A while back, I came across Tete Montoliu (28 March 1933 – 24 August 1997) a jazz pianist from Catalonia, Spain. Born blind, he learnt Braille music at age seven. His styles varied from hard bop, through afro-cuban, world fusion, to post bop. He recorded with Lionel Hampton in 1956 and played with saxophonist Roland Kirk in 1963. He also worked with leading American jazz musicians who toured in, or relocated to Europe including Kenny Dorham, Dexter Gordon, Ben Webster, Lucky Thompson, and Anthony Braxton.
Here are a couple of tunes–his take on “Girl from Ipanema” and a blues tune. Always nice to find fine players. Enjoy!
I’ve been listening to bits and pieces of the “Live from Emmett’s Place” series since it began over a year ago with the advent of the pandemic. It’s always great. But this one just brought a smile–just felt good. So I thought I’d share. I actually listened to the entire session–something I’ve never done before. It’s a session that merits a full listen!
This one features the great guitarist Peter Bernstein. I’ve been listening to his recordings for some time, mainly as a part of a trio with Larry Goldings. They’ve played together off and on for over 30 years.
Around 40 minutes in, there’s a brief dialogue that’s well worth a listen. At around 42, you get a bar or two of montuno. Also, at around 1:14 there’s another great exchange. Some great keys here, as always.
At any rate, give this one a listen and see what you think. Enjoy!
Love the rhythm thing he’s got going with the percussion, bass, and guitar. It is pretty wild, sort of horn heavy. Check out Ackmoor’s Homage to Cuba. It’s “wild” with an Afro-Cuban feel. And if you really want “wild” horns, check out Coltrane’s last album, Kulu Sé Mama (Verve 1965). The players include McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, and Pharoah Sanders.
I just came across this fascinating take on “Someday, My Prince Will Come.” It’s by Tigran Hamasyan, an Armenian jazz pianist (b. 1987). He plays mostly original compositions, which are strongly influenced by the Armenian folk tradition, often using its scales and modalities. . . . [H]is improvisations often contain embellishments based on scales from Middle Eastern/South Western Asian traditions. Some of his later stuff is sort of prog/jazz like Keith Emerson’s prog/rock. Enjoy!
In my live seminar today we are exploring the tune “Body & Soul”, and we will be analysing Beegie Adair’s rendition of the tune. I thought it would be nice to post the recording here for reference:
The transcription doesn’t include everything she plays, but it should be helpful nonetheless to understand the progression and chord colours that she is playing around with for her intro.
Definitely use your ears to pick out some of the finer details and nuances of her intro.
Also check out the full seminar here for a more in-depth discussion and demonstration of the voicings and playing style.
Just got around to listening to this. It’s a style that I like very much. If you check the Virtual pianos on offer, most have a setting for Cinematic or something like that that is very much like this. Thanks for sharing, @Hayden!
Listening to the Kosenko piece, I remembered a couple of tunes by Ruslan Sirota that
I thought you might like. He’s showcasing a new piano by the same folks that brought us the Ravenscroft 275, the Modern U, considered by some to be the best upright library. It has some interesting sounds. I’ve more or less worked through a transcription of “A Lifetime Away.” Enjoy!
Love this song! Thanks Scott for sharing…such passion and connection to this tune he wrote. I actually contacted him about this song to get a copy of the score
I’ve been listening to and working on a simple, beautiful ballad by Silvio Rodríguez, “Rabo de nube.” It has become something of a standard. Rodríguez was central to the Nueva Trova movement in the 1960s that drew upon traditional folk music and infused it with contemporary social and political themes.
He is widely considered Cuba’s best folk singer and arguably one of Latin America’s greatest singer-songwriters. . . . Rodríguez, musically and politically, is a symbol of the Latin American left. His lyrics are notably introspective, while his songs combine romanticism, eroticism, existentialism, revolutionary politics and idealism.
Many of his earlier lyrics are clearly aligned with the ideas of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara–one of Argentina’s most famous exports. I remember his saying somewhere that “revolution is my vocation.”
You can see the tune is popular by looking at Spotify: there are around 105 different versions in styles ranging from guitar/vocal, Afro-Cuban, Latin jazz, traditional jazz, full chorale to electro dance music. There’s even a version by Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders.
At any rate, here are a few versions that you might like. Enjoy!
The first is the original version.
One of the very finest versions of the tune is by Charles Lloyd on his Lift Every Voice (ECM 2002), written in response to the 9/11 attacks. It has a stellar list of players: Geri Allen (p), John Abercrombie (g), Marc Johnson (b), and Billy Hart (d). YouTube has put it in their Premium offerings, but if you have Spotify, you can get it here:
For those who are following Jovino’s Live Seminars (and those of you who should be ), here are some tunes from his latest solo piano album Luz, released a couple of weeks ago. It’s a very fine collection of tunes and offers some great examples of what he’s been sharing with us. We’re lucky to have him with us here on PianoGroove. Enjoy!
), here are some tunes from his latest solo piano album Luz, released a couple of weeks ago. It’s a very fine collection of tunes and offers some great examples of what he’s been sharing with us. We’re lucky to have him with us here on PianoGroove. Enjoy! 
