The Rolling Stones - Greatest Hits Essentials 3CD (2012).zip
Ted Brathwaite
In 2009 Alicia Keys released a video performance of a two-minute version of "Empire State of Mind", which she co-wrote, on the Deluxe edition bonus DVD with her "Element of Freedom" album. The first half of the song is a classically-influenced instrumental piano intro, building to a dramatic transition into the vocal section.
On July 4, 2005, on MTV's "Unplugged" show, Alicia Keys performed one of the most beautiful performances of "Wild Horses" ever, in her duet with Adam Levine. Her piano begins the song, ends the song, and dominates everything in between - a haunting, achingly romantic, elegant reinterpretation of the Rolling Stones' classic.
New Orleans piano legend Allen Toussaint, in various interviews, would play the two Longhair riffs most important to his own development that he had heard and learned as a child.
He called the Longhair riff that he'd heard at age eight "early Longhair" and then would play a second, slightly more evolved riff that he called "later Longhair".
In 1988 Toussaint was interviewed by Terry Gross on NPR, and he played both the 'early' and 'later' Longhair riffs. Then in 2006 the BBC produced a video documentary called "The Allen Toussaint Touch", in which Toussaint again played both those two Longhair riffs.Then again in 2012 Elvis Costello interviewed Toussaint on NPR's 'Piano Jazz' program, and once again Toussaint played the two important Longhair piano riffs.
When playing riff #2 - 'later' Longhair - he would play it with subtle variations.
To best understand that important Longhair riff #2, I've transcribed note-for-note the examples that Toussaint played in those three interviews. One was in the key of C, another in F,and the third in G.
Then I 'distilled' all three down into one complete 12-bar phrase, keeping all the important commonalities. This transcription contains all four versions. If you'd like to learn more about Professor Longhair's New Orleans piano style, this second riff will continue your exploration of that wonderful New Orleans piano-playing started by Professor Longhair. Difficulty: ModerateThis transcription contains all of these:To listen, just click: Allen Toussaint - "Professor Longhair Piano Style - Riff No.2 (1988)" (played by Allen Toussaint)
To listen, just click: Allen Toussaint - "Professor Longhair Piano Style - Riff No.2 (2006)" (played by Allen Toussaint)
To listen, just click: Allen Toussaint - "Professor Longhair Piano Style - Riff No.2 (2012)" (played by Allen Toussaint)
To listen, just click: Elmo Peeler - "Distillation of Professor Longhair Piano Style - Riff No.2"
When The Allman Brothers Band released "Jessica" in 1973, suddenly the world knew about keyboardist Chuck Leavell, who improvised a classic piano solo on the recording. That solo became so famous that Leavell picked it out from his own recording and memorized it, so that he could perfectly replicate it in The Allman Brothers' live performances. In 2007, thirty-four years after recording it, Leavell released a tutorial video explaining the solo. It's 68-bar structure is:
This is a note-for-note transcription of Chuck Leavell's entire (1:27) "Jessica" piano solo - both hands - exactly as he plays it on current tours - very similar to, but not exactly the same as the original 1973 recording. Study this classic solo in detail, and learn to play it yourself, precisely as Chuck Leavell does.
"Jessica", one of the Allman Brothers' classics, has been a favorite since the 1970's, when my rock-and-roll band played it at almost every gig. "Jessica" is on the 1973 album "Brothers and Sisters," by The Allman Brothers Band, Capricorn Records CP 0111. Produced by Johnny Sandlin & The Allman Brothers Band, the album is "dedicated to a brother - Berry Oakley," their original bass player who died in a motorcycle accident near the location of Duane Allman's fatal motorcycle accident.
For the piano, the Allman Brothers brought in Georgian Chuck Leavell, who since then has played with The Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton ("UnPlugged"). This note-perfect piano transcription shows Leavell's solo in "Jessica" to be beautifully structured, containing a great section of over-the-bar-line type of phrasing, which leads into ascending and descending octave phrases, then into a section of "hammer-on" fourths, ending with an ascending broken-octave passage in unison with the rest of the band. There's lots of fun stuff in this piano solo to learn, and to learn from.
This complete transcription also shows exactly how Leavell comps during the Verses, the Bridge, the Out section - every 'lick' in perfect detail. If you've ever wanted to play "Jessica" just like the record, this is exactly what you need.
