Three Essential Ballad Styles for Jazz Pianists 

Thanks, Rolf! That makes me so happy to hear!!!

Absolutely true

I'm very grateful, Jane! Thanks so much for the nice comment...and enjoy!

Great - I'm glad you liked it, Michael! I'm honored you think I'm the best...I'll settle for "not the worst" 😂

I agree with you, Jeremy is such a great player. This is what jazz is to me too. I specifically love ballads. Jeremy has forgotten more about piano than I will ever learn. 😢

I totally agree with you. Classical people find it easier to start with ballad style. WAY easier for us!

Awesome! I really hope you enjoy it!

Oh, with pleasure. I’ve enjoyed Keith’s ballad playing immensely my entire career

Thanks, Josh! Enjoy!

Aw, that's so nice, thank you Anastasia!

Thanks! Stay tuned - there will be more to come. Enjoy the book!

Thanks, Ivan!

Glad you’re enjoying the book! I’m working on making another video each week, so stay tuned. :)

Yep - I'm pretty careful with my pedaling. The biggest thing is to be aware, listen, change frequently, and don't always put the pedal all the way down. I did make one video about pedaling here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MIxXJ4LPplk.html

Thanks for listening!

Thanks, Nancy! Hopefully I'll see you on Monday! :)

Thanks, James! I'm so glad it's valuable for you!

Wow, super interesting question, Benjamin! It's interesting for me because everything I came up with in the book was in response to something that I heard, so it's interesting for me to think about "reverse engineering" the process. I guess I'll take a different approach to answering the question and suggest that - in addition to working with the book - you sit and listen to some of your favorite albums, hit pause when you hear something interesting, and then try to imitate what the pianist is doing even if you can't figure out the exact notes or voicings. You can even keep a list of "tricks" to try applying to different tunes. It was interesting for me to come up with tracks and albums for suggested listening, because really sophisticated pianists never just simply do "one thing" for too long, but their music is always changing and developing. Still, I think it's best as a learner to try to learn these concepts really strictly and then practice mixing them. I hope that helps a bit. Thanks for your very nice comments!

​@@JeremySiskind , thank you very much. Your suggestion makes sense and I'll definitely try that.

Hi Serge! Regarding Question #1, I don't think anyone has anything naturally. I would definitely suggest practicing it in tunes!!! Regarding question #2, reharmonizing is a pretty essential part of the jazz piano tradition. It's a big subject - reharmonziations can totally transform a tune or just change it around the edges. There's a chapter on reharmonization in my book, and I have a video out with my favorite reharmonization games: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3QzlW4RUXIk.html.

@@JeremySiskind Thanks a lot for your answer...I will jump to the reharmonization section in your excellent book!

Thank you so much! I do my best!

Often times, a ballad evolves or changes, or even goes into a non-ballad style like a stride or double-time feel. I often suggest students listen to Kenny Barron's version of "Skylark" from the "Maybeck Recital" hall album for a great example of a ballad that evolves every chorus.

I’ve never heard of Robert Webb but looking him up now…he must be a handsome fellow!

I see it a *little*

Awesome! Thanks, Trevor. Great to know you!

Great! I’m happy to show that whether that was the main point or not!

Thanks for checking out the book! You'll find a lot about playing ballads there!

I don't know about the details there, but I have a few videos on reharmonization including this one that I'd check out - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kmitCpp0zcQ.html

My pleasure! Thanks for checking it out, Carson!

Ooh, you mean like a 12/8 ballad feel? Haven’t really thought about that but it’s a good point!

Check out this video: Accompanying Vocalists - IN-TIME Ballads (ft. Lia Booth) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2jl9Ja6b95U.html

And this video: Accompanying Vocalists - RUBATO Ballads ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-53hU6GuCBoc.html

@@JeremySiskind Thank you so much

@@JeremySiskind wonderful, Thank you!

Thank you, Lee! Happy practicing!

Thanks so much, Fremuzic!

Thanks! You might enjoy my Jazz Piano Fundamental books - they're designed to help transition folks without jazz experience to having a solid foundation for jazz.

Thanks much, Eric!

Hahah I get it. But you really don’t need big hands. You just need to be slick about rolling the 10ths real quick!

Thanks so much! It’s one of my favorite tunes.

Thank you, Rich!

So glad you liked it! I just posted a new video about improvisation today that I hope you can check out.

Thanks! Maybe Santa will bring me one for christmas! 😂

Nope! The video came later. There are lots and lots of other similar musical examples notated in the book (like over 200).

Well i have just buyed the book by Amazon Thanks

Thanks! I’m a Yamaha artist, but this piano is a Mason & Hamlin.

@@JeremySiskind You have a great touch which is a large part of it...

Glad you liked it!

That's the goal! I was very influenced by Oscar's recording of "Someone to Watch Over Me" (among many other tracks of his that I've checked out).

Sound a lot like Kenny Barrons take on Skylark. Your playing is phenomenal!

Thanks for checking it out, J!

Haha, wrong video, but I'll take it!

Noted! I play on an actual piano, so you'll have to look elsewhere if a virtual keyboard is what you want. I hope you can enjoy the lessons anyway!

Thanks for the comments. I’m always trying to grow as an educator. remember - you can always use RU-vid to slow videos down to .75 percent (or more)!

Thanks for listening

I'm glad you liked it, Stefano! Lots more videos to check out. :)