Jazz Piano Styles

Piano Tales for Winnie-the-Pooh

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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With the popularity of her OUP collections, and her many contributions to the ABRSM piano and jazz syllabus, Nikki Iles has become a near ubiquitous voice in contemporary music education, her distinctive writing a permeating presence in piano publications.

Fans of her music (of whom I am certainly one) will give a warm welcome to the truly delightful pieces in her latest collection from EVC Music, Piano Tales for Winnie-the-Pooh. The book follows in the footsteps of her previous Piano Tales for Alice (UK Grades 1-3, reviewed here), and Piano Tales for Peter Pan (Grades 3-5, reviewed here).

Rather than rounding off her trilogy with an advanced collection as might have been predicted, Piano Tales for Winnie-the-Pooh delivers a selection of new compositions suitable for elementary to intermediate pianists. Let’s find out more…

Ben Crosland’s Jazz Beans!

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Ben Crosland’s Magic Beans for elementary players was one of the very first (and remains one of the best) music books to be reviewed on Pianodao, and in that review (which you can read here) I mentioned other Beans books in the series, Cool Beans and Easy Beans, concluding:

“To summarise, the ‘Beans’ publications establish Ben Crosland as a major voice in educational composing. The whole series is outstanding, and ‘Magic Beans’ easily lives up to the very high standards set by its predecessors.”

Crosland has subsequently concentrated on developing his career composing reflective contemporary pieces in the style popularised by Ludovico Einaudi and others.

Returning with new educational publications, Crosland’s Jazz Beans! series marks a welcome reappearance of three books which were previously published as Get Set Jazz, freshly baked for the Beans series. Suitable for Easy (Grades 0-2), Intermediate (2-4), and Advanced (4-7) players respectively, let’s find out how they taste…

Jennifer Bowman • Jazz Nocturnes

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Jennifer Bowman will be known to some readers as the composer of one of the many highlight pieces in the 22 Nocturnes for Chopin collection reviewed here last year.

Those who appreciated her piece in that collection will be delighted to learn that she has composed another eight nocturnes, suitable for early advanced players at around UK Grade 8 level, and all imbued with tinges of jazz.

The aptly named Jazz Nocturnes for piano collection is published by 80 Days Publishing, and is the subject of this mini review…

Learn to Play Ragtime Piano

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Most pianists at some point will want to try their hand at playing Maple Leaf Rag and The Entertainer, but the wider world of Ragtime remains, for many, something of a mystery. How does the style actually work, who were its main purveyors, and where does it fit within the evolution of jazz piano?

Happily, there is an expert to guide us. Terry Waldo is considered to be the foremost living performer, producer, and historian of authentic ragtime. A producer and arranger of over fifty albums, he has appeared on hundreds of TV, film and radio programmes including his own historic series on NPR, This is Ragtime, latterly also a podcast.

Now, Waldo has blessed us with a straightforward guide to help the more advanced player interested in Ragtime to find their way with the genre.

Ragtime Piano: A Guide to Playing the Best Rags, published worldwide by Hal Leonard, is one of those books which does exactly what it says on the cover. Nevertheless, let’s take a peek!…

Scott Joplin • 20 Ragtimes

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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The Chicago World Fair of 1893 established Ragtime music as a national craze in the US, and by the end of the decade, the “King of Ragtime” Scott Joplin (1868-1917) was enjoying immense success as the composer of the genre’s biggest hits, most notably the Maple Leaf Rag, published in 1899.

Joplin died at the age of just 49, by which point he had composed just 53 piano pieces pieces, ten songs, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. Nevertheless, his impact on music was seismic, and a number of his works remain among the best loved in the whole piano repertoire.

It is, of course, for his Ragtime pieces that Joplin is particularly remembered, and a newly reissued publication in the Schott Piano Classics series presents 20 of the best known in a superb performers edition.

