What Do Jazz Pianists Listen to When Nobody’s Watching? (Mailbag Episode)

You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians

In this mailbag episode, jazz pianists Adam Maness and Peter Martin respond to a variety of listener inquiries via Speakpipe and email. The hos

Key takeaways

• Adam Maness recommends transcribing Wynton Kelly's solo on 'Freddie Freeloader' for its approachability.
• Peter Martin suggests that the 'Ondes Martenot' is responsible for the haunting sound in Radiohead's 'How to Disappear Completely'.

Main topics

• Musical influences and early training
• Advice for jazz transcription

Notable quotes

There's no such thing as dumb questions. Just dumb answers.

Conclusion

The episode serves as an engaging, community-driven exploration of jaz

Transcript preview

Speaker 6 (0:00) There's no such thing as dumb questions. Just dumb answers. Which we're about to get. And was like, hey, are you the guy from the podcast? Was it an NBA coach? Speaker 5 (0:11) We get a lot of, and I mean a lot of, requests for albums from all of you. I'm going to say B tier. Now don't come for me, internet. There's something people should know, which is that... Speaker 5 (0:28) I'm Adam Maness. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear It podcast. Speaker 6 (0:32) Music explored. Speaker 5 (0:33) Explored, brought to you today by Open Studio. Go to OpenStudioJazz.com for all your jazz listening needs. Speaker 6 (0:40) You got rustling papers. Go ahead and introduce what we're doing today because I have a, for our audio listeners, you'll be able to hear this and if you're on YouTube, you'll be able to see this because this is our, what kind of episode? Speaker 5 (0:53) It's our mailbag episode. We are taking, that's a paper airplane. He made that in like five seconds. Did not fly Speaker 6 (0:59) great. We do have your letters here with us. I'm related to the wrong brothers, not the right brothers. Speaker 5 (1:05) That's solid. Do I need Speaker 6 (1:06) that page? I hope not. You don't need any pages, Speaker 5 (1:08) buddy. So we've got your voicemails, a.k.a. speakpipes. Thank you, everybody. We've got a lot of great speakpipes. Shout out to the Speaker 6 (1:15) Speakpipe Speaker 5 (1:15) Corporation of Speaker 6 (1:18) America. Speaker 5 (1:18) Thanks to Big Voicemail for making that happen. We also have your emails. We have a lot of great questions to get through, Peter. This is really, we're here for the listener. for this episode. We are. We're here to Speaker 6 (1:28) acknowledge our dear listener and to answer their burning questions and take some suggestions. And we ran out of content, so this is what we're doing. Speaker 5 (1:37) There's that, too. It's a win-win-win. Speaker 6 (1:40) Okay, so the first thing we're going to do, Peter, is a little Speaker 5 (1:42) bit, we're going to get started here with a little rapid-fire segment. So we'll go one each, and we'll just alternate between. Should I mix them up? Yeah, just give them a shuffle. As you can see, I'm Speaker 6 (1:51) not, you know. Speaker 5 (1:51) I'm going Speaker 6 (1:51) to Speaker 5 (1:51) do these randomly. Yeah. Speaker 6 (1:53) What do you listen to when Speaker 5 (1:54) jogging or working out? Oh, that's a great question. From Jill. I was actually just working out the other day and I was listening to Black Messiah by D'Angelo. Oh. This was like after we recorded the album. I've been listening to that too since we've been working Speaker 6 (2:10) out. Speaker 5 (2:10) I know. It's a great, it's a great, it's also really good workout music because like, I mean, I don't do a lot of cardio. I don't know if you could tell, but I do a lot of weightlifting and it's great because like, There's some hype music on there that kind of gets you pumped up, but then also you can, as you're waiting for your next set, you can be like, man, this is deep. Speaker 6 (2:27) That was a good flex, by the way. I don't do a lot of cardio. I don't have time with all my weightlifting. Speaker 5 (2:32) It's not working. None of it's working. When Speaker 