Terrific piano playing, history lesson on foundational Black American music. Great upright concert grand from the golden era of American piano making (1890-1929). Thanks Ethan.
Thank you thank you! Im a young person whos become fascinated with the sound of new orleans and the history of boogie woogie after listening to the album dr.johns gumbo. Been trying to follow the history of it and this is so amazing to see just how far back the foundations go
Ethan, I loved nerding out with you while watching this! I teach piano lessons to beginner to intermediate students in Austin, TX and I hope to share music history with them with the same enthusiasm and passion that you do.
For years I've been thinking of doing the same lecture in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, now I am pretty sure that it will happen though I am not as skilled as you, obviously. Thanks for the inspiration! It means a lot to me.
Why did I have no idea you're a regular on Cherokee Street until I stumbled across this video?? See you Tuesday, my man. This was one of the very best music videos of any kind I've ever seen. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I can't believe I missed this!! Awesom Ethan!!! OH how my father would have enjoyed this!! I sure am!! Thank you so much for sharing your amazing talent with this us.
:) I was fortunate to have been there once, in 2017, to play at The LaRoquebrou Boogie Festival. I'm definitely due for another trip.....when it's safe, of course!
Just starting playing the piano again after over 40 years. Back I used play simple versions of Boogie-Woogie. Started playing with the help of films I watch on internet (UA-cam). I must say that I.m really inspired with the story you told and showed. I"m hooked. Going to buy a digital piano to really get my practice going. Hope you will do some more tutorials. Specially Low Down Blues.
Thanks for comment Eric! I'll get back to tutorials, for sure. But they were sure easier to to make during pandemic, when I didn't have any gigs.... Glad to hear this gave you a bit of inspiration! Best of luck, and hope you have fun with it!
Tons of Bro love Man. I need to remember that I can't wish or envy my way to where you are. But sitting back and listening surely hasn't hurt. Me falta anos de practicar.
Thank you so much to share. What a wonderful and rare moment for me. All these forgotten musicians that we adore live again thanks to your pedagogical vision and your talent. Very inspiring !
Thanks Betrand! I'm so happy to be finally finding a community of other folks who love this music as I do....and hopefully we'll keep growing in numbers!
This shit is so cool man, I really appreciate you putting this on UA-cam. Everything is great, but I especially dig your performance of the maple leaf. Feeling it in cut time like that hits way different than any rendition I've heard of it. It feels authentic. I've been practicing it up feeling it in cut time ever since I heard you play it that way. You're a great player and a true steward of ragtime and blues piano. Its an amazing genre of music and we need people like you to keep it alive. Thank you so much.
Thanks for the comment, man! Super glad you dig it. And haha, to be honest, i don't know the difference between cut time and 2/4 . I definitely like to play it in a stompy fashion, really accentuating the down beat. That, combined with keeping the melody pushing in front of the beat, i think gives a really cool swinging feel.. This is kind of the trick or magic of ragtime, imo : creating a swinging feeling without actually swinging the beat. One master of this feel is the late great Paul Lingle! Highly recommend checking him out. Also, in case you've not seen it, I also posted a stand alone video of maple leaf, and i recorded on my new album "The Bigtone Session". Best, ethan
Glad you enjoyed it! One of these days I'll get around to making a proper video on this subject, and I suspect that would garner wider engagement. But I'm glad people are finding this seminar and getting something out of it!
@@EthanLeinwand I’d personally be over the moon to learn more about this from you. Love your passion and perspective on the subject. Like no other! Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge. I’m extremely grateful
Listened/watched your presentation instead of gardening in 90-degree weather. Will be road-tripping to Vermont next week and listening to ragtime the whole way. Thanks for showing us what else is musically related. You’re a virtuoso and a delight!
Thank you so much Ethan.......takes me back to listening to my piano blues records from years ago.......i play original blues with a band these days but good that you are keeping barrelhouse alive....love your feel!
Interesting to hear how stride had its origins in marches, it makes sense. I've thought the 'oom-pah' stuff I hear in Polka could arguably relate to jazz swing with its syncopated 8th notes.
You can hear the strong "oom-pah" rhythm in marches as well as polkas! I don't really associate syncopation with polkas, though I'm no expert on that matter.
said this before but your interpretation is so enjoyable! You have said “its all in the music”. Unfortunately Im too musically incompetent to recreate it!
