L' Evolution du Piano Solo dans le Jazz: Piano DVD

This DVD accomplishes something rare: it makes stylistic differences audible and tangible by applying 24 different pianists' approaches to a single theme. Rather than asking students to memorize names and dates, you can play these back-to-back comparisons and let the music itself reveal what makes Tatum's virtuosity different from Monk's angular sensibility or how Corea's harmonic language diverges from Beirach's. It's a masterclass in listening that works equally well for jazz students and classical musicians curious about how solo jazz piano evolved.

Like stepping through a gallery where the same painting hangs in 24 different rooms, each reimagined by a master. You hear stride walk into swing, stride evolve into bebop, bebop splinter into modal and free approaches. The recurring theme anchors you while the playing itself—the touch, the harmony, the rhythm, the silence—transforms.

Jazz piano students from intermediate level onward, as well as jazz history courses, ear training classes, and any pianist seeking to understand how personal voice emerges within tradition. Classical pianists exploring jazz will find concrete visual and sonic reference points; educators can use it as a primary source text that requires no translation.

• Listen through the entire DVD without stopping to absorb the arc of stylistic development across the century, then return to specific eras for deeper study.
• Pause after each pianist's interpretation and try applying their approach to a tune you know, even if imperfectly. The DVD models techniques; your own playing brings understanding.
• Compare pianists from the same era (Hines and Wilson, Smith and Ellington) to hear how individual voices emerged even within shared harmonic languages and rhythmic contexts.
• Use the common theme as a reference point. Having "All of Me" as your anchor helps you isolate what each pianist is actually doing rather than hearing only surface-level differences.

Incorporate into jazz history units as your primary listening text, pairing it with transcription and performance assignments where students learn a solo from their chosen pianist. It also works as a summer study guide or individual enrichment resource for pianists preparing for jazz auditions or competitions, offering genuine models rather than theoretical abstraction.

• Recognizing stylistic markers across swing, bebop, modal, and contemporary jazz piano approaches
• Listening analytically to harmony, rhythm, voicing, and touch as distinct elements of personal style
• Understanding how individual voice develops within historical tradition
• Identifying influences and connections between pianists across generations
• Applying observed stylistic approaches to familiar standards and original compositions