Tag Archives: boogie-woogie

"Gotta get to my study room!"

AC #40 Intervalics 101 (7ths)

Intro / Op-Ed

Sevenths are among the first intervals I bring to the attention of my students who are are interested in studying chord voicings. The use of 7ths, as they relate to jazz, may be heard by listening to the left hand of pianists like “Bud” Powell and Sonny Clark during their solos. 

Sevenths come directly out of the major scale and although it’s a common practice to think of the major scale as an 8-note scale, the note we think of as 8 is only an octave-repetition of scale step 1. Scale step 8 is really scale step 1 of the major scale, starting in a different octave.  So in reality, major scales are 7-note scales and there’s a term for 7-note scales. Heptachords! Ta! Da!

Heptachords are 7-note scales and perhaps the MAJOR heptachord is the most well-known of all heptachords because it actually IS the major scale upon which our music system is based.

Now I don’t know about you but saying “major scale” rolls off of my tongue a lot easier than saying “major heptachord”! I have to be careful to not bite my tongue when I say it! I use these kinds of terms in class as a way to provide a historical perspective. It’s good to know this kind of stuff but don’t get hung-up on names! They’re only words that are part of the historical record.  Don’t over-analyze because too much analysis breeds paralysis! 😈 So, with that said, on we go!


Construction of Major 7ths from the 1st and 7th notes of major heptachords

Major 7th intervals are made by extracting the first and last note of a major heptachord. Just select and extract the 1st and 7th scale steps only and the interval is ready to be deployed.

Major Heptachord Legend (a.k.a Major Scale)
1-7 = scale steps
w = whole step (major 2nd)
1/2=  half step (minor 2nd)
1/2= half step (minor 2nd)
1 w 2 w 3 1/2 4 w 5 w 6 w 7

Start with C and follow the schematic’s instructions, step-by-step, the C major heptachord will reveal itself on your piano’s white keys. Play the heptachord in the keys of G, D, A and E too.


Construction of Generic 7ths from the 7-Letter Musical Alphabet

C D E F G A B

1. Select any letter from the 7-letter sequence
(In doing that you’ve established the interval’s letter name and root… think of it as scale step “1”.)

2. Skip over the next 5 scale steps.
(In doing that you skip over scale steps 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 because your mission is to make a 7th.)

3. Having skipped over scale steps 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, select the very next letter in the sequence.
(In doing that, you’ve selected scale step “7” as the interval’s upper note and then you extract scale steps 1 and 6.)

That’s it! You’ve constructed a 7th… a generic 7th*.
*(All accidentals are excluded In generic intervals. Only letter names and staff position matters.)

7ths – These intervals may be identified by their letter names because both letter names are the 1st and 7th letters of an alphabetically sequenced 7-letter string (heptachord).

When written in standard music notation, 7ths will have exactly 5 unoccupied staff steps in between the interval’s lower and upper notes–a space/line/space/line/space, OR, a line/space/line/space/line. Also, five alphabetically sequenced letters will be skipped over.

Harmonic and melodic intervals on a treble staff

Keep the following points in mind:

1. The staff represents a piano’s white keys only. The black keys are notated by accidentals. (Staff steps, unmodified by accidentals, are whole steps, except for the half steps at E to F and B to C) (One staff step = the distance from any staff line to the very next staff space or vice versa, up or down)

2. Every staff line and every staff space correlates to a specific white key on the piano.
(This point applies to all ledger lines and ledger spaces.)

3. If 5 consecutive staff steps are skipped over, 5 correlating piano keys are also skipped over!  (This “skip-over/fly-over” concept and analogy is illustrated in the key of C in the photos just below.) (Your eyes skip-over the 5 staff steps while your fingers “fly-over” the 5 correlating piano keys.)

Illustration of notes being skipped and flown over


  (The video below shows LH 7ths being used in a practice exercise on blues chord changes.)
In jazz and pop music chord symbol notation, 7ths, as in X7th, are played as minor 7ths or b7s. The only time a major 7th is played is when a specific instruction calls for it like (EbMaj7).

Reveal this hidden “You Play” version: (to play along with the rhythm section without me)


The most commonly used accidentals are shown in the lineup just below followed by examples of the most common occurrences of 7ths in the key of C.

