The jazz piano style : a comparative study of bebop, post-bebop and modern players

Lilley, Andrew

The jazz piano style : a comparative study of bebop, post-bebop and modern players

Doctoral Thesis

2006

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

College of Music

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

The study embraces a need to document the jazz piano style through analytical representation of key players in the jazz tradition. While there are several educational books outlining method, there is little material discussing jazz style in the context of influential piano players. Educator and author, David Baker, has undertaken to introduce several books from this perspective for some of the more influential horn players (Baker 1982). A search for the jazz style of Bud Powell, Thelonius Monk or Horace Silver, however, will reveal little material and where available this constitutes mostly short biographical information often occupying less than a paragraph within a chapter of historical context. Thomas Owens, for example, discusses the bebop style in 'Bebop, The Music and the Players' (Owens, 1995). He mentions most of the key players for each instrument and discusses their respective stylistic traits. The work is very informative from an overall perspective but serves only to introduce a broad understanding of the players listed. There is very little in-depth analytical discussion or comparative study on style. The subject base is too large for this kind of detail.

Description

Includes bibliographical references.

Keywords

Music

Reference:

Collections

PhD / Doctoral

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