Thanks for providing such a great watch! Do you have any recommendations for learning resources - books/videos etc? I’ve seen a few of your videos but would love to dive deeper into this style.
It's the best tune! 6+ years in and I'm just now starting to get it to a place I'm happy with. Literally just yesterday I figured out a part that had been dogging me since the beginning! So , it's a ways away from an overhead view, but hopefully I'll feel confident to do a standard angle view in 2022.
Fascinating stuff and great to hear these tunes played out in your own style. I may be over-reaching but as I understand it part of your thesis of why barrelhouse is "lost" is that, unlike ragtime, it wasn't disseminated through transcriptions/sheet music so never had the popular appeal and even the recordings were often micro-regional therefor never travelled. The Cow Cow riff is a good example - passed from player to player - but not the context for Ray Charles dropping it into a jam. Ahmet Ertegun, Atlantic mogul and credited writer of "Mess Around" claimed he got it from Pete Johnson. Johnson got it from x, etc... Part of the problem of trying to historicize music is that is often doesn't leave tangible traces or documentation or as you point out doesn't fit a popular narrative - blues as folky, rural, crude, guitar based as opposed to blues as sophisticated and urban played on the almighty piano which requires training, technique or at the very least incredible dexterity to play stride or ostinato bass at speed
Thanks for comment! When I think I about micro-regional recordings and their geographical reach, the first thing that comes to mind is Robert Johnson. Even though his records didn't necessarily travel well in his time, he's since become one of the most popular and "important" artists. Therefore, I'd have to say that the regional aspect of certain barrelhouse recordings is not much of a factor in why this music is lost. Rather, as you say, it's all about prevailing narratives. Cow Cow is a great song to consider here. Firstly, it's roots go back to the ragtime era, and the theme shows up in multiple pieces of sheet music. But, the importance of ragtime in early blues is generally not a part of the blues narrative, so we lose that connection. Further, Ertegun credits Pete Johnson, so he's connecting this tune to boogie-woogie, which is great! But, the story of boogie-woogie generally is in such a rush to get to 1939, that it's not put properly in context, and barrelhouse of the 20s and piano blues of the 30s gets glossed over or left out. So in the end, the link is severed on both ends! The ragtime narrative doesn't lead to barrelhouse and the boogie-woogie narrative doesn't trace back to barrelhouse. To me, this is one of the main reasons this music is "lost" today.
I find Jimmy Yancey interesting. Almost all his pieces are the same and he doesn’t know how to end end, just making the same crashing pattern to end most of them.
I think he has a fair amount of variety in his playing, and by blues piano standards, he produced a ton of original melodic material. Interesting choice with his patented Eb ending, but the way I look at it, the pieces weren't ever meant to end. They were supposed to go on all night, while the folks kept right on dancing.
Well, there was always string music concurrent with piano. Each influencing each other. For instance, string band music was a huge influence on early ragtime.
@@EthanLeinwand so is it fair to say banjo and fiddle string bands are fairly close predecessors to the blues of Charley Patton and Blind Lemon Jefferson?
Old time string band music, the many forms of earlier blues (folk and popular), ragtime, pop tunes, spirituals....all influenced these country blues artists.
Hey Stanley! I'm mostly playing the tune as written... or at least I think I am :) I definitely try to give it a loose-ness, though, and I think my bluesy and barrelhouse style naturally gives it a unique character. Been working a lot on ragtime, so expect videos of that kind of stuff very soon. And the good news about that is, there actually is sheet music for those pieces!
Ethan thanks, very interesting!! It sounds so different by changing the emphasis. Looking forward to how you create that sound it would be most helpful. Dont think Joplin plays it as well as you!! :)) youve found more in it than he did!
Terrific piano playing, history lesson on foundational Black American music. Great upright concert grand from the golden era of American piano making (1890-1929). Thanks Ethan.
You’re incredible how you can do all this styles and retain all the history
By far the best hour and a half I've ever spent on youtube...
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks!
What a great performance! Thanks a million.
Thanks!!
