ghost of miles Posted February 4, 2004 Report Posted February 4, 2004 Heresy, brothers and sisters, heresy is what I'm guilty of. I've lately begun to enjoy the sound of electric piano in both 1970s and more recent jazz--enjoying it as a texture, as it were. (Listening to Uri Caine on the latest Dave Douglas CD, as well as some late-70's J.J. Johnson material, is what brought on this post.) For most of my relatively brief (8-9 years) jazz listening career, I've absolutely loathed hearing an electric piano on jazz albums. (Outside of the electric-Miles canon, where for some reason I more grudgingly accepted it.) It strikes me now as a rather close-minded attitude, although I'm still far more partial to acoustic pianos. Any thoughts on this subject? Any recommendations for really good jazz electric piano? Joe Milazzo once made reference to a Bill Evans album, but I can't recall which one now--perhaps the Columbia LP that he did. Quote
jazzbo Posted February 4, 2004 Report Posted February 4, 2004 I like the use that Zawinul and Hancock and Corea did in the second half of the 'sixties and the first year or two of the 'seventies. And Sun Ra from about 1955 or so on. . . . And Duke on Capitol! I find it interesting after playing all three briefly to try to identify whether Fender Rhodes, RMI or Wurlitzers were used. I like the Wurlitzer and the RMI a lot! Quote
Guest ariceffron Posted February 4, 2004 Report Posted February 4, 2004 dont be an idiot. electric pianos have been around in jazz longer than fusion so if youre trying to make some snide fusion comment its not getting past me. Quote
ghost of miles Posted February 4, 2004 Author Report Posted February 4, 2004 And Duke on Capitol! Yes, Lon, I meant to mention that session! VERY interesting Duke date on the Capitol Mosaic set. Quote
ghost of miles Posted February 4, 2004 Author Report Posted February 4, 2004 (edited) dont be an idiot. electric pianos have been around in jazz longer than fusion so if youre trying to make some snide fusion comment its not getting past me. WTF, Aric? I wasn't making any "snide comment" about fusion. There are forms of fusion I happen to like--my point is simply that most jazz fans I know can't stand the sound of electric piano in jazz. Sorry if I offended you, Herr Fusion Cop! B) Edited February 4, 2004 by ghost of miles Quote
Noj Posted February 4, 2004 Report Posted February 4, 2004 Pat Martino with Gil Goldstein WE'LL BE TOGETHER AGAIN--This is a guitar/electric piano duo that I enjoy. It has frequent challenging elements in contrast to soul jazz-oriented dates. A few others that come to mind: Joe Zawinul THE RISE & FALL OF THE THIRD STREAM Lonnie Liston Smith ASTRAL TRAVELLING Quote
brownie Posted February 5, 2004 Report Posted February 5, 2004 I have no love for Keith Jarrett but enjoyed what he did on the electric piano when he was with the Miles Davis band. And also the ECM album he did with Jack de Johnette on drums 'Ruta and Daitya'. Maybe he should have stuck to electric... Quote
Jim Alfredson Posted February 5, 2004 Report Posted February 5, 2004 The first two Return To Forever albums have some really nice Fender Rhodes work from Corea. Beautiful stuff. Quote
Muskrat Ramble Posted February 5, 2004 Report Posted February 5, 2004 Any recommendations for really good jazz electric piano? Since you already mentioned Caine, check him out on Dave Douglas's The Infinite--awesome album with the same lineup as Strange Liberation, minus Frisell. Quote
PHILLYQ Posted February 5, 2004 Report Posted February 5, 2004 How about Zawinul with Cannonball? Quote
jazzbo Posted February 5, 2004 Report Posted February 5, 2004 Exactly. Though Duke and Sonny Blount were using it beforehand, and I'm sure they weren't in a vacuum, it was Zawinul's very soulful use with Cannon that really brought the use of the electric piano to a visible position in jazz, and I'll bet inspired its use in the Miles Davis Quintet (I could be wrong.) I wish that Duke had recorded more on electric piano; he carried one around with him almost everywhere on tour it seems, he was quite intimate with the keyboard! I bet he could have made some great recordings with it. Quote
chris olivarez Posted February 10, 2004 Report Posted February 10, 2004 I'm one of those people who have always liked the sound of the instrument. Check out Oscar Peterson's "Night Child" cd sometime. Quote
