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@gregb great job as always!

Ugetsu is a difficult song, with interesting and challenging harmony and a bit unusual form.

This is definitely a song we could talk for a long time; it has modal sections, as well as some tonal movements, which are common in Cedar Walton’s compositions.

Just curious, when you have a moment, can you do another take where you just play with your right hand and don’t comp on the left? This is an exercise I find helpful when dealing with difficult changes; it gives me more focus on the melodies, and later on left hand is easy to add to it.

In general, great work as always!
-Tuomo

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Thanks so much, Tuomo! I’ll try some RH-only practice for awhile–seems like a great suggestion in general.

For anyone who’s interested, there’s a few versions of this tune available but the one I liked the best is a version from Cedar Walton’s Trio Vol 3 album:

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Hi everyone :wave:

Here’s a little preview for my seminar later this week where we will be working on the tune ā€œThe Nearness Of Youā€:

I’m also working on a new cocktail piano course using this tune which will cover both harmony and improvisation.

The seminar on Wednesday will be harmony focused - hope to see you there!

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It’s been awhile since I’ve shared anything in this thread…

This is a version of Spring can really hang you up the most that I’ve been working on as an exercise–the assignment is to apply the ā€œPeace pieceā€ comping pattern to a ballad of one’s choice. It’s a work in progress and a little bit off the beaten track of my usual fare. I’ll be interested in any feedback/advice/comments.

As mentioned in another thread, this is recorded with a Garritan CFX VST, which I think works well for ballads.

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It sounds awesome @gregb - I’m always impressed by how clean your pedal work is.

The approach tones that you add into the bass are really nice too and add some interest into the lower registers.

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Beautiful Greg. Simply beautiful. I think you just erased the distinction between classical piano and jazz with that one piece.

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@George_Miller Great to hear from you, George, and thanks so much for the kind words.

Hope your jazz piano journey is going well solo, trio, and technologically!

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Hello PianoGroove community :slight_smile: :slightly_smiling_face:

I am Rishi, a scientist by day-time and a jazz pianist by night-time :sweat_smile: I am a long-time student at PianoGroove and a fellow musician with a deep passion for Jazz and Indian classical music. As an integral part of my musical journey, I’ve recently begun to post things on youtube.

Here are the links to the covers:

I am UTTERLY grateful to this platform as it has helped me cope with some of the darkest times in my life. A big shout out to @Hayden for his gracious support wether through comments or a phone call. I am here to learn, grow, and contribute to our musical community, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Let’s continue to make beautiful music together!

Best,
Rishi

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Hey @rishi :wave:

Thanks for sharing this and for your kind words - it means a lot!

I really like your rendition of ā€œThe Nearness Of Youā€. It’s full of interesting chord colours and textures. I also like your melodic embellishments which add character whilst keeping the melody recognisable which is important when playing ballads. Beautifully done!

Perhaps have you already seen my recent course on this tune. The lessons focus on the options we have to fill in the space, you can find that course here:

Also here’s a playlist that I used for inspiration when creating the course which might be of interest:

Keep up the good work and I look forward to hearing more of your playing!

Talk soon,
Hayden

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Hi Rishi,
I particularly liked the first piece. It sounded modal but I couldn’t figure out whether it was dorian or something else. You nave a nice touch there.

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Meant to reply to @rishi earlier–these are both very nice renditions, and the production quality is outstanding!

I would call ā€œLetter from Homeā€ pretty tonal with the use of modal borrowing–using chords from the parallel minor key to go in and out of different key centers and shift from major to minor and back again. Brad Mehldau does this a lot, although I think Letter from Home is 90% major, while Mehldau tunes tend to be 90% minor!

Have a listen to Unrequited or Resignation. In fact, here’s a link to a version of Unrequited from the Metheny/Mehldau album:

Seeing George and Rishi’s posts reminded me that I hadn’t contributed anything in awhile so I’ll try to make up for it with two tracks!

I recorded these for a different music sharing site–production quality is mediocre, especially compared to George and Rishi, but hopefully the sound quality is OK.

ā€œWhat is this thing called loveā€, with a bass+drums backing track:

And, motivated by last month’s community challenge and @scott1, a Jobim track (solo piano arrangement): Fotografia.

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Thanks for sharing @gregb
These are some nicely played tunes. I especially like the Jobim tune! (Big surprise :sunglasses:).

Here’s something different from Jobim, ā€œDerradeira primaveraā€ (Last/Final Spring). It’s a short piece that is unlike his bossa tunes. I’m playing VSL’s Fazioli F308. Hope you enjoy! :musical_keyboard:

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Really nice @scott1 !

I wasn’t familiar with this tune–as you say, it’s very different from what I think of as the ā€œJobim soundā€. I think your version captures a somewhat melancholy mood which I imagine is what the song is about.

Hi Greg. Great tunes as always! I don’t have any comments about ā€œthis thing called loveā€ - your jazz improvisation is way ahead of mine. It sounded really good. That’s the first time I’ve heard Fotographia. I thought there were a couple of things you could do to give it a more ā€œBrazilianā€ sound. In Jobin’s standard masterclass in the live seminars section he talks about the chromatic descent that creates movement as the root moves in fourths (around 25:30 in the seminar). You do some chromatic descent in your left hand at around 0:34 but there are lots of other areas you could insert the chromatic 13, b13, going to the 9 and b9 in a five of five. At 1:26, 3:50 and 4:40 for example. Jovino also talks about the mixolydian raised fourth as a typically Brazilian sound against a minor 6th in improvisation. (Around 28:00 in the seminar) It took me a while to figure that out but it does work and sounds really cool.
Cheers,
George

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Very nice Scott. Your playing has really advanced over the past year. Sounds like a lot of the posters here are following Jovino. My wife and I took a trip to Portugal a while ago and while taking a short river cruise met a boatload of Brazilian students on an exchange trip. Boy, did they ever ramp up the level of music and dancing on the boat! Music is in the Brazilian blood.

Thanks so much, George! Very helpful and I appreciate your suggestions. I had listened to part of Jovino’s seminar on Corcovado since that was last month’s community challenge, but hadn’t gotten to the section where he talks about Mixolydian raised fourth (which I usually think of as a ā€œLydian dominantā€ā€“means exactly the same thing).

Thanks @gregb
Yes, the title according to one translation is ā€œFinal Spring.ā€ Definitely a a somber tone implied.

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