Dave Ferris

Really nice arrangement and playing Al ! Maybe time for these old arrangements I did now 12 years ago for the Reharm Room to make yet another appearance. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

Hi Alex, long time my friend, I hope you are doing good. Allan Cate mentioned that I might want to replace the damper felts at some point. I'm still getting this occasional zing on the release, no specific notes, just all over. I've had a few damper felts replaced where I initially heard the problem but it seems like the ping or zing just moves to a different area. Luke agreed. He also mentioned I could alleviate more noise by replacing the felt on the back rail (I think I got that right). However the labor cost was really starting to add up. I was at $3500 plus parts, just under 6K total for the entire job. So that's for a later date. But I will pass along those other two suggestions to Luke for the next round. Thanks for posting.

The piano was actually at Southwestern Community College in Creston, Iowa. And the owner was Phil Matson. At the time, Phil headed up the music dept. and bought the piano to lure more talented classical and jazz pianists to the school. Sadly he fell into some serious financial trouble and was forced to sell the piano. Phil was highly regarded in the Jazz choral world where he wrote and published arrangements, many in the style of the Hi-Los. Stylistically he was influenced by Clare. I believe the two met in the 60s and became life long friends. And then Phil lived in LA for a number of years too, Clare lived in Studio City so they saw each other frequently. A side story with Clare- I took three lessons from him in the early 80s when I was new in LA but pretty sure he didn't remember me. I called him and just about anybody I knew in LA that was either a player/composer/arranger, or who I thought might know someone that might be interested in buying my Yamaha S6. Clare's initial barked response was...."why are you calling me?! I already have a piano" ! I laughed and said, Clare I know you do but I just thought I'd let you know in case you might hear of anyone looking. I know you have the Yamaha S-400, this is the later handmade Yamaha and it's larger. He said tersely , "oh ok but I don't know anybody, (again) not sure why you called me". I'm thinking jeez ok why did I bother. And then in an attempt to mellow him out I said, you know the piano I bought is your friend Phil Matson's Steinway from Iowa. All of a sudden the nice Clare surfaces..."oh what a lovely piano that is. I had such a wonderful time visiting that quaint little village he lives in. How is he doing by the way"? I said good and he sends his regards. Clare was a complex guy. He could be highly volatile or a pussycat. A true genius.

The light colored hardwood is the original color flooring, the rest of the studio used to be a low nap green carpet that we removed two years ago and replaced with darker hardwood. The original plan was to replace the entire floor with the dark hardwood but when they got into the job, I thought it looked cool just keeping that section. But my wife has been after me to change it so everything matches. After two years I could go either way at this point. And yeah every day I've sat down at that piano for the last 17+ years I realize how super fortunate I am. Out of all the many great players in this town, probably 90% don't own an instrument of this magnitude. Here's a photo with the carpeting.

