Jazz music?

[corecase]

Hi all, I'm looking for some jazz artists/pieces whose music is worth(is fun to play) on the piano.  I'm also looking for some challenging jazz pieces.  Anyone know of some artists/pieces as such?  Thanks a bunch.

[49410enrique]

a pianist and composer after my heart....i'm obsessed with his sound, i'm reviewing some of his works for new repertoire next year (my 2012 pieces are chosen but i'll start reading his as a 2013 assigment beginning 2Q this year/summer since his music is horrendously difficult to read and memorize, left hand is almost always a nightmare....).

you'd be well served to really kick over some rocks on youtube via a kapustin search.  lots of videos of various works (also for a jazzical approach and homage to Bach, his 24 'jazz' preludes and fuges are worth exploring, i'm considering one of those as a 'starter').

short little paraphrase...total eargasm

a performer's prespective also gives a goood bilbiography of recordings worth a read if you want to know the background on him
Nikolai KAPUSTIN - A Performer’s Perspective


By Leslie De’Ath

The music of Nikolai Kapustin has made a minor flurry in the classical music world in recent years, largely through the Hyperion CD (CDA67159) of his piano music by Steven Osborne issued in 2000, and through the championing of his music by pianists Marc-André Hamelin and Nikolai Petrov.


The details of his life can be quickly summarized. He was born in Gorlovka, Ukraine, in 1937, and graduated from the class of Alexander Goldenweiser at the Moscow Conservatory in 1961. His musical training was traditional, with a good exposure to the Russian virtuoso piano repertoire. Jazz became a big influence during his teen years, and has remained so throughout his career. From the late 1950s he immersed himself in the Russian jazz world, forming a quintet, and playing with Juri Saulsky’s Central Artists’ Club Big Band in Moscow. Later, he toured with the Oleg Lundstrem Jazz Orchestra throughout the Soviet Union. He now lives in reclusive domesticity in Moscow with his wife, devoting his time to composition and recording.


Kapustin’s piano music is technically formidable, and as a pianist he possesses a technique to match. He remains the definitive interpreter of his own music, not just by virtue of the truism that he composed it, but also because his own recordings are astonishing feats of technical and musical accomplishment.


His style of writing is crossover, in the best sense of the term, and belongs to the ‘third stream’ trend of the later 20th century. Does his music sound more like jazz than classical? That probably hinges upon the ears doing the listening. The classically trained musician hears the wealth of jazz idioms, and is reassured by the existence of Kapustin’s printed and manuscript scores that jazz pianism can, in fact, be written down in all its subtlety and rhythmic complexity. The jazz musician probably senses the opposite: it may sound "jazzy" in many spots, but really isn’t. Both marvel at Kapustin’s accomplishment in actually getting every little detail down on paper. Committing works to writing is in itself perhaps sufficient reason to dissociate Kapustin from the mainstream of jazz culture. However, this is music that could only be composed by one steeped in the experience of jazz performing and improvising, and at the same time could only have been committed to paper by one possessing a solid classical training. How does Kapustin view himself? "I was never a jazz musician. I never tried to be a real jazz pianist, but I had to do it because of the composing. I’m not interested in improvisation–and what is a jazz musician without improvisation? All my improvisation is written, of course, and they become much better; it improved them." (Anderson, p.94-6) Kapustin composes at the piano, and thinks about composition from a pianist’s perspective. He believes that all piano music must be composed at the keyboard, and says that he could not compose if he didn’t play himself.


For the classical pianist, the learning of his music requires a specific approach, distinct in some ways from that of learning classical repertoire. Ultimately there is a "feel" to many passages that is unable to be notated, and it presupposes an aural acquaintance with the jazz styles of Art Tatum, Errol Garner, Oscar Peterson, and others with whom this music has an affinity. The classical pianist approaching this music can easily lapse into a learning process that "fights" the music. It is partly because the plethora of visual detail bombarding the brain causes one not to see the forest for the trees. It is also because the pianist, when performing this style of jazz, should employ an approach to arm weight, fingering, rhythmic independence of hands, and other specifically technical considerations, quite distinct from that reinforced by the experience of playing classical repertoire. For instance, this music typically demands more vitality and independence of the left hand than is usual in most classical keyboard writing. Fingering and forearm weight are closely connected allies in jazz playing, and coincide in manners peculiar to the rhythmic and harmonic idioms of jazz, as distinct from other musical styles. Part of the challenge in reading this music lies in the deciphering of this technical symbiosis hidden in the notation. No fingerings are ever supplied, and revisions of fingering during the learning process, to enhance a natural, relaxed unfolding of kinesthetic events, are common.


