#max keenlyside

[ragtimecatt]

Around 1912, the legendary African-American pianist J.W. “Blind” Boone recorded several performances on the QRS Marking Piano, to be made into player piano rolls.  These rolls capture with great accuracy the pianists notes and pedaling, but all other aspects of the performance, the touch, nuance, and gradations of volume are lost, resulting in rolls that often sound jerky and uneven in rubato passages.  Here, Max Keenlyside has converted Boone’s performance of variations on  “When You And I Were Young Maggie” to play on a modern Yamaha disklavier, and adjusted individual note velocities to try to recreate some of the details that were lost in the original recording process over a century ago.  I think the results are rather stunning.

[ragtimecatt]

Adam Swanson and Max Keenlyside with James P Johnson's "Handful of Keys at the West Coast Ragtime Festival

[jazzexposure]

June 14, 2011 - Shame upon shame

Song: Tiger Rag

Original Artist: Nick LaRocca

Performer: Max Keenlyside

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Hey everyone!

So, several things.

Yesterday I actually forgot to blog. I was so caught up in doing what I was doing, arranging lead sheets, figuring songs out and whatnot that blogging had slipped my mind. It had nearly done the same thing tonight as I worked.

Second, De Anza College currently has a piano open to anybody located in its cafeteria. I spent a bit of time on it today, making this the first time that I have played in public for a large number of strangers. My public experience had before been limited to playing in piano stores to "test" pianos.

I think I've grown from this experience. What I heard from passers-by as I played really encouraged me. I hope that piano stays there and I'll get the chance to show off new stuff on it from time to time.

That being said, I thought this video sort of represented all at once, where I sort of am, and what I still have to achieve. Max Keenlyside is a well-versed stride and ragtime pianist with several original rags to his name. His style is easily recognizable and his improvisation is no different. His sound is so uplifting that any track played by Max Keenlyside is sure to be a smile-inducer. There is a video of him playing Morning Air and Echoes of Spring, which are rather slow and somewhat sombre tunes in some places, but he manages to lift the beat up, which is what I love in his playing.

I thought a video of him playing Tiger Rag would match the experience I had at the cafeteria piano today.

I've decided that I also love playing in public, especially after the first five minutes of jitters.

Here is Max Keenlyside's rendition of "Tiger Rag", a romping rendition that I'm sure all listeners will enjoy.

Enjoy, and keep swinging!