6 (2:34) I'm running, I don't know if you noticed, I do a lot of running, not a lot of weightlifting. I don't listen to anything. I listen to nature. The birds or cars and motorcycles, part of nature. God's soundtrack. That's right. No, I used to listen to music. I used to listen to podcasts and I stopped, I mean, five, no longer, six, seven years ago. And it's been such a great thing. But I hear music. You know what I mean? Like sometimes there's something I've been listening to and I think we all need some time, some solitude, if that's in nature, if that's not, if that's meditating or whatever. that if we're musicians or love music, I think it always seeps in and that's a good thing, right? Yeah. Like we're able to hear things, right? Speaker 5 (3:13) Yeah. I have a funny listening to music at the gym story because I had my headphones on. Shout out Sony. And I was listening to some music and you'll hear a listener, a fan of the Speaker 6 (3:25) show, approached me at the gym and was like, hey, are you the guy from the podcast? Was it an NBA coach? It was not. Don't say the name, but okay, go ahead. It was not, but it could have been. No, Speaker 5 (3:34) he's a very nice guy. Yeah. And he was like, hey, I'm a fan of the show. He's like, I got to know, what are you listening to right now? And I think he even said like, I'm listening to Ornette Coleman. A little judgy. Yeah. And I was listening to a whisper singer-songwriter, Phoebe Bridgers. Oh, is that an AI? No, it's not an AI. She's amazing. But it's not. It's not anything like we would play at the show. And Speaker 6 (4:01) it's also a very weird thing to listen to while you're working out because it's very quiet singer-songwriter style Speaker 5 (4:05) music. Speaker 6 (4:05) It's Speaker 5 (4:06) not Speaker 6 (4:06) pumping up music. Speaker 5 (4:06) No, but I really love this album. And the look on his face was like disgusting. So we might have lost that fan. I'm sorry about that. Wait, Speaker 6 (4:13) were you listening to this singer-songwriter while you lifted like... 1.5 pounds with your... No, I was actually Speaker 5 (4:19) going like 450 on the leg press at the time. Oh, nice. That's awesome. It wasn't fitting the vibe, but it was great. Okay, my turn. My turn. Okay, what age did you start playing the piano? From James Mitchell. Speaker 6 (4:32) I started, I believe, at three or four. I think it was three, but I've, I has been some dispute from my parents on that. I started violin actually first a little bit, but yeah, I think by the time I was four, I was kind of playing around some when I was younger. Cause my sister played, my older sister. Yeah. Shout out Nancy. So you were talking Speaker 5 (4:52) about Speaker 6 (4:52) lessons, like formal lessons. I think I started lessons at four with like a friend of my parents, but both my parents were musicians and they actually both played piano. My dad plays really well, so I think they were showing me some things. But I was at the keyboard, shall we say. That's great. Speaker 4 (5:06) Yeah. Speaker 5 (5:07) I didn't start actually playing piano, like taking lessons until I was 10. Speaker 6 (5:11) But Speaker 5 (5:11) I'd started with my dad who plays guitar and really loves music. He would bring out the, he had an acoustic guitar. He had a 12-string acoustic. And he had, at one point, like a beautiful white-on-white Fender Stratocaster. Speaker 4 (5:26) And most weekends, he would get out the guitar and the amplifier, and we Speaker 5 (5:29) would Speaker 4 (5:30) play John Denver songs and Beach Boys songs, and I would sing a Speaker 5 (5:34) lot with him. You know, Country Road, Take Me Home, and, you know, Del Shannon, Runaway. We would do all this stuff, and I remember, like, when he got the Strat, he would play, like, some Dick Dale and stuff like that. It sounded so cool. Speaker 6 (5:47) And Speaker 5 (5:48) I got a—when I was five, I got a little air organ from my aunt that had, like, chord buttons on the left and then a keyboard on the right. Yeah. And I remember like messing around with like the