Pianists on the Platform I

Jazz From Lincoln Center

Solo Piano Highlights I

Written by Neil Tesser

1) Music: “In A Sentimental Mood” (from Piano Reflections, Capitol)

2) Vox: Krin Gabbard

“Ellington, like all the great jazz pianists, had his own voice, his own approach . . . was always at the peak of his powers, and whenever you heard these piano solos from him, you never ever missed the band.”

3) Bradley:

OF ALL THE VARIED ROLES HE PLAYED THROUGHOUT HIS REMARKABLE LIFETIME – BANDLEADER, COMPOSER, INNOVATOR, EVEN DIPLOMAT – DUKE ELLINGTON WAS PROBABLY LEAST KNOWN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC AS A PIANIST.

BUT MUSICIANS, AND ESPECIALLY OTHER PIANISTS, KNEW BETTER. THEY COULD ALWAYS HEAR THE HISTORY OF JAZZ IN HIS UNIQUE PIANO PERSONA, AND EVENTUALLY THEY WOULD HEAR ELLINGTON’S INFLUENCE ON THE PIANO STYLES OF THELONIOUS MONK, CECIL TAYLOR, AND A HOST OF OTHER MODERNISTS. ELLINGTON WROTE BRILLIANTLY FOR ALL INSTRUMENTS – BUT SOME SAY EVERYTHING HE WROTE FOR HIS BAND EXTENDED FROM THE MUSIC HE HEARD AT THE PIANO.

WE’LL HEAR ELLINGTON’S MUSIC – AS PLAYED BY PIANISTS WHO JOYFULLY ADMIT THEIR DEBT TO HIM – ON THIS EDITION OF JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER. I’M ED BRADLEY.

4) Bradley:

NO ONE TODAY HAS A DEEPER APPRECIATION OF ELLINGTON’S PIANO STYLE THAN SIR ROLAND HANNA. IT SHOWS UP IN THE LEFT-HAND RUMBLES, STARK CHORDS, AND RHYTHMIC ACCENTS HANNA LEARNED FROM THE MAESTRO’S EXAMPLE – ALONG WITH HANNA’S OWN FULL-THROATED HARMONIES AND ECHOES OF IMPRESSIONISM.

LIKE ELLINGTON, ROLAND HANNA WAS KNOWN FIRST AS A BIG-BAND PIANIST: HE HIT THE JAZZ SPOTLIGHT IN THE 1960s AS A MEMBER OF THE THAD JONES-MEL LEWIS ORCHESTRA. HERE HE PLAYS “C JAM BLUES” – ELLINGTON’S SIMPLEST TUNE, COMPRISING JUST TWO NOTES. BUT IT BECOMES A GOOD DEAL MORE COMPLICATED IN THE HANDS OF ROLAND HANNA.

5) Music: “C Jam Blues” (Hanna, JALC) 4:12

6) Bradley:

DUKE ELLINGTON’S “C JAM BLUES,” PERFORMED AT LINCOLN CENTER BY SIR ROLAND HANNA.

AS BOTH PIANIST AND COMPOSER, ELLINGTON MADE EXTENSIVE USE OF THE BLUES THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER. BUT AS ROLAND HANNA POINTS OUT, THERE ARE MANY SHADES OF BLUE.

7) Music: “Cottontail” (Ellington Orchestra, RCA)

8) Vox:Roland Hanna

“ ‘Creole Love Song’ . . . // unusual kind of blues. In // ‘Cottontail,’ you can hear Duke’s penchant for wanting to play on the Aeolian sound. // The piece is a blues, straightahead, ordinary blues, but what a different kind of blues. The same thing with this piece called ‘African Flower’ – it’s a blues, but what a different kind of blues. “KoKo”: blues, but totally different kind of blues. Here’s a guy who’s thinking, ‘What can I do with this blues this time, what can I do . . .” – and nobody has come up with anything like that.”

9) Bradley:

HERE’S THE PROOF: ONE OF THOSE UNUSUAL BLUES MENTIONED BY ROLAND HANNA, “COTTONTAIL,” PERFORMED BY PIANIST MARCUS ROBERTS, THE WIDELY ACCLAIMED INTERPRETER OF JELLY ROLL MORTON, GEORGE GERSHWIN, THELONIOUS MONK – AND DUKE ELLINGTON.

10) Music: “Cottontail” (Roberts, JALC) 3:50

11) Bradley:

MARCUS ROBERTS, RECORDED IN AT LINCOLN CENTER.