Thank you thank you! Im a young person whos become fascinated with the sound of new orleans and the history of boogie woogie after listening to the album dr.johns gumbo. Been trying to follow the history of it and this is so amazing to see just how far back the foundations go
Love to hear this! My journey with this music started in New Orleans with Professor Longhair and James Booker, and I kept going backwards from there.
Ethan, I loved nerding out with you while watching this! I teach piano lessons to beginner to intermediate students in Austin, TX and I hope to share music history with them with the same enthusiasm and passion that you do.
Thanks for the great comment! Best of luck with all your students!
Musicology at it's best, add a couple of anecdotes and jokes and it will be the best piano night of my life
Thanks! Sometimes I joke, but no one can tell 😂
Thanks for that beautiful history of american music from ragtime to rock and roll. regards from France.
Being able to hear his foot stomp when playing Maple Leaf Rag made me realize how catchy is really is!
Maple Leaf is a masterpiece for the ages! 120 years and still going strong!
This was absolutely beautiful love the history and the variations. Me 69-year-old learning piano🤦♂️
For years I've been thinking of doing the same lecture in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, now I am pretty sure that it will happen though I am not as skilled as you, obviously. Thanks for the inspiration! It means a lot to me.
Love to hear this!
This programme / idea is not only a real nice one but also played and presented the way it should be! Great Ethan!!
What an inspiring guy and what a great lecture.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks!!
Why did I have no idea you're a regular on Cherokee Street until I stumbled across this video?? See you Tuesday, my man.
This was one of the very best music videos of any kind I've ever seen. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Glad you enjoyed it , and YES, I'm always down there at Yaquis on Tuesdays 🙂 Very cool that you found out thru this video!
I can't believe I missed this!! Awesom Ethan!!! OH how my father would have enjoyed this!! I sure am!! Thank you so much for sharing your amazing talent with this us.
Thanks Ida! ❤️
don't you want to come for a little tour in france one day ?! What a pleasure it would be to listen to you live!
:) I was fortunate to have been there once, in 2017, to play at The LaRoquebrou Boogie Festival. I'm definitely due for another trip.....when it's safe, of course!
This was fantastic. Made my evening
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great playing of this wonderful music
Thanks!
Just starting playing the piano again after over 40 years. Back I used play simple versions of Boogie-Woogie. Started playing with the help of films I watch on internet (UA-cam). I must say that I.m really inspired with the story you told and showed. I"m hooked. Going to buy a digital piano to really get my practice going. Hope you will do some more tutorials. Specially Low Down Blues.
Thanks for comment Eric! I'll get back to tutorials, for sure. But they were sure easier to to make during pandemic, when I didn't have any gigs....
Glad to hear this gave you a bit of inspiration! Best of luck, and hope you have fun with it!
Tons of Bro love Man. I need to remember that I can't wish or envy my way to where you are. But sitting back and listening surely hasn't hurt. Me falta anos de practicar.
Man your playing is so clean! So cool to hear Pine Top, fell in love with boogie-woogie bc of him. Keep on doing these vids!
That was great. Thank you Ethan.
Great performance, lot of entertaining information!
Thank you so much to share. What a wonderful and rare moment for me. All these forgotten musicians that we adore live again thanks to your pedagogical vision and your talent. Very inspiring !
Thanks Betrand! I'm so happy to be finally finding a community of other folks who love this music as I do....and hopefully we'll keep growing in numbers!
Very fine selections and wonderful playing. Thank you for this, Ethan.
This shit is so cool man, I really appreciate you putting this on UA-cam. Everything is great, but I especially dig your performance of the maple leaf. Feeling it in cut time like that hits way different than any rendition I've heard of it. It feels authentic. I've been practicing it up feeling it in cut time ever since I heard you play it that way. You're a great player and a true steward of ragtime and blues piano. Its an amazing genre of music and we need people like you to keep it alive. Thank you so much.
And maybe it's not in cut time, but whatever it is, it is felt in 2. That was my point lol
Thanks for the comment, man! Super glad you dig it. And haha, to be honest, i don't know the difference between cut time and 2/4 . I definitely like to play it in a stompy fashion, really accentuating the down beat. That, combined with keeping the melody pushing in front of the beat, i think gives a really cool swinging feel.. This is kind of the trick or magic of ragtime, imo : creating a swinging feeling without actually swinging the beat. One master of this feel is the late great Paul Lingle! Highly recommend checking him out. Also, in case you've not seen it, I also posted a stand alone video of maple leaf, and i recorded on my new album "The Bigtone Session". Best, ethan
Fantastic lesson and incredible piano! Thank you!
