musical thoughts

Nothing but rhythm changes.

read more of video: Oleo

This is a Duke Ellington classic. I’ve recorded a couple versions of this. You’ll get a video with acoustic piano, plus a bonus MP3 only of a Rhodes version.

read more of video: In a Mellow Tone

I posted my first video on YouTube back last June. I didn’t take it seriously at all, I just wanted to see what would happen. So I made up a goofy user name and threw up a version of Lush Life, which is what I was working on at the time.

Back then there were relatively few people posting jazz piano videos, and the YouTube audience was heavily skewed toward young people (who mainly could care less about jazz). But in less than a year, my videos (54 of them as I write this) have been viewed 100,000 times. I can’t say for sure, but even when I was gigging, I doubt I could reach that many people in the same one year’s time. And now that I’m not playing in public, it’s amazing to think of an audience of that size and reach.

So to everyone that found something they enjoyed, thank you for watching, and for those who didn’t, sorry. For everyone who left comments, good or bad, thanks–I read them all. And special thanks for those who took the time to subscribe. It makes it worthwhile.

As noted previously, I just bought a Mark I suitcase. It came to me as a playable piano, not a project piano, but it still needed setup to perform its best. In this article I’ll walk through what I did to get this piano into better shape. You may find it useful for yours. No repairs will be shown, just adjustments. I’m not really a Rhodes tech, I’m a tech-enabled player. I’ll assume you know basic Rhodes mechanics and names of parts and assemblies. If not, have a look at the service manual first before you proceed.

read more of voicing the Rhodes piano: first pass