major minor chords and then like picking out Beach Boys melodies with the right side of the keyboard. Yeah. Before I had any piano lessons. And I still think about that because it's still kind of a lot of what I do today. It's like Speaker 6 (6:10) chords go Speaker 5 (6:11) here. Chords and melody. I was like, that makes a lot of sense. And then I had like, you know, Casio keyboards and I played my dad's guitars a little bit when I was between the ages of five and 10. And I asked my parents for guitar lessons when I was 10. Speaker 6 (6:23) And Speaker 5 (6:24) they said, your hands are probably too small for guitar. So let's do piano lessons. But I later learned it's just because my mom worked with a really good piano teacher and she gave us a good deal. Okay. So my mom was like, piano for you. And you as a dad now, no. That's exactly what you do. Good deals and bartering is called Speaker 6 (6:42) good parenting. I know someone, Speaker 5 (6:44) that's what you're doing. That's Speaker 6 (6:45) right. Speaker 5 (6:45) Actually, Speaker 6 (6:46) now that I'm remembering, my first penalty or one of my first, we were still living in Florida, was a barter with my mom was teaching her kid. Violin. My mom was a violin teacher. Nothing wrong with the barter system. Nothing wrong with it. This country was built on the barter system. No, it was built on the stealing system. Well, anyway. All right, should we go on to the next one? Let's keep talking about politics. Let's talk about politics. What were Adam and Peter's entry points into jazz? Great question. From Robert Stewart via Speakpipe. Cool. And just a note here that Robert's intro was Charlie Brown Christmas. And that led to KOB. Oh, that's excellent. Yeah. So what was your entry point? I Speaker 5 (7:27) mean, I think the first music that I remember hearing that was jazz was honestly Mr. Rogers. Johnny Costa Trio. Yep. Who, by the way, Johnny Costa Trio slamming Speaker 6 (7:38) on Speaker 5 (7:38) that show. Everything was done live. Yeah. All the intros were bespoke. But I didn't know what it was. I just like that was the music to Mr. Rogers. And it was captivating. Yeah. It was really incredible. But for me, it was my dad's record collection. He had a lot of, I mean, I remember when he got a four disc CD of like Stan Getz plays Bossa Nova. And like that was probably the first thing I listened to on my own. Like I kind of stole it from him. Wow. Because I was like, this sounds cool. That's dad's Speaker 6 (8:04) music. Speaker 5 (8:04) Yeah. Yeah. It was like Speaker 6 (8:05) stealing his cigar pipe when he went there or something, right? Yeah. Yeah, Speaker 5 (8:09) exactly. Which I also Speaker 6 (8:10) did. Speaker 5 (8:11) No, but you know that as well as like jazz adjacent stuff. Like he was always playing Steely Dan's Asia and stuff like that. And then it wasn't until later when I started like in. in jazz band in middle school where someone was like check out bill evans check out oscar peterson nice nice Speaker 7 (8:27) yeah Speaker 6 (8:28) for me actually was exactly the same thing i think the earliest um was mr rogers show for sure that i was hearing actual great acoustic jazz and just you know, that's, I mean, I think that's, if you were listening, if you're of a certain age and you're listening to that, that is your entry point. Shout out PBS, Speaker 5 (8:43) by the way, Toots Thielman on this theme from Sesame Street. Right. I was going to say, Speaker 6 (8:47) Sesame Street too and Stevie Wonder on Sesame Street. But also Fred Rogers at the piano was, was a very good pianist. He really was. Yeah. So it was that, but then in terms of records, yeah, also my, my dad had some good records. He had the Smithsonian. Speaker 6 (9:03) classic jazz, like the five album set box set, which is everything from like Kid Ori and Louis Armstrong all the way up to like Ornette Coleman was the end because it was from like the early 70s or something. And then also Herbie Hancock's Rocket. That was kind of a direct push in because I think I was like 12 years old when that record