does anyone know of a good book for learning "cocktail" piano runs & fills?  i tried duanne shinn's unit on that but didn't get too much out of it.  thanks for any suggestions.
There are 10 comments, leave a comment.
if you're talking straight cocktail piano, then you're talking straightforward arpeggios for fills.

they're pretty, flowery and easy to do. the cocktail pianist's basic trick.

as regards runs, you can't go wrong in cocktail with twiddling the right pentatonic.
you could look at this:
results?search_query=dick+hyman+tatum&search_type=


there are videos of dick hyman showing some of tatum's runs. i'm not sure how legit it is for these vids to be on youtube, so who knows how long it'll last.
glissandos, walking 10th's, etc.
i saw a music minus one book/cd that had arrangements of sinatra material that may be what you're looking for. i saw it on jazzbooks.com
andy laverne and noreen lienhard have published books of runs.  

ed
thanks for all the good suggestions!
carmen cavallaro was a very influential cocktail-style player known as the "poet of the piano".  i would listen to him and peter nero ("the horowitz of pop music" and a scot favorite)and try to cop some licks from them.  i know that nero has a book of transcribed arrangements because i checked it out at the library once.

there's also a series of books called "cocktail piano styles" with arrangements of standards.  i've found them to be fairly authentic, though they're arranged for intermediate piano so don't expect cavallaro/nero level arrangements out of them.

lastly, i've seen some mind blowing pianists on old lawrence welk broadcasts on pbs.  so if you have the tolerance for the rest of the music, you could hunt for some of those.
funny you should mention carmen cavallaro...i have the "eddy duchin story" video and was just watching it again the other day. that's the style and type of music i really love. :)  

i sort of get a kick out of the lawrence welk show sometimes, too.  i played the organ (with pedals) for many years, took lessons starting as a teen, etc. i'll have to start watching those shows again...think it's still on sunday afternoons. :)  

btw, i can do some arpeggio runs up and down, but i can't do glisses (ouch!) or walking 10ths (hands too small), though i do roll the 10ths with the left hand. i took lessons from a wonderful jazz/cocktail piano player years ago (www.rosscarnegie.com), but live too far away to go back to him for lessons now.  very difficult finding a teacher around here for this stuff - most teachers are all classical here.  

another one i really like to listen to is ernesto cortazar.

thanks again all for your help. :)
wow, i thought i'd never admit this to other jazz musicians, but the lawrence welk show is one of my guitly pleasures. i wasn't around in it's day, but i enjoy watching the re-runs on pbs
elssa, click on www.cocktailpiano.com jim haskins solo renditions of countless standards are featured on at least a dozen cd's.
Please sign in to post.

Jazz Piano Notebook Series
Scot Ranney's Jazz Piano Notebook, Volume 1 - jazz piano tricks of the trade

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.

buy pdf version - buy coil binding version - videos

Scot Ranney's Jazz Piano Notebook, Volume 2 - jazz piano tricks of the trade you can use today
"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.

buy pdf version - buy coil binding version

Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Notebook - jazz piano tricks of the trade

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.

buy pdf version - buy coil binding version

Jeff Brent's Jazz Piano Notebook - jazz piano tricks of the trade

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.

buy pdf version - buy coil binding version

Most Recent Discussions
Great Resource for Jazz Pianists
Scale in Calderazzo solo
analyzing Someone To Watch Over Me
Site updates
Korg SV-1 vs Nord Electro
Brad Brad Mehldau's independant left hand
more...
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.

be the main character in your own story

Rock on. Follow your passion.

Sign In

privacy policyterms of serviceabout • 50,655 messages 63,069 accounts 57,171 logins
LearnJazzPiano.com Copyright © 1995-2024 by Scot Ranney • website software and design by scot's scripts
LearnJazzPiano.com is For Sale - Serious Inquiries Only