Hi All,

by Henry Mancini

An improvisation from my CD called “Crafty Hands.” Using leather-headed mallets, I embark on a journey in F Lydian to play in a Balafon-like style, developing a few motifs and discovering where the energy and groove could lead.

“Emily” - composed by Johnny Mandel in 1964 for the movie “The Americanization of Emily”. The version from the great pianist Bill Evans is a classic. I learned a great deal from Bill. Everything from lines, voicings and harmony to touch and sound. I saw him many times in Boston at the Jazz Workshop. I caught the trio with Eddie Gomez and Marty Morell as well as the trio with Joe LaBarbera and Mark Johnson. With Joe and Mark, I remember sitting very close to the piano and was struck on how swollen Bill’s hands were at the time. In spite of that, Bill and the trio were playing superb.

Available here https://www.johnmarkpiper.com/pipervibe-store#

This is a difficult one.

Again I left the chords out. Get the real book out and write in the changes so you in some small way begin to think about the harmony. Look at the notes and enter the chords.

Can you see the different keys this goes through? Thanks to Bach and the Well Tempered system of tuning, or I think this tune would sound terrible in Midieval tuning! :-).

Play it slowly and work it up.