Big Tiny Little was the honky-tonk/ragtime pianist who appeared regularly on The Lawrence Welk TV show from 1955 until 1959, when he was replaced by Jo Ann Castle. The "12th Street Rag" was written by Euday L. Bowman in 1914 when ragtime was still the leading genre of popular music, and became one of the most famous and best-selling piano rags. Bowman had been a pianist in Kansas City bordellos, and he named "12th Street Rag" after a street in the redlight district there.
In 1979 Big Tiny Little recorded the 12th Street Rag with a small ensemble, including drums, bass and banjo. This is a note-for-note transcription of the entire piano part - all 140 measures - for Big Tiny Little's 1979 "12th Street Rag" recording released on the album "Honky-Tonk Piano featuring Mickey Finn & Big Tiny Little" (GNP/Crescendo Records). If you'd like to play the "12th Street Rag" exactly as Big Tiny Little did in 1979, here is your chance.
Difficulty: Moderate
"Baby Grand", written by Billy Joel and released in 1987, was an ode to the piano, generally, and to his piano hero, Ray Charles, specifically. The recording, produced by the great Phil Ramone, features both men playing two pianos at the same time - with Ray Charles' piano coming out of the left stereo speaker, and Billy Joel's piano in the right stereo speaker.
Ray Charles suggested to Billy Joel that they record a song together, and this is the song that Joel wrote for the occasion. It was very intelligently recorded, with each pianist careful not to step on the other's phrases (until the Out Section). The Intro and the Out Section have no vocals, and really highlight this wonderful interplay between the two master pianists. Ray Charles starts it off with a couple of chords, then Billy Joel plays a phrase, which Ray answers, then Billy answers - and that interplay continues. Ray's amazing perfect-pitch ear allows him to emulate Billy's phrases and answer them perfectly with his own wonderful gospel/blues/jazz stylings.
This transcription only contains the Intro and the Out Section, for that is where the pianistic interplay is uninterrupted by any vocals, showing off each man's skills to best advantage. And this is arranged for solo piano, based note-for-note on the original two-piano duet. Sometimes, especially in the Out Section, both men were playing some complex ad libs at the same time, impossible to reproduce with only two hands, so the most important - and fun to play - riffs were used in this arrangement. If you want to play the two most fun sections of "Baby Grand" as a piano solo, this is exactly what you need.
"Baby Grand", the 1987 hit by Billy Joel and Ray Charles, as described above, was recorded with two pianos, one piano coming out of each stereo speaker: Ray's on the left side and Billy's on the right side. Most of the song focuses on the vocal duets, except for the Introduction and the Out Section. The wonderful Intro perfectly sets the mood of this love song for the piano, and the Out Section lets each man show off his own blues/jazz pianistic skills. During the Intro each pianist is careful not to step on each other's phrases. That's not the case in the Out Section - each man cranks up the intensity and lays down some wonderful phrases at the same time as the other one is showing off.
This transcription is a note-for-note two-piano score that reveals every note played in both the instrumental Intro and Out Sections. One grand staff for Ray Charles' piano part, and a second grand staff for Billy Joel's piano - not a note is left out. And there are some very interesting notes indeed, including an awesome black-key glissando by Ray Charles in the Out Section, preceding the very last phrase in the piece, where Ray plays a G-chord riff in counterpoint to Billy's F-blues scale riff - and these two piano masters make it all work perfectly.
In November 2009 Billy Joel performed his "New York State of Mind" at the Tokyo Dome. He began the piece with a long solo piano introduction. This is not the entire Introduction but a part of it - 10 bars at the end of the Intro, just before he starts singing. In free timing, it includes some classic Billy Joel chord voicings and a fun two-handed run. This is a transcription of those 19 seconds - a nice Billy Joel piano moment.
In 1975 Billy Joel performed "Piano Man" live on "Old Grey Whistle Test", a British TV show, and played a solo that was different from his recorded version - a little bit 'jazzier', with some nice rippling 8th-note-triplet runs and octave flourishes. This is a note-for-note transcription of two important sections of "Piano Man": the brief, unaccompanied 3-bar piano Introduction from his original 1973 recording, and the 16-bar piano solo that he performed two years later live on "Old Grey Whistle Test".
Billy Preston was one of rock's true geniuses. No one has ever played better rock/R&B/gospel organ, and he was equally a monster on piano. The Beatles' asked him to play on some of their recordings, including "Get Back", "Something", and others; and he became known as "the fifth Beatle". "Will It Go Round in Circles" is one of his two #1 hits (the other being "Nothing from Nothing").
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