‘This Nearly Was Mine’ – solo jazz piano lesson. To clearly read the music, you will need the high quality youtube version – au.youtube.com Wonderful tune from South Pacific – lots of jazz pianists have played it – Fred Hersch, Chick Corea, Dick Hyman, Cecil Taylor. I tried to keep this as simple as I could – in the key of C, no re-harmonisation or difficult to execute runs. My favourite Keith Jarrett album is the one he recorded straight after having chronic fatigue – ‘The Melody At Night With You’ where he plays great songs in a lovely simple way, with minimal improvisation and no grunts and groans! Non pianists please ignore the comments/explanations. This would be easy for an intermediate pianist to play from the transcription which is on my DVD along with a melody and chords leadsheet. Details regarding the DVD, the midi file,, and a superior quality copy of this videoto freely download are on my website at www.bushgrafts.com

‘You Must Believe In Spring’ – a jazz piano lesson. Sorry about the title page on the video where I called it ‘You Must Remember Spring! This is quite a challenging song to play – Bill Evans’ versions, including the one with Tony Bennett are brilliant. Like other videos I have done recently, this includes a scrolling notation view, as well as clear views of the keyboard. It is intended as a lesson, so I perhaps have gone a bit ‘over the top’ crowding in a lot of things to illustrate different techniques! To get a clear more readable view of the transcription, you probably need to go to my site at web.newsguy.com There is a stereo version there which should play as it loads – also a midi file, and the backing that I used. Check out this excellent version by a young Lithuanian jazz pianist au.youtube.com

You will definitely need to watch this in high quality to read the annotations added. youtube.com This is the 2nd time I have done this – see au.youtube.com for the other version. I used the same bass and drum track that I had recorded earlier. For an even better version go to www.bushgrafts.com.au – there is also a midi file there. A printable transcription (pdf file) is on my DVD – details on the website.

On behalf of myself and Team Playground I would like to thank all of the Team Playground Sessions community members that took time submit or vote during the competition. Watch our compilation tribute video at www.youtube.com The level of creativity and talent was very strong and we are looking forward to working with our passionate community to craft unique playing and contest opportunities for the various levels of players. I would like to give a special shout out to the Play by Ear BETA contest winners: (YouTube account names) TheJRpiano with 268, followed by alec9522 with 248 for Most Likes. Team Playground Picks were Nicole4Piano and tdotfamily! Lastly, we are very interested in creating dynamic contests and a global community of piano players. Please send your suggestions to us at contest.playground@gmail.com.

www.easyjazzpiano.com presents this new Easy Jazz Piano DVD. If you have always wanted to learn jazz piano, you will learn a fun song, improvisation and some hip chords on this DVD.

Another fairly simple to play jazz standard – known widely probably through the fairly recent version by singer Norah Jones. This is intended for intermediate to advanced jazz piano players. I have again added extra information – a clear view of the notes being played, a rolling version of the notation, and lots of comments on the techniques used. This video (in stereo) and the midi file that was recorded at the same time as the video are free to download at www.bushgrafts.com A .pdf file of the transcription is on my DVD – details are on the above website Ifyou have a fast connection and want to see this in high quality video to see the notes clearly (and improved audio), add the letters &fmt=18 straight after the existing internet address line above.

‘Lush Life’ – advanced jazz piano lesson. This is one of the more difficult ballads to play – though there are many versions to check out – try the wonderful version by 7notemode – uk.youtube.com or from Italy, theimprovisor au.youtube.com The notation on the video has been adjusted so that it fits the original form of the song, even though the first part is played out of tempo. My idea is not so much to make a perfect ‘arrangement’ – rather I hope that some piano players might get some ideas from studying the annotations, notation, or piano view. As with my other videos, you probably need to watch it in high quality ( uk.youtube.com )to get a clear view of the notes etc. There is a much clearer free-to-download video at www.bushgrafts.com and on my DVD, a copy of the bass and drums ‘backing track’ to play along with, and also a printable pdf transcription.

Downloads of the MIDI and PDF file of the piano solo as well as the MP3 and MIDI file of the backing track are available on my web site at www.Lot2Learn.com One of my favorite minor-type blues, I figured I better get this one uploaded before the summer ends. I have added some notations to explain some of the techniques I use during the solo. As usual, it’s all about tension and resolve. Tech notes I decided to use the BIAB midi keys on this video to try and show the left and right hands in different colors – it’s pretty accurate. Sorry about the video quality of the piano. I’m having some slight technical impairment that I’m trying to work through. As always, thanks for listening, and thanks for your continued support. – L2L

www.JazzPianoLessons.com Have you wanted to improvise for years but are still stumped? Have you purchased numerous books on the subject only to find them sitting on the shelf? I can help. I’ve created 20 FREE jazz piano video lessons to get you started. Signup here www.jazzpianolessons.com

Living in the middle of nowhere, Disney sheet music is pretty hard to come by… So I had to make my own up. (That means there’s NO music, I did this purely by ear.) I’d very much appreciate any critiques. Like, it doesn’t sound right here or there or whatever. Suggestions are good, if you’d like to give them too. Sorry about the shaky-ness. It’s a lot harder to play piano when you’re being recorded. Note: I’ve arranged many of the other Lion King songs too. If there’s enough interest here, I may uplaod some more.