Hi Ron, nice to hear you again, I'm glad you mentioned Milt Buckner he was also a comical guy, he would keep ya laughing, got to know him and play with him a few times when I was playing with Candy Johnson (sax player) in Defiance Ohio where Milt was living, he taught me the Bebop scale!
Wow Randy, what an experience! Milt was a legend, and he doesn't get all the credit he deserves for the block chords. I heard a live recording of his trio playing Groovin' High with Charlie Parker. I heard it on the radio - I'm not sure if it's easily found.
I'm in the UK and I guess you posted this super nice video last night from the USA. While it's one of the last good things you've probably done just before bed, watching it became one of the good things I did first in the morning just after getting up, right after warming up on my double bass ( piano is not my main instrument ). Thanks for demystifying the block chords for us. You are absolutely right, there are a lot of opinions posted about it which may cause some confusion.
This was delightful and I've got to say you're looking particularly dapper today. Funnily enough I'm just now getting meshed in with block chords, the Barrie Harris 6th-dim ones, and trying to pack them into my toolkit. I'm enjoying the challenge - there's a lot of thinking in them for a dabbler like me. And you're right - they're a suggestion, not a routine, and it's okay, in fact often better, to be a bit casual about what notes they must have, which ones to drop and all that rigorous stuff.
Thanks, and yes, approach the block cords from both angles. Practice the dim voicings and also play whatever voicings fall under your fingers, like George Shearing did.
Hello! I enjoyed hearing your stories and watching you play. It's so fascinating to watch you make sudden decisions at the piano. You play skillfully. Thank you for passing on your knowledge to others. That's so kind. All the best
Another great video Ron, I learnt a few tuned with the alternating dim chords and always wondered why I couldn't get it to work all the time...now I know why. Thanks
I'm glad this cleared thing up for you, Martyn. It's amazing how certain things get emphasized in a way that's totally out of proportion to their use and importance.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on learning/using block chords. I very much agree with your point that alternating with diminished chords as only way to do it is far too limiting.
OK, I needed to hear this. I've been avoiding Barry Harris-style block chords for the reasons you expressed, and didn't think that there might be other approaches. Actually, I've recently been honing gospel-style "couple chords", which I see now are very close to block chords. I'll definitely look into block chords in the future! Thank you!
Love it! I just woke up to a rainy afternoon, and what a beautiful song to wake up too. Love your melding of different styles. I could hear Ella singing with.😊👍
The smooth Shearing 'locked hands' sound has always fascinated me. But having the melody doubled an octave below cleverly highlights it against or contrasts it from the remaining notes of the chord. The effect being the melody sounding within the range of the chord voicing. I believe it comes from orchestra arranging. In that context, any note in a chord block can be highlighted by the sharp sound of, for example, a brass instrument (French horn, trombone, trumpet) against the softness of reed instruments (clarinet, oboe, bassoon) or strings (violin, viola, cello) which are assigned all or just the remaining chord tones. (I presume it wouldn't work well the other way if, say, a cello was chosen to highlight a note against a brass section backdrop.) Correct me if anything isn't right. The technique and many other things were used by the Dorsey brothers, Glen Miller, Nelson Riddle who borrowed them from Mozart, Beethoven and others. But thanks Ron for this and other videos. It's great having the insights of a professional musician.
What great timing! I recently just learned block chords only in F major scale so that I could put them in a part of "Polkadots and Moonbeams." They happen to be the ones with the diminished chords alternating with 6th chords. I'll have to learn them the way that you mentioned. I love the sound of them! That was a great story about George Shearing too. Wonderful playing on one of my favorite tunes!
@@spacemanbose Great question! You can begin using block chords tight away, since they are just chords. You don't have to use them on every melody note. Simply play them when you can and play the other notes as single notes. Have fun!
I really like this guy. He must be talking about the Barry Harris Revolution of diminished chords. Frankly, block chords are easy for me and make sense. For now, I can skip Barry and have some fun.
