On of the tracks that I have been listening to on my cell phone lately is Lee Morgan‘s tune Ceora (you can listen to the recording on Imeem by clicking here or by using the player below). Jazztrumpetsolos.com has a transcription of Lee Morgan’s solo on Ceora.

Ceora – Lee Morgan

Anyways, tonight I practiced for about half an hour on the tune Ceora. I hadn’t had a practice for almost a whole week, so for a good part of the practice I was focusing on getting some fluidity and strength back into my fingers while soloing. A few more hours and I will be getting back into things again.

Click here to download my practice of Lee Morgan’s Ceora in Midi format.

Since it’s in midi the sound quality will depend on what kind of synthesizer your computer has.

If you have a Disklavier piano it may sound even better than how it sounded while I was practicing!

Two weeks ago, Gio Escueta and I made a video of us performing the jazz standard My Foolish Heart. Click here to view the video on Youtube, or feel free to use the player below.

If you’d like to download the MP3 of the performance, feel free to grab it here.

> My Foolish Heart (MP3 time 3:34) – as performed by Gio Escueta (vocals) and Geoff Peters (piano)

This tune is a popular jazz standard that has been recorded by many jazz greats. Wikipedia has more info (click here); here is a brief excerpt:

Gordon Jenkins’s recording of “My Foolish Heart” reached the top ten on the charts. However, Billy Eckstine’s version became a million seller, spending 19 weeks on the charts and peaking at #6. Later recordings were made of this standard by numerous artists, including Bill Evans, Joe Williams with George Shearing, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, Carmen McRae,Elkie Brooks. Astrud Gilberto and Mel Tormé. More recently, “My Foolish Heart” has been covered by pianists Liz Story and Keith Jarrett, guitarists John McLaughlin and John Abercrombie, Charlie Haden’s Quartet West, singers Kurt Elling, Al Jarreau, Jane Monheit and Ann Hampton Callaway, a capella quartet The Idea of North, and the Ska band “The Positive Downside.” In 1963, the song made the top 100 in a doo-wop version by the Demensions.

Here is a link to the Kurt Elling version, which is one of my favorite tracks at the moment. I’ve included an embedded player below:

I’m excited that Kurt Elling is coming to the Vancouver International Jazz Festival this year (which runs June 26th to July 5, 2009). Kurt Elling’s concert in Vancouver is on July 3rd 2009 at the Centre for Performing Arts (click here for concert details).

Update: May 2nd 2009: I found a great Youtube video of Kurt Elling performing My Foolish Heart live in Paris (click here to view or use the player below).

Last weekend I wrote a new song, it’s called I Spy, and it starts off with a “haunting minor” mysterious opening, builds some tension, and then has a cool major-7 bridge section which I really like.

I made a recording of it which you can view in the Youtube video player below or view on Youtube directly by clicking here. At the end of the video I pick up the microphone and give a short musical discussion about the melody and chords.

If you’d like a free MP3 of the recording feel free to download it from here.

Found a nice recording of Chick Corea and Hiromi Uehara playing Chick Corea’s wonderful tune, Windows. Click here to listen on Imeem or feel free to use the player below.

Windows – Chick Corea & Hiromi

Tonight I did a short practice where I ran once through the tune Lucky Southern (Keith Jarrett) but didn’t really work on it, and then played Alice in Wonderland (composed by Bob Hilliard and Sammy Fain) for a bit. Feel free to listen to my practice in Midi format by clicking below.

Lucky Southern and Alice in Wonderland (Piano Midi file)

Since it’s a midi file, the quality of the audio will depend on the midi synthesizer that you’re using. Unfortunately the one that comes with Quicktime is pretty low quality but it is good enough to get the idea!