Wow! That was awesome.... you are gifted with some incredible piano skills! Thank you very much!! It was a pleasure to listen to...
Thanks Andreas! Really glad you enjoyed it
This is absolutely fantastic. Amazing playing and GREAT history lesson. Well done. I’m shocked this doesn’t have more views. Subscribed! Thank you
Glad you enjoyed it! One of these days I'll get around to making a proper video on this subject, and I suspect that would garner wider engagement. But I'm glad people are finding this seminar and getting something out of it!
@@EthanLeinwand I’d personally be over the moon to learn more about this from you. Love your passion and perspective on the subject. Like no other! Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge. I’m extremely grateful
Listened/watched your presentation instead of gardening in 90-degree weather. Will be road-tripping to Vermont next week and listening to ragtime the whole way. Thanks for showing us what else is musically related. You’re a virtuoso and a delight!
Thanks so much !! Safe travels :)
Nicely put together, very interesting and wonderful playing as usual.
Thanks as always, Andrew!
It was my pleasure.
Thanx for sharing.
peace
Thank you so much Ethan.......takes me back to listening to my piano blues records from years ago.......i play original blues with a band these days but good that you are keeping barrelhouse alive....love your feel!
Many thanks! Glad you dig it!
😊😊@@EthanLeinwand
Absolutely loved this 😀🎹❤️ very interesting and such fabulous playing to demonstrate the content ❤️
Thanks Valerie!
Great video ! Wonderful playing ! Great history lesson ! Great music ! thanks ! martin
Ethan..... Thanks from south Spain!!!!!! amazing Master Class... the bomb
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it
Dude this is great!
Thanks Arthur! Really glad I was able to do this and get it recorded! Hopefully I'll get more chances. Hope you're well and enjoying parenthood!
Very good!!!!!!!!!!
I've noticed the same Mess Aroubd bass pattern from Cow Cow Davenport in Jelly Roll Morton's "New Orleans Blues."
Yes, indeed! It's a melody with deep roots and many branches
Great playing and nicely put together Ethan!
Thanks for checking it out Thomas. Hope to build on this and start doing more of these seminars.
Thanks for posting. This was informative and great playing
Thanks!
Bolton, Louisiana.
Interesting to hear how stride had its origins in marches, it makes sense. I've thought the 'oom-pah' stuff I hear in Polka could arguably relate to jazz swing with its syncopated 8th notes.
You can hear the strong "oom-pah" rhythm in marches as well as polkas! I don't really associate syncopation with polkas, though I'm no expert on that matter.
I'm just getting into the piano blues. Learning a lot from your channel as in who to listen to. Keep up the good work. This was another great video 👍
Glad to hear it!!
This is great! I was hoping to make it to this show and wasn’t able to!
Sorry you couldn't make it, Jim. Was so happy that they filmed it and I could share it here!
Ethan Leinwand you played my favorite... tremblin’ blues :)
said this before but your interpretation is so enjoyable! You have said “its all in the music”. Unfortunately Im too musically incompetent to recreate it!
It's not easy, so hopefully you'll go easy on yourself! Ragtime is super tricky to interpret.
Wow! Ethan.... you're a pro. I always thought your Pinetop Boogie was Boogie Woogie Stomp by Ammons?
"Boogie Woogie Stomp" is Ammons' version of the original "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie".
Thanks for providing such a great watch! Do you have any recommendations for learning resources - books/videos etc? I’ve seen a few of your videos but would love to dive deeper into this style.
I love the Joe Louis Strut by Black Bob 🤩🤩 any chance of a video of this with the overhead view ? 🤞🏿🤞🏿
It's the best tune! 6+ years in and I'm just now starting to get it to a place I'm happy with. Literally just yesterday I figured out a part that had been dogging me since the beginning! So , it's a ways away from an overhead view, but hopefully I'll feel confident to do a standard angle view in 2022.
