Barclay Street Blues - Piano Solo: Piano Solo

Alexander's jazz writing strips away intimidation by building real harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary without sacrificing musicality. These pieces genuinely sound like jazz, not classroom approximations, which means your students are learning the real thing from the first measure.

These pieces capture the conversational ease of jazz while respecting the late-intermediate pianist's still-developing technical toolkit. There's a warmth to Alexander's voice here, a sense that jazz belongs to every student willing to listen closely and play with intention.

Late-intermediate pianists ready to explore jazz idioms with harmonic depth and rhythmic authenticity. Students preparing for jazz festival performances or teachers building a jazz curriculum will find both technical challenge and genuine musical reward.

• Find the swing feel by listening to the recorded accompaniment first without playing along; let your ear absorb where the pocket sits before you add your hands.
• Shape the lyrical passages with the same care you'd give a classical melody, even as the harmonies get more sophisticated around you.
• When rhythms feel awkward on the page, isolate those measures and speak the rhythm aloud before returning to the keys.
• Balance clarity in the left hand comping patterns with forward momentum in the melody; neither should overpower the other.

Build a recital set entirely from this collection, or program individual pieces alongside classical and contemporary works to show students how jazz integrates into a balanced concert. The Federation Festivals 2024-2028 selection status also makes this ideal for spring competition preparation.

• Reading swing rhythms and understanding their notation
• Comping with jazz chord symbols and voice-leading
• Improvisation within structured harmonic progressions
• Interpreting jazz articulation and phrasing
• Building independence between melody and accompaniment patterns