From a pianist’s point of view, in a sense, everything Kapustin writes feels technically like an etude – such are the demands made upon the body and the intellect. That is not to imply that he churns out calisthenic exercises with little musical substance. In fact, his music is brim-full of imaginative harmonies and turns of phrase that keep the listener on a roller-coaster ride of excitement and delight. His Eight Etudes, Op.40, partake of the 19th-century tradition of the concert-etude. That is, they are music first and foremost, and only secondarily do they exploit a specific technical challenge for the executant. On occasion, one hears in his music stylistic reminiscences of Chopin, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and others, and in the Bagatelle, Op.59/6, he manages to incorporate a veiled reference to Chopin’s "Revolutionary" Etude.


His most ambitious work for piano to date is the set of twenty-four Preludes and Fugues, Op.82, written in 1997. Occupying 173 pages of dense manuscript, they nod to tradition by presenting a prelude/fugue pair in each of the 24 keys. The key scheme is quite unusual though: major alternates with minor, as in Bach, but the major keys tour the circle of 5ths in the flat direction (beginning with C major and ending with G major), while the minor keys tour in the same mode, but begin at the other side of the circle (starting with G# minor and ending with E-flat minor). This has the effect of juxtaposing very unrelated keys, and spacing relative majors and minors as far apart from one another as possible. This work remains an unknown tour-de-force of compositional synthesis and ingenuity, and a unique landmark in large-scale twentieth-century works for keyboard. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier masterfully and effortlessly synthesized the demands of linear counterpoint and 18th-century harmonic practice. Kapustin’s achievement in fusing a jazz-driven harmonic idiom with those same contrapuntal demands is perhaps comparable. Few others could even have contemplated such a project.


By all accounts, those who have met the composer are impressed by the apparent incongruity between his flamboyant musical style and his reserved, detached personal mien. His music may always remain the passion of a small cult of devotees. There are at least three reasons for this. First, regarding self-promotion, Kapustin is apparently his own worst enemy–or rather, best friend. He is interested in composing and recording, but not public performance, travel, or fame. The benchmarks of musical success often cited in Western culture have eluded him, because he has no interest in them. The modicum of international recognition now accorded him is as likely to arouse in him discomfort as much as ingratiation. There is a kind of Schubertian purity and conviction to his musical aesthetic that is too seldom encountered in the modern musical world. Yet it is neither elitist nor naïve. Second, the performance demands of the music place it in a rarefied category, capable of being broached by relatively few. Third, its musical style, taken as a whole, is conservative and "interdisciplinary". These two fundamental aspects of his style pose problems for some listeners, who are either unprepared to accept the wholesale fusion of standard jazz details into an otherwise conservative classic mould, or who would wish more "originality" or modernity to the jazz component of his style. The latter is a comment occasionally levied at Oscar Peterson, who has in his own career been content to remain largely within the boundaries of traditional jazz idioms. Significantly, Kapustin has cited Peterson as the single most influential figure upon his own music.


Kapustin’s music does not ride the crest of modern trends in any musical milieu of the twenty-first century. Because he resists easy classification, he "belongs" nowhere. He does not inhabit the world of new "serious" music, nor that of jazz, traditional or otherwise. He composes for his own enjoyment rather than to commission, or writes at the behest of friends. His musical output conforms unquestioningly to classical tradition in many ways. His compositions all bear opus numbers (a rarity with contemporary composers); he writes sonatas, concertos, preludes, fugues, variation sets, and character pieces for piano bearing titles such as Toccatina, Nocturne, Berceuse, and so on; and he writes chamber music for standard combinations.


