Home Music Jazz Archive by category "Piano" (Page 3)

Category: Piano

This Day in Music – December 11, 1938 – McCoy Tyner’s Birthday!!

Today McCoy Tyner celebrates his 75th birthday, Happy Birthday, McCoy. From his biography at Facebook,

It is not an overstatement to say that modern jazz has been shaped by the music of McCoy Tyner. His blues-based piano style, replete with sophisticated chords and an explosively percussive left hand has transcended conventional styles to become one of the most identifiable sounds in improvised music. His harmonic contributions and dramatic rhythmic devices form the vocabulary of a majority of jazz pianists.  Read More

Today in Music – Dec 2, 1931 – Jazz Pianist Wynton Kelly was born!

KellyWyntonOn this day in 1931 jazz pianist Wynton Kelly was born in Jamaica. According to Wikipedia Wynton is maybe best know for the years he spent working with Miles Davis from 1959 to 1962. While that may be true for many listeners it’s not for me. I remember Wynton as a sideman for Wes Montgomery. If Jimmy Smith and Wes were the Dynamic Duo. Wynton and Wes were the Dynamic Duo 2 in my eyes and ears!! Read More

2013 Jazz – The Music of Omar Sosa – Eggun: The Afri-Lectric Experience

Omar SosaSo the other day MOG by way of their Just for You section introduced me to the music of Omar Sosa, and I’m glad they did!!  Sosa is a Cuban born composer, bandleader, and jazz pianist. His newest band  Afreecanos, combines Afro Pop, jazz, and a variety of European instruments. The band, which includes musicians from Africa, Cuba, Brazil, and France, released a CD in 2009 and went on a world tour in early 2010. Read More

Bud Powell – Jazz Piano

Bud Powell – Jazz Piano born September 27, 1924

On this date in 1924 “Bud” Powell was born. In a post the other day about pianist Benny Green‘, I stated that his sytle has been compared to Bud Powell’s style. I wouldn’t know because, I know hardly anything about Bud Powell. with the exception that he was a great pianist. I image that he main reason I don’t remember Bud, is that  he died 1966. Another reason is that he spent the years between 1958 and 1963 in Paris. He returned to the US in 1963 and on July 31, 1966, he died of tuberculosis, malnutrition, and alcoholism. Here is some background about Bud from Wikipedia: Read More

Late Night Jazz from Russell Malone, Christian McBride and Benny Green

Sailor -Steve Miller

Chritian, Russell, BennyOk so after writing about Christian McBride tonight, I was looking around YouTube and I saw this video of a performance of one of my favorite Wes Montgomery tunes, “Jingles”! The trio performing it was composed of Christian McBride on bass, Benny Green on piano and Russell Malone on guitar. I have recently learned a little about Christian McBride but I don’t know much about Malone or Green. Anyway,I watched the video and I was floored! Malone is outstanding on guitar as is Green on piano, but the driving force behind the whole 14 minutes on the tune is the phenomenal bass playing of  McBride!1 He just doesn’t stop!! Read More

A Jazzy Night with Music from Blue, Wynton and Hank and friends!!

Soul StationSo tonight I turned the sound down on the Phillies game and turned up the stereo and spent a jazzy Saturday night listening to albums from  Blue Mitchell, Wynton Kelly, and Hank Mobley. Of the three Hank Mobley is the musician I know the least about, but his album Soul Station was my favorite of the evening. The link between the three albums is the piano artistry of Wynton Kelly. Read More

2013 Jazz – Aaron Diehl’s – The Bespoke Man’s Narrative

Aaron DiehlSo last night I had the television on and there were no games on the Phils played in the afternoon and the NBA playoffs start tonight so a surfed a little, and then switched to the Music Choice jazz channel. I listened for a bit and heard two artists that sounded interesting, so I turned off the TV and went to MOG to find them. The first was jazz pianist Aaron Diehl and the second was drummer Jordon Young. Both of their albums were very, very good. particularly  Diehl’s début album   The Bespoke Man’s Narrative, which was released by Mack Avenue Records in March of this year. I was just blown away listening to this album! There are not many jazz pianist that I really love the list includes, Thelonious Monk, Oscar Peterson, Wynton Kelly and Bill Evans and now I will add Aaron Diehl to the list. Just how good is Aaron Diehl…..from his website: Read More