I just completed a three and a half day major overall of the action on my piano last week. I took delivery of it on 5/6/06 and it was 9 months old when I bought it from a private owner. By my estimation after 17 and half years, it has roughly 13,500 hours on it. In the 9 months before I bought it, it was pretty much under lock and key at a school in Iowa and had seen maybe 50 hours if that. It was only used for a couple student recitals and master classes by Clare Fischer. I had a major filing of the hammers back in March of 2022. The tone had been on a downward trajectory the 5 years prior to the filing to my ears. While the filing eliminated the brightness of tone and restored the richness that Steinways are known for, the whole process seemed to open up a can of worms with the action making noises that were never there before. It also simply felt too loose and sloppy from all the hours of use. I had many techs over in that time and spent hundreds on the consultation, inspection and work they performed in an attempt to make things better. With one long time tech, we didn't see eye to eye on the severity of the problem. After the dust had settled, nothing really had significantly improved. I was highly frustrated, to the point that on some days I was spending more time on my AvantGrand because the action was tighter and felt more firm. I contacted a few Steinway artists in town, inquired as to who took care of their piano and the name Luke Taylor came up a few times. Ok, a new and unfamiliar name. Luke, I found out, is the current Chief Steinway Concert Tech for Los Angeles. He's 46, has a lot of experience and is at the age where he's not burned out or has physical issues (like carpal tunnel, back, shoulder) that would limit his work. After contacting him it took six weeks for our initial consultation because he was out of town up in the Bay area working at a classical musical festival all month. This was the second week of July. Within 15 minutes of him playing the piano and pulling the action out, checking the hammers, backchecks and repetitions, he sussed out my problems. After another 20 minutes of further discussion about what work he would do and the parts he would use (all original NY Steinway parts), I felt confident he was the guy. What sealed the deal was, I'd been having this obnoxious intermittent wood knocking noise starting from Ab7 up to C8 ever since the original hammer filing. All the techs could never figure this out and it was driving me mad. Fortunately I was able to duplicate the noise when he was there. He instantly said...I know what that is, your key blocks need to be adjusted. After he made the adjustment, the almost like a woodblock noise that I'd been living with since March of 2022, never reared it's ugly head again. The reason for the delay in the work, aside from him being very busy, was it took that long to get the whippens from Steinway. We were lucky he said, some techs have been waiting over a year. Why? No one seems to know. Here's his detailed report of the work done for all you aspiring piano techs out there. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Hi David, Here is a breakdown of what I did. Steinway D #571692 *Reconditioning File hammers to restore shape Pin hammers (21.5-22 gauge) Resuscitate key bushings (.147 balance, .129 front) Resuscitate balance holes File knuckles Lubricate knuckles Lubricate key pins *New Parts Installation Repetitions and Backchecks were replaced for noise reduction - Noise caused by old yellow version of ecsaine. *Repetitions - Remove old repetitions - Install new repetitions *Backchecks - Remove old backchecks - Install new backchecks - Correct height *Regulation Angle hammers Travel hammers Align repetitions to knuckles Align knuckles to hammer tails Align jacks Adjust repetition lever height Adjust repetition springs Bed key frame (over bedded) Adjust let-off Adjust drop Adjust hammer blow distance (46mm) Adjust key dip to .400” (highly uneven) Adjust damper pedal lost motion Adjust una corda shift distance *Tuning/Voicing Mate hammers to strings Seat strings on the bridge Tune to A440 Needle voice hammers _________________________________________________________ As you can see from the list and photos, it's very detailed, labor intensive work. There's no shortage of Great pianists out there today but there is a shortage of Great Master techs. Luke showed up at my house everyday at 9AM sharp and worked solid till 5 PM, with a 45 minute lunch break. After playing the piano for 4 days it's a night and day difference in the action. Tone is even more refined from the new filing. He said I have some years left on the felt of the original NY Steinway hammers but it would be up to me whether or not I wanted to replace them with the new Renner NY hammers. He said for concert halls or music schools where the piano is heavily played and for many hours a day, replacing the hammers on a model D is common practice after 7-10 years. In my case, I'm a lightweight with regard to touch. My estimated hours on it come out to around an average of 2.5 hours a day over the 17 years & 7 months. Also regarding the new hammers, aside from being around another 4K to 5K for parts and labor, there's the issue of Steinway changed their hammers around 2015/16 resulting in brighter pianos. Their tone today doesn't resemble my piano at all. That gives me pause. I might like it but perhaps not as much. So that's a maybe for the future. As it is right now, it's not like a "new piano" but it's a vast improvement and should give me years of continued satisfaction and inspiration.

I sort of went nuts with my new iPhone 14 and took a batch of photos with different angles of my studio and piano.

It has been 32 years since the recording and a release on a small independent label out of LA called Nine Winds. I got a tad of press in the LA Times, Jazz Times and a few other places I've now forgotten. It was cool to see my CD in Tower Records when I went to Boston and the Tower in Manhattan/NYC. With Bob Sheppard ( Tenor Sax), Eric Von Essen (Acoustic Bass), Kendall Kay (Drums) It was at Chick's old Mad Hatter studio. No overdubs, all live to two-track tape. Bernie Kirsh, Chick's long time engineer, did an amazing job on the recording. He knew the room, the mics and the Neve console intimately, and had a band sound within 5 minutes. Chick had two pianos to choose from- a Hamburg D and a Bosendorfer. I can't recall the latter model but it wasn't good. Practically everyone used the Steinway Bernie said. https://soundcloud.com/dave-ferris/midwest-moment-ferris-quartet-w-bob-sheppard

Darren, thanks, much appreciated. You know years ago I did delve into the huge legit Latin scene here but more as a jazz guy playing it. So consequently the hard core pop, strict "clave" guys cut me some slack because of my jazz chops. Because I'm certainly not a legit Latin player like say someone like Joe Rotundi, who's one of the older and most respected guys in town for that. But I certainly have an appreciation of the music and have listened to it a lot, and I guess picked up a bit of the language. I would put myself into the same category as when say Kenny Barron did his all Latin/Salsa record years ago. Not his playing of course, just the style. And like many people from my generation, I've been highly influenced by Chick and his approach. Believe it or not the groove was the internal drum track on the Yamaha CP-5 (man I miss that keyboard). I need to get with that Drum Genius thing, he has some fantastic grooves...but I'm just such a tech dolt. You mentioned about finding some approaches to the A section. An option to explore is sometimes looking at the second chord - F#m7 -as more of a F# Minor Maj.7 (melodic minor) , it can connect better with the fourth bar of F7 alt. or B7b5. It was sort of a long process at first because the minor 7 was how I learned it but slowly over time, I found myself just going more often to the minor/major. Then when I went back to F#m7, having used the other avenue just seemed to open that whole section up more. If I can get up the energy, I'll write some examples of letter A. I'm recovering and rehabbing from this knee replacement 20 days ago, so my energy, endurance and overall creative flow isn't quite there right now.

