Jazz Piano Improvisation

The pianist, two days in the studio, alone at the piano. A retreat in Zurich. Focus is on the now, the recording is running. Preparation time for the new compositions: about a year. Getting attuned to the music: a lifetime. Alexander von Schlippenbach, Slow Pieces For Aki, the emphasis being on the word “slow,” not on rediscovering slowness but discovering slowness anew - dedicated to his wife Aki Takase. with slow pieces, short pieces, compositions in which every single note demands the highest degree of attention, virtuosity shifts from the purely technical to the actual notes themselves, avoiding all irrel - evancies. Sounds that are able to glow in the dark and form themselves into star signs. it is not only Jazz and new Music that appear from far away, but also classical and romantic music, always reflected by the personality, the life and playing experience of Alexander von Schlippenbach. From my subjective point of view, dare i suggest, there is a certain serious lyricism. Slow, full of passion and filled with dedication to the music.

Duke Ellington - Piano In The Foreground (1961) {Columbia CK 87042 rel 2004}
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© 1961, 2004 Columbia / Legacy / Sony Music | CK 87042
Jazz / Mainstream Jazz / Piano

Duke Ellington's piano style influenced generations of pianists, from Thelonious Monk to Randy Weston. This 1961 trio recording, with his orchestra's rhythm section of drummer Sam Woodyard and Aaron Bell, clearly unveils the maestro's powerful touch, black-and-tan chords, and unstoppable swing, all often overshadowed in the work of his bigger bands. The standard "Body and Soul" shows Ellington's debt to James P. Johnson's Harlem stride style, while "Blues for Jerry," recalls Count Basie's Kansas City grooves.

That old discussion has broken out again: What is jazz? Who does it belong to? Where does it begin? The latter of these questions is at least not an issue for the Finnish pianist Iiro Rantala: "Johann Sebastian Bach and his music came into my life when I was six." So it comes as no surprise that Bach ties up his new ACT album "my history of jazz" - Rantala's personal history of the music that captivated him when he was 13 is embedded in the classically rendered aria: "Ever since then I always wanted to become an improviser, composer, stage performer and bandleader". A universal concept shown on the five greatly varied improvisations on the Goldberg Variations, upon which Rantala threads the album like a string of pearls.