Back At The Chicken Shack - Jimmy Smith

[@DavidMiller-bp7et]

Last one of the recents I haven't seen; dnk this one either. In addition to world class hair, I love your tremolos. They're hard and you ace them, longer or as grace note embellishments. Walking bass here is fun; your fingers are straight up and down right on those walking keys. Again, who did this collection? Not jazz but a sort of bluesy, gospel, rock, vibe. Fun stuff. Your broad piano accomplishments are on humble display. All play with you. Well done, again. All this daily release stuff is at an amazing level.

[@elenafortinmusic]

Haha! I don't know about "world class" hair--now and then I get tired and chop it off and grow it again. Tremolos are so fun to play--I try to make sure my hand is relaxed (it helps), and so does the twisting motion (like opening a door with a door knob). I also try to give them a bit of momentum or direction. Walking bass is one of my favourite jazz things to play. It's nice to have the left hand lay down the rhythm in a "driving, but laid back kind of way). lol. I answered somewhere else, but this collection is another one of Brent Edstrom's Jazz Piano Solos books: Soul Jazz. A lot of unknown-to-me pieces but lots of gems! It's giving me good practice playing in this style, although after hearing the originals I think my speeds are all slower. In my defence, Brent writes these crazy solos that need the slower speed to be able to enjoy!

[@DavidMiller-bp7et]

@@elenafortinmusic Yes, the collection goes deeper into the rep, for those less known popular numbers. "Soul" would be the right modifier, a little more bluesy than the jazz standards. Fun to watch you negotiate all of the technical demands. A nice thing is that these, like many pieces, work well with slower tempi, where one can savor the chords and other features. If you cut off that beautiful "Samson," hair, you may lose all your strength. Think about that!

[@elenafortinmusic]

@@DavidMiller-bp7et I had to look up what "soul" is considered to be. It's one of those genres that you think you know what it means, and then when you have to describe it to someone, you figure out that you don't know how to describe it! From the internet: Genres grouped under the "soul" banner include rhythm and blues (R&B), urban blues, Motown, smooth jazz, and gospel music. There are certainly a lot of technical demands that are mixed into this genre. But I think it's really fun to play. I used to listen to other people play this type of music and think: "HOW do they get it to sound that way?!" So fun. Thankfully, I don't have a Delilah in my life so I don't have to worry about losing my strength. lol

[@DavidMiller-bp7et]

@@elenafortinmusic Ha, ha, you're great. Personification of soul? Billy Preston. The last 20 or so years I was singing regularly, I specialized in the black spiritual genre, mostly black composers/arrangers. Loved it; it seemed more real to me, authentic. Also studied through guys like Ted Gioia with his history of jazz and blues, those origins in the Mississippi Delta, spread like wildfire up the delta and all over the world. Soul playing is like soul preaching, exact repetition of ideas and phrases with altered emphasis. I'm proud of a concert I presented in 2013, Corpus Christi United Methodist Church, large and celebrated venue there, virtually all spirituals, all manner of composers, settings in all manner of styles, Copland, Burley, Mark Hayes, "Shenandoah," Celius Daugherty.... ; I called it "Down by the Riverside." Came out well, if I were getting paid for the prep time, I would have earned in the pennies per hour. A gifted young man majoring in piano at Texas A & M, CC, played beautiflly for me. Played piano and Fr horn.

[@DavidMiller-bp7et]

@@elenafortinmusic We also played bells there. Would like to do more of that.