= natural
= sharp
X = double sharp
= flat
♭♭ = double flat


Major 7th = C to B (The major 7th is unmodified)
Augmented 7th = C to B (The major 7th is sharped once)
Minor 7th = C to B (The major 7th is flatted once)
Diminished 7th = C to B♭♭ (The major 7th is flatted twice)

This link will open an Acrobat/Adobe flash type of applet where you’ll be asked to correctly match ten intervals via a drag-n-drop process. Doing the exercise at least 4 or 5 times will give you an introductory workout on identifying and matching the intervals in C and other keys.

Study well and have fun,

See you next post,

"Gotta get to my study room!"

AC #39 Intervalics 101 (6ths)

Intro / Op-Ed

Sixths are consonant intervals that add stability to many situations where stability is desired. They’re beautiful sounding intervals that add richness to the music in which they are used. Things like block chords, melodic passages, and improvisations are enhanced with their use.     

Hopefully,  the mechanics of transforming major intervals into their other states of modification is “old hat” Image of an old collapsible top hat to you by now.  With that said, we’ll quickly move through this post and the rest of this series starting from here. If you have any questions, just sign-up for a few lessons.


Construction of Major 6ths from the numerical scale steps of Hexachords

Hexachords are 6-note scales. The Major Hexachord is a  major scale subgroup that’s comprised of major scale notes 1 thru 6.  Extracting the 1st and 6th notes make a major 6th.

Major Hexachord Legend
1-6 = scale steps
w = whole step (major 2nd)
1/2=  half step (minor 2nd)
w  w  3 1/2  4 w  6

If you start with C and follow the schematic’s instructions, step-by-step, the C major hexachord will  reveal itself on your piano’s white keys. Play the hexachord in the keys of G, D, A and E too.


Construction of Generic 6ths from the 7-Letter Musical Alphabet

C D E F G A B

1. Select any letter from the 7-letter sequence
(In doing that you’ve established the interval’s letter name and root… think of it as scale step “1”.)

2. Skip over the next 3 scale steps.
(In doing that you’re skipping over scale steps 2, 3, 4, and 5 because your mission is to make a 6th.)

3. Having skipped over scale steps 2, 3, 4, and 5, select the very next letter in the sequence.
(In doing that, you’ve selected scale step “6” as the interval’s upper note and then you extract scale steps 1 and 6.)

That’s it! You’ve constructed a 6th… a generic 6th*.
*(All accidentals are excluded In generic intervals. Only letter names and staff position matters.)

6ths – These intervals may be identified by their letter names because both letter names are the 1st and 6th letters of an alphabetically sequenced 6-letter string (hexachord).

When written in standard music notation, 6ths will have exactly 4 unoccupied staff steps in between the interval’s lower and upper notes–a space/line/space/line, OR, a line/space/line/space. Also, four alphabetically sequenced letters will be skipped over.

Harmonic and melodic intervals on a treble staff

Keep the following points in mind:

1. The staff represents a piano’s white keys only. The black keys are notated by accidentals. (Staff steps, unmodified by accidentals, are whole steps, except for the half steps at E to F and B to C) (One staff step = the distance from any staff line to the very next staff space or vice versa, up or down)

2. Every staff line and every staff space correlates to a specific white key on the piano.
(This point applies to all ledger lines and ledger spaces.)

3. If 4 consecutive staff steps are skipped over, 4 correlating piano keys are also skipped over!  (This “skip-over/fly-over” concept and analogy is illustrated in the key of C in the photos just below.) (Your eyes skip-over the 4 staff steps while your fingers “fly-over” the 4 correlating piano keys.)

Illustration of notes being skipped and flown over


  (The video below shows 6ths being used in block chords and descending scale passages.)


The most commonly used accidentals are shown in the lineup just below followed by examples of the most common occurrences of 6ths in the key of C.

= natural
= sharp
X = double sharp
= flat
♭♭ = double flat


Major 6th = C to A (The major 6th is unmodified)
Augmented 6th = C to A (The major 6th is sharped once)
Minor 6th = C to A (The major 6th is flatted once)
Diminished 6th = C to A♭♭ (The major 6th is flatted twice)

This link will open an Acrobat/Adobe flash type of applet where you’ll be asked to correctly match ten intervals via a drag-n-drop process. Doing the exercise at least 4 or 5 times will give you an introductory workout on identifying and matching the intervals in C and other keys.

Study well and have fun,

See you next post,

"Gotta get to my study room!"

AC #38 Intervalics 101 (5ths – [Perfect 5ths / Power Chords])

Intro / Op-Ed

Of all the intervals we’re covering, perfect 5ths are among the strongest and most versatile!