Kapustin’s compositional output is quite substantial, and exceeds 100 opuses. There are no less than 6 piano concertos (some with big band accompaniment, some with string orchestra), plus 10 other early concertante works for piano and orchestra. The large-scale piano works include 12 sonatas, the Twenty-four Preludes, Op.53, the aforementioned Twenty-four Preludes & Fugues, Op.82, the Eight Etudes, Op.40, the Ten Bagatelles, Op.59, and numerous individual works. There is also a substantial body of orchestral and chamber music, and aside from the piano he is fond of writing for the cello (2 sonatas, a concerto, and some smaller works). The solo piano music comprises 38 separate opuses, of which 16 have been commercially recorded to date. Four of the recent chamber works are also available, but lamentably none of the concertos or other works is available on CD. Very little of his music has been published, and the small percentage that has is from Soviet and Russian publishers that have always been largely inaccessible in the West. There is now a Kapustin Society in England, devoted to the authorized dissemination of his scores, and to providing the composer with a conduit through which he may receive the equivalent of performance royalties. For further information, the link is:

KapustinSoc@cs.com

All queries regarding availability of scores should be addressed to the Society.

******************************

The bibliography in English on Kapustin is scant, and to some extent interdependent, since much that is known of him has been derived from a small number of translator-assisted interviews. A number of CD reviews have also appeared in Gramophone, International Record Review, BBC Music Magazine, and other trade organs. The following literature will prove of interest:

Anderson, Martin. ‘Nikolai Kapustin, Russian composer of classical jazz’, in Fanfare, Sept/Oct. 2000, p.93-97

Smith, Harriet. ‘Bridging the divide’ [Interview with Kapustin], in Piano: International Piano Quarterly, Autumn 2000, p.54-55

Barnett, Rob. Liner notes to Bohème CD (CDBMR 007148), Jazz pieces for piano

Barnett, Rob. Liner notes to Bohème CD (CDBMR 007149), Twenty four preludes in jazz style, Op.53 (1988)

Osborne, Steven. Liner notes to Hyperion CD (CDA67159), Nikolai Kapustin piano music

****************************

Kapustin himself has recorded many of his own works, but the CDs are not always easy to acquire. The following albums have been issued commercially. The Triton label is Japanese, and the CDs are unavailable outside of Japan:

Kapustin plays Kapustin - VIST (Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga 417051)- Triton (DICC-26072)- contents: Andante, Op.58, Sonata No.4, Op.60 Ten bagatelles, Op.59 Sonata No.5, Op.61 onata No.6, Op.62

Jazz pieces for piano - Bohème (CDBMR 007148)- Triton (DICC-24058) - contents: Eight concert etudes, Op.40 Sonata-fantasia (Sonata No.1), Op.39 Suite in the old style, Op.28 Variations, Op.41

Twenty-four preludes in jazz style, Op.53 (1988) - Bohème (CDBMR 007149) - Triton (DICC-24059) - contents: Twenty-four preludes in jazz style, Op.53 Daybreak (Sunrise), Op.26 Toccatina, Op.36 Meditation (Contemplation), Op.47 Big band sounds, Op.46 Motive force, Op.45

Twenty-four preludes and fugues for piano, Op.82 - DML Classics (DICC-40001-2)- 2-CD set contents: Twenty-four preludes and fugues for piano, Op.82 Elegy, for cello and piano, Op.96 Burlesque, for cello and piano, Op.97 Nearly waltz, for cello and piano, Op.98 Sonata for violin and piano, Op.70

Kapustin plays Kapustin, Chamber music - Triton (DICC-26067)- contents: Trio for flute, cello and piano, Op.86 String quartet, Op.88 Divertissement for 2 flutes, cello and piano, Op.91 Piano quintet, Op.89

Kapustin plays Kapustin, Sonatas Nos. 2 & 3 - Triton (DICC-26073) - contents: Sonata No.2, Op.54 Sonata No.3, Op.55 Andante, Op.58 Introduction and Scherzino for cello, Op.93 Duo for alto sax and cello, Op.99

Nikolai Kapustin with orchestra (not yet released)- contents: Etude for piano and orchestra, Op.19 Aquarium-blues for big band, Op.12 Variation for piano and big band, Op.3 Daybreak (Sunrise) for piano and big band, Op.26

