Dave McKenna (jazz piano video inside)

[bloodsample]

Dave McKenna is one of my favorite stride piano players. I'm always amazed by pianists that make it sound like 2 people are playing.

 

Here's a great video showing off his stride skills:

 

Here's another showing his impeccable left hand bass walks:

 

 

Just thought I'd share since I randomly stumbled upon these again.

 

If you like what you hear check out his tribute album to Hoagy Carmichael (which includes an amazing version of "Lazy River").

 

Cheers.

[yannis D]

It's impressive his hand position:not an unnecessary move. He makes things look easy when they aren't!

[MonksDream]

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing these. I especially like his version of Lulu's Back In Town. You're right, yannis, no unnecessary motion at all.

[Musicale]

Yeah one of my favorite players, so far beyond many. One thing I note is the minimal use of the thumb while playing these great phrases. I have never been able to use just the 4 fingers like the good players do. Any suggestions on how to develop that technique - maybe double and triple scale practice ?

 

Regards,

 

Musicale

[solpincus]

1 METHOD to bring the 2nd,3rd,4th, & 5th fingers into play for fluid 8th notes is to arpeggiate (sic?) the diminished 7th chord(which is, for bebop use, comprises the 1st, 2nd 3rd & 4th inversions of the V7 flat nine chord. Start with the bottom a note on the piano, & slowly & evenly arpeegiate up : a c eflat gflat a to the top of the piano keys : THEN - A TO C BACK TO A, THEN go straight down (f# d# c a to bottom a ; do it in double octaves all the way down the keybed. repeat process with b dim7, & c# diminished 7.I would youtube this to you, but i only have computter access & work, & YOUTUBE is blocked. However, if you listen to Mc Kenna (& Oscar Peterson) & you hear art tatum's influence with multiple uses of the diminished 7 arpeg's. ONE of Tatum's frequently used devices is the downward diminished arpeg ( with the aformentioned trill at the top. He pretty much used this in all of his recordings. Oscar does this sometimes (both in solo & group playing) & when i watched Dave Mc Kenna, back in 1981, he both did this, as well as begining downward phrases this way. This exercise takes quite q while to master, & then to incorporate into improvised solos, both as runs, & as in tatumesque trills. I've been doing it for over 25 years, & still do it today.

In addition, you can trill each interval up & down , in triplets, & in 16th notes. ONce you play these for a while, you will discover OTHER variants of the diminished 7th in bebop phraseoligy. You may elect to strengthen the 4th & 5th fingers of your right hand, using the Hanon trill excersises (yuck1) in all 12 keys. Needles to say, you'll have to figure out what fingering is sufficent for the sharp & flat keys.

ANOTHER good excersis, but totally different, is to take the REAL BOOK, go to FREEDOM JAZZ DANCE, by Eddie Harris, & do each phrase WITHOUT turning the thumb under the fingers. Do this in double octaves as well. You'll find that each phrase may require MICRO practise with each cluster of notes to facilitate smoothness. This is very difficult also, but with persistance, you'll slowly find yourself able to incorporate these strange intervals, along with the 4th & 5th fingers, into expanded bebop phrases, EVEN if you still have difficulty playing EITHER of these exercies fluidly. In short, BOTH of these exercises, the diminished arpeggio & FREEDOM JAZZ DANCE, provide the improviser with a wealth of beneficial pay offs.

 

" He or she who does not strive for the impossible will never achieve the possible. " georg kuhlwind, 1919 to 2006, Hungarian philosopher.

[Musicale]

Thank you Solpincus:

 

I'll read this carefully and then try what you teach. May get back to you...

 

Regards,

 

Musicale

[Steveaudio]

I heard Dave McKenna play live a bunch of times over the years. At a place on the Cape (Cape Cod), another joint in a Mid-Western college town, & he also had the "house gig" at the Copley Plaza in Boston for many years. I had steady gigs in Boston then too, & I used to go catch one of his sets occasionally after I got off.

 

I usually tried to say a few words to him on his break--if it was summer he'd be listening to a Red Sox game on a little radio--& he was always very cordial. Once he asked me if I wanted to sit in on his break at the Copley, so I did & it went very well. (I was keenly aware that this was a bit like a good local comic following G. Carlin perhaps, but I just "did what I did"--I was in good form then so I wasn't fazed).

 

His left hand was like a locomotive, & I've never really figured it all out. He was a local treasure in New England, & he is missed.....

[solpincus]

His left hand always implied more than what seemed to be directly stated. Jazz organists use a somewhat similiar technique when 'walking' the bass line : the left hand uses a lot of 'pa-changs' in between notes, something a lot of old school bassists do. Meanwhile, the left foot taps out, on one or more pedals, a sharp, staccato tap at the very 'top' of each beat . What was remarkable about Dave was his use of immaculate 8ths notes on top of the 'rolling' bass lines, & the quick use of stabbing chord inversions mediated between the rumbling bass line & the flowing Stan Getz-like lines. It was like a bridge between bop & swing that SWUNG like crazy.

