Tag: building a jazz repertoire

Teaching the blues is all a part of jazz!

A moment after writing the title of this article, up popped an image of John Lee Hooker smiling and shaking his head. “Nobody can teach you the blues. Blues is a feeling, something you have to live.” I tried explaining that I’m a jazz piano teacher and that teaching the blues is part of my job… Read more »

Playing without the dots

  Why you should memorise tunes Sheet music is just information, it’s not the music itself. The more you read what’s in front of you the less head room you’ll have for creativity. Playing without the dots opens up your ears! Which tunes should  I learn? This, of course, is very much up to you.… Read more »

essential jazz standards part 3

Here’s my final list of suggestions for your jazz repertoire. These are all essential jazz standards that you should become familiar with. Although I’ve listed 14 tunes, I suggest you at least learn What Is This Thing Called Love, Softly As In A Morning Sunrise and Yesterdays. For more of a challenge, take a look… Read more »

Building your Jazz Repertoire part 2: Latin

All these tunes in this jazz repertoire have a straight 8 feel rather than swing. The world of Latin American music is vast and would take a lifetime of study. What we are looking at here when building jazz repertoire is a small collection of jazz repertoire tunes with a Latin feel; songs that are likely… Read more »