Providing. . .

. . . the Piano Prelude

Courtesy of Eric Willison

at the Brewer’s Alley Songwriters showcase  

Monday, June 22, 2015 @ 7:15PM

Brewer’s Alley Songwriters Showcase

124 North Market Street Frederick, MD 21701
Telephone: 301-631-0089 Fax: 301-631-1874

http://www.brewers-alley.com/

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“. . . his unique and cutting edge jazz style in spades. Although very difficult to pigeon-hole and self-admittedly unique to any genre, his style is at once esoteric yet melodic and demands the listener to really pay attention. His writing takes you on jazz journeys that take you to places you never expected to go and make Ray an interesting listen. I like to call this “Brandy Music”, cause it goes so well with a snifter in hand. . .   3 of 4 Martinis!!”   

Steve Lambert, The Green Lounge

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(For Ray's complete recordings please visit http://cdbaby.com/all/rjozwiak)

Also, please visit:   http://www.rayjozwiak.com

http://pianogonzology.blogspot.com/

http://cdbaby.com/all/rjozwiak

 http://www.myspace.com/gonzopiano

 http://www.sonicbids.com/RayJozwiakGonzoPiano  

What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html  or at
http://www.ohomusic.com 


OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak.  Please Visit http://www.ohomusic.com 


My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music is now available at - Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak

(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

Tweet  

Thelonious. . .

(from http://www.monkzone.com/monkzone.htm)
Minton’s, legend has it, was where the “bebop revolution” began. The after-hours jam sessions at Minton’s, along with similar musical gatherings at Monroe’s Uptown House, Dan Wall’s Chili Shack, among others, attracted a new generation of musicians brimming with fresh ideas about harmony and rhythm—notably Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Mary Lou Williams, Kenny Clarke, Oscar Pettiford, Max Roach, Tadd Dameron, and Monk’s close friend and fellow pianist, Bud Powell. Monk’s harmonic innovations proved fundamental to the development of modern jazz in this period. Anointed by some critics as the “High Priest of Bebop,” several of his compositions (“52nd Street Theme,” “Round Midnight,” “Epistrophy” [co-written with Kenny Clarke and originally titled “Fly Right” and then “Iambic Pentameter”], “I Mean You”) were favorites among his contemporaries.

Yet, as much as Monk helped usher in the bebop revolution, he also charted a new course for modern music few were willing to follow. Whereas most pianists of the bebop era played sparse chords in the left hand and emphasized fast, even eighth and sixteenth notes in the right hand, Monk combined an active right hand with an equally active left hand, fusing stride and angular rhythms that utilized the entire keyboard. And in an era when fast, dense, virtuosic solos were the order of the day, Monk was famous for his use of space and silence. In addition to his unique phrasing and economy of notes, Monk would “lay out” pretty regularly, enabling his sidemen to experiment free of the piano’s fixed pitches. As a composer, Monk was less interested in writing new melodic lines over popular chord progressions than in creating a whole new architecture for his music, one in which harmony and rhythm melded seamlessly with the melody. “Everything I play is different,” Monk once explained, “different melody, different harmony, different structure. Each piece is different from the other. . . . [W]hen the song tells a story, when it gets a certain sound, then it’s through . . . completed.”

What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html

My latest release, Black & White Then Back,
can be downloaded digitally at:

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak3)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

Tweet

I'd like to say. . .

. . . that for me, the process of writing songs is an easy, breezy, joy of an experience where wonderfully clever lyrics flow effortless out from my brain accompanied by lilting, melodic symphonies both pleasing to the ear and timeless in their universal appeal.

I'd LIKE to say that. The truth is that, for me, songwriting is usually (or should I say- unusually) hard work. Very rarely does a song simply occur to me, fully formed and (in my opinion) wonderful. As a matter of fact, a simple 'hook' fully formed itself occurs periodically at best. I usually have to have either a melody, a concept, a rhythm, or even a 'groove' from another song in my mind before I can even start beginning to start to commence constructing a song at all. The best place for me to begin is with a concept (a lost love, a social injustice, or a stupid human foible, for examples) AND a rhythm or style (three/four jazz, slow rocker, New Orleans funk, for examples) to really get the ball rolling.

But when it's all over, and I like what I've produced, and it tells a story or makes a point, that's one of the most exhilarating sensations in existence. And sometimes, even when the song is okay, not 'Billboard top five with a bullet' wonderful yet not really quite bad, I still feel a certain satisfaction resulting from my efforts, I've flexed my creative 'muscle' and I have practiced my craft to the extent that I am ready to move along and create more. That's how I know that this is what I should be doing. Billy Joel once said, when asked which of his original songs he thought was best, that all of the songs that he created are his children. He doesn't really love one more than another because they're ALL his very own.



download your
very own copy of
ANOTHER SHOT
by Ray Jozwiak

Please Visit
http://www.rayjozwiak.com


Tweet