These are seminally important works in the solo piano repertoire, the emergence of jazz, and in the broader cultural history of the 20th century. And yet they remain somewhat under-represented in the music catalogue, as they do on exam lists and in concert. So this arrival is happy news indeed…

Jazz Piano Solos: Classical Jazz

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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I have reviewed a number of titles from Hal Leonard’s popular Jazz Piano Solos series, featuring arrangements suitable for advanced players from the pen of the indefatigable Brent Edstrom:

Christmas Boogie and Jazz

For advanced players with a penchant for boogie and jazz piano, here’s where the Christmas party starts!

Vince Guaraldi • Jazz Piano Solos

With titles running the gamut of jazz styles and legendary icons, the ‘Jazz Piano Solos’ series continues to grow from strength to strength. This collection paying homage to the genius of Vince Guaraldi is another reassuringly superb publication…

Bill Evans • Jazz Piano Solos

Ask any jazz aficionado or pianist who their favourite players and influences are, and Bill Evans’ name will undoubtedly appear in the list of the all-time greats. This book of arrangements is simply a stunning collection: I can recommend it warmly and without reservation.

Jazz Piano Solos: Classical Jazz

I’ve seen several superb publications this year, and am running short of hyperbolic compliments, but Classical Jazz is an absurdly good-natured collection.

Boogie Woogie Piano Solos

If you have long hankered after a collection of boogie woogie transcriptions that faithfully and brilliantly convey the style of this joyous music, this book really is the last word, and you need look no further…

Proving you can’t keep a good arranger down, the unstoppable Edstrom is back with Jazz Piano Solos Vol. 63, and this time he brings a classical spin to the party…

Boogie Woogie Piano Solos

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Of all the jazz styles, boogie woogie surely sits at the “unabashed fun” end of the spectrum, with a musical appeal, approachable good-nature and lack of pretensions that invites classical players as well as jazz-devotees to get down and have a go.

Intermediate players who want to boogie are well catered for by the likes of William Gillock, Martha Meir and Mike Cornick, while for the advancing player Tim Richards’ Blues, Boogie & Gospel Collection (reviewed here) is a great resource.

Meanwhile, those who want to master the style at the highest level and play transcriptions of the classics will welcome the latest addition to Hal Leonard’s Jazz Piano Solos series.

Volume 60 is simply titled Boogie Woogie, and this new collection is terrific: more advanced players will absolutely love it.

Bob Chilcott: A Little Jazz Piano

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Bob Chilcott will be known to many readers for his lifelong association with choral music, first as a chorister and choral scholar in the choir of King’s College, Cambridge, and for 12 years as a member of the King’s Singers.

Chilcott became a full-time composer in 1997, and has produced a large catalogue of music for all types of choirs which is published by Oxford University Press. His most often performed pieces include A Little Jazz Mass, Requiem, and Can you hear me?

In common with John Rutter, whose Piano Collection and Christmas Piano Album I have recently reviewed, Chilcott has lately turned his hand to creating a collection of piano pieces.

Nattily titled A Little Jazz Piano in reference to his popular Mass, this newly published collection from OUP contains three short pieces suitable for intermediate players. Let’s take a little look…

The Melody at Night, With You

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Keith Jarrett has long been one of my piano heroes, his album The Melody at Night, With You an all-time favourite recording. I am absolutely delighted that, 20 years after its release, Schott Music have brought out a complete sheet music transcription of the ten album tracks, by Friedrich Grossnick.

I’ll get straight to it – this music is a very special recommendation. Let me tell you why…

Ragtime by Scott Joplin

Pianodao Music Library

Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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In addition to this year marking the Debussy centenary, November 24th 2018 is the 150th anniversary of the birth of Scott Joplin, composer of some of the most popular piano pieces ever written.

In this review I will be looking at the recently published volume, Ragtime by Scott Joplin, by Jean Kleeb, appearing as part of Bärenreiter’s Ready to Play series. But first, a few words about the importance of Joplin himself…