Perfect 5th is lifting weights

The interval is so strong that, with only 2 notes, (almost like a triad having 1 of its 3 hands tied behind its back!), it can hold its own as a “power chord” and sonically cut-thru and even overshadow chords that have a much higher note density. The use of this interval on pianos, as an “anchoring” type of “power chord”, can be heard in the LH boogie-woogie stylings of pianists like James P. Johnson and Sammy Price, and also in the sheer power of either hand of Dorothy Donegan and in the LH bomb-dropping, sonic-booms of McCoy Tyner.

The interval’s versatility is shown by its chameleon-like ability to comfortably blend in with both major and minor tonalities. This special ability is due to the fact that “power chords” lack 3rds, which is one of the reasons that the perfect 5th is an ever-present tool of “top-40” poppers as well as slammin’ hard rockers! Its use and presence in playing situations is easily revealed to people with trained ears.  Its use and presence are also evidenced on many of today’s pop music lead sheets and piano scores that are populated with chord symbols like C5, F5, and G5… musical shorthand that signals a perfect 5th is to be played where those chord symbols appear.

Now with all of that being said about perfect 5ths and “power chords”, I want to make sure I say a few words about the following:

Is the “power chord” really a chord?

“It takes a minimum of 3 notes to make a chord” is a point that’s taught in music theory classes.

In many instances, in its role as a “power chord”, the perfect 5th is further strengthened by doubling its root note with an octave (see *2 – just below). This reinforcement adds a third note which bolsters and gives credence to the notion of referring to these intervals as chords. However, even with an added 3rd note, “power chords” still remain classified as an interval! Why? Let’s consider the consistency and congruency of the following three scenarios.

1 – Consider middle C. Add 2 more Cs to it in ascending octaves. You’ve got 3 notes! Is it a triad?

Illustration of example 1 on piano and treble staff

If you said yes, you’ve got one of these  Professor Matthews' Red X coming your way with an invitation to stay after class! If you said no, you’ve got one of these Professor Matthews' Green Checkmarkcoming your way with an invitation to skip class today!  Three Cs spread over 3 consecutive octaves is not a triad. It’s a triple octave unison! 

*2 – Consider C perfect 5th (C and G or 1 and 5). Add another C exactly 1-octave above the root.

Illustration of example 2 on piano and treble staff 

You have 3 notes! Is it a triad? No! You have a Perfect 5th interval with a doubled root!

3 – Consider C major triad (root position, 1-3-5). Add another C exactly 1-octave above the root.

Illustration of example 2 on piano and treble staff

You’ve got 4 notes! Is it a 7th chord? No! It’s a triad with a doubled root, a 4-note triad if you will.

Octave-doubling any note(s) of an interval or a chord does not change the entity’s classification.  The rule that says “it takes a minimum of 3 notes to make a chord” governs chord classification and the 3 notes must be 3 different notes, not an octave doubling of an original unit member.

So although perfect 5ths are also known as “power chords”, by definition, they are not chords. They are intervals, and it is my hope that that you’ll get to know these intervals a little better through the work you’re doing in this series. 


Construction of Perfect 5ths from the scale steps of Pentachords/Pentascales

Pentachords and pentascales (synomous terms), are the first 5 notes of a diatonic scale. Major pentachords and/or major pentascales are comprised of major scale notes 1 thru 5.  Extracting only the 1st and 5th notes of this major scale subgroup yields a perfect 5th interval.

Major Pentachord/Pentascale Legend
1-5 = scale steps
w = whole step (major 2nd)
1/2=  half step (minor 2nd)
w  w  3 1/2  4 w 

If you start with C and follow the schematic’s instructions, step-by-step, the C major pentascale will  reveal itself on your piano’s white keys. Play the pentascale in the keys of G, D, A and E too.


Construction of Generic 5ths from the 7-Letter Musical Alphabet

C D E F G A B

1. Select any letter from the 7-letter sequence
(In doing that you’ve established the interval’s letter name and root… think of it as scale step “1”.)

2. Skip over the next 3 scale steps.
(In doing that you’re skipping over scale steps 2, 3, and 4 because your mission is to make a 5th.)

3. Now, having skipped over scale steps 2, 3, and 4, select the very next letter in the sequence.
(In doing that, you’ve selected scale step “5” as the interval’s upper note and then you extract scale steps 1 and 5.)

That’s it! You’ve constructed a 5th… a generic 5th*.
*(All accidentals are excluded In generic intervals. Only letter names and staff position matters.)

5ths – These intervals may be identified by their letter names because both letter names are the 1st and 5th letters of an alphabetically sequenced 5-letter string (pentachord or pentascale).