Nice job on the analysis and practice strategy Darren. You dissected it very nicely. I like the Dim. and drop 2 examples, the chromatic on ex. 12 and the Dom. on #14. All nice lines prime for transposing to all keys, in one or two bar increments. Good approach in connecting the Major scales starting on the 3rd in the bridge. Also good to repeat the examples out of tempo, slow and at tempo. All in all, very thorough. Lucky students they are to have you. I learned that tune when it first came out and have played it many times since. It's another one of those type of tunes (like you pointed out) that you can practice in sections particularly on the bridge. A similar approach can be applied to Inner Urge, Have you met Miss Jones., The song is you, Just one of those things, Humpty Dumpty, to name a few. Going back probably 10 years, here's a short uptempo Latin groove on it. I did it at the time to demo the CP5. Excuse some of the ghosting of notes in the two handed unison parts. Given the tempo, I feel I would've been cleaner on a real piano. Man I love this song, I never get tired of playing it !

I was highly influenced by Chick's comping. Also Herbie from the 60s and Horace Silver. I never studied comping specifically say as written rhythms in a book, I just had a lot of experience playing with different musicians, groups, in different genres, contexts, over the five decades and REALLY listening. I don't even think I could teach or recommend a method to someone on how to comp, it was always just intuitive for me. The only recommendation I might give is ALWAYS state the time. Don't be ambiguous, unsure or unclear. You have to have confidence in your time feel that when you're comping, or laying it down in any genre, that THIS is where it is. Recording yourself on gigs helps. I had multiple funky Walkmans that I wore the switches out on. Playing with great drummers and bass players is imperative. If there's any time discrepancy, or one weak link, everything's out the window. Plus you have to be a team player first with the concept, or mindset, that you want to make "the whole" better. Egos normally don't go hand in hand with good comping and being essentially a supportive accompanist. If everyone in the group isn't on the same page - listening to each other, aware of ensemble balance and trying to support each other- it's a lost cause. Doesn't matter wtf you play. It's harder to develop today in all facets with less live playing opportunities. I give it to younger kids that can get their sh!t together today, they're really up against it.

I did, early on, maybe 10-11 years old but they were very inconsequential. I jumped into the fire/ band thing around 13 or 14, playing all by ear. When I hit 19 or 20 I started realizing my shortcomings and took about a year of classical lessons with a fine teacher in St. Louis. It certainly helped and my playing advanced quite a bit in the STL/Illinois area rock bar bands I was playing in. However once we took the life altering leap of faith from STL in 1979, at a rather late in the game age of 25, and moved to LA, it became very apparent that I was still highly lacking in the general pianistic qualities, as well as basic musician fundamentals, that were needed as stepping stones and were vital to becoming a more advanced player. Simply put, I wasn't at a level of being good enough to hang and make a career as a freelance player in LA. My mentor, Terry Trotter, I was with for almost four years. We studied a wide range of classical pieces, as well as jazz. He pretty much shaped and molded my approach to the piano, getting the most out of my practice time with more focus, concentration and attention to detail. I was also lacking in this area. Terry basically altered my thinking about all music in the general broad sense. I was highly influenced by his golden, lyrical touch and use of space, along with his deep concept and restrained taste in Ballads. Saying more with less. Needless to say, I feel extremely lucky to have come under under his tutelage mixing the cerebral with his real world street experience. I simultaneously studied be-bop jazz improvisation with Vibist Charlie Shoemake. He was very popular with players on all instruments, maybe similar to Charlie Banacos in Boston, although he only taught in person.. While not as musically encompassing as my studies with Terry were, he was an effective drillmaster, with a highly motivating work ethic. I still use Charlie's basic principles to this day. Specifically with regard to transposing lines, voicings and tunes to all keys. And having a rock solid, swinging/grooving time feel, even if the music goes off the rails and to a different, more exploratory place. Even though I've often lamented in my life about not starting earlier seriously and having to play so much catch up, while many of my peers were already fully formed and accomplished, I was highly fortunate to come up in a time when live music and the need for good musicians was still flourishing. The LA scene was incredibly fertile. Combine that and hooking up with Terry and Charlie, looking back things worked out well in the big picture, no regrets. edit-- I added a photo from a few years back when Terry and his wife came over to my house for a visit and went out to the studio to play my piano. Still the teacher and still the student.

