Live Music : Boogie Woogie : 15th Essen Congress, Joerg Hegemann

Video / Movie Clip recorded at the 15th Boogie Woogie Congress in Essen Germany, September 2014.
This piece of music is called "Wall Street Diver" and is a tribute to the style of playing of the great Boogie Pianist Albert Ammons.

[@svergurd3873]

Jörg Hegemann is probably the best boogie pianist in the world today.

[@robintraina217]

Still great, thank you for all that entertainment,

[@wycliffesbible1501]

What a phenomenal talent!!! such artistry and such true joy and fun. World class, such a wonder & another reason why KZbin is such a gift to the entirety of humanity. We are all better when we can share such brilliance. Thankyou Joerg!!!

[@lucalanz76]

Astonishing!

[@roberthelms1737]

A relentless swinger. Unmatched stamina.

[@BeNice4544]

Incredible how good he is! It seems like it would be very easy when you see him. He is awesome!

[@luminousraven4970]

This is LITERALLY "Out Of This World" !!! ... There is such POSITIVE ENERGY here! ... The moribund get up and have their last jig with Jorg around, with thanks to God they have two legs, a heart and the King Of Boogie Woogie to inspire them with this send off to the Next World! - Praise to this God blessed man! ALELUYAH!

[@johngourliemartin2696]

He taught that piano a lesson!! fantastic player

[@comiketiger]

Absolutely incredible. Stunning talent. God bless all here

[@widdyhabb]

Probably the best boogie woogie piano player in the world. Ever! (Sorry Johan Blohm!)

[@Marathonracer]

@fearlesslegend Henri isn't better , nor is he nearly as good and I'll explain why. Boogie- woogie is an American jazz creation, that grew as an extension of the blues and rent parties in Texas and later became incredibly popular in NYC, where I'm from, in the 1920's , '30's and '40's. Unlike the blues, boogie-boogie is dance music. It's not supposed to be complicated, although it's much more difficult to play correctly, than it looks, but it's always supposed to swing, with a driving, rolling rhythm, defined by the rolling left hand.bass on the piano. Henri Herbert doesn't really understand this great American music. He thinks he does, but he doesn't , because his playing is a bit pretentious, constantly creating unnecessary, overly complicated phrases with his right hand, which sometimes makes little musical sense and often just doesn't swing and is nothing more than showing off his fast playing, which ALL the boogie-woogie greats could do and sound far better. Speed is not an end in itself, but Henri plays like he thinks it is. His great influence was Jerry Lee Lewis, he says. But Jerry Lee NEVER played like that, and was much more musical and swinging in his rhythms. Henri has a very superficial understanding of the unique , authentic, boogie-woogie stye of the great Jerry Lee Lewis. If you listen to the truly great American boogie-woogie pianists and composers, like Pinetop Smith, Meade Lux Lewis, Pete Johnson, and Albert Ammons you will NEVER hear that pretentious type of playing. Every note of their right hand phrasing is there for a reason, and supports that driving rolling rhythm, with phrasing that's easily danced to, no matter how fast it is. Most boogie-woogie, however, is not played that fast. Henri seems to think that everything has to be played at breakneck speed, so he can show off . Try listening the legendary Pete Johnson playing his own composition, the incredible " Death Ray Boogie" and you'll hear a world of difference. Death Ray Boogie is extremely fast, yet every phrase and note in the phrase makes perfect sense and he NEVER loses that rolling , driving rhythm. Those guys were true legends for a reason. And a film clip of Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons, clearly shows their technique. Henri's tense facial expression isn't exactly conveying a true joy of the the music.. Playing jazz drums, I know about rhythm. and I think that Jorg has a much better classic boogie-woogie driving, rolling rhythm than Henri does. Stephanie Trick, who's one of today's foremost exponents of the great boogie-woogie music of the past legends, has a phenomenal classically trained piano technique, which better technique that Henri has, yet she's smiling and looking relaxed, no matter how fast she's playing and she NEVER plays the kind of pretentious showoff nonsense that Henri seems to do do, at least to me. Jorg Hegemann, truly gets it. He understands boogie-woogie inside and out. He doesn't have to always play it at breakneck speed, just to show off overly pretentious complicated riffs which don't even make any musical sense and lose the rhythm. Here he's playing fast , but very authentically, where everything hangs together perfectly and supports the theme and the great boogie -woogie rolling rhythm. It's a joy to watch him. To Jorg, the rhythm is everything , which is why you always see him bouncing his right leg. in time to the always driving, rolling rhythm. He never loses that swinging triplet eight note feel, that Henri loses, because he can't seem to handle the speed and sometimes plays the eight notes with no swinging feel , with his right hand., which doesn't seem to fit. Jorg clearly understands that it's supposed to be powerful , jumping dance music, even though it may be a formal concert hall. You see his smile of pure joy across his face, reflecting the music. Henri, on the other hand, literally looks pained and extremely tense, almost angry, like he's desperately trying too hard to get through it. without screwing it up. He never looks like boogie-woogie is a joy to play, like Jorg does, because for Henri, it's not at all about the joy, but about pretentious self aggrandizement.

