Boogie Woogie

[buttercup]

Are there any fellow-aficionados out there?

Who's your favourite? I like Johan Blohm. I like the way he seems miles away while he's playing, as if he's going over the seven-times-table in his head. But technically, more or less perfect.

Here's a good example:

Please - If you want to, go ahead and post your own examples. Just so you know, I prefer the pure piano, without backing. Especially no drums - if there's one thing good b-w does not need, it's rhythm beat accompaniment. Also, no singing. Also, no hand-clapping. Apart from that . .

 

[WoodPeckr]

Always liked Boogie Woogie

Still have a sheet music book of Boogie Woogie....:thumb:

Here's some from a master of it....

 

[blackrock13]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFsCbTZ7eLc&feature=player_detailpage#t=138s

 

[WoodPeckr]

 

[buttercup]

There are quite a few "Play me. I'm yours" pianos in public squares around the world. This one's in Paris. Phillipe Bas at the keyboard.

 

[jazzbo]

All of today's modern boogie pianists are just pale imitations of the originals from the 30's and 40's. (And they'll admit it.) The guys who really invented Boogie Woogie include Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons, Mead Lux Lewis, and Freddie Slack. Although the early audio recording methods weren't what they are today, the shear power of the players still comes through. Check out this classic two-piano duet from two of those masters...

 

[jazzbo]

Or this one...

 

[jazzbo]

How about this classic... Nobody has feel like this nowadays.

 

[buttercup]

jazzbo - you're my kinda man! I do prefer Johan Blohm, however.

The twelve-bar component of B-W is of the essence, and must not be deviated from. And it must be M M M M S S M M D S M M. The old guys rounded the twelve off with . . M D D M M, or . . M S S M M.

(M = major, S = sub-dominant, D = dominant, of course - though how could anyone not know that?)

Each twelve-bar passage must have its own theme or motif (melody?). That theme must be introduced, developed, and resolved, during the course of the twelve bars. The next twelve has its own theme - and all the themes must be all variants of the common thread that runs through the whole piece. Call me a pedant, but IMO, the resolution of the themes is more satisfying under a . . M D S M M conclusion that the modern guys stick to, and the old guys didn't.

 

[GG2]

 

[WoodPeckr]

 

[WoodPeckr]

 

[jazzbo]

buttercup - Many of the old guys also didn't always flatten the third note of the blues scale when they went to the subdominant chord, which sounds really weird to modern ears. (Ammons and Lewis, not Johnson or Slack.) I still contend that they had more drive and better feel back then. Rhythmically, they implied something between dotted eighths and straight eighths that has since morphed to eighth-note-triplets. It's all great stuff, though. And obviously (in a watered-down version) it gave birth to rock and roll and rhythm and blues. It's also purely pianistic. Can't play it on any other instrument.

 

[buttercup]

buttercup - Many of the old guys also didn't always flatten the third note of the blues scale when they went to the subdominant chord, which sounds really weird to modern ears. (Ammons and Lewis, not Johnson or Slack.) I still contend that they had more drive and better feel back then. Rhythmically, they implied something between dotted eighths and straight eighths that has since morphed to eighth-note-triplets. It's all great stuff, though. And obviously (in a watered-down version) it gave birth to rock and roll and rhythm and blues. It's also purely pianistic. Can't play it on any other instrument.

Looks like I've got some heavy listening ahead, to understand your points. I guess I didn't equate the dotted quaver and quaver-triplet rhythm variants with the old guys - don't I hear those variants all the time in recent stuff? (How music teachers think "eighth-note" is more meaningful than "quaver", I'll never know.) I certainly don't subscribe to the "if it ain't straight-eight, it ain't boogie" view.