Piano Jazz

• Stride Piano
• Boogie-Woogie
• Other Styles

This is a preview of the educational program A Jazz Improvisation Almanac which is under development for the Outside Shore Music Online School. Feel free to browse this preview and learn what you can from it. For a more completed product, though, check out the original freely browsable jazz textbook, A Jazz Improvisation Primer.

Since ragtime was one of the direct ancestors of jazz, some of the earliest jazz musicians were pianists who started out playing composed ragtime music but eventually started ,link 23 improvising their rags. Most important of these pianists was Jelly Roll Morton, who wrote a large number of compositions and was known for insisting the sidemen in his bands play his music exactly as written, even as Morton himself took great liberties with the compositions of others. The music played by Morton's bands was not unlike music played by other New Orleans ensembles of the 1920's, but his solo piano music was essentially ragtime with more than the usual amount of improvisation:

Stride Piano

The idea of using the alternating left hand pattern typical of ragtime as a foundation over which new melodies could be improvised is the basis of the style known as stride piano. The stride pianist generally makes more liberal use of blues harmonies in his music than does the ragtime composer. Here is an example of stride piano as played by James P. Johnson:

Important stride pianists include:

• James P. Johnson
• Fats Waller
• Willie "The Lion" Smith

Boogie-Woogie

Another style of piano jazz that became popular in the 1920's is boogie-woogie. In this style, a repeating left hand pattern is used, but rather than the alternating bass notes and chords of stride, it uses a pattern that establishes the chord as well as bass function within one line. Boogie-woogie was often based on blues forms. Here is an example of boogie-woogie as performed by Meade "Lux" Lewis:

Important boogie-woogie pianists include:

• Meade "Lux" Lewis
• Pinetop Smith
• Jimmy Yancey
• Albert Ammons
• Pete Johnson

Other Styles

In all of these styles, pianists generally played lines that included full chords in their right hand. It was the pianist Earl Hines who pioneered the technique that is now standard for jazz pianists - playing single-note melodic figures in the right hand, like a horn player would:

Two other pianists worthy of special mention are Mary Lou Williams and Art Tatum. Williams began her career playing traditional jazz, but in a way that is considered particularly modern. She became a major influence on the young pianists of the bebop generation, and she continued to develop her style throughout her very long career. Here is an example of her playing:

Art Tatum was primarily a stride pianist, but he was a musician of such fantastic technique and harmonic invention that he has influenced countless pianists and other musicians of every generation. Here is an example of his playing:

Copyright 2000 Outside Shore Music
Authored by Marc Sabatella

Piano Jazz