Recordings of his piano works by other performers include:

Nikolai Kapustin piano music - Hyperion (CDA67159), 2000- Steven Osborne, piano- contains Opp.39, 53 (excerpts), and 54

20th century piano sonatas - Olympia/VIST (OCD 280), 1992- Nikolai Petrov, piano- contains Op.54

Kaleidoscope - Hyperion (CDA67275), 2001- Marc-André Hamelin, piano- contains Toccatina, Op.36

Nikolai Petrov plays encores - Olympia (OCD 273), 1995- Nikolai Petrov, piano- contains Intermezzo, from Eight Concert Etudes, Op.40

Sachiko Kato plays Beethoven, Barber and Kapustin - Orchard (7741), 2000- Sachiko Kato, piano - contains Eight concert etudes, Op.40 - #1, 2, 3, 7 & 8

© Leslie De’Ath, 2002



Read more: https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/Jun02/Kapustin.htm#ixzz1q8F1JD2N

[49410enrique]

sorry DOUBLE POST...fixed it but i don't know how to delete a reply

[corecase]

Thanks a lot.  Kapustin seems like an incredible composer.    I've played Bach's prelude and fugue in c# minor I believe.  They're definitely a great exercise, but they don't resemble jazz too much in my opinion.  But I'll definitely do a few youtube searches and take a look at Kapustin's music.     Thanks again.

[49410enrique]

I've played Bach's prelude and fugue in c# minor I believe.  They're definitely a great exercise, but they don't resemble jazz too much in my opinion. 

you're mistaken , by bad wording, i menat kapustin composed an incredible 174 or page set of 24 preludes and fugues (as the text i pasted describes).

there's a few on the piano society page for free download.
https://pianosociety.com/cms/index.php?section=2761

[ted]

Kapustin is an excellent suggestion. Here are a few other possibilities you may wish to explore:

Transcriptions of almost all the solo playing of the old jazz masters are now available in one form or another. All of Morton has been transcribed by Dapogny in the large Smithsonian Institute volume. Waller, Tatum, Johnson and company have been transcribed by numerous people, some better than others. A very large number of stride transcriptions by John Farrell are in free Midi form here:

https://www.stridepiano.co.uk/id2.html

They can easily be printed in very readable form for learning using Garageband or similar.

What about ragtime and its derivations ? Complete Joplin has been available for a long time now, and all James Scott's works are available in the superb edition from Smithsonian Institute. There exist very many brilliant and original ragtime influenced composers of piano music whose scores are easy to procure. This man has long been a favourite of mine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJBMsjF2bnw



All this is just scratching the surface of what is a huge field of music, available at reasonable or no cost.

Of course you could always compose and improvise some of your own !

[j_menz]

There's always Gershwin as well.

[ajspiano]

Of course you could always compose and improvise some of your own !

...I tend to think of "jazz" as being the creation of music through improvisation, and less so as being the sounds that are associated with the style/genre.

[j_menz]

...I tend to think of "jazz" as being the creation of music through improvisation, and less so as being the sounds that are associated with the style/genre.

I agree. I don't think you could call yourself even a half serious jazz musician without being able to improvise.

That said, for those of us who never learnt to do that (and have no real interest in pursuing it), there is some joy to be had in playing stuff that's been written down.

[keyofc]

What kind of jazz do you like? ballads or other kinds?
I like the jazz ballads -
Jerome Kern is great
Nat King Cole -his music is still being played
Billie Holliday
(I have all of the books)

Then there is
Horace Silver,
Miles Davis
(who have books)
One way to challenge yourself is buy the Real book - (and figure out the voicings while looking at a book that's been transcribed to help you if you're not familiar with the chords.

[ajspiano]

That said, for those of us who never learnt to do that (and have no real interest in pursuing it), there is some joy to be had in playing stuff that's been written down.

Yes well it is a completely different musical world - I find it hard to imagine not wanting to pursue it but each to their own ofcourse..

I remember as a kid when my classical teacher gave me a gershwin piece to study because she knew I liked jazz and thought it would motivate me - she clearly had NO IDEA what was going on though, I kept wanting to improvise around the idea because I could see the chord structures, and she kept getting angry with me for not learning the notes exactly as written..