I was rummaging through my old ITunes library cleaning stuff out and I came upon this old clip at my studio in 2002 of a casual playing session with some guys I used to play with here in town. Sadly they both moved away from LA years ago but I still have fond memories and the many creative times with them. It's Super lo-fi audio quality of Miles Davis' most played tune, "Solar". It was Miles' birthday yesterday, he would have been 96. He always pushed the envelope, I'd like to think he might approve of our stretching out a bit and taking it to a different place at times. Listening back 20 years, there's a LOT of stuff I wouldn't play anymore (and other stuff I would) but nice to hear what we were all into back then. Personal listed on the SC track.

It was a successful transaction after a meet up at Victoria Park in Carson. A hand-off to Bobby Cressey of my trusty CP4 before his gig in Palos Verdes. We've been through a lot together in eight years but it was time to transfer it over to a great player who will put it to more use then sitting in my closet. I still have the CP-88 (and still for sale but if it doesn't sell, that's ok too) and the new P-515. So for the little live stuff I'm still doing, I'm cool. Thanks Bobby and enjoy !

It was time for a new Henle edition of the Chopin Etudes. My paperback edition is probably 35 years old now and has seen who knows how many hours. I splurged and got the cloth bound edition, thinking it will probably last the rest of my life. Oh and the piano is pretty nice too.

While it is long, a Fantastic interview ! Worth investing the time in watching. What a time he came up in, seeing who he did and being able to play with all those influences and Icons of 20th Century Music ! It can never be duplicated again.

Oh yeah ! I played that Blue Mitchell version in a Big Band, first at MI in Hollywood and later at LAMA/LA Music Academy in Pasadena, probably for a combined 32 years ! Speaking of Blue, can't let this thread go without someone posting Chick's Tune/You stepped out of a dream. Love the Horace Silver-isms @1:29, who was a Huge influence on Chick.

Many, Many Tributes pouring in. I particularly like this Beautiful one from Joey Calderazzo. I first met Chick in 1987 while touring with Michael Brecker. He was so supportive and encouraging when we met. Over the years it was always the same. Supportive and encouraging! I can see from looking at posts from other fellow pianists he was the same with them as well. I remember Chick calling me personally when he wanted to sign me to his label (stretch records). I was 24 years old and Chick was on the phone with me..My career could have ended that day and would have been a huge success in my eyes! Over the years I would see him on the road.We would sit at the piano and trade ideas.I always liked his more!. He taught me a few fingerings that I still use to this day. Fingerings for chromatic scales and playing a scale with two hands. He always had time for me and that meant the world to me. If I emailed him, he would normally respond in under 15 minutes. I was always amazed by this. He wanted me to send him pictures of my son. He wanted to hear my new songs or my new records. He did this with many. We were all special to him. I could go on and on but the most important thing about Chick is this. This was fun for him. He was like a child with a toy.Music was his toy. He loved playing more than anyone I ever met. He was one of the most creative guys with incredible skill, but it was fun for him. He would write to me all the time while we were on the road. he would say can you believe we get paid for doing this. The last time he wrote that was last year before Covid. I will miss him. He has meant so much to all of us. I love you Chick,thanks for being so kind to me all these years.

Just Totally Devastated ! He looked to be in excellent health, easily 15 to 20 years younger then his age since he lost all that weight. Unfortunately Cancer doesn't care about all that. He's been a Super Hero for over 50 years. I first saw him at the Mississippi River Festival in Edwardsville, Il.. A popular outdoor festival on the campus of SIU Edwardsville, IL., just across the river from St. Louis, with the original RTF in the summer of 1974. It was a year and a half after "Light as a Feather" came out and Spain was gaining in popularity. I can't begin to fathom how I would have played, or thought about music, had there never been a Chick and his music. Me along with how many other tens of thousands from my generation, generations before, after and without a doubt, future generations after I'm long gone. If you were an aspiring Jazz player, on ANY instrument, or even a musician with Jazz interests, it would literally be impossible NOT to be influenced by him or his music in some way, shape or form. An incredibly sad day.

