The first jazz CD I owned was the Thelonious Monk Ken Burns compilation.  (For those that don't know the music of Monk, this CD is a great place to start).  I remember playing along with it and being fascinated by the "odd" way Monk played the piano.  I never heard anyone make the piano sound the way that he did.  Monk has always been a favorite of mine -- as the years have gone by, I’ve learned to appreciate him for different reasons.   As a player, an improviser, a composer, and even just a personality. 

In today’s lesson, I’m excited to show you an intermediate arrangement I came up with for his tune “Epistrophy.”  This tune was a request from one of my youTube subscribers, and I thank you for that!  Keep ‘em coming! 

Epistrophy is a tough tune to play – the melody has some odd twists and turns and strange chromatic notes (do you expect anything less from Monk?) so I figured I would keep this arrangement fairly simple.  The RH plays just the melody and the LH plays a simplified stride.   In the following video tutorials, I teach you how to play the arrangement step-by-step.  

Here are the steps I take to teach you the tune in the video tutorial.   I divide the tune into 3 sections, I call the A section the first 4 measures (starting on Db7), the B section the second 4 measures (starting on Eb7), and the C section is the bridge of the tune – the 8 measures that starts on an F#-6 chord. 

A SECTION

1.     Learn the melody!  Pay attention to the fingerings – they matter!  It’s also helpful to know the intervals – this will help you memorize and HEAR the tune.  This melody, for example, starts on the root of the Db7 chord (Db), goes up a half-step, up a minor 6, and then down a tri-tone.  Watch the video to get the rhythm. 

2.     For the LH, I did a simplified stride feel.  For the Db7 chord we play Db (root) on beat one and F/Cb (third-seven) on beat two.  For the D7 we play D (root) on beat three and F#/C (third-seven) on beat four.  Loop this until it grooves.  Try to separate the notes (non-legato) so it really has a bounce to it. 

3.     Put it together!  Remember, slow at first, then speed it up. 

B SECTION

Learn this just like you did the A section, melody first in the RH, simplified stride in the LH, and then put it all together, nice and slow.  At first glance, you may think that the B section is just a modulation up a whole step from the A section, but not so fast!  Check it out – remember before I said how the A section melody starts on the root of the chord, goes up a half-step, and then goes up a minor 6?  Now check out the melody of the B section – it starts on the b9 of the chord (E natural on an Eb7 chord), goes up a half-step, and then up a 5th.  I love this!  Such a subtle difference. 

C SECTION

We start on an F#-6 chord split up in the hands.  Root and 6th (F# and D#) in the LH and third (A) in the RH.   For the B7, we play a shell voicing in the LH (B, D#, A).   For the last two measures of the bridge, there is a nice harmonization of the melody.  The melody is on an F, Ab, Cb, and Eb (or the 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th) of a Db7.  We harmonize that in the LH with a Db, F, Ab, Cb (or Root, 3rd, 5th, 7th) of a Db7.  Same thing on the D7, just up a half step!  

THE FORM

 Form is important in this tune.  Getting the big picture will really help you memorize this one.  The way I think of it (remember my A, B, and C sections):

ABBA C BA – on the last A we end on a Gb7 (root and 7 in the LH and 3rd in the RH). 

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

And last, just want to give a recommendation for an excellent book that has great lead sheets for every single one of Monk’s compositions.  It’s put out by Hal Leonard and is called “Thelonious Monk Fakebook.”  These lead sheets are much more accurate and detailed than what you find in the Real Book.  They give you great little Monk-isms (piano voicings, rhythms, etc) that are important to the songs.  Additionally, the book lets you know which recording the lead sheet was transcribed from so you can reference the recording.

Check it out on Amazon here.

Hope this brings you a bit closer to the great music of Thelonious Monk – Happy Shedding!  

I know it's a lot to declare something your absolute "favorite" but I must say if someone asked me right now what my favorite chord voicing on the piano is, I wouldn't hesitate.  It's the minor 11 voicing I'm about to teach you.  Sure, ask me in a couple of years, I'll probably have moved on.  But ever since I heard this voicing I can't get enough!

