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Keep on Rollin |
Silent Move Rag | Free Range Funk |
Goin' off the Rails | Yo todavía sueño de España
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Ragatina |
I Wanna Boogie | Boppy Dazzler
| Cuba Libra
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music
Most of the pieces here I composed for my students.
Piano Hoedown
Composed 1982 and published in ’Jazz Dazzlers for Piano’
I think I composed a version of this tune while working with
a Country Band using fiddles and Banjos etc This piano
version rocks along quite nicely though.
My Grandfather (Frank Stallwood Snr.) was a great banjo, mandolin & harmonica player. He also was blessed with a lovely tenor voice which I would had loved to have inherited. I did however have a go a learning the banjo and guitar when I was younger, and as a result began to appreciate country and bluegrass styles of music. The 'Piano' Hoedown was therefore an inevitability.
Keep on Rollin'
Composed in 2002 and published in ’Jazz Dazzlers for Piano’. This needs to be quite solid to drive well with no partitioning of the 7/4 time signature. Timing and accenting is fairly critical to avoid a mechanical and unnatural swing.
Silent Movie Rag
Here's a Raggy piece I wrote about 10 years ago originally for
accordion (Leprechaun Dance) and eventually became a piano
solo called The Magic Lantern Rag.
This frenetic piece is a joy to play and reminds me of the silent movie days (not that I was there). The speed is really at the discretion of the performer.
The strong percussive style highlighted in the middle section features in a number of my ragtime tunes (not sure why though).
I have loved Ragtime ever since I first heard the 'Maple Leaf Rag'
Free Range Funk
Composed C1981 and later published in ’Jazz Dazzlers for Piano’. Very solid 70s style funk where precise and properly articulated phrasing is crucial. The syncopation is the thing that defines this piece. I think I must have been watching chickens at the time.
Goin' off the Rails
Composed 2003 and published in ’Jazz Dazzlers for Piano’.
A very solid, driving boogie featuring very little other
than some descending Dominant 13th chords and a key
change. It could use an improvised development but
stands up well enough as a study or a cameo of it’s
genre.
Yo todavía sueño de España
Composed 17th October 2002 and published in '10 Character Studies
for Piano’
I spent six months playing piano in Majorca in 1971 and
this study has a flavour of those hazy distant days. The
‘B’ section is’ jazzy’ rather than’ latin’ and the LH
reminds me of a double bass part I once heard. The
improvisational development (added later) follows a
dream I once had. The D major melody at the end
(originally B minor at the beginning) simply represents
the sun coming out, or maybe me waking up, or ‘cos it
sounded nice…
Chick Please
Composed C1982 and later published in ’Jazz Dazzlers for Piano’. Very solid 70s style funk where precise and properly articulated phrasing is crucial. The syncopation is the thing that defines this piece. There is much scope for extra soloing. This piece was originally composed for a Jazz-Funk band and is heavily inspired by the music of Chick Corea.
Ragatina
I couldn't decide whether to call this piece 'Ragatina' or
'Ragamuffin' (some might call it Raga-rubbish) but either
way it remains as a nice memorable A-B-A ragtime (ternary
form) composition having fewer sections than a traditional
rag (hence Ragatina).
Play exactly as written with good accents and slurring (not slurrying).
Again, the strong percussive style highlighted in the middle section features in a number of my ragtime tunes (not sure why though).
I have loved Ragtime ever since I first heard Joplin's 'Maple Leaf Rag'. 'Elite Syncopations' also grabbed me.
I Wanna Boogie 'n' Get on Down
Composed 1982 and later published in ’Jazz Dazzlers for Piano’. A typical piano boogie-woogie with most of the usual trimmings. I prefer this one with straight quavers a la rock’n’roll. Nothin’ more to be said.
Boppy Dazzler
Composed C1981 and later published in ’Jazz Dazzlers for Piano’. Typical ‘Be-Bop’ style but deceptively tricky, especially the R.H. 3rds and jazz band style improvisation with the walking bass. It’s worth persevering with especially if the improvisation is developed.
Cuba Libre (with a lime wedge)
Not proper ragtime but I call it it Rag/Latin/Classic Fusion.
Originally arranged for a Clarinettist (as was 'Ragatina'
and 'Silent Movie Rag')
It is basically an improvisation generously topped with jazz & blues phrasing. The L.H. dotted crotchet rhythm gives it a distinctive Latin-American 'lilt' and the ridiculously lavish arpeggio section gives it.... I'm not exactly sure!
The 'Lime Wedge' ingredient also features somewhere in the middle.
I still remember my first Cuba Libre in Spain leading to a couple to many...
Composed March 2005 and published in ’10 Character Studies for Piano’ as a replacement for ‘Angels Music Box’
