Cocktail Piano: Behind The Curtains & How To Play It - Ep. 225

The Cocktail Piano style is a term that is thrown around and everyone wants to learn it. Whenever we walk into a lounge, bar, or cocktail hour, as musicians, we always marvel and what the pianist is playing and DOING.
What are they doing though and what IS the "Cocktail Piano" style? In this podcast I'll pull back the curtain on the top 4 styles that make up the style, how to feather, and the fills you need to create the cocktail sound.
Enjoy!
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If you have questions or suggestions for a podcast lesson you would like us to do, please leave them in the comments down below.
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[@Vaejovis357]

Beautiful. A decade or two of knowledge and talent in 46 minutes. Rare combination of high level artistry + natural talent in teaching. What a tremendous gift to give away so generously. Thank you.

[@jaijeffcom]

Well, that was marvelous. One of the best lessons I’ve seen on the style. I sat down and played “The Way You Look Tonight” and had in instantly credible rendition. Not ready for the gig yet! But had a satisfying, reasonable result, a quantum step better than what I’ve been doing. Thank you!

[@pianoLee-sx9dx]

Thanks for the great lesson on how to play cocktail piano! I am classically trained and haven't been really good in playing jazz but really enjoy all of your tutorials! Your lessons are well explained and very enjoyable!

[@jimsskot1]

This is awesome stof. Love it

[@jazzpianoschool]

Thank you!

[@danielquevedo4893]

Amazing lesson! Thank you!!!

[@jazzpianoschool]

Glad you liked it!

[@Gerard_2024]

Great lesson and beautiful playing as usual. However, I would suggest that maybe the manuscripted notation box needs to be lowered so that we can view the treble clef. Perhaps shift it over to the left hand side and lower it a little bit.

[@jazzpianoschool]

Thanks for the tip!

[@tomasgarciapineiro1491]

Great video thank you!

[@jazzpianoschool]

My pleasure!

[@greg55666]

I have to tell you this video is great. Not just the tips/methods, but even the very beginning when you are just playing the chords and melody; you're playing it exactly how Levine starts out. I think it sounds terrible just playing the melody and the chords, but even that simple simple version, without any embellishment at all, actually sounded quite nice. I can DO that "basic" way. It's always been getting from there to Bill Evans that is a little intimidating!

[@AspiringMindsLessons]

Enjoying these videos. I'm a subscriber and in the Facebook group but just noticed these episodes! Would it be possible to organize these into categorized playlists?

[@jazzpianoschool]

Great suggestion! Thanks, Patrick!

[@greg55666]

One tiny tiny complaint--your computer has an annoying predilection for A# over Bb, even when the tune is IN Bb.

[@alexanderkeim4880]

Hi! Thanks for your great work. A question: How exactly do you use the pedal in the "stride with pedal"-style? Since the right hand chords are often anticipated is the pedal also anticipated? thanks

[@jazzpianoschool]

Hi Alexander thanks for the question! Yea the pedal can be used in a variety of ways, so experiment with what works for you but I would suggest keeping it on the downbeats. Hope this helps!

[@Jack-fs2im]

Cocktail piano is greeaatt cos its like practising and you can come in and out of timing.

[@jazzpianoschool]

Right on, Jack! Thanks for the comment

[@eddygonzalez2328]

Something I try doing is keeping the melody recognizable. Some aongs have a special meaning in people's life. I went to a restaurant with my wife, where someone was at the piano. It was very pretty, but I was having a hard time recognizing the song. I walked over and asked. It was a song with the 1,6,2,5 progression. At Last, or Someone ti watch over me. Can't remember. Those are songs meaningful to my wife and me. There was so much displacing, playing on 6th, m2 above melody, very rubato, arpeggios. I think at some point, the song can become hard to recognize. I know watching this video may inspire someone to use all those styles and fills on the same song at once. What I'm trying to say is some reatrain and how much you use at once might not bring the enjoyment of listening to your favorite song being played. 😊 Happy playing. Practice make perfect.

[@b-at8183]

8:48 ahh ok so for a ballad feel flashy intro u can play out of time to add runs/fills/arpeggios lots of broken chords and fluidity

[@jazzpianoschool]

Yes, exactly!

[@artofmusic303]

A more standard term for "feathering" is "arpeggiation".

[@jazzpianoschool]

Thanks for watching, Robert!

[@MomLAU]

I just need a cocktail. lol

[@jazzpianoschool]

LOL!