Hi Ron, it's been a while and I sincerely hope you are well and simply having a holiday from your extraordinary and demanding Journey. The Magician in You (the next song to come) is not one of the easy ones by a long shot - lots of sudden turnarounds with the harmonic centres and another of those Jarret tunes made up out of "bits" as I call them. A well-wisher. PS I've been adding in extra tunes into the 1/4-page spaces in my Real Book, where they can fit and still follow approximate alphabetical order. Wonderful World, Life on Mars, Don't Worry be Happy, Soul King, the themes from The Good the Bad the Ugly and Star Trek - and several more. In biro. Do you consider that a sacrilege or an enhancement, and what tunes would you add to the list?
Thanks for checking in! I just finished up a long-term project and can get back to posting these videos. In fact, I'm now going to make two of them each week, along with other videos. I've posted The Magician In You earlier this morning. As for adding additional tunes to the fakebook, I think this is a great idea! You could even create a whole new, personalized, fakebook of your favorite tunes!
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Hi Ron, nice to hear you again, I'm glad you mentioned Milt Buckner he was also a comical guy, he would keep ya laughing, got to know him and play with him a few times when I was playing with Candy Johnson (sax player) in Defiance Ohio where Milt was living, he taught me the Bebop scale!
Wow Randy, what an experience! Milt was a legend, and he doesn't get all the credit he deserves for the block chords. I heard a live recording of his trio playing Groovin' High with Charlie Parker. I heard it on the radio - I'm not sure if it's easily found.
I'm in the UK and I guess you posted this super nice video last night from the USA.
While it's one of the last good things you've probably done just before bed, watching it became one of the good things I did first in the morning just after getting up, right after warming up on my double bass ( piano is not my main instrument ).
Thanks for demystifying the block chords for us.
You are absolutely right, there are a lot of opinions posted about it which may cause some confusion.
Thanks Bruno - good luck with your bass playing!
Could listen to you talk about (and play) music all day:). This Is one of the tunes I used to sing to my kids when they were babies.
Your kids are lucky!
Love the anecdotes, Ron🌹🌹🌹🌹AND.... the wisdom. AND...... the swinging, melodic approach 😎
Thanks Brenda!!!
This was delightful and I've got to say you're looking particularly dapper today.
Funnily enough I'm just now getting meshed in with block chords, the Barrie Harris 6th-dim ones, and trying to pack them into my toolkit. I'm enjoying the challenge - there's a lot of thinking in them for a dabbler like me. And you're right - they're a suggestion, not a routine, and it's okay, in fact often better, to be a bit casual about what notes they must have, which ones to drop and all that rigorous stuff.
Thanks, and yes, approach the block cords from both angles. Practice the dim voicings and also play whatever voicings fall under your fingers, like George Shearing did.
I really enjoy Mel Torme's take on Lullaby of Birdland
He's awesome, and his scat singing seems effortless!
Hello! I enjoyed hearing your stories and watching you play. It's so fascinating to watch you make sudden decisions at the piano. You play skillfully. Thank you for passing on your knowledge to others. That's so kind. All the best
Thanks Isabella! That's interesting about making decisions while playing. I enjoy watching other pianists do that too.
This is a very good take on Barry Harris 6th diminished scale, very liberating to know it’s not the only way, please go on on the subject!
I'm glad this helped put block chords in perspective, Francesco!
Another great video Ron, I learnt a few tuned with the alternating dim chords and always wondered why I couldn't get it to work all the time...now I know why. Thanks
I'm glad this cleared thing up for you, Martyn. It's amazing how certain things get emphasized in a way that's totally out of proportion to their use and importance.
Thanks Ron, wonderful playing and insights and the stories are the icing on the cake, these videos are a gift!
Thanks Julian - this one was fun!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on learning/using block chords. I very much agree with your point that alternating with diminished chords as only way to do it is far too limiting.
Yes - try many ways and see how each one sounds in various contexts.
Fantastic as always. Learning so much from these
Thanks Andy! Give it a try with the block chords.
Thanks for the anecdotes!
Glad you like them!
OK, I needed to hear this. I've been avoiding Barry Harris-style block chords for the reasons you expressed, and didn't think that there might be other approaches. Actually, I've recently been honing gospel-style "couple chords", which I see now are very close to block chords. I'll definitely look into block chords in the future! Thank you!