came out. I was like really into like early hip hop and even some stuff earlier than that and just different pop stuff or whatever. And then That record was huge, and it was like an MTV video. I remember my dad saying when he heard, because I had that record, he's like, oh, Herbie Hancock. He's like, oh, he played with Miles Davis. I was like, what are you? No, I was like, no, this is Herbie Hancock from MTV. He's like, yeah, I know who he is, you know. Interesting. Yeah. Next up. Is this the lightning round? Do we call it that? Well, yeah. It's the tsunami round. Speaker 5 (9:49) This is from Dylan Stukens. This is, if you each had to choose one standalone chord, what would it be? Speaker 6 (9:57) Man, I think it'd be a big fat triad. Really? Yeah. Speaker 5 (10:01) Interesting. Speaker 6 (10:01) Yeah. A major triad? Well, I'm keeping it open so that I have some options. But yeah, I was thinking open. Yeah, I mean, because he's not saying like choose it for what. Because we were just talking about trying to play more simple stuff. Speaker 5 (10:13) Yeah. Speaker 6 (10:13) That's a simple chord, right? That's Speaker 5 (10:14) a very simple chord. Speaker 6 (10:15) How about you? I'm going to go a sus chord. If I had to choose one, I like the ambiguity. It could be a sus triad. It could be a sus seven chord. It is Speaker 5 (10:24) nice, Sam. Yeah. You can make it. You can make some stuff out of that. Speaker 6 (10:29) That's true. Yeah, I mean, it floats. It can be pensive. It can be, yeah, that's a great one. Is it my turn? It's Speaker 5 (10:35) your turn. Speaker 6 (10:35) Okay. If each of you were, ooh, this is a three-parter from Dylan Taylor. Okay? Okay. If each of you were to play a show where it's all track-by-track covers, which album? would you select? So I'm going to let you go first and then I'll give you the second part after you answer that. Speaker 5 (10:51) Okay. I mean, well, this is a question I've thought about a lot because I like to put on shows and I'm currently actually working on a holiday show that you're Speaker 6 (10:59) hopefully going to be playing Speaker 5 (11:01) on. Speaker 6 (11:01) It's supposed to be a secret. Don't, don't. It's not going to be a secret. Well, by the time this comes out, it won't matter. Okay. Speaker 5 (11:05) We're going to do track for track, Peter, on the 442's Holiday Spectacular. December 7th, if you're in St. Louis, by the way, we're going to do the Charlie Brown Christmas album like all the way through. Speaker 7 (11:16) Yeah, it's going to be Speaker 5 (11:17) awesome. I'm going Speaker 7 (11:18) to Speaker 5 (11:18) sing on that. It's Speaker 7 (11:18) going Speaker 5 (11:18) to be great. Can I sing on that part? You can sing. I mean, that's the plan is for you to sing through the whole thing. But yeah, that is a good one. I've also contemplated doing with like an orchestra track for track Kid A, obviously. Yeah. It's one of my all-time favorites. I just think it would be really fun to like explore each one of those tracks and arrange it. So yeah, Speaker 6 (11:34) I could also at the drop of a hat at this point, pull Speaker 5 (11:37) out Bitches Brew because I've done that like four years in a row here at Jazz St. Louis. The Speaker 6 (11:41) entire thing. The Speaker 5 (11:42) entire thing. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 6 (11:43) Part two, would it change if you had unlimited rehearsal time? Speaker 5 (11:48) Yeah, I mean, if I had unlimited rehearsal time, kid A. On a dime, Bitches Brew. Speaker 6 (11:53) Okay, and then three, or if you had to perform tonight? Speaker 5 (11:57) Bitches Brew. Right. Yeah, exactly. That was good. You answered all your ones for me. Speaker 6 (12:00) What about you? So if I were to play a show where it's all, well, you know what's interesting? I was thinking about it because I just saw the announcement about Stevie Wonder. Doing a tour. I know. Yeah, in a couple months. We need to go. Speaker 5 (12:11) Stevie, do you need to promote that? Searching Speaker 6 (12:12) for Stevie, we're going to call it. You want