"mercy mercy mercy" is a little masterpiece, it's melodic and it has four distinct sections. it works very well as a solo piano piece for pleasing a party crowd. i can't think of many other party tunes that lay quite as well on piano. others that seem to work are "take five" (in c-) and the charlie brown theme song ("linus & lucy"), "james bond" theme also do well.
i know the others like "the in crowd", "fever", "watermelon man", "cantaloupe island", "the sidewinder", "moanin'", "cold duck time", "listen here" but they don't seem to work out as well on solo piano.

can you think of any other party pleasers that would work well for solo piano?
There are 7 comments, leave a comment.
add "the work song" by nat adderley.
"peter gun"
hey jude, for sure, it has like three sections, maybe four, easy to play in any solo style (i'm enjoying a 2nd line thing right now), and when you finally end it, you can jam out on the "na na na na" part for a long time.  i usually play up until the very last bit, then solo on the a section, then come back in on the bridge.

another james bond tune, live and let die.  a beautiful intro with the slow part, then you can just get funky and creative when you get to the  jamming part.  i'll usually do some gm solo stuff, severely funky, and then move into the blues section and jam out in that, and then work my way into an ending eventually.

another is i shot the sheriff.  you can do a lot in that tune.  no woman no cry is fun and if you do it right you can really get your crowd into it (that is, if it's that kind of crowd!)
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i also do hey jude, let it be (reggae), blackbird, here there & everywhere, imagine, i am the walrus... etc

joe sample plays "mercy, mercy, mercy"...
and i play solo piano versions of joe sample's "hippies on a corner", "all god's children", "spellbound", "melodies of love", "it happens everyday", "free yourself", "night flight", etc..
i do aqualung, but usually  the first 6 notes is all i need to get a rise outa the crowd
i suppose i could continue as a bossa?
anything can be done as a bossa for flavor.  try misty slow and free the first time through then turn it into a driving shuffle with some four on the floor left hand bass with big solid chords.  comin home.  funky, rock style, easy style whatever.  if you're good with your left hand then moondance, a train, satin doll are good too.  i do a lot of organ as well as piano using my kurzweil pc3.  georgia, mojo, the cat are good on organ with easy left hand bass.  oh yeah, masquerade, europa, on broadway are good solo.  lots of stuff, find things that fit your style.

bob
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