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Pick Up the Pieces- solo unaccompanied funk piano


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[video:youtube]

 

Been working on this. Brian McCarthy must have some conservatory training to be able to write like that, but it's a little gnarly for the average piano bar clientele. I think it's badass. I'm starting to make sense of the chord and scale scheme (reminds me of 20th century Russian classical), but would appreciate enlightenment from those here who (unlike me) were music majors longer than 5 minutes.

 

Any other examples of solo unaccompanied funk piano arrangements, please post!

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Thoughts from a music major as per your request...

 

Funk music is about being able to intrinsically 'feel' i.e. internalize, and ultimately 'play with' the subdivision of the pulse. Sure, this example notates said sub-divisions, but there is no 'feel ' being played with here. In fact there is no 'play' at all. Playing or 'swinging' is more than just a quarter and an eighth bowed by a triplet. Seems here that the notation is leading the performance, and the intention is for the performer to showcase his notation abilities.

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Been working on this. Brian McCarthy must have some conservatory training to be able to write like that, but it's a little gnarly for the average piano bar clientele. I think it's badass. I'm starting to make sense of the chord and scale scheme (reminds me of 20th century Russian classical), but would appreciate enlightenment from those here who (unlike me) were music majors longer than 5 minutes.

 

Does three semesters count? :) Actually I think that's irrelevant. What kind of enlightenment were you looking to find? I'm not sure what knowing the "chord and scale theme" might do to help you get this piece (ha ha) under your fingers â but if you find it worthwhile then that's what counts. It's basically a blues.

 

Hey, I liked it. Obviously it's not a "cover" where someone is trying to cop the exact parts that were in the original version. How could that be done? The original's two interlocking guitars, the sparse bass, the quirky harmonized horns. One person on a piano is gonna make all that happen simultaneously? I know I can't, and it would probably sound terrible to hear any solo pianist try to do that. So Brian did the right thing if you ask me. Is his version "funk" or "funky"? Well, maybe not by the traditional definition of what some would say "funk" is. As you mentioned in your OP, he does sound like a classical guy. So, I would not use this piece as an example of how to play "funky" but it certainly is an original take on the song and I can appreciate that.

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Been working on this. Brian McCarthy must have some conservatory training to be able to write like that, but it's a little gnarly for the average piano bar clientele. I think it's badass. I'm starting to make sense of the chord and scale scheme (reminds me of 20th century Russian classical), but would appreciate enlightenment from those here who (unlike me) were music majors longer than 5 minutes.

Any other examples of solo unaccompanied funk piano arrangements, please post!

I like it harmonically. Is there a MIDI file we could connect it to a C7 or Rhodes patch?

 

But the recording/reverb is so distracting, it's hard to listen to..

J a z z  P i a n o 8 8

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Yamaha C7D

Montage8 | CP300 | CP4 | SK1-73 | OB6 | Seven

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Probably 10 or so years ago I met a dueling-piano guy who had worked up a solo version of this. This one is more technically impressive, but the guy I saw had a better feel. Still, as someone who enjoys the challenge of doing solo versions of tunes that don't intiuitively lend themselves to solo versions, I tip my hat to anyone who takes a shot at it.

 

As for tips for solo funk piano in general, I have two words: Henry Butler.

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I want to paraphrase Arte Johnson from the old Laugh In show: "Verrrrry interesting , , , but not funky!"

 

Which isn't totally fair, because I could detect some funk in it. Just not a lot.

 

The next thought going through my head is changing the song's lyrics to "Turn down the Reverb!" "Turn down the Reverb!"

Gigging: Crumar Mojo 61, Hammond SKPro

Home: Vintage Vibe 64

 

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Impressive original arrangement. Brian McCarthy does not say or claim that he wrote or plays a "funky" version of Pick Up The Pieces. Even his replies in the comments doesn't mention "funky, funk, etc". So, I see it as a great original arrangement - his own creative artistic interpretation. Excellent performance and a fun piece.
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So Brian did the right thing if you ask me.
+1. An attempt at facsimile would have failed miserably. This at least took some risks and explored other territory.

 

 

"Turn down the Reverb!" "Turn down the Reverb!"
the guy I saw had a better feel.
Anyone else suspect the OP's video is sequenced/MIDI playback? There's something about the rock-solid time and volume consistency of the LH that doesn't sound like live performance.

 

Cheers, Mike.

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Anyone else suspect the OP's video is sequenced/MIDI playback? There's something about the rock-solid time and volume consistency of the LH that doesn't sound like live performance.

I think you nailed it. And note that the video text says "Arranged by ...", not "performed by".

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Modified boogie woogie LH. Straight eights. No swing.

Gershwin"s Rhapsody in Blue and 1st Prelude in the RH. No swing.

