not-so-difficult jazz pieces?

[christina-lover]

Could anyone suggest some nice jazz pieces which are not hideously difficult? To give you an idea, I love Kapustin's Toccatina Opus 36; it's not an easy piece (at least for me) but still playable. So any suggestions which are about toccatina's level?

[ted]

Dave Brubeck's "Points on Jazz" might be worth a look. A folio of Mary Lou Williams' pieces exists. These aren't too hard.

[pianofortepiano]

alligator crawl by waller is cool. It is on the grade 8 list abrsm.

[indutrial]

Would any of Jezek's or Schulhoff's pieces be suitable here? I'm not sure how difficult they are. Also, Auric's Adieu New York and Milhaud's Saudades de Brazil.

[retrouvailles]

Jaroslav Ježek has a very cute piece called Bugatti Step which isn't difficult at all really. He has some other more difficult piano works, but they aren't jazzy and are much more difficult. I would also recommend Schulhoff's 5 Jazz Etudes or his Partita. They both contain some great music which isn't too difficult. His music is rather hard to get a hold of these days though. Pavel Haas, another Czech composer (contemporary with Ježek and Schulhoff), wrote a Suite for Piano which has some jazz-influenced rhythms with some spicy harmonies which could work very well, too. I am learning this piece right now, and it's tough, but not impossible.

[indutrial]

I don't know if rags count, but some of Bolcom's work in this area might be worth looking into. It's definitely jazzy, but it might not evoke the same jazz feels one would find in Kapustin's pieces.

Also check out Tansman's second piano sonatina 'Transatlantique', which uses American styles from the early 1900s as springboards for each of the three movements (Foxtrot, Blues, Charleston). There's another Tansman piece called 'Tempo Americano' that was adapted from the scherzo section of his third symphony (full title of that work: Symphonie Concertante for piano quartet and orchestra). This piece is a brisk 'Tempo di Charleston' as well - very fun music, although I'd love to see Eschig release a score of the entire symphony for private purchase. On top of these works, he wrote a set of three preludes 'en forme de Blues' in 1937. Tansman was friends with Gershwin and other Americans like Charlie Chaplin (the dedicatee of his second piano concerto), and his approach to American jazz stylings was every bit as sincere as his concurrent interests in Polish folk music and Hebrew folklore.

Whilst thinking about jazzy pieces, I unearthed a rare Tibor Harsanyi score from 1928 titled 'Trois Pieces de Danse', which includes tango, Boston (?), and foxtrot movements. I haven't heard this performed in its entirety, but the first movement (tango) is definitely a jazzy undertaking, loaded with close (one might also say clustered) harmonies and bouncy rhythms. Harsanyi was a contemporary/friend of Tansman as well and definitely shared his interests in American music. In addition to the aforementioned dances, he wrote a piece simply titled 'Blues' for cello and piano and contributed one of the best sections to the 1937 Exposition collaboration (which included most of Les Six, Martinu, Tansman, Mompou, Ibert, etc...)

[thalbergmad]

Try some James P Johnson man.

Groove

Thal

[christina-lover]

Thanx everyone for all these suggestions. They will keep me busy for a long while! 

Try some James P Johnson man.

Groove

Thal

Do you have a particular piece of Johnson in mind?

[scottmcc]

There are transcriptions available of works by many of the historical jazz greats, such as Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, etc.  These are good for those of us who prefer standard notation, but the solos can be a bit tricky in some of these if you try to emulate them exactly as written.  But you can always just put in your own solo if you want--it is jazz after all.

Fakebooks are challenging for those who are used to traditional music notation, as you really don't have much to go on.  But the bonus is you can make your own arrangement as easy or difficult as you want.

The ABRSM put out a series of jazz workbooks in 5 levels, which are pretty good but you may find them a bit basic.  But they do teach the fundamentals of how jazz tunes are constructed pretty well.

Do you like Brubeck?  If so, he's got a lot of songs that are enjoyable and pretty easy to play.  Try out "Audrey" or "Autumn in this Town," or if you want a bit more challenge and have decent sized hands, "Strange Meadowlark."  Of course, you could just go for Take 5 like everyone else...

[jazzpiano8]

Some of the Claude Bolling 'Suites' for Jazz piano and Flute are a lot of fun to play and you should take a serious look at them.

Also, you have to have the real book and some Oscar Peterson transcriptions.  That's my humble opinion