When written in standard music notation, 5ths will have exactly 3 unoccupied staff steps in between the interval’s lower and upper notes–a space/line/space, OR, a line/space/line. Also, three alphabetically sequenced letters will be skipped over.

Harmonic and melodic intervals on a treble staff

Keep the following points in mind:

1. The staff represents a piano’s white keys only. The black keys are notated by accidentals. (Staff steps, unmodified by accidentals, are whole steps, except for the half steps at E to F and B to C) (One staff step = the distance from any staff line to the very next staff space or vice versa, up or down)

2. Every staff line and every staff space correlates to a specific white key on the piano.
(This point applies to all ledger lines and ledger spaces.)

3. If 3 consecutive staff steps are skipped over, 3 correlating piano keys are also skipped over!  (This “skip-over/fly-over” concept and analogy is illustrated in the key of C in the photos just below.) (Your eyes skip-over the 3 staff steps while your fingers “fly-over” the 3 correlating piano keys.)

Illustration of notes being skipped and flown over


Perfect Intervals: (This section is reposted from AC #37… slightly revised. Click to view)

 

Perfect Intervals: What are they? Why are they called “perfect”?

Part of the answer to both questions has to do with the overtones and harmonics that only this particular class of intervals produce. Many piano tuners rely on perfect intervals in their craft. However, since the details that explain overtones and harmonics go far beyond the scope of this post, I’ll simply tell you which intervals are “perfect” and I’ll mention a distinguishing and affirming “key” characteristic of perfect intervals, (“Key” pun intended).

Which intervals are perfect?

There are only 4 of ’em! They come directly out of the major scale. Memorize ’em! (1-4-5-8)

1-1 Perfect 1st or Perfect Unison – (The 1st note of a major scale doubled directly upon itself)
1-4 Perfect 4th – (The 1st and 4th notes of a major scale)
1-5 Perfect 5th – (The 1st and 5th notes of a major scale)
1-8 Perfect 8th or Perfect Octave – (The 1st and 8th notes of a major scale)

Here’s an optional verification process you can use to confirm an interval’s “perfect” status.

Perfect Interval Evaluative Characteristics Affirmation Test (P.I.E.C.A.T.)
(OK! I confess! I just made-up this tongue-in-cheek acronym but many cats have been known to eat non-cat-like foods. I had a cat that loved vinegar potato chips! Anyway, here’s how the test works…)

A “purr-fect” interval is affirmed when the upper note of any given interval is also found in the major scale that begins on that interval’s lower note, AND, the lower note of that interval is also found in the major scale that begins on that interval’s upper note. Here’s another way to say it…

If your interval’s top note is present in its bottom note’s major scale, AND, its bottom note is present in its top note’s major scale, voilà! You’ve ID’d a “purr-fect” interval via “P.I.E.C.A.T.“!

a pretty cat is about to eat some pie with a fork!

“Did somebody say pie cat? Yummy! Mmmm! Got Milk?


  (The video below shows how you might use LH Power Chords to anchor and drive a groove.)


The most commonly used accidentals are shown in the lineup just below followed by examples of the most common occurrences of 5ths in the key of C.

  = natural
= sharp
X = double sharp
=  flat
♭♭ = double flat


Perfect 5th = C to G (The 5th note of a major scale remains unmodified)
Augmented 5th = C to G (The 5th note of a major scale is sharped once)
Minor 1st *(N/A)
*(Minor functionality isn’t allowed on any perfect interval.)
Diminished 5th = C to G **(The 5th note of a major scale is flatted once)
**(Perfect intervals become diminished with only one flat)

This link will open an Acrobat/Adobe flash type of applet where you’ll be asked to correctly match ten intervals via a drag-n-drop process. Doing the exercise at least 4 or 5 times will give you an introductory workout on identifying and matching the intervals in C and other keys.

Study well and have fun,

See you next post,

"Gotta get to my study room!"

AC #22: Block Chords: What are they? How to use them?

While recording “You’re My Everything” during a recording session on October 26, 1956, Miles Davis whistled during the song’s intro to stop the recording and said to Red Garland, his pianist, “Play some block chords Red… Alright Rudy?… Block chords Red”.

