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"On the Sunnyside of the Street" - with a nod to Art Tatum

“On the Sunnyside of the Street” - one of my favorite standards played here with a nod to the great pianist Art Tatum. There was a period when I was heavily into pianists like Tatum, Teddy Wilson, Fats Waller, Earl "Fatha" Hines, Dave McKenna and Dick Hyman. All masters of the piano and where I got a lot of inspiration.

"All The Things You Are" - Chord Tone Soloing with One Tension

Improvising on “All The Things You Are” using chord tone soloing along with one tension. For the Major and Minor chords, I’m using only tension 9 and either 9 or b9 for the Dom 7 chords. In most cases, I’m using the b9. The improv can also incorporate other tensions like the 11 and 13 as well as diatonic and chromatic approach notes. This is a fundamental and valuable improv technique covered in Volume One of The Complete Guide to Improvisation. The concept allows us to clearly sound the changes since most of the notes are chord tones.

"Be My Love"

"Be My Love" - I had first heard this song on one of my favorite recordings from pianist Keith Jarrett titled The Melody at Night, With You. It was written in 1950 by Nicholas Brodzky and Sammy Cahn for the movie The Toast of New Orleans.