Chords for Oscar Peterson Piano Lesson

Brett's the Bösendorfer here.
_ Well, I thank you and His Grace the Duke thanks you and
Oscar, let's hurry through this.
I've got some notes here from my scrapbook
and I want to be possible to pick a tune and have you show us just superficially perhaps.
Are you going to pick a tune that I know?
I'll let you pick the tune.
No, no, go ahead.
Because I might pick buttons and bows or who knows.
_ _ And if you could just show us some of this, what I think are called stylistic trademarks of other pianists.
What do we mean by the phrase the stride piano of Art Tatum?
The stride piano of Tatum or people of that era is the ability to play the background for yourself
and [Cm] make it work like a rhythm section.
_ [Dm] _ [Dbm] _ [Cm] _ [Gb] _ [F] _ [Dm] _
_ _ [Ab] [G] As [Bb] opposed to when you play with a rhythm section where you would just hold a chord usually
or punctuate with a chord and play. _ _ _
[E] _ _ Because the drummer is playing and the bass [F] player is playing. _
[C] _ _ [Fm] _ [B] _ [C] [Bb] So this way you [Cm] go.
[Dbm] Yeah.
[Bb] _ [Cm] _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _
So the right hand is really the instrument and the left hand is putting the rhythm section out of work.
That's right.
That's the idea.
Okay.
_ What else did I put down here?
Oh yeah, here's something I wrote.
_ A note of_
talking about influences on you and quote,
the two fingered percussiveness of Nat Cole.
Could you show the two fingered percussiveness for us?
Yeah, Nat would do this sort of thing.
Or the [D] TPC.
_ [Eb] _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
_ _ Which each note has its own articulation rather than being an insipid phrase like_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Eb] _ [Bbm] _ _ _
[C] And he used mostly the front [E] end of his hand.
And emphatic like that.
To [Gm] accomplish this.
It was very emphatic.
It was articulated like you do in speech.
And then on music running all over.
_ _ _ That's part of the sentence.
The other part they could hear in your early influence was the lyric octave work of Earl Garner.
Oh, they're talking about the full chords like this.
Where Earl used a handful of chords to play melody.
If he was going to play Getting Sandalmental, he might play like this.
[Eb] _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ [D] _ _
[Bbm] _ _ _ _ _ [C] _ _
And delay it like that.
[G] And as I said on another show, you have to know how to be able to do the proper delay so it doesn't sound false.
Since you didn't name the airline, you better not name the other show.
I won't. _ _ _
Was it run by a middle-aged man with white hair?
No.
Oh, okay.
_ What about the relaxed block chords?
Or would that be a typo for black chords?
No, I guess not in George Shearing's case.
I love George Shearing.
George Shearing used this kind of [Eb] thing.
[Gm] _ [C] _ [Cm] _ _ [Fm] _
[Bb] _ _ [Eb] _ [Fm] _ _ [Cm] _ [Bb] _ [Ab] _
[Gm] [Ab] To run melodies like Roses of [Bb] Picardy.
[D] _
_ _ _ [Cm] _ _ Where he used [Abm] the fullness of a [D] sax section almost.
Instead of [Bb] playing [Fm] full _
[Cm] _ _ [Fm] _ [Eb] [Ab] chord. _ _ _
[Bb] _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ Play it again with partial chord.
[Fm] Partial chord would be two notes for instance.
_ _ [Bb] _
[Ab] _ [Cm] _ _ Much sparse.
Much more sparse.
[Fm] This is full.
[Bb] _ _ _ [E] You know, it just occurred to me that I read that you had given up singing because you sounded a little too much like a well-known singer.
Don't say who it is.
I'm not going to sing.
Let's see.
Could you do a little bit of a Blossom Fell and see if the audience could tell who you sound like?
I wish I could.
Or what's that thing?
Give me a kiss to build a dream on.
Do you really sound like him?
Well, it's debatable. _
You won't do it?
I don't want to embarrass you.
You don't [C] embarrass me.
I sing occasionally when I feel up to it.
Could you sing just a bit and see if you sound like anybody?
I'll be [Dm] the judge of whether you do.
What a day [G] this has been.
What [Am] a rare [C] mood [Ab] I'm in.
[B] Well, [Bb] it's [Gb] almost [Bb] like [Dm] being loved.
And if [G] you say Donna Summers, you're in [Eb] deep trouble.
_ [Abm] _ And so are you.
[N] That's right.
No, I think everyone_
_ _ I _ _ _ _ _ think everyone recognized the voice of the immortal George Burns. _ _ _ _ _ _
Let's not explain it.
What are double-handed or is it double-octave bass lines?
I think there was_
well, actually, what you mean double-octave _ _ melody lines rather than bass lines.
Because if you play a linear invention, if you play _ _ as a game on Sweet [F] Georgia,
_ [D] if you invent something _ as [Cm] _ [F] an alternative line,
then you play the same thing with [Ab] two hands. _ _
[Gm] _ [Fm] _ _ [Gbm] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [F] _
_ _ [Eb] Are they doing the identical thing, those two hands?
_ _ [Bb] _ _ [Ab] _ [F] _ [Eb] But you get it in two _ different [Bb] places in the piano.
It gives a little different substance.
This is a little difficult to do if you haven't been doing it.
Was that ever hard for you or when you_
_the
first time you tried that, could you do it?
No, I couldn't do it the first time I tried it.
Okay.
_ What would I be hearing if the pianist was tonality-based?
I've seen that term thrown around.
Oh, you'd be hearing_
All right, if you take this same tune, Roses, Picardy, right?
You'd hear this sort of [Ab] thing. _ _
[Gm] Melodies.
[Eb] _ _ _ [Gm] _ [Fm] _
[Gm] You might hear a more involved harmony, like _ [Ab] [Eb] whatever [Ab] _
[Bb] _ _ [B] _ [Eb] _ _ _ [D] _ _
[Dm] _ [B] _ _ they chose to do.
[Am] You're just moving the harmonies around, changing them to give it a different shape to the tune.
Thank you for this master lesson.
Quickly, two ten-second questions.
How good a trumpet player was Louis Armstrong in musicians' terms?
Fantastic trumpet player.
Fantastic trumpet player.
Yeah.
And the other one is, how long has wigs been a verb transitive,
as in cigarette holder that wigs me, in the lyrics to the Sutton Ball?
But you don't need to answer that.
All right, I won't bother.
Oscar Peterson, it's a genuine thrill to have you here.
Thank you.
And if you would play us off, it would be wonderful.
Just a little [Bb] cocktail piano. _
Like that?
[E] Yeah.
[Eb] Thank you.
Oscar Peterson.
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ [C] _ [G] _ _
_ [B] _ [Bb] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ [Bbm] _
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[Bb] _ _ _ _ [Dbm] _ [Cm] _ [Bb] _ _
[Ab] _ [G] _ [Db] _ [Cm] _ _ _ [Dbm] _ [Gb] _
_ [D] _ _ [Cm] _ _ [Cm] _ [Bb] _ [Cm] _
_ [G] _ [F] _ [Db] _ [Eb] _ [C] _ _ [Bb] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _
_ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ [C] _ _
[F] _ [Bb] _ _ [Ab] _ [Gm] _ [Bbm] _ _ [Eb] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ [Bbm] _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ [Cm] _ [Db] _ [Bb] _