Improvisation 101: The Blues and BeBop

Artists like Charlie Parker utilized Blues form and Blues inflection even as they brought in lightning speed and a number of chord substitutions in BeBop. Eli Yamin guides you through how they did it.
Learn more at academy.jalc.org
Eli Yamin - Piano
Eric Suquet - Director
Bill Thomas - Director of Photography
Jessica Paz - Sound Engineer
Richard Emery - Production Assistant
Seton Hawkins - Producer
Recorded May 24, 2013

[@Kennedy749]

oh my gosh this mans voice is like liquid gold

[@Yoshinori76]

i think my favorite part is the fact that he is playing exactly what he is hearing. He's not playing the note before he sings it but rather the piano is a literal extension of his musicality. I wish I could do this.

[@guidemeChrist]

You can you just gotta listen and learn and internalize it all until it rolls off your tongue like you're speaking sentences your native language

[@dannwe123]

Love this guy's accent, it's a real pleasure to listen to him talk (and play of course!)

[@Ayo.Ajisafe]

Im guessing New Orleans.

[@portellio_the_space_rider9473]

I was just thinking that

[@enzoalijah3344]

instablaster

[@davivify]

I *love* your style. And one thing you didn't mention is how the hands work together to produce the improv - at least yours do. You're left hand is not just beating out quarter notes, or playing Powell style shells, or even doing a walking bass, but participating in the improv almost the way a drummers hands would. Sometimes the hands come together in a chord, but otherwise each is doing their own different but complementary syncopation.

[@magentuspriest]

I love that observation. Your comment made me rethink my playing

[@sonicflash5090]

Eli seems like a cool dude to hang out with

[@jay-lenmclean2649]

He is Aaron B

[@unclesam997]

Eli Yamin is awesome

[@humblemai2211]

Please make more jazz courses So I can learn more from you

[@humblemai2211]

I wish I could play jazz like you...

[@humblemai2211]

Please make more jazz piano Bebop course...thanks

[@LameFreerunners]

More Eli Yamin blues please

[@ChrisSmithSaxophone]

Aww Eli I could listen to that all day long. 😊 🎶 👍

[@aidancrowl6458]

I love everything about this man

[@motocyclin3]

post more bebop blues thanks!

[@humblemai2211]

Please make more tutorial about jazz Bebop Piano... thanks

[@PIANOSTYLE100]

Subscribed .. cut my teeth on this.. this is the basis for rock, jazz and freely borrowed from.. Country music twang guitar.. which I play is absolutely loaded up with Jerry Reed's the claw, Brent Mason solos, I play in Church..I use it liberally.. Sometimes I start a song out bluesy and jazzy.. throwing in the minor thirds, flat seven's.. dominant diminished scale stuff. playing in and outside. then I move into just simple chords. No syncopation. Straight as classical. Believe it or not this change for the simple perks people's ears up.. Then maybe a little blues mixed in and go then a little jazzy stuff thirteenths , sharp nines a little Barry Harris stuff and close with with a simple major 7. There is something about the blues that makes you feel good even if it's bad.

[@kaanpeeters]

great great playing

[@David-zn8lg]

great vid !

[@alexandregismonti]

Sounds amanzingly good

[@roman13rooms]

Interesting, this grand sounds like upright piano 😇 great lesson, thanks 🙏

[@eecorr]

Eli thanks ! 👏

[@humblemai2211]

Love you much

[@sambsialia]

I want that shirt! Dude dresses sharp. Btw, awesome blues.

[@ppstr47]

Bravo pour cette vidéo .

[@jamesbarros950]

I want to be able to do this. I believe the first step is being able to understand what he’s talking about . How does one go from knowing some scales and my basic shell chords, triads and extensions to being able to follow this? What’s the middle ground I need to cover?

[@porlando12]

What album can I go listen to for solo/trio piano that sounds just like this?

[@alexgibsonde]

I would recommend Wynton Kelly's trio work. For example the album "Wynton Kelly!". Great rhythm section, swingin' really hard and his bebop language is superb.

[@denisivanov2522]

Hank Jones solo blues

[@dealsbetweenfriends]

2023 i hear you !

[@nickmarturano6]

Anyone else hear him quote Kenny Drew at 3:25??

[@GrumpyStormtrooper]

It's a kind of phrase you hear in any bebop blues so probably yes but not just only Kenny Drew

[@Tabu11211]

Can I come study with Eli?!

[@SeanLeonDrumz]

This guy can swing!

[@jarredgraffiti]

Great

[@macpaul]

even the piano sounds like bebop : )

[@udomatthiasdrums5322]

cool stuff!!

[@Kennedy749]

also, this made me REALLY appreciate my African American roots. And Yoko Kanno.

[@stevengregory3991]

Ironic that it took a white man to do that.

[@stevengregory3991]

@Aaron Yes and no. Jazz is not technically based on anything. Jazz is where you end up at when you don't study music and just start playing. Swing, 2-5-1 and other jazz "concepts" are stumbled upon naturally when your approach is not based on systematically learning notated songs, but rather on pure feel.

[@stevengregory3991]

@Aaron Music is not instrumentation. Instruments are tools of musical expression. Had you began with that point, you would've been right. Jazz in its popularized form is Afro-American music on European instruments.

[@lanzibangli1259]

@@stevengregory3991 lets omit the European part. America came from Europe

[@Hus-Band]

Such a nice guy.... and such a.... sorry i'm overhelmed. I'm a Drummer 🤷‍♂️. Man,.... thank you so much. Peace ✌️✌️✌️✌️ god bless you 🙏

[@carlosandres7006]

Transcriptions? Any hero ? Thanks

[@alejandroperez4051]

Any body know the chords that he use?

[@victordiazortega1565]

Thanks a lot for the lesson! Just one question, what is the book you are talking about?

[@benjaminmillermusic]

+Victor Diaz Ortega charlie parker omnibook

[@alejandroperez4051]

scales?

[@baggymangler]

When he goes to the V7 chord in C It looks like an upper structure triad. An inverted Gb major triad/tritone from C ,Db, Gb, A= b9 #11 and 13. That was a hip sound. Why isn't he explaining more than root notes. He's a teacher from Lincoln Academy ffs.

[@sallysigler727]

It’s fab, of course, but, really! Not enough explanation for a generic idiot like me!

[@volws5624]

Erst denken und dann reden .