For those who can't wait to hear and see the specific chord I'm talking about and learn how to play it, check out the video below.   For those who don't want a fish but want to be taught how to fish, let's talk some theory.  

At it's basics a minor 11 chord contains the notes of a minor 7 chord with some tensions added on.  So if we are thinking in terms of a major scale, the 4 notes of a plain old minor 7 chord are the root (1), b3, 5, b7.  For a Cminor7 chord that would be C, Eb, G, Bb.  That covers the plain parts of the chord, but things start to get spicy when we add what are called chord tensions, typically the 9, 11, and 13.  This chord uses the 9th and 11th and leaves out the 13th.  If we are still talking Cminor7 that would be a D and an F.   (Note:  Remember 9th, 11th and 13th are just a fancy way of saying the 2nd, 4th, 6th, but that's for another article)

So here are the notes that make up our minor 11 chord:  Root b3, 5, b7, 9, & 11, OR in C -- C, Eb, G, Bb, D, and F.

Notes are one thing, those are just the building blocks of the chord.  Where it really starts to get interesting is the voicings, that is, the arrangement or order in which we play those notes.  

In our left hand we play the Root, 5th, and 9th.  This makes two stacked perfect fifths, a nice open sound.  In the right hand, we play the b3, b7, and the 11.  Guess what?  Two more stacked perfect fifths.  But here's where it gets juicy, when we put our hands together we get an interval between the top note of the left hand and the bottom note of the right hand -- a super crunchy minor 2nd.  So we have a bunch of open sounding fifths and to contrast it we have the bite of the dissonant minor second.  Now that's my kinda voicing.  Check it out, I don't think you'll be disappointed.  

Happy Shedding!  

When I was a young student of jazz (ahh...the olden days!) I was on what seemed like a never-ending quest for a way to play solo jazz piano that didn't make everything sound like a ballad you'd hear in a cocktail lounge.  The ragtime and stride pianists back in the day could make people dance with just a piano, why couldn't I?  

While I'm still working hard on my solo piano skills (never stop learning!), I've discovered a few techniques along the way that I've found helpful.   The one revelation I'm going to share with you all today is...drum roll...HALF NOTES in the left hand!

Half notes?!? you might ask?  That's right.  Plain old half notes in your left hand can do a lot more than you think.   Half notes in the left hand are imitating what a bass player does.  If you want your solo piano playing to sound more like a band, you have to stop thinking like a piano player and think like an arranger instead.   Each hand (or better yet each FINGER) is its own instrument.  In this example, your left hand is the bass player.  And the bass is where the groove comes from.    

So the left hand (bass player) is going to start by playing half notes.  The reason we start with half notes comes from what actual bass players play.  In a medium swing tune, before a bass player starts walking on all four beats (i.e. quarter notes), he/she plays what's called a two-feel, aka two notes per measure, aka half notes.   A traditional bossa nova player plays plain old half notes to lay the foundation of the groove.  So that's where we will start with our left hand!  

Try it over a few different tunes -- some with a swing feel and others with a straight 1/8th feel (i.e. a bossa). Play just the melody on top of it.  You'll be suprised at how much the half notes in the left hand add groove!
Here are a few rhythmic embellishments to try after you've mastered the plain half notes.  

1.  Add 1/8 note pickups to each half note.
2.  Add a quarter note on beat 4 so each measure is half, quarter, quarter (or do this every other measure).
3.  At the beginning of a four measure phrase, anticipate the first note on beat 4 of the previous measure.  
4.  Write out a bass line that uses all three of the above techniques.  

If you practice this a lot, soon enough you'll be creating your own rhythmic embellishments, all with an underlying half note groove.  

In the following two-part video tutorial, I teach you an arrangement of Sonny Rollins' "St. Thomas" that uses this technique.  I hope you enjoy the videos, I've been working hard in the lab on upping the ante with the audio and video and quality. Please tell me what you think, I'm always looking for ideas on how to get better. While you are at it, let me know if you have any song requests for future videos!

Happy Shedding!