Well.........Bill Lewis gave my piano lessons the "coup de grace." I might add thankfully!
Yes, piano lessons WERE the best thing I could have done...it really woke me up. But Bill mentioned something that kind of sobered me up. It was something like: "jazz piano with it's substitutions, altered chords, etc will not make you any more money or get you more jobs." I thought how right he was. I stopped my lessons. I was having fun playing around with the notes, but.....there's only so much time. It needs to be spent productively. Studying jazz piano is not productive unless you're looking to be a headliner!
But......fun while it lasted!
Mark
I hope my comments didn't dissuade you from pursuing learning more on the piano. I think (hope) my meaning was more to keep you goals simple at first and then expand as you go on. For most of our type of gigs if you play the melody out front, correct harmonies, and even better if you sing well thats what is needed.
I wish I had pursued jazz piano more when I was younger but there were no outlets to work in jazz. Playing Hammond in bands was the way to go back then and it worked well for me. Now when I don't care about all that I wish I could play jazz better but am having fun on my FP90 playing for myself. And IMHO playing jazz piano to a high degree just can't be taught. You can learn all the "tools" but to really put it out there is an inborn talent. I believe it was the actor Dustin Hoffman who before acting pursued jazz piano and gave up because as he said "I didn't have the ear" I listen to someone like Erroll Garner and ask myself where does all that come from ?
Go for what is satisfing to you. Good Luck.
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