This instruction was left in the mix and can be heard on the commercially released recording. What did Miles mean when he said that? What did Miles want from his pianist?  The song’s intro starts at the video’s 19th second time code marker and as you’re listening, pay special attention to the difference in Red Garland’s playing before and after Miles’ instruction.

http://www.plosin.com/MilesAhead/Sessions.aspx?s=561026

“Block chords” is a harmonic device that calls for all harmony being played, during the spans-of-time that block chords are engaged, to be delivered within certain close-position voicings and rhythmic parameters.  When block chords are applied to melody and/or single-note improvisation lines, a more impactful, “phatter”, richer sound results! I’ve seen Phineas Newborn draw actual gasps-of-excitement from audiences with his highly skilled block chord use!

There are several types or variations of block chords but the one on which I’m going to focus in this workshop I’ve named “book ends”.  Book ends call for 5-note voicings with a numerical schematic that spells voices 1 through 5 the from top to bottom with the melody or lead always being note 1 or the top-most note. Note 5 always doubles note 1, one octave lower. Notes 2, 3, and 4 are harmony notes which must be placed in between or within the one-octave span of notes 1 and 5 (the “book ends”) at all times.

Since this is a tall order, I highly advise you to do yourself a favor before moving on to blocking melodies and improv lines. Do the prep work of  making sure that you can play all Major7, Dominant7, Minor7, Minor7b5 and Diminished7 chords in all four of their positions in the 5-note block chord style! It’ll make what follows much easier!!!

As I always say, don’t hesitate to contact me if you need some assistance. I’ll be glad to hear from you and glad to help. Let’s Skype!

Where did block chords come from? Who invented them?  

I recall having read somewhere in the past that pianist/organist Milt Buckner was given credit for starting or inventing block chords!

I’m not going to co-sign such an absolute statement but I will go along with acknowledging the fact that Milt Buckner is one of the first musicians to be widely noticed and recognized for bringing this style of playing to the “forefront”.  George Shearing credited Milt Buckner and the big band sounds of Glenn Miller as his two major influencers along the lines of his developing the block chord “George Shearing sound”.

http://www.jazzwax.com/2009/05/milt-buckner-block-chords-parade.html

Erroll Garner also credited the sounds of big bands as his main influence in the development of his signature style which uses block chords. There are many other musicians who cite Milt Buckner as a main influencing source along these lines but as to whether or not Milt Buckner actually invented block chords, I choose to remain a non signatory.

John Lennon once said that if you had to rename rock and roll, you’d have to call it “Chuck Berry!” However, in Chuck Berry’s autobiography, Chuck thanked J.L. for the statement but spoke up right away saying that the whole “Chuck Berry” concept and sound was not actually his! It came directly from his being influenced by his local peers, the great boogie-woogie players, and people like the great Nat “King” Cole!

I like to think that if Milt Buckner were around today, he might thank all of his fans and “influencees” before giving the same kind of cautionary statement the C.B. gave J.L.

And so the story goes… Because of the influence factor, it’s usually inaccurate at best to try to trace and pinpoint something like a trend or a style in music down to one person. What is more important to me is finding out how to do it and how to use it in my playing.

With that said, let me draw your attention to the 7/22/13 update release of “Block Chording Short Scales” in my store.  It is a rudimentary block chord drill system that focuses on block chording 3-, 4-, and 5-note scales of the major and minor varieties and it has MIDI accompaniments to help your practice move right along. If you do the work, this updated package can be very helpful to you in getting block chords “together”.  Contact me if you need assistance.

See you next post.

Art

"Gotta get to my study room!"

AC #14: Reading Piano Music – Need Help? – Read This!

Learning to read piano music can be one of the most challenging tasks that faces every piano student. 

Although one person might find this task to be less difficult than the next person, the fact remains that in order to learn to read music, you have to actually spend some time reading lots of it. It’s like you’ll never learn how to swim if you never get in the water!

Short Story

My first car was a 1955 Chevy that looked very much like the one pictured just below.

 1955 Chevy

It eventually developed transmission trouble and it wouldn’t move. James Ballard and Emmett Kendall, two mechanics who’d given me a job as a teenager in their gas station / car repair business, came to my house and towed the Chevy back to their garage, which was only a half-block away from my home. While I was working hard at tending to the pump customers that day, they disassembled the transmission, then they showed me the malfunctioning parts that had caused my car to break-down. By the time I got off work, they’d fixed my car and I was “back in business” cruizin’ and playin’ the radio with no particular place to go!

End of Story

Now you might ask, “What does that short story have to do with reading piano music?!”

Well, the lesson I took from that experience was that if there is a problem that has caused or is causing a break-down of any sort, somewhere in the mix of my life, deal with it by “towing” the problem into my figurative garage (my mind), take it apart, analyze it, identify the source of the problem, fix it, put it back together and move on!

