Last night I made a video recording of myself performing an original jazz bebop tune on the piano. It’s called Ocean Apart and I wrote it last summer while taking a composition class with New York jazz pianist Misha Piatigorsky.

You can view the video on Youtube, Blip.tv, or use the player below.

The MP3 recording of this performance is available for free here.

pegEsus Quintet Live at Hermann's Jazz Club (poster by Oliver Brooks)

Back in August I performed a show with the pegEsus Quintet at Hermann’s Jazz Club in Victoria.

pegEsus is led by vocalist Peggy Hogan, who is currently studying music and literature at Concordia University.

The pegEsus Quintet is: Peggy Hogan voice, Geoff Peters piano, Ben Fast bass, Nick Houghton drums, and Amanda Paterson saxophone.

I recorded the show using my Minidisc recorder and camcorder, and put together the whole thing online as a series of Youtube videos.

• Watch entire show on Youtube
• Download the MP3’s of the concert (free)
• Check out Peggy’s myspace page.
• See my article on how use Minidiscs to record live music.

Here is a set list and links to the individual videos:

Set 1:

• Song For My Father by Horace Silver

• Your Mind is On Vacation by Mose Allison

• Close Enough for Love by Johnny Mandel, Paul Williams

• Bye Bye Blackbird by Ray Henderson

• Straight No Chaser by Thelonious Monk

• Georgia on My Mind by Hoagy Carmichael

• West Coast Blues by Wes Montgomery

Set 2:

• Softly as In A Morning Sunrise by Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II

• A Timeless Place (The Peacocks) by Norma Winstone / Jimmy Rowles

• It Ain’t Necessarily So by George and Ira Gershwin

• Twisted by Lambert, Hendricks & Ross

• God Bless the Child by Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog Jr.

Last week I took a holiday from work and attended a jazz workshop at the Victoria Conservatory of Music in Victoria, BC, Canada. It was a fun week of attending concerts put on by the faculty, and going to piano masterclasses and composition classes by New York jazz pianist, composer, and producer, Misha Piatigorsky.

We had some student jam sessions, and here is a video recording of myself (Geoff Peters, piano), Luke Elliott (drums) and Simon (bass) playing the tune called Little Sunflower by Freddie Hubbard.

It was recorded at the Superior Cafe on Superior Street in downtown Victoria BC Canada (a great place for live music in Victoria with bands performing every day).

Little Sunflower by Freddie Hubbard
Watch video: Youtube
Download song (free): Mp3

We also recorded another song at the jam, the tune Angel Eyes by Matt Dennis. It features Jillana Rathjen on vibes.

Angel Eyes by Matt Dennis
Watch video: Youtube
Download song (free): Mp3

Last summer I attended the Victoria Conservatory’s jazz workshop and one of the highlights was taking some classes with New York jazz pianist Misha Piatigorsky. One of the exercises of the composition class involved making up some chords to a melody, and can you believe it, the song from that exercise is still stuck in my head (or at least it decided to pop into my musical consciousness again tonight).

So here is what I remember, and I’ll call the tune “Misha’s Song”. I made a little recording and you can listen to it by clicking below. Comments are always appreciated!!

> Misha’s Song MP3 (playing time 2:35) – Composition and solo piano by Geoff Peters.

For those computer music buffs out there, a midi transcription of my performance is available by clicking here.