@@EthanLeinwand it’s brilliant isn’t it ❤️❤️ I’ll look forward to the standard view then , I’m sure I’ll be able to get something from that too 🎹❤️🎹
Song at 35:00 mark sounds like Willie Brown "mississippi blues"
That's a great track! Both tunes come out of the deep south.
Barrel houses came from the bar supported on barrels
Fascinating stuff and great to hear these tunes played out in your own style. I may be over-reaching but as I understand it part of your thesis of why barrelhouse is "lost" is that, unlike ragtime, it wasn't disseminated through transcriptions/sheet music so never had the popular appeal and even the recordings were often micro-regional therefor never travelled. The Cow Cow riff is a good example - passed from player to player - but not the context for Ray Charles dropping it into a jam. Ahmet Ertegun, Atlantic mogul and credited writer of "Mess Around" claimed he got it from Pete Johnson. Johnson got it from x, etc... Part of the problem of trying to historicize music is that is often doesn't leave tangible traces or documentation or as you point out doesn't fit a popular narrative - blues as folky, rural, crude, guitar based as opposed to blues as sophisticated and urban played on the almighty piano which requires training, technique or at the very least incredible dexterity to play stride or ostinato bass at speed
Thanks for comment! When I think I about micro-regional recordings and their geographical reach, the first thing that comes to mind is Robert Johnson. Even though his records didn't necessarily travel well in his time, he's since become one of the most popular and "important" artists. Therefore, I'd have to say that the regional aspect of certain barrelhouse recordings is not much of a factor in why this music is lost. Rather, as you say, it's all about prevailing narratives. Cow Cow is a great song to consider here. Firstly, it's roots go back to the ragtime era, and the theme shows up in multiple pieces of sheet music. But, the importance of ragtime in early blues is generally not a part of the blues narrative, so we lose that connection. Further, Ertegun credits Pete Johnson, so he's connecting this tune to boogie-woogie, which is great! But, the story of boogie-woogie generally is in such a rush to get to 1939, that it's not put properly in context, and barrelhouse of the 20s and piano blues of the 30s gets glossed over or left out. So in the end, the link is severed on both ends! The ragtime narrative doesn't lead to barrelhouse and the boogie-woogie narrative doesn't trace back to barrelhouse. To me, this is one of the main reasons this music is "lost" today.
Fullerton, actually.
I find Jimmy Yancey interesting. Almost all his pieces are the same and he doesn’t know how to end end, just making the same crashing pattern to end most of them.
I think he has a fair amount of variety in his playing, and by blues piano standards, he produced a ton of original melodic material.
Interesting choice with his patented Eb ending, but the way I look at it, the pieces weren't ever meant to end. They were supposed to go on all night, while the folks kept right on dancing.
So what form of guitar blues DID exist before this heavy piano influence?
Well, there was always string music concurrent with piano. Each influencing each other. For instance, string band music was a huge influence on early ragtime.
@@EthanLeinwand so is it fair to say banjo and fiddle string bands are fairly close predecessors to the blues of Charley Patton and Blind Lemon Jefferson?
Old time string band music, the many forms of earlier blues (folk and popular), ragtime, pop tunes, spirituals....all influenced these country blues artists.
show close up how to play it? or do a video tutorial?
I plan to start doing more tutorial/finger views in the coming year. Stay tuned!
is that an Albrecht?
can't recall the brand here, but that does ring a bell...
Просто
Love your Maple interpretation! not as written, am I right? must get working on reproducing your rhythmic take on it, much more pleasurable to hear!
Hey Stanley! I'm mostly playing the tune as written... or at least I think I am :) I definitely try to give it a loose-ness, though, and I think my bluesy and barrelhouse style naturally gives it a unique character. Been working a lot on ragtime, so expect videos of that kind of stuff very soon. And the good news about that is, there actually is sheet music for those pieces!
Ethan thanks, very interesting!! It sounds so different by changing the emphasis. Looking forward to how you create that sound it would be most helpful. Dont think Joplin plays it as well as you!! :)) youve found more in it than he did!
Ethan, are you intending making sheet music for your version of Maple available, Id love to have a go at reproducing this
I swear that everything you need is in Joplin's sheet music!! It's perfection.
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