I'm of the school that you best get something out of a 'teacher' when you are one on one. And preferably in a live context as opposed to skype, zoom or whatever other computer based method people are using today. Probably because that's how I was mentored and learned myself. A big role of a teacher is first listening to you play and then assess your shortcomings and give you solid, practical advice on how to improve in those areas. Jazz can be taught but the core of the music is based on playing with others. I don't care how many hours you spend in the practice room - if you can't groove on, comp and play a solo on a 12 bar Blues or Rhythm changes, something's going very wrong in your approach. Pinning your aspirations on Legends, or even your favorite player doesn't guarantee they will be able to impart useful knowledge to really help you. It might come from a person you might least expect. One time I was playing Duo with the great Bassist Tony Dumas many years ago. Tony has played with Freddie Hubbard, Cedar Walton just to name but a few. I could tell he was getting agitated when I comped for his solos ( again no drums..if there are any warts in your playing, it will show up in this context ). I asked what the problem was. He said...you know you need to state the time more definitively while I'm soloing. It feels like you are waiting for me to do something and then reacting to what I play. It's good that you're listening but the time is getting wonky because you're not rock solid with it. It's too floating, ambiguous and it inhibits my forward motion flow. Well I thought about that for many many months ! I started recording myself on gigs and listening to myself. To this day whenever I see him, which isn't very often, I remind him of that. He doesn't even remember it now ...lol I shutter to think how my playing would've evolved without a "Chick" influence. I listen to the present Trio stuff with Brian, Christian and others. I like it but I do miss the straight ahead Blues connection J+ mentioned. More often then not, I'd like to hear some nice melodic lines like Kenny Barron, David Hazeltine, Cedar Walton or others would play on a tune like Recorda Me for example. The piano devices, even Chick's, after awhile sound just like that - devices- as opposed to melodic development. I don't know, it's funny how you're tastes change the older you get. I find myself listening to the older guys- Sonny Clark, Wynton Kelly, Red Garland, early McCoy and just appreciate their simplicity yet profound statement they make both with their melodic comping/accompaniment and soloing.

Lacey and I did our longest run of the year this morning. Hard to believe it's almost June and we're just getting up to 12 miles. After a very good 2019, at least for me at this stage of my life, it's definitely been an *off* year. Between the time off for the left knee, precautionary time off for a chest congestion/ allergy issue -Glendale btw has the second highest covid19 reportings of any city in LA County - the recovery seeming to take longer between runs (feeling my almost 67 years) , and an overall lack of motivation , combined with the stress factor that everyone is going through.. This whole year has been a wash for me with regard to long runs and higher mileage. Listening to my body, I'm also taking many more bike days then ever. Maybe I can get more motivated and rally in the second half of the year to get in some longer runs. ðâð

With this morning's last run of 2019, an 8 miler, Lacey and I managed to grind out 1921.30 miles for the year. 78.7 miles short of my 2000 goal. But considering a large part of April was lost to the Patella Tendonitis/ Runner's Knee issue and the reduced mileage in June because of the Cataract surgeries, it was a good year. ðâð Based on the last 6 months, we're hoping to hit a little over 2100 miles in 2020, if there are no unforeseen power outages.

Lacey and I did 17 miles this morning. Longest run of the year and in at least 5 years, probably more. Definitely the furthest Lacey has ever run in her life ! Ran down to the Rose Bowl via street, and down the lower Arroyo a tad, past the Aquatic Center before turning around. Cool weather and clean air, great day for it. Pace was old guy plodding but kept it where it was comfortable and I knew I could finish. As usual for this area- no shortage of hills. 3:11:10 @ 11:15 pace. ððâ

With today's 13 miler and second consecutive 50 mile week , Lacy and I were able to get to 1328.46 miles for '19. We have 100 days left in the year. We would have to average 6.7 miles a day, or 47 miles a week for the rest of the year to get to 2000 miles. Hmm.. with recovery days off and barring any little injury that might come up, that might be a tad of a stretch. We'll see how it plays out. ððâ

Doesn't happen often- only two other weeks this year - but was able to get up to 50 miles, running seven days. Six 7 milers, Mon.-Sat., and then 8 this morning. Nothing over 90 minutes and done by 8:30 AM. So the heat wasn't too bad. ððâ Can I do two 50 mile weeks in a row ? Check back next Sunday..

Old guy and young dog did 14 miles this morning. ð ðâ Out a half mile past Johnson's Rock in Hahamunga in La Canada/Pasadena and turnaround. Started at 6:40 AM, didn't start feeling the heat till about mile 9 coming back on Berkshire. Definitely old guy pace - 2:37:58, 11:17 average mile.