A Portrait of Burt Bacharach: Piano

McPartland's gift for crystallizing a person's essence into a piano piece makes this collection a masterclass in character writing and musical storytelling. Each composition balances respect for its subject with McPartland's own harmonic voice, offering advanced pianists the chance to explore how jazz can capture personality without resorting to imitation. The range of subjects—from Beiderbecke's introspective elegance to Bacharach's sophisticated harmonic language—demands imaginative interpretation and yields fresh musical discovery with each reading.

These pieces breathe with the intimacy of a one-on-one conversation. McPartland's piano voice is warm and observant, never caricature; each composition unfolds with the nuance and vulnerability of a portrait session, balancing moments of gentle reflection with flashes of the subject's distinctive personality and musical brilliance.

Advanced pianists drawn to jazz composition and interpretation will find rich material here. This collection suits jazz students preparing for performance or study at the university level, as well as experienced classical pianists expanding into the jazz repertoire and seeking pieces that reward deep musical and intellectual engagement.

• Study recordings of your subject when available (especially for Bacharach and the jazz musicians) to absorb their musical temperament, phrasing, and interpretive choices before internalizing McPartland's compositional response to them.
• Treat harmonic color as a primary expressive tool; McPartland's voicings carry emotional weight equal to the melodic line, so voice each chord with intention and listen for the resonance underneath.
• Resist the urge to swing rigidly; McPartland's touch ranges from loose and conversational to precisely articulated, shifting within pieces to reflect changing moods and musical personalities.
• Use the full range of dynamic control and pedaling to shape the impressionistic and reflective passages, which often define these pieces as much as their more energetic sections.

Feature individual pieces in solo recitals or jazz ensemble concerts, pairing them with interviews or recorded excerpts from "Piano Jazz" to give audiences context for McPartland's musical choices. The collection also works beautifully as a complete solo set for a pianist presenting a retrospective of McPartland's compositional voice.

• Interpreting jazz harmony and voice leading at an advanced level
• Capturing character and emotional nuance through compositional detail
• Balancing melodic storytelling with harmonic color and texture
• Performing jazz with flexibility in articulation, dynamics, and phrasing
• Understanding how jazz composers reference and honor musical personalities