Harmonizing a One-Chord Progression: "I'll Remember April", Jazz Tutorial 

KH: "God bless the 9 people who gave thumbs down...we have to get rid of this cat: the Altered Dominant Ego Man!"

So much valuable information in such a short amount of time - thanks so much Kent, it's always a pleasure to watch you play!(:

Thanks; a lifetime of study in 20 minutes!

I don't want to keep writing comments here, but God man, this is just so beautiful. I can't stop listening to it. I love how it just soars with joy and pain, and drips with nostalgia. If I can someday express myself a fraction of what Kent can, I'll die a happy man.

I took a lot of jazz piano lessons but many italian teachers only love speaking about theory. Thank you Kent for giving us these lessons. I finally learned how to play some jazz simply watching the hands.

Hey Kent. As a young aspiring jazz pianist, I just wanna thank you for putting the effort into making these sublime videos. I wish you nothing but the best :) -Liam

I have spent years of my life taking piano lessons, and I think I've learned more from one of your videos then in all that time combined. I wish there were a Nobel Prize for piano teaching because I would submit your name for nomination. Thanks Kent, you are a treasure.

I started off as a wind player (flute, alto sax) in school and my teenage years, but I've taken to piano (and guitar to a lesser extent) recently as it's such an amazing way to understand harmony on a visual level. These videos are great for all instruments; thank you for producing them!

I like your clarity. Some other videos are too complicated and unclear. This is exactly what I need at this point in my playing.

Just when I thought it couldn't get better... the new website format appeared. It's terrific. I've been following you and learning for a long time. I'm a lifetime away from absorbing it all, but I've greatly improved my playing and knowledge base. I can't thank you enough.

This is a great video for bringing together the many techniques you show in your other videos. Thanks again for the excellent lesson. Still hanging in there at 80!

I've been playing "April" since the 50s - one of my favorites. Thank you for your input and ideas. That sounds like Ahmad Jamal at the beginning. He was one of my favorites in the fifties as I was getting started.

your videos continue to inspire me and help me. i am 15 years old and im a alto and soprano sax player, and whenever my group rehearses i always look to you for ideas. thank you for continuing the jazz tradition!

Crucial information, made crystal clear! You are a gentleman and a scholar!

These videos keep getting better and better.

I'm learning so much!!! Thank you thank you thank you!!! I will watch this a thousand times...

Great tips Kent. Awesome playing Thanks 👍

Thanks for taking the time to share your valuable knowledge. God continue to bless you in all ways of your life.

Many many thanks. It is increadible how you manage to put so much valuable information into one single video. Really great and very, very enjoyable, too.

Silence Please.............Genius at work. Great lesson Kent. Thanks.

Oh my gosh this is beyond helpful.

what absolute delight, good to hear from you.

Thanks Kent for another great tutorial.It´s always amazing to see how much useful information you can provide in a short time.

I like the format you present in many of your videos. 1. Perform the song 2. post the transcribed score It's a great inspiration, target, with a study document... even if I'll never be able to get through the full advanced performances myself. I can still simplify and learn excerpts and have a great time. 3. Your follow up tutorial explanation segments with theory and techniques are extremely valuable and can be taken away to other songs too. 4. When I take advantage of the whole package I also end up with another song for my performance inventory and have a great time learning it. p.s. Bill Evans (and style of) is a special favorite of mine. Keep up the great work.

Thanks again, Kent. Your tutorials are both practical and fun.

Great performance.Hello from Italy

Another great lesson. I love the pacing and style of your videos. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge (and sense of humor!)

thanks! most of my trio does head arrangements of many simple pop songs. these tricks will keep me entertained for some time. I often have to be the harmony robot and I get shuffled between bass, keys, and rhythm guitar and these tricks will help me steer the melody and keep order when the band leader decides to take a solo. please keep up the great work, and thanks for the inspiration .

You're back! As always a wicked video, Kent. Every time I watch you play I'm inspired to do more.

Wow, I really love your playing. It feels like a fresh breeze has moved into the room when you play. It reminds me of my early youth for some reason. Very beautiful playing.

Thanks, Kent. I've. been following your videos for sometime now and they have been really filling in some major gaps in my jazz knowledge.