Great! Yes, bock chords are much easier than often presented, and the gospel stuff is similar. Have fun with them :)
Great story - Thanks
Thanks Al - glad you liked this!
Hi Ron thanks for the inspiration. I feel like I’m ready to give bar chords another try, while not stressing about the drop 2 voicing.
Go for it, Rich! The less stress, the better!
Love it! I just woke up to a rainy afternoon, and what a beautiful song to wake up too. Love your melding of different styles. I could hear Ella singing with.😊👍
Thanks and that's a very nice thing to say about Ella!
@@rondrotoskeyboardimprov9453 welcome.
Hi Ron! Thanks for that. It's a beautiful tune, and I love your anecdotes about George Shearing. 😊
Thanks Chris. That was a crazy performance!
I remember signing this is college with the big band and never realized how tight the block chords worked with the choir.
Hi Joe - I'm discovering new things like that all the time as well!
The smooth Shearing 'locked hands' sound has always fascinated me. But having the melody doubled an octave below cleverly highlights it against or contrasts it from the remaining notes of the chord. The effect being the melody sounding within the range of the chord voicing. I believe it comes from orchestra arranging. In that context, any note in a chord block can be highlighted by the sharp sound of, for example, a brass instrument (French horn, trombone, trumpet) against the softness of reed instruments (clarinet, oboe, bassoon) or strings (violin, viola, cello) which are assigned all or just the remaining chord tones. (I presume it wouldn't work well the other way if, say, a cello was chosen to highlight a note against a brass section backdrop.) Correct me if anything isn't right. The technique and many other things were used by the Dorsey brothers, Glen Miller, Nelson Riddle who borrowed them from Mozart, Beethoven and others. But thanks Ron for this and other videos. It's great having the insights of a professional musician.
What great timing! I recently just learned block chords only in F major scale so that I could put them in a part of "Polkadots and Moonbeams." They happen to be the ones with the diminished chords alternating with 6th chords. I'll have to learn them the way that you mentioned. I love the sound of them! That was a great story about George Shearing too. Wonderful playing on one of my favorite tunes!
Hi Rachel - yes, use the diminished chords when you can, but don't be limited by them. Have fun :)
@@rondrotoskeyboardimprov9453 ok, will do. Thanks!
How many years have you been playing before learn block chords?
@@spacemanbose Great question! You can begin using block chords tight away, since they are just chords. You don't have to use them on every melody note. Simply play them when you can and play the other notes as single notes. Have fun!
I really like this guy. He must be talking about the Barry Harris Revolution of diminished chords. Frankly, block chords are easy for me and make sense. For now, I can skip Barry and have some fun.
Yes, exactly. I'm glad you've found your way with block chords and are enjoying it!
Hi Ron, Really enjoyed your playing, Are you saying you can play block how you like and there are no rules? Thankyou Simon.
Exactly, Simon. No rules. If you want to emulate a specific player, then you can learn how they did it. But in general, there are no rules.
@@rondrotoskeyboardimprov9453 Thanks Ron ok.
Hi Ron, it's been a while and I sincerely hope you are well and simply having a holiday from your extraordinary and demanding Journey.
The Magician in You (the next song to come) is not one of the easy ones by a long shot - lots of sudden turnarounds with the harmonic centres and another of those Jarret tunes made up out of "bits" as I call them.
A well-wisher.
PS I've been adding in extra tunes into the 1/4-page spaces in my Real Book, where they can fit and still follow approximate alphabetical order. Wonderful World, Life on Mars, Don't Worry be Happy, Soul King, the themes from The Good the Bad the Ugly and Star Trek - and several more. In biro. Do you consider that a sacrilege or an enhancement, and what tunes would you add to the list?
Thanks for checking in! I just finished up a long-term project and can get back to posting these videos. In fact, I'm now going to make two of them each week, along with other videos. I've posted The Magician In You earlier this morning. As for adding additional tunes to the fakebook, I think this is a great idea! You could even create a whole new, personalized, fakebook of your favorite tunes!
formidable lesson super prof mais trop de bla bla bla et trop peu de tuto ..