ELLINGTON’S INVENTIVENESS WITH THE BLUES PARALLELLED HIS GROWTH AS A COMPOSER. AND – IN THE VIEW OF AUTHOR, CONDUCTOR, AND COMPOSER GUNTHER SCHULLER – HIS GROWTH AS A COMPOSER MADE HIM INTO A BRILLIANT PIANO STYLIST

12) Vox:Gunther Schuller

“He began as a rather ordinary ragtime pianist, and some of his early recordings are full of wrong notes, and it’s kind of sloppy, and some of it is ordinary, and cliches. . .

13) Music: “TK” (Ellington Orchestra, RCA)

14) Vox:Gunther Schuller (continued)

“. . . But // I always relate his development as a pianist to his superb development as a composer, these sort of went hand in hand, and the more he created these remarkable compositions, the more he also developed his piano playing – so that when he would play, in his own compositions, these beautiful little introductions // or solos within the pieces, they would be of the same uniform quality and style.”

15) Bradley:

McCOY TYNER AGREES THAT ELLINGTON’S PIANO AND HIS ORCHESTRA WERE JOINED AT THE HIP.

fade music

16) Vox:McCoy Tyner

“His band was an extension of him, in all those wide intervals, and he was very rhythmic . . . he definitely had a signature.”

17) Bradley:

SO DOES McCOY TYNER, WHOSE PIONEERING RECORDS WITH JOHN COLTRANE CAME TO SYMBOLIZE THE SEARCHING SOUND OF 60s JAZZ. TYNER’S OWN DISCS RANGE FROM SOLO PIANO TO SYMPHONIC ORCHESTRA, AND HAVE ESTABLISHED HIM AMONG THE FOUR OR FIVE MOST INFLUENTIAL JAZZ PIANISTS OF THE LAST HALF-CENTURY.

ONE OF THE EARLIEST ALBUMS UNDER TYNER’S NAME WAS A COLLECTION OF ELLINGTON COMPOSITIONS; THIRTY-FIVE YEARS LATER, HE PERFORMED ELLINGTON’S “IN A MELLOTONE” AT LINCOLN CENTER’S .

18) Music: “In A Mellotone” (Tyner,JALC) 4:05

19) Bradley:

McCOY TYNER PLAYING DUKE ELLINGTON. THIS IS JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER; I’M ED BRADLEY.

“IN A MELLOTONE” WAS BASED ON ONE OF THE ELLINGTON BAND’S HIT RECORDINGS OF THE EARLY 30s, A TIN PAN ALLEY TUNE CALLED “ROSE ROOM.” ACCORDING TO ELLINGTON SCHOLAR DAVID BERGER, IT SHOWS ONE WAY IN WHICH ELLINGTON’S COMPOSITIONS TOOK SHAPE.

20) Music: “Rose Room” (Ellington Orchestra, ?)

21) Vox: David Berger

“They continued to play ‘Rose Room’ every night. // I guess Duke got tired of // having all the royalties for the records and airplay go to some other composer. So he took those chord changes, and I guess a lot of the licks they’d been playing on ‘Rose Room,’ and an intro that he’d used on another record, and just took a very simple riff -- {sings briefly} – and just ran that through the chord changes of ‘Rose Room’.”

22) Bradley:

IN CONTRAST TO “IN A MELLOTONE,” ELLINGTON RELIED PRIMARILY ON HIS OWN INSTINCTS AS A ROMANTIC PIANIST TO WRITE HIS GREAT BALLAD “PRELUDE TO A KISS.” THE MELODY, WHICH IS HIGHLY CHROMATIC, ALMOST SEEMS TO RISE UP FROM THE KEYBOARD’S NEAT ORDERING OF SHARPS AND FLATS. WE’LL HEAR IT AS PERFORMED AT LINCOLN CENTER BY KENNY BARRON.

BARRON BEGAN PLAYING AS A TEENAGER WITH YUSEF LATEEF IN THE 60s, AND IN THE EARLY 90s WAS STAN GETZ’S LAST MUSICAL PARTNER; IN BETWEEN HE HAS DAZZLED AUDIENCES WITH HIS OWN INVENTIVE SONGWRITING AND KEYBOARD TECHNIQUE. HERE HE TURNS THAT TECHNIQUE TO ONE OF DUKE ELLINGTON’S MOST MEMORABLE COMPOSITIONS.

27) Music: “Prelude To A Kiss” (Barron, JALC) 9:37

28) Bradley:

PIANIST KENNY BARRON AND DUKE ELLINGTON’S “PRELUDE TO A KISS.”

NO PROGRAM OF ELLINGTON’S MUSIC SOUNDS COMPLETE WITHOUT A FEW CHORUSES OF “TAKE THE ‘A’ TRAIN,” THE ELLINGTON BAND’S THEME – WHICH WAS ACTUALLY WRITTEN BY BILLY STRAYHORN, HIS MUSICAL SOULMATE.