[@antonyg.952]

@@Marathonracer Thank you for this professional exploration!Jörg is my preferred boogie woogie player,I'm not a musician,but understand every word you say!May I ask you ,what do you think about "Ladyva" Vanessa?I love to hear and look her playing!It would be glad,to read the opinion of a musician as you are!

[@Marathonracer]

@@antonyg.952 Hi, Anthony. I did edit some of what I said about Henri, to tone it down a bit, although basically I think it's still true. You could say that it's not so much what he does, but HOW he does it, that I don't like as much. I've watched more recent videos of him and he's really not that bad, but I still think he's overrated and pretentious and that other players are much more authentic, like Jorg and Stephanie Trick. I wasn't familiar with Ladyva, but on your suggestion, I just looked her up and watched her videos. She's actually pretty good ! She definitely gets the true rolling, driving shuffle rhythm of boogie-woogie. Although not everything she plays is boogi-woogie, like her Ladyva's Stomp., which is also very good. And even when she plays short phrases "straight", without the shuffle swinging rhythm with the right hand, which the boogie-woogie greats also do at times, she does it intelligently and musically, so it makes sense. When it's done correctly that way, the right hand provides a contrast and tension with the basic boogie-woogie rhythm , which is still going with the left. And then she comes right back to the boogie-woogie swinging rhythm again with the right hand. She also has that infectious smile and even winks at the audience when they applaud which is exactly what i said I love about Jorg and is the opposite of the tortured expressions on some of Henri's videos, like he's fighting the piano.

[@antonyg.952]

@@Marathonracer thanks a lot my friend!I really appreciate your professional explanations!You're totally right about Henry,I agree with you!I think,on must not be musician to understand music,but to love it,that's what I'm!Thank you very much for the comments about Vanessa,in general I love to see n hear boogie woogie players,That play naturally and instinctive,alike Jörg,becouse they love boogie with theyr heart,not with them brain!

[@paulbaumer8210]

@fearlesslegend Not. A. Chance. Henri Herbert is a fairly crude rock-and-roll piano player who can't match any of the proper boogie players. I'm not denigrating him...he does what he does and I suppose he does it well - but he's not up with any of the proper boogie players - let alone this guy.

[@baruchben-david4196]

Imagine what it must be like wherever he lives... boogie-woogie all the time...

[@natyiledan5428]

i truly admire the piano player JOERG HEGEMAN. HE WAS A GIFTED MAN .FANTASTIC AND WONDERFUL TO LOOK THE WAY HE PLAY THE PIANO.

[@LasseBoogieJensen]

Was..? He's still very much alive!

[@andrewcampbell-bluespianop6741]

What an epic performance, his left hand is relentless. Amazing! :)

[@StefanUlbricht]

so nice and powerfull!!!!

[@kevgermany]

That's a great endorsement from a player if your ability.

[@alaintetenoire9529]

Grosse performance avec de la perfection - super

[@ericmermoud182]

BRAVO SUPER, 👍👍👍👍👍👍(de France )

[@deweyhungerford860]

terrific playing by Albert Ammons, as well as Zwingenberger, both great

[@Mike-dk7wj]

Superb!!!

[@robintraina217]

thanks again

[@hannakroeger1566]

ein wahnsinns Mensch

[@jamiewatt8921]

Super super!!

[@mariezensz]

musicien absolument fabuleux !!!

[@herbbearingseed]

2 hours of Piano is the exact equivilent of an 8 hour day diggin in ditches

[@eliasholl9870]

"Mr. smile n`play" Jörg "quickfinger" Hegemann. So geht`s flott in den Tag.

[@STANLIZ4]

Thank you for sharing, would never hear many of these concerts but for untiring travelling of the World! and the pic/sound quality is fantastic too!

[@N6032X]

He is good! Thanks!

[@notpopebuthope]

... funtastic !!

[@ruslanrubin7970]

как всегда очуменно !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! техника и исполнение у него просто круче всех в мире.

[@ЮрийБакиев-н7и]

👍😁👍......🎹🍒🎹🍒🎹🍒🎹🍒🎹🍒....СПАСИБО !!!.....👧🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺

[@robintraina217]

amazing

[@brianmcgregor4218]

Am amazed

[@herbbearingseed]

talent, command of the instrument, & O, did I mention talent?

[@herbbearingseed]

8 :46 and beyond, the peak

[@sanji663]

Love it

[@feelx92ger]

A left hand like Hercules...

[@robintraina217]

your something else

[@АнатолийПоздняков-ь8я]

МОЛОДЕЦ !!!

[@huguette1705]

L'artiste me sidère et me fait penser à un autre artiste dans sa sensibilité joyeuse et puissante: monsieur Rostropovitch dans ses interprétations.

[@QoraxAudio]

Piano lifetime: -10 years

[@spassgamer]

My digital pianos tell me the same when I rock them down with Boogie

[@QoraxAudio]

@@spassgamer 😂