JSngry Posted February 10, 2004 Report Posted February 10, 2004 Depends on the player, depends on how it's recorded, depends on the material it's used on, depends on a lot of things. But I pretty much love the sound myself, especially the darker, more "muddy" sound that certain Rhodes got (I've been told that age of the instrumetn isn't necessarily the cause of that tone, but it seems to me that the earlier ones had it more than the later ones). Not at all a "piano" sound, but a totally different timbre that set up totally different textural environments, and different inter-group resonances due to the instrument's unique "speaking" of its overtones (an accoustician I'm not...) Favorite Rhodes moment on record (literally, because the CD doesn't do it even remotely full justice): "Poinciana" on Sonny Rollins' NEXT ALBUM. Sonny on soprano, George Cables on one of those nice, muddy Rhodes that spike the high notes when attacked just so, and this time the tremelo is set just right (another thing I really liked about the Rhodes - and the Wurlitzer (God Bless Joe Sample's playing on THAT axe on those early Crusaders (as opposed to JAZZ Crusaders) sides)- btw), Bob Cranshaw on really nicely woody accoustic bass, and David Lee giving out with the God-awmightiest collection of cyballic overtonal WHOOOOOOOSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHSSSS of every concievable timbre imagainable, all of it captured in perfecter-than-perfect early 70s not-at-all clean stereophonic analog sound by Elvin Campbell at Mercury Sound Studios, NYC. The tones on this cut merge perfectly, and I get high just on the sound. The fact that everybody's playing quite nicely is just icing on the cake. But you gotta hear the RECORD. It's a world into itself, I tell ya'. Oh yeah, electric piano... Works for me! Quote
paul secor Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 In general, I do not like electric pianos, but it would depend on who's playing and how they play it. Most of my favorite pianists don't play electric, but I heard Burton Greene play an electric instrument in a duo concert with Roswell Rudd, maybe 5 or 6 years ago, and his playing sounded good to me. I seem to remember that Muhal and/or Paul Bley played electric piano on a Marion Brown Impulse LP. I don't have it, but I'd be interested in hearing someone's impressions of how that sounded. Quote
connoisseur series500 Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 I've grown to love listening to the electric piano. My favorite would be George Cables. He's terrific on those Art Blakey sessions in particular. He played the instrument as if it were his first as opposed to others who treated it as a second instrument. Quote
undergroundagent Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 IMHO, no electric piano sounds as good as either Herbie Hancock or Chick Corea on Miles' late-60s sessions. B) Quote
GregK Posted August 31, 2005 Report Posted August 31, 2005 I'd have to say that I like the sound of the electric piano more than the organ Quote
Free For All Posted September 1, 2005 Report Posted September 1, 2005 I'd have to say that I like the sound of the electric piano more than the organ ← Quote
Joe G Posted September 1, 2005 Report Posted September 1, 2005 Damn Greg! You brought up a thread that's been dead for a year-and-a-half just to say THAT??!!? Love that Martino/Goldstein date that Noj mentioned, BTW. Quote
GregK Posted September 1, 2005 Report Posted September 1, 2005 Damn Greg! You brought up a thread that's been dead for a year-and-a-half just to say THAT??!!? Love that Martino/Goldstein date that Noj mentioned, BTW. ← I know, I hit Add Reply before I realized that I wasn't saying much! I guess I could add that I like acoustic piano better than both but in different contexts! Quote
Chuck Nessa Posted September 1, 2005 Report Posted September 1, 2005 So,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,if I follow the drift of this discussion - Jim pumps the Hammond, right? Dang - that brought up an image I do not want to see again. Quote
GregK Posted September 1, 2005 Report Posted September 1, 2005 So,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,if I follow the drift of this discussion - Jim pumps the Hammond, right? Dang - that brought up an image I do not want to see again. ← That's not what I was talking about- I found this thread after searching for electric piano threads and decided to make a comment after listening to some discs featuring each instrument. That brings up another question- does Jim ever play the electric piano, or is it strictly Hammond? Quote
Jim Alfredson Posted September 1, 2005 Report Posted September 1, 2005 I own a Rhodes. Used to have a Wurlizter that I stupidly sold because I needed the cash. I'm still regretting that one. I use a synth to play electric piano these days, mainly with Root Doctor. I sometimes bring the synth out to organissimo gigs. Quote
GregK Posted September 1, 2005 Report Posted September 1, 2005 I own a Rhodes. Used to have a Wurlizter that I stupidly sold because I needed the cash. I'm still regretting that one. I use a synth to play electric piano these days, mainly with Root Doctor. I sometimes bring the synth out to organissimo gigs. ← what does a synth-electric piano sound like? You gotta let me hear that at the next show I go to Quote
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