Stacking intervals in Jazz Piano I spent a week visiting and studying with Joan Hansen, a well-known contemporary Canadian composer (web site), who is my cousin once-removed. I was really inspired after a week of sharing music with such a true creative artist. Her ideas and wisdom have led me to a whole new way of thinking about jazz piano, that focuses on sound and texture rather than chord symbols and rules.

However, chord symbols and rules can be a great way of organizing sounds into patterns that can be studied and absorbed. I have found that one of the most simple and beautiful ways to think about jazz piano voicings is to look for patterns between the notes in the chords rather than always thinking about how each note is related to the chord's root. I find that after repeatedly visualizing these patterns in my mind on my "virtual (mental) piano keyboard", they can eventually be recalled and visualized very easily.

Jazz voicings can be thought of as stacking intervals on top of each other.

For example, a very popular jazz voicing (a "So What Chord") is made up of three perfect 4ths and then a major third, and this can be played over a major 7, a minor 7, or a phrygian chord, depending on the note the bass is playing.

A wonderful dark voicing for a minor chord called the Kenny Barron voicing consists of a perfect fifth, a minor second, and another perfect fifth, stacked on each other.

A similar voicing, but for a major 7 chord consists of a perfect 5th, a major second, and another perfect 5th.

A very open sound, called an additive chord in classical terms, consists of three perfect 5ths and then a major 6th.

Other cool stacking interval patterns include:
fifth, fifth, perfect fourth (a sus2 voicing)
fifth, fifth, fifth (sus2 with 13)
fifth, major 6th, minor 7th (sounds like a major chord with a 9)
fifth, perfect fourth, major 3rd, minor 6th (this is a strong major voicing)

These are fun to discover - it's great to play these on the piano and enjoy the sounds!!  ¶ 12:26 AM

Latin Piano Patterns (video) I found a cool short video that demonstrates two Latin piano patterns. Check it out by clicking below:

http://www.5min.com/Video/Latin-piano-patterns-1321  ¶ 1:37 AM

New jazz quartet live recording Last Saturday, I performed on piano in Port Coquitlam with Greg Murray on drums, Mark White on bass, and Kevin Shan on saxophone. Here's a track that we recorded live. It's one of my own compositions, called 'A Quiet Night'.

Quiet Night - Mp3 recording time 6:10 (Geoff Peters Quartet, composed by Geoff Peters)  ¶ 10:13 PM

New Recording: Blues Piano Duet I had fun recording a blues piano jam with my cousin, Chris Lawson. Please click below to listen. Chris plays the melody and I'm keeping the rhythm.

> Blues Piano Duet - MP3 recording Time 4:58 (Chris Lawson and Geoff Peters, piano)  ¶ 9:29 PM

New Composition: Crossings I wrote another classical-sounding piece for the piano, that goes along well with a rainy, dark evening (and perhaps a roaring fire in the hearth and a good cup of dark ale). It's called "Crossings" and it was inspired by a treacherous pedestrian cross walk on Main Street near East 7th Avenue. Please click below to listen:

> Crossings MP3 music file, time 4:30 (Written and performed by Geoff Peters)  ¶ 2:14 AM

Jazz as a Universal Language (article) Mike O'Sullivan writes in the Voice of America how jazz musicians share a common culture, no matter what their national background. He writes:

Jazz great Louis Armstrong told musicians to "never play a thing the same way twice." ... jazz is an adventure inspired by the moment, and each song is an exploration, for musicians and audiences, wherever they are.

For some great Christmas jazz, check out a free recording of NPR's 2007 Jazz Piano Christmas (click here).  ¶ 9:11 PM

New Track: Sad Song Number 1 In 2005 I collaborated with Jessica Karen to create a music track that we were going to submit to a film music competition (but unfortunately never did!). I listened to it again and think it's pretty cool. Please click below to listen:

> Sad Song Number 1 - Time 1:23 (Electronic sounds by JK, other instruments by GP).  ¶ 3:40 PM

New Composition - Serenity I wrote a new composition tonight. It's really slow and quite peaceful, but has quite a bit of sadness. I guess I was inspired by reading the first part of the graphic novel "The Dream Hunters" (the Sandman series) written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano. I've made a little recording of my song on the piano:

> Serenity - Mp3 download, time 2:49 (composed and performed by Geoff Peters)  ¶ 10:03 PM