tannenbaum for Jazz Piano
Volume 5 of the "Jazz Piano Notebook Series" is Available!
LearnJazzPiano.com File Downloads News
more...
Top Sheetmusic Picks
Jazzy Christmas Arrangements
Cocktail Piano
Best Songs Ever, 6th Edition
Christmas Medley
Moana Songbook
Late Night Jazz Piano
Jazz piano education is cool.
Rock on. Follow your passion.
Sign In
LearnJazzPiano.com Copyright © 1995-2024 by Scot Ranney • website software and design by scot's scripts
LearnJazzPiano.com is For Sale - Serious Inquiries Only