Thelonious Monk, ballad: Don't blame me

Every body knows the quire playing style of Monk, right? I like his play as well as Oscar Peterson. The timing is themselves. But it get bored if you keep listening all the time. For that matter I'd say same thing to Bill Evans.

Monk is astonishingly technical sometime. If you check "Straight no chaser", you'll see it. But I love his poetic ballad playing. And this is one of them. See the left hand? And the way he kicks? That's Monk.



I tried him once. Everybody thought that I was just lazy and lousy player. It's a memory of my high teen years. Blue Monk is rather easy to perform his way. No legato, no dragging left hand chord. You play chopping melody line and improvisation line. That makes you Monk.

This is nice tutorial to support a singing.

It is not that easy to go along with singing. My first experience was total disaster. I was playing solo at a bar located near a train station. There were some beauties who might sit next to you to have a little chat with customers. No, that was not a bar where you would find hookers but rather a decent place.

That was third or fourth year since I started playing jazz piano. To tell you the truth, that was my first experience to play background of professional singer.



My first mistake was to try going along with her, the singer. I send chord as she sings. Which means that I listen to her phrasing and try to go along with it. So, if she stretch a bar, I follow it. Y'know something? If I do that, she'd lose the bar completely.

It took me three tunes to learn the lesson. During those three tunes, I did not feel I was playing at all. I got sweat so badly and had felt irritating eyeball due to the sweat into my eye.

Now you are lucky. Because you can learn the lesson through internet. And I find this tune pretty cute. The voice of this singer is great and the piano player has nice timing sense to back her up. Enjoy.

Check with my jazz piano lesson for the late starters. If you are over 40, there's nothing to worry. You sing along with piano and that is you improvisation.

Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane, the Giants

While I was in NY during late 60es, I have missed to listen two Giants, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. John died in 1967. I was too late to be any of the jazz spots at the time, like Village Vanguard, Village Gate, Five Spot and else where I didn't know the existence.

I was shocked listening to My favorite Things. That goes on and on for close to 30 minutes, if I remember correctly. If it doesn't last that long, I felt that way at the time. I listened it a few times and wasn't able to listen again. That was too heavy for me.



If you follow the narration of this video, you'd confirm that there was only one tune that had been played together, "Tenor Madness" But you will find that both admires mutually listening through this video.

It is said in the video that both revised the role of the instrument. Here's the story Sonny tells about meeting John first time, "He played one job in Autoburn Ball room in NY. And he had another saxophone player there, named John Coltrane. That was the first time I played with Coltrane. And I've met him, y'know, And I think it must have been 1948 or 9. "

Sonny: Trane was like a saint, serious an sincere.
Jimmy Jeffery: When we visited Trane's house Central West on 3rd st, he said;
Sonny can take any tune and play it like he wrote it.

I have to take tune that I feel little good to me play
Sonny he can take most of the skilled tune and play it like he wrote it.

They sure had been close, right?
Enjoy.

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