aberkok

I've found rootless voicings to be over-emphasized in general. They are important but thanks to the Levine book being most peoples' "way in" to jazz piano (not that it's a bad book) there's an international ban on rootful voicings.

Here's why playing the root is important -

a) The majority of a pianist's playing is not going to be in a quartet or even trio situation. From my experience, the most playing is done solo or duo, in which case roots are more useful.

b) There is nothing wrong with playing the root when playing with a bass player. As long as you don't start walking quarter notes or hammering out the root you won't really be getting in his way.

I'd say keep doing what you are doing, but don't dismiss the idea or simple two-handed, four note voicings voice-lead well. That list of tunes you're playing is exactly the sort I'd have recommended, so I'd say start making sure you memorize them then move on to the next batch. Do you know the melodies?

Just a general note: The thing I've been into more than anything else lately is transcription. This, for me, is the most direct way to learning non-classical music. The above discussion of Mark Levine's Jazz Piano Book got me thinking about the way things often get learned these days - out of a book.

There's a lot to learn from books. The problem is, it's third hand information often driven by the commercial interests of the print music industry. I also find few books by the great recording artists and conversely, many books are by people who I haven't heard any recordings of. What am I getting at? Well of course there's the old saying of those who can't do, teach...or in this case write instructional music books. So who would you rather learn from? Jamey Aebersold or John Coltrane?

So go out and transcribe some stuff. Sure it's hard...so pick something easier. I think one of the first things I lifted was the Billy Preston break in Let It Be...

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