IN THIS PERFORMANCE, RAY BRYANT – A PIANIST STEEPED IN THE BLUES THROUGHOUT HIS FOUR-DECADE CAREER – USES A BOOGIE-WOOGIE BEAT TO CAPTURE SUGGEST THE ROCKING ROLLICK OF THE MOST FAMOUS SUBWAY LINE IN JAZZ.

29) Music: “Take The ‘A’ Train” (Bryant, JALC) 3:31

30) Bradley:

PIANIST RAY BRYANT, RECORDED AT LINCOLN CENTER.

31) midbreak“Reflections in D” (from Piano Reflections, Capitol)

32) Bradley:

MAJOR SUPPORT FOR JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER IS PROVIDED BY DISCOVER CARD. IT PAYS TO DISCOVER.

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT COMES FROM NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO MEMBER STATIONS AND N-P-R, WHOSE CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE: THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS AND THE LILA WALLACE-READER'S DIGEST FUND, HELPING PEOPLE TO MAKE THE ARTS AND CULTURE AN ACTIVE PART OF THEIR EVERYDAY LIVES.

WE ALSO RECEIVE PRODUCTION FUNDS FROM THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING.

FOR MORE ABOUT DUKE ELLINGTON AND THE MANY PIANISTS ON TODAY’S PROGRAM, CHECK OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.JAZZRADIO.ORG. SEND E-MAIL TO SWING@JAZZRADIO.ORG , OR WRITE TO US AT JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER, NEW YORK CITY 10023.

YOU'RE LISTENING TO JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER. I'M ED BRADLEY.

33) Music: “Money Jungle” (from Money Jungle, Blue Note)

34) Bradley:

MANY PIANISTS TREAT THEIR INSTRUMENT AS A “LITTLE ORCHESTRA.” BUT SINCE DUKE ELLINGTON CONSIDERED THE JAZZ ORCHESTRA HIS TRUE INSTRUMENT, HE COULD TAKE A MORE SPECIFIC AND IDIOSYNCRATIC APPROACH TO THE PIANO. GUNTHER SCHULLER MARVELS AT . . .

35) Vox: Gunther Schuller

“. . . the sound he could get at the piano. I mean, he had a touch // his fingers had a connection with the keys and the hammers of a piano that is unique. //

36) Bradley:

DAVID BERGER POINTS OUT THAT NOT EVERYONE IMMEDIATELY APPRECIATED THE MAESTRO’S PIANO

STYLINGS:

37) Vox: David Berger

“I think Duke is probably the most underrated player in all of jazz. // A lot of musicians I know just never really liked his piano playing. They’d say, ‘Oh yeah, the band is great; the charts are great; but they gotta get a new piano player.’ And I never understood that, because to me he was the perfect piano player for the band: his playing is just so spicy, y’know, the way he comments on what the band is playing . . . // How could he think to play like that? He doesn’t play bebop, and he doesn’t really play swing. It’s just – it’s Duke Ellington.”

38) Bradley:

PIANIST MARCUS ROBERTS USES SWING, AND BEBOP, AND STRIDE PIANO STYLINGS IN REVIVING A LITTLE-KNOWN, AND EXTREMELY OLD ELLINGTON COMPOSITION – “SHOUT ‘EM AUNT TILLIE,” ORIGINALLY WRITTEN AND RECORDED IN 1927.

39) Music: “Shout ‘Em Aunt Tillie” (Roberts, JALC) 6:39

40) Bradley:

MARCUS ROBERTS PLAYING “SHOUT ‘EM AUNT TILLIE” AT LINCOLN CENTER. IN THE STRENGTH AND PROMINENCE OF HIS LEFT HAND, AND HIS INSISTENCE ON SEEKING NEW COLORS IN HIS KEYBOARD ARRANGEMENTS, THE 36-YEAR-OLD ROBERTS HAS INSURED HIS STATURE AS A YOUNGER CHAMPION OF ELLINGTON’S MUSIC.

HIS CONTEMPORARY, CYRUS CHESTNUT, ALSO DRINKS DEEPLY FROM THE ELLINGTON REPERTOIRE. BUT LIKE MARCUS ROBERTS, HE DOESN’T RESTRICT HIMSELF TO ELLINGTON’S ERA. ON THE CUTE AND COY ELLINGTON CLASSIC “JUST SQUEEZE ME,” CYRUS CHESTNUT STARTS OUT WITH AN INTRODUCTION BORROWED FROM BEBOPPERS CHARLIE PARKER AND DODO MARMAROSA – AND THEN OFFERS SOME CUTE FIREWORKS OF HIS OWN.

41) Music: “Just Squeeze Me” (Chestnut, JALC) 5:09

42) Bradley:

CYRUS CHESTNUT AT . THIS IS JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER; I’M ED BRADLEY.