Best Channel ever. And your free Material is awesome as well. I cant afford much lessons at the moment so this is pure Gold for me. Thank you Kent!! Btw: Great Teacher, Great Player

Kent - this is chocked full of great information - wonderful job!!!

Loved this! Such great information and good reminder to include all the different techniques.. thanks a lot

So appreciated! I love the idea of knowing how to create movement. Thank you for sharing!!

Thank you I will try to learn and listen.

Great Lesson Ken...You picked a great tune to as an example!

this is gold, thank you, Mr. Hewitt.

Fantastic! So inspirational.

I'm a guitarist and recently found your videos. Great techniques applicable on other instruments too. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.

brilliant! and such a joy to listen! now getting it into my own hands...

Kent, I hope that you know how truly helpful and inspiring your courses are to people. I’ve been sitting at my piano (which I recently bought) and have been playing after a very long hiatus (a busy career at Disney and a few other life consuming things). The freedom of playing and creating at the piano is something that is so very special. Your exercises are giving me an important structure and stretching. Thank you Sir. 🙏

I ve enjoyed this video a lot Krnt, so fruitful, always grateful to you!

You are always there Best !! great tutorial and performance !!

very important stuff to me, helps a lot to fill the gaps i am still missing, so thx a lot as always!

Thank you so much for this magnificent tutorial. You bring even more to this song that i thought was possible; including an uplifting, joyous energy, which emphasizes the hopeful, positive side of this bittersweet experience expressed by the lyrics. (As a musician, though, i usually don't think too much about the lyrics... but these are pretty good!) As a horn player, i've been struggling with how to expand all those G measures you talked about, and your ideas are absolutely terrific-- so informative, and so well laid out with increasing complexity. And thanks for the whole tune, too; wow... that was phenomenal!... a stone gas!

So great! Appreciate it!

gorgeous stuff

Thanks for another great lesson Kent. Always very inspiring for my solo guitar work!

your channel is so amazing, I used to not know what to do with a piano, but now I'm starting to get into jazz and the lead sheets and so on, thank you! very inspiring!

Another great lesson . So incredible to watch and listen to you play at the end . Awesome 👏 Oh boy , I feel I have a lot of work to do ! So much to learn . One day at a time ~ right ? Thank you again ~ you're going to keep me busy learning piano and music theory for a very long time to come I think . I'll never be bored again ! 😂😁 Patience & perseverance may be more of my challenge ! I like your inspirational quotes to help keep us focused . 👌 'Hang loose & keep swingin' Kent ' 👍😊

Bravo, Ken. You're an inspiration. Now if I can just get my hands worked on to do that 10th thing.

Great, thank you so much!

Another great video from the KH. Thanks, Kent. Hey, BTW, I'm really digging the looks of the updated website. Way coooool, man.

Wow ! That's some useful advice right here ! Thanks a lot !

love your videos

Great video! Your artistry is inspiring

I just watched one of your videos, about the diminished scale, whilst using dominant chords, Im hooked ill watch a lot more of your videos, and try and grasp what your talking about, you can make quite complex things accessible, thankyou

fascinating stuff as usual Kent, happy new year :)

Great video, thanks Kent!

bravo- you give one so many possibilities

Kent good harmony technics i like it

Most swell, dear Sir.

Thanks!🙏🙏🙏

I live in Newark, NJ. Wish I knew you were in town. Love your channel.

a neat intro Mr. gentleman and good content as always.

SWEET!!

Thank you!!!

Hi Kent, Can't believe I only just found your channel a few weeks ago. Love everything that you do here, the time and effort that goes into these videos is unmatched on the Internet for learning the varying aspects of Jazz. I would love to see more of Bill Evans, and I noticed you said he was your greatest inspiration (correct me if I'm wrong). More content perhaps on how Bill played beyond things like the rootless chord voicings which you've covered already. Also, and this is kind of an odd request, but maybe a video on your career and some stories on how you came in contact or to know some of the jazz greats? I see you post comments about your past every so often, and to have a perspective like yours is rare to say the least. If you don't want to do a full video then maybe you could begin some videos with a story from your life or something. Thanks for all your hard work.

