Jazz Piano Cafe

Category: Music Discussion

  • Song of the Week – Kurt Elling “Where I Belong”

    One of my all time favorite jazz vocalists is the inimitable Kurt Elling. He has been voted Male Vocalist of the Year for 10 years in a row by critics in Downbeat magazine and for 5 years by the Downbeat readers’ choice awards. Kurt Elling has done some really incredible recordings, and I am definitely…

  • Live gig recording: Julian N. and Geoff Peters (alto sax and piano jazz duet)

    I played piano at a wedding with my friend Julian N., a saxophonist and composer. Julian is a student at Humber College in Toronto. You can view his myspace page by clicking here. Here is a track listing with links to the individual videos: Stella by Starlight (Victor Young) Blue Bossa (Kenny Dorham) Out of…

  • New Composition – Wild Thing (by Geoff Peters)

    Today I wrote a new song: it’s called “Wild Thing” and is inspired by the movie Where the Wild Things Are. Click here to download the song or feel free to use the player above to listen. To watch me perform the song, check out this Ear Training Video we made, where I explain how…

  • Owl City’s Playlist: Music To Eat Pizza To

    I saw a post on the imeem home page about an electronic pop band called Owl City (which, incidentally, is really popular: their Myspace page has over 12 million views). Adam Young from Owl City has put together a music playlist on imeem entitled “Music To Eat Pizza To”, and I think this is a…

  • Song of the Week: “Your Amazing Grace” by Marcus Miller feat Chaka Khan

    The JazzPianoCafe song of the week is “Your Amazing Grace” by Marcus Miller featuring Chaka Khan. It’s from Marcus’s 2001 album M2 (find Marcus Miller M² on Amazon.com). The song features a stellar cast of musicians: Marcus Miller Bass Clarinet, Bass Guitar, Bass Synth, Synths, Percussion Programming Chaka Khan Vocals Kenny Garrett Alto Saxophone solo…

  • Song of the Week: Stars by Kate McGarry

    I just discovered the music of jazz vocalist Kate McGarry (view her page on All About Jazz, her website, or her myspace). She has a really contemporary and modern sound, a bit similar to Bjork but with the passion and intensity of some of the classic “old school” vocalists like Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday.…

  • CATcerto – a cat plays the piano with an orchestra

    This is simply amazing. Lithuanian conductor and composer Mindaugas Piečaitis found videos on Youtube of a very talented, musical cat, Nora the Piano Cat and decided to write a concerto for her. The concerto, called CATcerto (web site) was first performed by Nora and the Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra in Lithuania on June 5th 2009. The…

  • Song of the Week – Hit By A Cement Mixer, Ninjaspy

    I decided I am going to start a “Song of the Week” on this blog. Every week I will post a blog about a new song that I have found that I think is really great. There will be links to where you can listen to the song online and also purchase it. The first…

  • New Composition: I Spy

    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…