[corecase]

Thanks for all the replies.  I just want everyone to know that I know absolutely NOTHING about jazz music..  I am completely new to it.  So, I don't have a preferred style, etc...  Thanks for the suggestions.  As for the improvising idea, that's my end goal, but I feel like getting affiliated with jazz music by playing some pieces that have been previously composed is a good start.  I really want to start improvising jazz some day.

[ajspiano]

consider "the jazz piano book" by mark levine - its a bit of a jazz piano bible as far as understanding whats going on behind improv and learning how to voice your own chords for tunes from lead sheets.

[keyofc]

If you want to start out with something that sounds good but is not real difficult -
(depending on the level - he may have more)
Check out Larry Minsky

I have a book - Reflections on Jazz and it's beautiful


for theory
Jazz Piano book is great too as someone has said.

[49410enrique]

there's a really nice little album you can import from japan called "mario de jazz" i like it so much more than the regular transcriptions (also they have more volumes and variety in genral the the 'newer' one available in the states)

i'm playing through this on the side as a possible minor solo project, there's several great 'jazzy' arrengements in the album

Song/Track Title: Paine's Theme
Song Artist: Noriko Matsueda & Takahito Eguchi
Album Artist: Noriko Matsueda & Takahito Eguchi
Album Title: FINAL FANTASY X-2 Piano Collection
Song Composed By: Noriko Matsueda, Takahito Eguchi
Album Composed By: Noriko Matsueda, Takahito Eguchi
Genre: Soundtrack; Game; Arrangement
Date Released: March 31st, 2004
Track #: 3 of 12
Disc #: 1 of 1
Catalog #: AVCD-17444

[corecase]

@49410enrique - Both of those were awesome.. thanks for sharing.

@keyofc - Thanks for the suggestion.

@ajspiano - I will definitely take a look at that book.

[keyofc]

sure -
yes - that is awesome -
the final fantasy x2
do you have to order from Japan?

[49410enrique]

sure -
yes - that is awesome -
the final fantasy x2
do you have to order from Japan?

i'm the resident 'piano collections' fan boy/guru lol, i tend to order directly from japan since some times i want things when they're still new/only available over there but the x-2 pc has been out for quite some time.  i consider it one of the finest volumes int he big set of these due to there being such variety in the mix of pieces, it's one of the less expensive ones to buy (like many it has been blatantly copied and posted all over the net but i already got on my soap box on the topic inthe sheets reqest board, you can read up there).

if you're in the US and want a fair (i.e. very good ) price and quick order turn around (days vs weeks),
https://shop.squaresound.com/sheet-music-books/piano-collection-scores/final-fantasy-x-2-piano-collection-sheet-music/


if you want very good service and order direct from japan (in some cases they will be more expensive but many times for hard to find scores this is THE place to use from personal experience you can email them with just about anything and they will track it down for you  www.animeartbookonline.com ).

ebay usually has a few copies floating around (usually japan bookstores and squaresound).

the entire recordings are all over YT so you should be able to preview the rest of the volume, this one is also really cool (i.e 'written out' improvisation)

if you're really committed to cheating the musicians out of compensation for their work and talent you can probably kick over rocks elsewhere and 'steal' this , but the books are well put together (i.e. excellent quality binding, nice covers, etc). really reccmmmend the real deal.

the FF XIII PC also has some jazz and impressionistic inspired works by Hamautsu that are quite fun to work through, i am also playing (as a full blown memorized solo) this one right now, not true jazz but harmonically and rhythmically it nods quite a few times to the idiom in inspiration

[tb230]

I think Oscar Peterson deserves to be mentioned in this thread. He had classical piano training and composed numerous pieces for piano, including a jazz exercise book for young pianist as well as pieces like Hymn to Freedom and Canadiana Suite (see Land of the Misty Giants/youtube as an example).

And maybe something by Dave Brubeck? His compositions include a book of 'Nocturnes' written for solo piano (25 smallish pieces). I guess 'Blue Rondo a la Turk' may be his most famous piece?

[keyofc]

thanks 4941!
tb - You're right - Oscar Peterson - is one of the greats!
I'm sure there are many others too that we haven't named yet.