 

This is a mid-20s jazz piano interpretation. Before swing. When the King of Jazz was Paul Whiteman!

 

For that, it"s accomplished. What I missed was a sense of the performer having fun with the piece.

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Thoughts from a music major as per your request...

 

Funk music is about being able to intrinsically 'feel' i.e. internalize, and ultimately 'play with' the subdivision of the pulse. Sure, this example notates said sub-divisions, but there is no 'feel ' being played with here. In fact there is no 'play' at all. Playing or 'swinging' is more than just a quarter and an eighth bowed by a triplet. Seems here that the notation is leading the performance, and the intention is for the performer to showcase his notation abilities.

 

To me this arrangement is the way an intellectual (heady, brainy for lack of better words) pianist whose been chomping on Bill Evans transcriptions might toy with Pick Up the Pieces. It's not funky at all, but it is quite jazzy in areas - and it's often not easy to play, that's for sure. The stuff following circle 8 is a bitch. No play? Yeah, I get it... It does have a feel, it just isn't the feel we'd expect for the song or for funk in general. Covers do this all the time - and personally I don't mind hearing new or different takes on songs. So, I heard it, read it and moved on. Some neat ideas, lacks funk feel. Very neat and clean playing. Too much brain perhaps, not enough instinct.

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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Any other examples of solo unaccompanied funk piano arrangements, please post!

 

I would not have replied as such had OP not written this...in asking I assumed he was interested in learning about funk playing.

 

I am not knocking this performance...it"s a tour de force in transcribing and arranging. For his style of playing, play me some Shostakovich, or Liszt...leave the funk to the funky. Or better yet, do a funk version of a classical piece!

 

I have a bit of a bone with classical pianists who play non-classical genres in that 'classical" way. The mechanical triplets played as a quarter and an eighth in lieu of swing is like nails on a chalk board to my ears...It"s like great comedians who try out drama. Never works...yet, dramatic actors who go the comedy route seem to pull it off for some reason. Definitely something there, in that I would be totally receptive to a funkified version of a classical piece, but not the other way around...give me a transcendental etude by Liszt at half the tempo of the original, with all the funk...oh ya, that"s what I"m talking about! ð

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To me this arrangement is the way an intellectual (heady, brainy for lack of better words) pianist whose been chomping on Bill Evans transcriptions might toy with Pick Up the Pieces. It's not funky at all, but it is quite jazzy in areas - and it's often not easy to play, that's for sure. The stuff following circle 8 is a bitch. No play? Yeah, I get it... It does have a feel, it just isn't the feel we'd expect for the song or for funk in general. Covers do this all the time - and personally I don't mind hearing new or different takes on songs. So, I heard it, read it and moved on. Some neat ideas, lacks funk feel. Very neat and clean playing. Too much brain perhaps, not enough instinct.

 

I agree with pretty much everything you're saying here, but why presuppose that because the original tune is a funk song, any cover must be in the same genre, or be judged against anyone's opinions of what "funky" is? Maybe a polka version of Pick Up the Pieces would sound good - at least it might have an element of humor in it, which I think many of us desperately need right now!

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It's not that I didn't get anything out of listening to it. For instance, I would love to try to cop some of the bass lines. Not sure I technically could, but would be interesting to try.

 

Yes, sounds like a midi file being executed. Between the lack of human feel (funk or otherwise) and the bad reverb, it's just hard to enjoy it on anything but an intellectual level.

 

As a purely subjective statement, everything interesting and compelling about the AWB recording has been filtered out. While I can appreciate it on its own merits, at the same time, it just makes me want to go back and listen to the original.

 

As an aside, anyone else notice that every other thread on this forum lately implicates AWB?? Not that that's a bad thing. And thankfully we have Reezekeys here to keep us honest . . .

Gigging: Crumar Mojo 61, Hammond SKPro

Home: Vintage Vibe 64

 

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Because the chart was hand written I let my brain imagine someone was playing it. If it"s Sibelius or a sequencer with quantization or the like (maybe it was tracked one hand at a time, quantized and run through a sample library?) that alters my impression of the playing. In which case, I"d love to hear it actually played by someone in real time!

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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If it was played into a sequencer and fixed up, wouldn't you simply import the midi into a notation program to get the chart? What kind of masochist is gonna write all this out by hand if it's sequenced?

 

Then again maybe he composed this arrangement first and wrote it out as he went - THEN played it into a sequencer? TBH I'm not inclined to spend time analysing this.

 

And yea, I'm a little amused by the AWB shoutouts on the KC forum. This band was one of the least keyboard-centric groups around! In their heyday they never had a separate keyboard player as part of the touring band. Roger Ball doubled on keys but the parts were pretty much "auxiliary" in nature.

