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Bud Powell Study #2: Bouncin' with Bud

Oliver_M37 12 May 2020

I think this is probably his most famous tune, and it's great so that makes sense. This might be one of my more elaborate arrangements of a head I've done. I really tried to make the head itself have an interesting arc where every A section is different. During the bridge, I used George Shearing voicings a lot. In traditional Shearing voicings, the pianist plays a 4-part closed block chord with the right hand and doubles the melody an octave below the top voice with the left hand. This means there are often 2nds in between the bottom two voices, and that's what makes the voicing crunchy.

"Blue Bossa" from practice session

ed saindon 11 May 2020

Clip from a practice session playing the classic Joe Henderson song. Playing with a "stream of consciousness" approach. Seeing what develops and working with motives, varied sounds (articulation, dynamics, accents, ghost notes, deadstrokes) and techniques as they come into play. This is one of the ways that I practice. I always enjoy playing songs this way and seeing where the music leads me along with taking some chances. For me, it's not about perfection but more about the process that's important.

Bud Powell Study #1: Parisian Thoroughfare

Oliver_M37 11 May 2020

As some of you know, for the past few months I've been studying a lot of Bud Powell on piano, and by the transitive property, also vibraphone. I've done a number of transcriptions and analyses, and I've learned almost every tune he ever wrote. So, for some closure before I go to Oscar Peterson, I'll be posting three solo vibraphone versions of his tunes.

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