By applying that very simple methodology to my teaching techniques, I’ve been able to help lots of people improve their music reading abilities for years and I can help you too.

During the course of my teaching career, I’ve found, more often than not, a major cause of my students’ music reading problems stemmed from their inability to read and play rhythms fluently!

Rhythm, rhythm, rhythm, rhythm, rhythm!

Reading rhythm is the sole focus of a class I teach titled, “Rhythm-a-ning”.  Understanding rhythms and developing the coordination to execute them with either hand is the center-stage activity in this class.  There’s a reason why the piano is considered a percussion instrument and sits in the percussion section of an orchestra and not the string section.

Reading music, even at its most elementary level, involves decoding information from two main streams of data synthesis, the rhythm stream and the pitch stream. If you’re having trouble deciphering and executing the data from both streams, your work on effecting a solution will be twice as difficult if your approach is to work on solving the problems you’re having with both streams simultaneously.

So the basic idea behind rhythm-a-ning and pitch-a-ma-ning is to separate and isolate the two main component processes of music reading, rhythm execution, and pitch placement, then reintegrate the two skills at a later point in time after thoroughly working on each of the areas of concentration. The separation and isolation approach allows you to then focus 100% of your attention on working to improve and strengthen your weaknesses in each one of those two main problem areas independently. 

I feel it is a lot easier to work on one problem at a time than it is to work on two or more problems simultaneously.  This is a less stressful strategy and with this approach, your probability of success tables are tilted more in your favor and the odds of your success rates are increased exponentially. 

Watch this sample video of Jason reading and playing the rhythms of a piece by one of my favorite classical music composer/pianists. 

 

With patience, determination and hard work, Jason is now doing a pretty good job of rhythm-only reading through many musical genres like classical music, ragtime, hymns, pop, and jazz. He can see and appreciate his own improvement in this area which, in and of itself, is a very powerful factor in keeping him self-motivated to continue his work in this area.

Now there’s no reason why the same thing can’t be happening for you too! So get in touch if you need assistance in this area. I can help you! The main provisory is that it is you who has to practice and do the work! This is not about me! It’s about you!  So contact me so we can get busy.

See you next post. 

 

"Gotta get to my study room!"

AC #11 (AC #7 Mystery Man Is Revealed – Contest Is Closed)

The AC #7 mystery man is the late Phineas Newborn, Jr. (Ta Da!)

Phineas Newborn, Jr.

A big thank you to all the contest participants but since no one correctly identified my mystery man, I’m going to post the winning prize link in this post along with a couple of other links that showcase this musical giant. That way, if you’re not familiar with Phineas, you can check him out a little then seek more if you like what you hear and see.

Phineas Newborn, Jr., was a piano genius from Memphis, Tennessee. Although he was very well-known and appreciated among his peers, devoted followers, and loved by his friends, he was an artist who deserved much wider general public recognition.

For me, one of his many career highlights was an album he recorded with strings titled, “While My Lady Sleeps” where he sight-read the whole date in first-takes, and the orchestra gave him a standing ovation after every song!

During his live performances, Phineas would often play a couple of songs at the front of a set or during a set with his left hand only–melody, accompaniment, improv-solo and everything would sound as if he were playing with two hands!!!. Words can’t describe the feeling that his attentive audiences would experience when he’d finally bring out his right hand, during the middle of one his deep single-hand explorations, and add it to the high-fever level of excitement that he would have already generated with his left hand alone! He’d raise his right hand and then down it’d come exploding onto the piano and BANG! The audience would collectively gasp in pleasure! I’d often cry out, “WOW!!” It was an emotional experience that you actually felt and you really had to see and experience it live! He was truly an awesome musician!

He loved to play piano, he loved to laugh, and I’m proud of the friendship I had with him for the short time I knew him. R.I.P. Phineas.

Phineas and Art at Boston's Logan Airport
Phineas (left) and Art at Boston’s Logan Airport                         –photo by Deb Claffey

Contest Winners Link (audio) – Phineas made this recording in 1951 with “Lou Sargent”, which was a pseudonym for Luther Steinberg. Phineas was twenty years old on this recording and at that early age, you can hear his mastery of blues and boogie-woogie piano styles!

If you like boogie-woogie, blues, and jazz piano, I recommend you to listen to as much Phineas Newborn as you can find.

To all the people who didn’t win this time (everybody!), these types of contests and “Silly Games” will occasionally appear in Art’s Corner so spread the word and stay tuned.

Thanks again!