The funny thing about Dave was that he did NOT consider himself a 'Jazz' player. He considered himself a 'saloon' player, yet he played with Woody Herman, Charlie Ventura, & others. Furthermore, he made it no secret that he no more considered his own playing to be part of anything like Hard bop, ( including modal music, for example) than he considered the ' Dead Sox' (his own words, like other Bostonians wold call them) to be anything like 'Soft Ball." Yet, he was able to get a thoroughly MODERN sound out of the piano that never sounded trite or outmoded. I used to notice many other pianists around Boston who were also ' Old School' out what tunes to play in a Copley or top of the hub setting, yet a lot of them taught at Berklee (some of you know who they are) & sounded ACADEMIC . Dave, even when he was just 'coasting' for the night, always sounded musical. What a player.....

 

[Ionian]

You can always tell how well someone knows what they are doing by how relaxed their hands are when they play.

 

Dave always looks like he's just resting and the stuff is just falling out.

 

Priceless.

 

Regards,

Frank

[Musicale]

Solpincus,

 

What is the fingering for the arpeggio on the dim 7th chord you describe above. I guess you start with the thumb on the low A, but when do you cross over ??

 

Regards,

 

Musicale

[solpincus]

Hi,

 

I do it in double octaves. in the right hand,for the A dim 7 (inversions of F7 flat9 & b7flat9)i turn the thumb under the 4th finger (on the f sharp) & continue up with the thumb on a (in essence, each octave has the 1st 4 fingers) when i get to the top a, rather than continue down in the same manner, I STOP, lift my hand, then start with the 4th finger on the a & trill up with the fifth (little) finger to the c above it, & continue down with the 4th finger on the a, 3rd finger on the f sharp, 2nd finger on the d sharp (e flat) thumb on the c, turn the 4th finger over the thumb & onto the a, & continue downwards. It's the trill with the 4th & fth fingers at the top & back down that the REAL benefit (for be-bop lines) of this excercise come into using all fingers for lines. Tatum, Oscar, & Dave seem(with just right hand) to travel quicker down the keyboard down most players. One can do this also with the B FLAT dim7 chord (inversions of C7flat9, &Fsharp7flat9 ) as well as Bdim7 (inversions of g7flat9 & Dflat7flat9)but with different fingerings. i can give you those later, if you wish, as well as the fingerings for b dim7, all of which begin the descent back down with the trill at the top. if my explanation is over complicated, give me another email address, & i'll figure out a way to scan it all on manuscript paper to you, when i get a chance. ( i only have PC access here at work.) getting these runs smooth is hard work, but well worth the effort, particulurly on uptempo blues, standards, rhythm changes & so forth. I also have other exercises using the diminished7th chord,including paralell voicings with triplets, satellite notes, etc. It would probably be easier to scan & send it all on manuscript paper to you when i get a chance here at work.

The downward dim 7 arpeggio ( & other uses of the dim7 chord)that Art Tatum devised were a big influence on Charlie parker, Bud Powell, & Oscar, & Dave Mc Kenna (to name a few) Monk devised a counter devise to the fast downward run : a trill at the top of the keyboard, (which is where Tatum, Peterson , Powell & Mc kenna often begin the run) Monk would use the WHOLE TONE SCALE instead, which Bud would also do for variety. In any case, both dim7 & whole tone scale, starting with the trill at the top, & going rapidly down the keyboard definetly demands fluent use of the 4th & 5th fingers of the right hand.

Let me know how it works for you. it's well worth the time put in.

 

 

[iLaw]

I've decided that it's so important for people to see Dave McKenna's technique that I'm not only bumping the thread, I'm imbedding the "Nagasaki" YouTube video that bloodsample picked out so that nobody has an excuse to avoid watching it:

 

[video:youtube]

 

This is Dave McKenna showing us all how to still have hand, wrist, and arm joints, muscles, and tendons in our 60s.

 

Larry.

 

[Adan]

I've decided that it's so important for people to see Dave McKenna's technique that I'm not only bumping the thread, I'm imbedding the "Nagasaki" YouTube video that bloodsample picked out so that nobody has an excuse to avoid watching it:

 

[video:youtube]

 

This is Dave McKenna showing us all how to still have hand, wrist, and arm joints, muscles, and tendons in our 60s.

 

Larry.

 

Oh, so you just "decided" that, did you? What's yer authority?

 

Seriously, McKenna is the patron saint of solo piano. I could start every day by watching a McKenna video. It's a shame there aren't more, and more quality recordings of him. Are there any studio recordings of McKenna?

[iLaw]

Oh, so you just "decided" that, did you? What's yer authority?

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Universitartus Committiartum E Pluribus Unum.

 

Larry.

 

[Mogut]

It's impressive his hand position:not an unnecessary move. He makes things look easy when they aren't!

+1

[solpincus]

Dave's recording of ' EXACTLY LIKE YOU' is another good example of his own special fluidity. (the Maybeck Hall series) Dream Dancing on that same cd is also great.