Recommendations for classical piano solos with jazzy rhythms such as Gershwin's

[tmendenhall4161]

I am interested in playing demanding classical piano solos with jazzy rhythms such as Gershwin's 3 Piano Preludes. I have smaller hands so the Gershwin's preludes are too big of a stretch. Reaching a tenth is ok but larger is impossible.

[j_tour]

You've likely considered some of the préludes of Debussy:  some of them I would call pretty demanding.  I don't think I can list all of them from memory, but there are quite a number with strong elements of the proto-jazz music of the day.

Somebody started a thread not too long ago about Rzewski's "Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues" — that certainly fits, and for mere mortals, certainly takes some doing.

I think the line gets a bit blurry between "classical" and "jazz/ragtime" with William Bolcom's rags, like "Seabiscuit" or "Graceful Ghost":  I think the harmonies are sufficiently advanced that no one would mistake those for playing a show tune or a pop tune "in a ragtime feel."  They're really through-composed pieces, and while perhaps not that demanding of technique, they're about on the level of some of Debussy's efforts in that region.

Hamelin has played Zez Confrey's novelty tune "Kitten on the Keys" in encore:  that's a little more out of the realm of classical, but it's pretty demanding to not get lost in the wild fancies.

Failing that, if you have a couple of pals who want to jam, there's always Bartok's "Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion."

[visitor]

spam

[visitor]

Sannucci comes to mind

[visitor]

Third movement of Earl Wild's piano sonata (afwr Ricky Martin) as a super groovy toccata Comes to mind

[lostinidlewonder]

Check out arrangements by Dan Coates they are all over the internet for free or you can buy it somewhere.

[visitor]

This has a lot that jazzy oomph going for it at times
Great piece

[cuberdrift]

I am interested in playing demanding classical piano solos with jazzy rhythms such as Gershwin's 3 Piano Preludes. I have smaller hands so the Gershwin's preludes are too big of a stretch. Reaching a tenth is ok but larger is impossible.

Welcome to the forum.

Ah! A great topic.

Here are some suggestions (from "easy" to "difficult"):

1. Wall Street Rag - Not "virtuosic" but I would imagine it'd be pretty difficult to get right "musically" speaking. Starts slowly and gloomily, ends in an upbeat tempo. One of Scott Joplin's best works in my opinion.

Wall Street Rag - IMSLP


2. African Ripples - A very good piece in my opinion, by Fats Waller (one of the jazz greats). Keep in mind that his recording is more elaborate than the sheet music version from IMSLP (I believe his version can be accessed through blueblackjazz.com but you have to buy it).

African Ripples - IMSLP

3. Wild-Gershwin Etude No. 7: Fascinatin' Rhythm - Challenging to learn, but probably not too difficult. Great for an encore in my opinion.

Wild-Gershwin "Fascinatin' Rhythm" - Scorser

4. Kapustin Etudes - Very difficult, but they're quite popular among pianists and should be of great benefit to your technique. Advanced harmonies and rhythmic syncopation, also composed in a somewhat "Russian" flavor.

8 Concert Etudes (Kapustin) - Scorser

5. Ellington-Tizol/Tatum "Caravan" - A real challenge. Requires advanced understanding of jazz rhythms and a solid finger technique as well as unhuman accuracy in the left hand.

Tizol-Ellington "Caravan" arr. Tatum (Scribd)

Really though, the prime example of a "jazz-classical" crossover would probably be Gershwin. Anyone with an interest in "syncopated" classical should study his Songbook in my opinion. Probably equal of worth and the American counterpart to Mendelssohn's "Lieder ohne Worte". They're the composer's own piano transcriptions of his songs.

Hamelin plays G. Gershwin's Songbook - YouTube
Gershwin - 18 Songs transcribed for piano (IMSLP)

There's also Gottschalk and pieces like "Le Banjo", "Souvenir la Havane", etc. that are early examples of Afro-American-inspired classical piano repertoire.

Make no mistake, learning "jazz" repertoire is bloody difficult if you aren't a jazz/popular music player (I grew up listening to mostly classical - the real challenge is to achieve a "swing feel"), so being able to play a piece in this style convincingly is a real achievement. Good luck!