Jazz
  • Register

Piano and jazz

Jazz Piano has been an integral part of the jazz idiom since its inception, in both solo and ensemble settings. The instrument is also a vital tool in the understanding of jazz theory and arranging, because of its combined melodic and harmonic nature. Along with Jazz guitar, piano is one of the only instruments in a jazz-combo which can play chords, rather than single notes only, as with the Saxophone or Trumpet.

Role in ensembles

The role of the piano in the context of ensemble accompaniment has gradually changed from a time-keeping role consisting of repetitive left-hand figures to a more flexible one where the pianist is free to choose toBill Evans interact with the soloist using both short and sustained chordal and melodic fragments. This form of accompaniment is known as comping

How jazz piano is played

The jazz pianist requires a unique set of skills. One must be able to read notes by sight, in a similar fashion to other styles, and must also be able to quickly interpret the content of chord symbols and lead sheets. Often, the pianist is doing this while recalling that information from memory. In an accompaniment setting, the pianist must balance this interpretation with choices appropriate to the musical context of the soloist and other accompanists.

The extended range of the piano as an instrument offers soloists an exhaustive number of choices. One could use the bass register to play an ostinato pattern, such as those found in boogie-woogie, or a melodic counterline emulating the walking of an upright bass. In a style known as Stride piano the left hand alternates positions rapidly playing notes in the bass register and chords in the tenor register. This is also done in more syncopated variants. The right hand will often play melodic lines, but might also play harmonic content, chordally or in octaves, sometimes in lockstep with the Left Hand using a technique called "Block Voicing."

Solo Jazz Piano

Solo jazz piano presents a basic problem which various methods, or a combination of those methods, attempt to solve. The solutions that readily present themselves, and are often tried, are not always the most effective. The problem is essentially that the pianist has to accomplish three basic objectives:

1) Provide a clear, swinging pulse. This might be attempted by striking a beat with the right hand just after a weaker beat with the left hand. The aim of this is to imitate the combination of a ride cymbal and walking bass.

While many jazz players do this habitually, it can also be accomplished in the left hand alone, by imitating the weaker beat preparatory swing note that is played by a bass player just before he strikes some of the notes of the bassline. At faster tempos, the weaker notes may not be present in the bassline, while still being constantly played by the drummer's ride cymbal.

2) State the harmony or "guide tones" of the chord changes.

3) Play the melody or melodic solo material with the right hand.

It is challenging but possible to meet all these demands simultaneously, and in addition there can be brief intervals where they are not quite being met (Art Tatum for example did not stride as constantly as he could have). For example, tasks 2) and 3) often merge into one where the guide tones (the third and seventh of each change) are played in the right hand, in a harmonized melody or solo line.

One commonly used method for solving the tripartite problem is to hold the hands together in a shape like a "fork," with the fingers nearest the thumbs joining the thumbs to form a central group, while the fourth and fifth fingers spread outward to form branches on either side. Red GarlandMany jazz pianists play by placing this shape on the keyboard, and using the left branch to play bass notes, the middle to attend to guide tones and the right branch for upper lines.

If this method does not prove feasible, however, it is also possible, and simpler, to elaborate the bassline, while taking over all the guide-tone and melodic tasks with the right hand alone.

The Circle of Fifths

The circle of fifths is very important in jazz piano as it provides harmonic diversity through a well guided harmonic movement (though the bassline itself need not be so strictly patterned).

The circle of fifths technique is also closely related to chord "planing" techniques, that shift a chord, often voiced in fourths, up the scale, while implying a repeated harmonic pattern of one-five-one-five (tonic-dominant-tonic-dominant).

One can also use the circle of fifths itself to harmonize a tune, such as It Had to Be You, and Summertime. This does not mean arranging new chords according to the circle for the entire tune. Rather, it means the insertion periodically of one-five progressions that are fragments of the circle of fifths, where it makes an appropriate transition, or for several bars. In many jazz standards, this technique can be applied more continuously and makes for excellent reharmonization. In tunes such as Stella By Starlight, the circle of fifths is at least useful between most changes.

Historically Important Figures

Early & Progressive

Early Jazz piano was heavily the stride technique and was often solo. Historically influential proponents of early jazz piano include Earl Hines, James P. Johnson, Jelly Roll Morton, Willie "The Lion" Smith , Art Tatum, Thomas "Fats" Waller, Mary Lou Williams and Teddy Wilson.

Middle & High

Some of the most important, influential pianists of the "golden age of Jazz", the 1950s and 1960s, include Red Garland (pianist for Miles Davis Quintet), McCoy Tyner (pianist for John Coltrane), Ahmad Jamal, Wynton Kelly, Thelonious Monk, Phineas Newborn, Jr., Oscar Peterson, Bud Powell, Don Pullen, Horace Silver and Lennie Tristano. Bill Evans was at the vanguard of a new generation of players emerging in the 1960s which included Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, John Taylor, Stan Tracey and Joe Albany.

Recent & Contemporary

Today, figures include Django Bates, Bill Charlap, Michel Herr, Geoffrey Keezer, Dan Knight, Brad Mehldau, Mulgrew Miller, Carli Munoz, Danilo Perez, Marc van Roon, Esbjorn Svensson, Jacky Terrasson and Jessica Williams. Free jazz pianists include Matthew Shipp.