Philly Joe Jones on piano

[Hardbopjazz]

Michael Weiss posted this on his Facebook page.

 

[optatio]

 

[optatio]

Mingus in his New York loft, plays with his daughter, plays some piano and bass.

 

 

Edited August 21, 2020 by optatio

[BillF]

1 hour ago, Hardbopjazz said:

Michael Weiss posted this on his Facebook page.

 

Great! Melodically and harmonically rich in the manner of those Dameron compositions Philly loved so well.

Pity they didn't give him a better piano and better recording.

Was his piano playing ever caught in the recording studio?

P.S. Unexpected piano player I once came across - Joe Harriott! Told me he loved Bud Powell.

Edited August 21, 2020 by BillF

[Rooster_Ties]

1 hour ago, optatio said:

 

Can a kind soul remind me, is this the only album Mingus recorded on piano?

I used to know (years ago), and I always meant to pick up the Mingus piano album(s) at some point...

...much as I meant to pick up Jack DeJohnette’s piano album(s) too - and how many of those are there too?? - another fact I swear I used to know 15-20 years ago.

Thanks!

[kh1958]

23 minutes ago, Rooster_Ties said:

Can a kind soul remind me, is this the only album Mingus recorded on piano?

I used to know (years ago), and I always meant to pick up the Mingus piano album(s) at some point...

...much as I meant to pick up Jack DeJohnette’s piano album(s) too - and how many of those are there too?? - another fact I swear I used to know 15-20 years ago.

Thanks!

It is his only solo piano record

I believe there is an anthology of music from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival that has a solo piano Miingus performance, but I don't have it.

He sometimes played piano with his group. His group with Roland Kirk used Doug Watkins on bass and he played exclusively piano--that is on Oh Yeah and half of Tonight at Noon.

He also plays piano part of the time with the brass band group with Hobart Dotson on Music Written for Monterey 1965, Not Heard.

The time I saw him at SMU he came out before the concert unannounced and played a few songs, solo piano.

 

 

Edited August 21, 2020 by kh1958

[JSngry]

Mingus? Piano?

 

[BillF]

Any views on PJJ's piano playing?

This thread seems to have been hijacked by Charles Mingus. 

[Hardbopjazz]

On 8/22/2020 at 8:30 AM, BillF said:

Any views on PJJ's piano playing?

This thread seems to have been hijacked by Charles Mingus. 

I thought he understood some harmony. I want to hear more of him playing piano. Too small a sample to understand his ability. 

[BillF]

Would be interesting to know what Michael Weiss thinks of his piano playing.

[JSngry]

/I had a bear of a time finding the actual video, sorry.
Is there a different source?

Finally got there. He plays good(enough) what used to be called "arranger's piano". Nice to listen to, don't ask him to do an entire set, never mind record.

 

[brownie]

Always liked the romantic side of PJJ  on his piano interpretation of 'Gwen'  from his Riverside album "Showcase

Edited August 25, 2020 by brownie

[BillF]

47 minutes ago, brownie said:

Always liked the romantic side of PJJ  on his piano interpretation of 'Gwen'  from his Riverside album "Showcase

Thanks Brownie. I knew the album but didn't realise that PJJ was on piano on that track.

12 hours ago, JSngry said:

/I had a bear of a time finding the actual video, sorry.
Is there a different source?

Finally got there. He plays good(enough) what used to be called "arranger's piano". Nice to listen to, don't ask him to do an entire set, never mind record.

 

Yes, "arranger's piano" as per Mulligan and Dameron himself.

IIRC Dizzy and Milt Jackson also played this sort of piano.

[Shrdlu]

I can't find a link in the original post, but I presume that reference is made to this interview with Philly Joe

This is an excellent interview with this master drummer.

As was mentioned, the piano (instrument) was terrible. It doesn't cost much to have a piano tuned. (I have an upright grand in my home,)

Highly recommended interview.

While on the subject of Philly Joe, I recommend the following analysis of his work on "Two Bass Hit", at the Miles Davis session of February 4, 1958

As can be seen in the thumbnail, and at 2:25 in the video, he was using a minimalist set of just snare, bass, one floor tom, hats and ride. He gets such a full sound from that that I never thought that he had so little equipment when i played that track over all the years. It puts to shame the rock drummers with a huge forest of equipment that looks like they bought the whole drum store. Man, i can enjoy playing just a cowbell when a performance is grooving.

Enjoy.

[BillF]

56 minutes ago, Shrdlu said:

I can't find a link in the original post, but I presume that reference is made to this interview with Philly Joe

This is an excellent interview with this master drummer.

As was mentioned, the piano (instrument) was terrible. It doesn't cost much to have a piano tuned. (I have an upright grand in my home,)

Highly recommended interview.

 

 

Yes, thanks for the interview which helps explain what the piano clip is all about and answers most of the questions I have about it.

(Start at 41 mins in and go on to hear Philly's eulogy of Dameron.)

Edited August 25, 2020 by BillF

[Michael Weiss]

On 8/21/2020 at 5:58 PM, kh1958 said:

The time I saw him at SMU he came out before the concert unannounced and played a few songs, solo piano.

I forgot about that. Only thing I remember is how few people attended and Mingus entering and leaving the stage several times - do I have that right?

On 8/24/2020 at 3:03 PM, BillF said:

Would be interesting to know what Michael Weiss thinks of his piano playing.

He obviously knows what he's doing and obviously competent. I guess "arranger's piano" skills could mean, with limited piano technique, an ability to voice quality chords under a melody with voicings spread across both hands. Maybe with less of an ability to play single lines - soloing or otherwise. Johnny Griffin played at least that well IIRC. I enjoyed this clip. Jack DeJohnette was a pianist before he took up the drums. One drummer I know who plays the shit out of the piano and could easily compete with any pianist is Finnish drummer Jukkis Uotila.

Edited August 26, 2020 by Michael Weiss

[kh1958]

1 hour ago, Michael Weiss said:

I forgot about that. Only thing I remember is how few people attended and Mingus entering and leaving the stage several times - do I have that right?

He obviously knows what he's doing and obviously competent. I guess "arranger's piano" skills could mean, with limited piano technique, an ability to voice quality chords under a melody with voicings spread across both hands. Maybe with less of an ability to play single lines - soloing or otherwise. Johnny Griffin played at least that well IIRC. I enjoyed this clip. Jack DeJohnette was a pianist before he took up the drums. One drummer I know who plays the shit out of the piano and could easily compete with any pianist is Finnish drummer Jukkis Uotila.

There were very few people in attendance; I counted like 20 or so, but I couldn't see up in the balcony; Mingus remarked on that. I don't  recall him leaving the stage several times. There were actually two concerts, and I attended the first one. He played one of Remember Rockefeller at Attica or Free Cell Block F, Black Bats and Poles, Duke Ellington's Sound of Love (long, slow, and utterly gorgeous, the death of Ellington being very recent), For Harry Carney (amazing; the solos by Adams, Pullen and Mingus totally blew me away) and Devil Blues.

Edited August 27, 2020 by kh1958