Hi Kent. a bottle balanced on the edge of a plastic bucket of water with cheese in the top of the bottle and petrolium jelly around the neck of the bottle is excellent for dealing with mice. Wheat farmers use 40 gallon drums. Thanks for the video. Michael, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Just a comment: Lovely solo you played in the end of this video! :)

Thanks!

great

this is very helpful to make something of all that realbook stuff!!

what a valuable lesson Kent, and every style has it's own charm. So generous of you to share your secrets with us.....thanks to your videos, i'm finding it more enticing to return to jazz instead of just sticking to the blues. Could you give us some tips on 'Dream a little dream of me?" It's one of my favorites. The chord changes are too fast on it to really know what to do with the improv or lead side of it. Thanks a million. Your fan club, one can see is constantly expanding. So many blessings must be headed your way. Wishing you all the best for 2017 too. i'm giving you my Grammy award for the best Jazz Pianist.

5:30 sneaking that James Bond theme in there I see

Another cool video! Thanks. Could you do a video on lounge (bar/cocktail) jazz piano please?

The haunting ego man is funny 😂- I haven't watched the video yet ~ just love the dominant ego man , when he pops up . Hilarious .

I really love this channel and I want to say thank you,Kent for all of the great music you make. Although explanations are pretty hard for me... I wonder if jazz/blues beginners can understand Kent's book?

broken 10ths is very interesting technique: left hand looks like playing most of the frequencies from the base of the harmonic series: 2nd, 3rd and 5th. this covers quite a spectrum of frequencies bringing natural and deep sound. neat.

the alter dominant ego man always cheers me up!

I’m eating this up!..........feed me more jazz food!😁👍🏾

Good solo at the end of the video Kent...

Great video as always! This gives me a lot to practice and build up to. I've always had a problem learning how to mix left hand rhythm techniques in a way that is effective. In some of the techniques you demonstrate it seems the bass note is lost (voiceless voicing, locked hands). Is this OK sometimes when playing solo? How do you decide when to add a bass note?

I think you surpassed the techniques described in this video at the last improv session haha

Hello from Michigan / I just had my piano tuned this week. No mice, just some dust on the hammers. Gary 🚂

Wonderful tutorial...Is there a Mental-Shortcut to developing Drop-2 chord mastery? It seems that, when adding subsitutions and reharminizing, especially with lots of color tones, it starts to become a skill, that is only achievable when the instrument is fully under the fingers. You're passed tutorials explain the Drop-2's perfectly, however, do you have any practice techniques that can speed up the process so I can grab them faster? Thanks again for the inspiration and help...Swing loose, Ronald

Great video, I would love to have a transcription of your interpretation at the end of the video. Some really cool moves/scales you played there. Do you happen to have one ? ;) If not, still enjoying your fantastic work. Keep going.

Hey Kent....the usual vamp in the beginning, would you use d7#9 to Cmaj or c7?

Hey KH, could you do a tutorial on Jimmy Van Heusen's "I thought About You"? Thanks!

Have you ever listened to the version by the Keith Jarrett Trio from their Tokyo 96 concert? It's my favorite. Great video too.

Any method you recommend for studying jazz and blues, harmony in general?

How do you mic the piano and keep out external noise? Nice vid as always Besides Dick Hyman your the only person I know of that realizes Buckner was the first to use the locked hands technique on piano Are you familiar with Buddy Cole? He used that technique a lot He was Bing Crosbys pianist for a while Also had a state of the art studio in his LA home and recorded an album of Art Tatum called 20th century piano genius Very rare but one of Art,s very best recordings

Kent i like this video thanks for sharing, the broken tenths sounds a bit like the Beatles song Here There And Everywhere to me anyway maybe I'm wrong.

Always " trés bon ". Merci beaucoup. And why not sometimes an arrangement of a good pop song ? I remember Eleonor Rigby with you.

Hi Kent! I was wondering if you will do couple pieces from "lalaland". It's a musical movie inspired by Jazz era. Cheers!

It will be nice if you breakdown some Barry Harris idea of comping on his version with dexter Gordon !

Hi Kent, i wonder if you can answer me a question. How do you choose the scales while improvising?.Awesome videos by the way

Whole song at 16:04

Love your videos. Maybe it's time for a piano tuning though.