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If it was played into a sequencer and fixed up, wouldn't you simply import the midi into a notation program to get the chart? What kind of masochist is gonna write all this out by hand if it's sequenced?

 

Then again maybe he composed this arrangement first and wrote it out as he went - THEN played it into a sequencer? TBH I'm not inclined to spend time analysing this..

 

:like:

 

Kinda wish I had not spent time listening and replying...if this was sequenced.

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Anyone else suspect the OP's video is sequenced/MIDI playback? There's something about the rock-solid time and volume consistency of the LH that doesn't sound like live performance.

 

Cheers, Mike.

 

I agree with this. At the very least, it is heavily quantized.

 

Great comments from all, thanks! But what has elicited most of them is my unfortunate characterization of this as "funk", instead of as a creative arrangement of a seminal funk tune- rightfully pointed out that the arranger didn't use that term. But I agree with the comment that if a player with a good feel played it live it could be funky (that player would not be me, at this point but I'm not giving up). As all can see, I am not much of an authority on the funk. I have even coined a term for my (and my friends) attempts at funk: "Clusterfunk". I may expound on that later.

 

RE the comment that the RH is Rhapsody In Blue, I somewhat disagree, after countless hours spent working on RIB. The RH reminds me more of Khachaturian's "Toccata", one of the very few Russian pieces I have learned.

 

@ Reezekeys, I was only an official music major for one semester but took music courses an additional 2 or 3 semesters, not sure as my college memories are kind of hazy.

 

Before COVID I was doing a lot of pop solo piano gigs, was looking for ideas to do something upbeat and different from what the other players at the venues were doing (Billy/Elton ad nauseum, boring stuff for this non-singing instrumentalist) and happened on the piece. Should have reached out to this forum for suggestions.

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Modified boogie woogie LH. Straight eights. No swing.

Gershwin"s Rhapsody in Blue and 1st Prelude in the RH. No swing.

 

This is a mid-20s jazz piano interpretation. Before swing. When the King of Jazz was Paul Whiteman!

 

For that, it"s accomplished. What I missed was a sense of the performer having fun with the piece.

 

????

 

The whole thing is swung (it even seems to be quantised that way). Just on 16ths, not the noted 8ths.

"The Angels of Libra are in the European vanguard of the [retro soul] movement" (Bill Buckley, Soul and Jazz and Funk)

The Drawbars | off jazz organ trio

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TBH I'm not inclined to spend time analysing this.

 

Goes to show you how bored I am right now - gigless and stuck at home. For grins I put the audio into my sequencer and spent a few minutes adjusting tempo listening to the seq's click. At exactly quarter note = 101.37, the click stays in time perfectly with the piece the entire way through, with very little if any "slop" in the time feel. So, I'm guessing it's sequenced - that's a stretch huh? :laugh:

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Modified boogie woogie LH. Straight eights. No swing.

Gershwin"s Rhapsody in Blue and 1st Prelude in the RH. No swing.

 

This is a mid-20s jazz piano interpretation. Before swing. When the King of Jazz was Paul Whiteman!

 

For that, it"s accomplished. What I missed was a sense of the performer having fun with the piece.

 

????

 

The whole thing is swung (it even seems to be quantised that way). Just on 16ths, not the noted 8ths.

Took a second listen. Right you are!

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Impressive original arrangement. Excellent performance and a fun piece.

 

It's also fun to play, or to attempt to play. It's challenging from the 1st bar of the head (:15) when it's hard to maintain the feel of the bass line when you add the RH line..or maybe I just have to work harder at hand independence than some. I also like how he makes a bass line out of the rhythm part at :18. Also like the contrast at :43 (on the IV) which suggests a more playful stride feel. And the way he pushes the V at :48, with the following cadenza- which mainly just sounds cool but seems to be based on broken #9 chords that ascend in min3rd intervals.

 

Not dry intellectualizing, just getting good ideas I can incorporate into gigs. And maybe even impress musicians standing around with scorecards- the Steely Dan brigade. Lots of tip $ to be made off them! Ok that's funny..

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At exactly quarter note = 101.37, the click stays in time perfectly with the piece the entire way through, with very little if any "slop" in the time feel. So, I'm guessing it's sequenced - that's a stretch huh? :laugh:
That does explain the complaints about lack of feel. I'd be (mildly) interested in hearing a talented pianist performing that arrangement live, with much less reverb. I bet it would have better feel/swing.

 

Cheers, Mike.

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Here's Brian's Instrumental Piano Demo. I can appreciate his classical chops, however even if he did sequence some of his harder arrangements/compositions I still believe he can play what he wrote, maybe not with the polish and perfection represented. And, I know there are excellent pianists who are always looking for written arrangements of great quality. So, thanks to Brian for making his arrangements available for purchase.

[video:youtube]

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