left hand improvising

Hey, i'm a jazzpiano player, and the last few months i've noticed that my left hand became weaker then my right hand, especially when practising scale runs. Now i've been doing extensive scale runs with my left hand to get the dexterity back, and it's working. Today i tried improvising over a couple of II-V-I 's with the chords in my right hand, and the improvising in my left. Now i'm wondering, are there a lot of jazz pianists improvising in the left hand register, or is it just a curiosum? And is it worth practising or not?

Jazz almost always calls for the left hand to play chords, or bass lines (if you don't have a bass player), or occasionally set riffs. Melodic LH improvisation is very rare. So I wouldn't worry about it, unless you want to invent a new style.

Some pianists do improvise lines with left hands. The most obvious and simple thing to do is a walking bass line accompaniment. You will also hear a lot of people do that Phineas Newborn thing where you play the same line in your left and right hands, two octaves appart. On some of Brad Mehldau's records he launches into a repeated arpeggiated ostinato figure in his right hand while he plays melodic lines in his left. And I am sure that I have heard Paul Bley play distinct lines in his left and right hands simultaneously, but I can't remember the records off the top of my head.

Try starting with parallel octaves. It sounds cool, and it's a good workout for your left hand. Improvising independant lines in both hands is more of an exercise of the brain than the hands... and it's *much* harder than it looks.

K

Today i tried improvising over a

Well, in resonse to some of your questions, I do a fair amount of improvising with the left hand although I try to stay in the tenor register with it. I tend to play countermelody/harmony with the left hand when I don't have to play too much bass. If I have a bass player, I do a lot of it, if I don't then I do less of it. I sometimes play sort of takeoff on stride by using a low bass downbeat and follow it with harmony played in the tenor area. It's easier to do than it is to explain. I only rarely play rhythm (chords) in the right against melody in the left hand, but I do it occasionally for variety. Autumn leaves comes to mind.

Gerry

Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7th of your life.

What do you mean by countermelody? Two lines forming a harmony?

Are there any pianists at all that use their left hand as equal to the right hand? What comes to mind is that it could be usefull to start improvising with chords in left hand, improv in right hand, but switch it half way without the audience knowing it, and then switch back. just a thought. Now it seems the left hand is allways been used in function of the right hand.

It would be helpful to remember that the original question was specifically about playing jazz. Bach requires using both hands equally, but jazz requires differnt specialization.

I play jazz almost exclusively, but I don't know about the different specialization.

Gerry I don't get déjà vu, I just live a repetitive life.

I meant this : when playing jazz, most pianists either play chords in the left hand, solo in the right hand, or walking bass in the left and solo in the right. Either way, the left hand plays as a function of the right hand, it's comping for the right hand. The only one that i've heard that comes close to an independant left hand is indeed brad Mehldau, when his right hand goes into rythmic patterns, and his left hand takes the solo over.

So is this because it's so difficult, or just because no-one thought of it?

There are a lot of different ways of using the left hand melodically in jazz piano. One is the way Mehldau does. Of course, a lot of pianists do walking bass lines, which is sort of like improvising a counter melody, but it's rythmically very simple. And a lot of pianists also do the parallel octaves thing. But the only person I have ever heard improvising distinct lines simultaneously in both hands in Paul Bley.

And yes, it's really freakin' hard. It's hard to think of two different melodies simultaneously, much less to invent them.

Strange. I've been working on that. I thought I was the first person to think of it, beyond something like a little special effect to throw in a solo to impress all the pianists.

Gads, Bley is alright, but have you ever heard Denny Zeitlin? He plays as if he has two complete brains, one for each hand. Uncanny stuff.