43) Music: “Sunset and the Mockingbird,” Tommy Flanagan

(from Sunset and the Mockingbird, Blue Note)

44) Bradley:

ELLINGTON WROTE MOST OF HIS COMPOSITIONS WITH HIS BAND – “THESE EXPENSIVE GENTLEMEN,” AS

HE CALLED THEM – IN MIND. BUT SOME OF HIS PIECES SEEM TO CRY OUT FOR THE INTIMATE SETTING

OF SOLO PIANO, OR PIANO TRIO. IN RECENT YEARS, TOMMY FLANAGAN HAS FOUND HIS WAY TO A

COUPLE OF THESE COMPOSITIONS, INCLUDING “SUNSET AND THE MOCKINGBIRD” AND THE SONG WE’LL

HEAR NEXT – “A SINGLE PETAL OF A ROSE.”

A VITAL MEMBER OF THE DETROIT JAZZ SCENE IN THE 1950S, FLANAGAN QUICKLY EMERGED AS ONE OFTHE LEADING HARD-BOP MUSICIANS, ADDING HIS IMPERTURBABLE SOLOS TO SUCH CLASSIC RECORDSAS JOHN COLTRANE’S GIANT STEPS AND SONNY ROLLINS’S SAXOPHONE COLOSSUS. HERE HE IS, RECORDED AT LINCOLN CENTER’S .

45) Music: “A Single Petal of a Rose” (Flanagan, JALC) 3.54

46) Bradley:

AT LINCOLN CENTER, TOMMY FLANAGAN ALSO OFFERED THIS MEDLEY JOINING TWO OF THE BEST-LOVED BUT LEAST SIMILAR SONGS IN THE ELLINGTON CANON: “CHELSEA BRIDGE,” COMPOSED BY BILLY STRAYHORN, AND THE JUBILEE SHOUT “JUMP FOR JOY.”

47) Music: “Chelsea Bridge/Jump For Joy” (Flanagan, JALC) 5.22

48) Bradley:

TOMMY FLANAGAN, PLAYING THE MUSIC OF BILLY STRAYHORN AND DUKE ELLINGTON.

ALMOST FROM THE BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER, DUKE ELLINGTON ABSORBED AND REFLECTED THE INFLUENCE OF OTHER AFRICAN-DERIVED MUSIC, ESPECIALLY FROM THE CARIBBEAN ISLANDS OF PUERTO RICO AND CUBA. IT ONLY SEEMS FAIR, THEN, THAT SUCH MUSICIANS AS EDDIE PALMIERO AND CHUCHO VALDEZ SHOULD ADMIRE AND EMULATE THE COMPOSITIONS – AND EVEN THE PIANO PLAYING – OF DUKE ELLINGTON.

CHUCHO VALDEZ, FOUNDER OF THE LONG-RUNNING CUBAN JAZZ ENSEMBLE IRAKERE, IS BEST KNOWN FOR HIS EXTRAVAGANT MONTUNOS AND HIS VIRTUOSIC SALSAS AND SAMBAS. BUT WHEN IT COMES TO THE BLUES, VALDEZ HAS NO TROUBLE LEAVING THAT ALL BEHIND – AS WE’LL HEAR ON HIS VERSION OF “THINGS AIN’T WHAT THEY USED TO BE.”

49) Music: “Things Ain’t What They Used To Be” (Valdez, JALC) 5:36

50) Bradley:

THIS PROGRAM WAS WRITTEN BY JOSEPH HOOPER AND EDITED BY LAUREN KRENZEL. SENIOR PRODUCER IS STEVE RATHE.

THE RECORDINGS WERE MIXED BY DAVID ROBINSON ON TOUR AND BY MARK WILDER AT ALICE TULLY HALL, WITH REMOTE FACILITIES PROVIDED BY SONY CLASSICAL, AND DIGITAL POST PRODUCTION BY DAVID GOREN AT STEVEN ERICKSON'S.

{alt} DIGITAL POST PRODUCTION BY ASSOCIATE PRODUCER PAUL CHUFFO.

OUR ASSOCIATE PRODUCER IS PAUL CHUFFO.

OUR PRODUCTION TEAM INCLUDED JANA JEVNIKAR [JEV-nih-car], GWENDOLYN DEAN, BEN WEINER (WHY-ner) AND JERRY LA ROSA.

THANKS TO APRIL SMITH, LEO GAMBACORTA [gam-ba-KOR-ta], AND THE STAGE CREW AT ALICE TULLY HALL.

THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER AND DIRECTOR OF JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER IS ROB GIBSON. THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR IS WYNTON MARSALIS.

I'M ED BRADLEY. THIS IS N-P-R, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO.