Legendary Oscar Peterson - is considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, 8-time grammy winner and appears on hundreds of recordings. His swinging virtuosity is something that every jazz pianist have to check out!
Charlie Parker: Jam Session 1952 - w/ Charlie Parker, Benny Carter, Johnny Hodges, Ben Webster, Flip Phillips (sax), Charlie Shavers (tr), Ray Brown (b), Barney Kessel (gt) & J.C. Heard (dr) 1952 Spotify Album Link Here
Stan Getz And The Oscar Peterson Trio - Quartet w/ Stan Getz (sax), Ray Brown (b) & Herb Ellis (gt) 1958 Spotify Album Link Here
Exercises on this thread are built to give the students a deeper view on Oscar Petersons style, soloing, comping as well as an overall look into the tradition of jazz through his artistry.
Exercises are transcription-based, following with a closer look into certain details of his playing. This way we can combine ear-training with learning the language of jazz, as well as analyzing closely what is happening.
The full transcription will be posted in 2 weeks with an analysis of the solo as well as details about what we can learn from the solo, and how to practice with it.
If you have any questions with the exercise, post them in this thread.
Firstly thanks for setting this exercise. I’ve been listening to this record for a few years now and this exercise inspired me to start transcribing from it. It’s the first time I’ve transcribed from an Oscar Peterson solo which was fun.
I spent around an hour or so each day for the last week and I’ve just finished my first draft of the transcription. I’ve scanned it and turned it into a PDF:
I’m sure there are a few inaccuracies in my transcription but generally I’m happy with it.
Would you be able to post the XML file of this? That way we can pull it into our notation software (Sibelius/MuseScore/Finale etc…) and complete the notation that way.
We could also create a thread showing how to use MuseScore which is free to download. I think there is one somewhere in the forum. I will find it.
But yes it’s a very nice study that you have set here and I learnt a lot from it. It would have been much more difficult without the bars you had already filled and so the format made it more accessible and fun for me.
Now I’ve got the bulk of the notes down I will be focusing on playing along with the recording to emulate Oscar’s exact phrasing and articulation. I’ll post a recording once I’m happy with it. I’m also going to transcribing some of Stan Getz’s sax lines in his extensive solo sections.
The full transcription will be posted in 2 weeks with an analysis of the solo as well as details about what we can learn from the solo, and how to practice with it.
If you have any questions with the exercise, post them in this thread.
Attaching my transcription for Pennies From Heaven. Did this one in the span of less then a week so I may have not internalized what is going melodically, but I noticed many uses of the C Blues Scale, Bb maj 7, F maj7 arpeggios throughout the solo. I’ll look at the analysis made by @Tuomo to have a further understanding the solo.
I would also like to know how would we, in a case like this solo where there is little to no left hand voicings played by Oscar, how would we know what is occuring harmonically? Would we need to use the main lead sheet to know or is there a way to determine this by simply transcribing this portion of the song? Thanks in advance!
Would love to see more of these transcription exercises in the future! Great stuff!
When you want to figure out the chord changes of a chosen song, lead sheets are fine to use to understand the overall harmony. Also you can always transcribe/listen to the bassline, that reveals the harmony better than anything! Then of course some of the lines for example O.P plays here reveal the harmonic movements, II Vs etc.
but generally I’m happy with it.