Adam Swanson plays St Louis Blues by WC Handy

[MaxiKing1907]

jetzt fühl ich mich mit meinen knapp 11 jahren klaviererfahrung richtig schlecht :/ nein wirklich ein 16jähriger der ein solches lied PERFEKT spielt, verdient großen respekt!

[CooCurrent]

Like we he did at 1:50, sounds awesome!

[12bar88]

Hey Guy nice licks

[crowebobby]

Best part of all is he NEVER sounds mechanical.

[orangehero2000]

very nice 

[fearfultom]

sweet -- just like the old days.

[stazz1111]

Absolutely LOVED it! Thanks very much.

[MrPianist45]

°,° Nothing to say ... It's incredible !

*I'm French and my English is very bad =/

[joperdmol]

@MrPianist45 incrrrrrroyable!!

i'm dutch and my french is very bad..

[polynesianpop]

Unbelievable!

[polynesianpop]

WOW!

[ikimonogakari2]

Such amazing talent you have!! Is this your own version of the song?

[mingg31]

your first concert in switzerland - and I was there! it was fantastic. thank you so much for this great evening!

[htiosc85]

He got the talent to be to master of next generation.

[chevychase]

Hats off, gentlemen: a genius!!!

Immeasurable talent. Breathtaking!

[NADYAKOST]

Thank you very much !!!!

[SmileMyFriend]

This is a joke... otherwise... I am going to burn my piano...

[slipknot555133]

@SmileMyFriend no he plays like this all the day..he would always be in the choir room playing piano all day during school..i graduated with him last year

[hobosandbuttmonkeys]

You are amazing.. there is no way you learned everything. It is part of you...

[DHS11999]

Wow!!! This is some of the finest piano playing I have ever heard. Adam Swanson has a true gift and makes it seem effortless. He is amazing!

[Sweepmyster]

And our Almighty Lord said....... today I think I'll make a piano player. Young man..... you are going to be SCARY in 20 years... go for it!!!! Steve from Ohio

[zorro051969]

Bravo !! hats off from France !!

[ChristopherSchlegel]

Wonderful! Thank you, Adam Swanson.

[lauraneville]

lovely with great feeling...I love it!!!

thanks for posting this

Laura

[soberbaby83]

What a great and extraordinary talent young Adam Swanson is! How much joy you bring to all who listen to your wonderful gift. Thank you so much.

[JubalCalif]

Holy Underwear, Batman! Young Adam is VERY talented! What an amazing job! Kudos, young man. And THANKS for sharing this delightful clip with us! You've made my day & my weekend! :)

[demsi2004]

Is he playing ad libitum?

[JamesPriceJohnson]

i enjoyed this alot! but... thats an ugly vest

[DanishBoogieBoy]

first time I hear Adam doing some boogie reminiscences, nice.

[geoffangusmusic]

leet! :D

[Soularddave]

Every day when I go to work I park on the street where W.C. Handy lived in St. Louis.

Guess what major league hockey team plays there now?

This young mans efforts are superlative, and i appreciate them very much. Thank you1

[Deaglet]

veeeeery good! Five stars me too!

[jazii2bad]

i love st. louis blues! my favorite song 2 sing in choir. and i rep da lou!

but man guy u killed it! u a beast@ (thats a wonderful thing)

keep it up!!!!!

[IkeBroflovski1337]

n1, playing the piano at a higher lvl

5 stars

[seanhanna78]

Im gonna be honest...love the selection...but I'm not crazy about the way its performed. He's slowed it down and made it more complicated than the ez...lax...mellow...version it began as. If u wanna cover a song, find a way to make it better or be faithful to the original. This recital lacks the intensely laid-back feel of the original. I wish I could play piano like this kid....I just think he may have misinterpreted the song as far as one listener is concerned.

[KawhackitaRag]

Everybody plays St. Louis Blues differently. J. Lawrence Cook alone made like three different piano rolls of it for QRS, all different!

One really great 1920's piano comparison is available from Benjamin Intartaglia's "Ragtime-France" website, in the "Bonus" section. It is excerpts from several different rolls of St. Louis Blues, played (or arranged) by 20's pianists Edythe Baker, Adam Carroll, J. Lawrence Cook (2 versions), and Rudy Erlebach. A nice sheet music comparison!

[KawhackitaRag]

I agree that I am not crazy about Adam's particular performance of this. Sure, he's got the vintage styles down. Technically, he can sound just like many of the great pianists of the 'teens and 'twenties.

BUT - the big question is: is this solo well-balanced, do the choruses provide nice rhythmic, melodic, and emotional contrasts? This version seems more a bravura showpiece than anything else. Shading and delicacy is a very hard thing to judge at a contest, but it is important.

[halofreak200715645]

Ahh, such is music. Its all about the interpretation. I think music can only be played two ways: Its "right" to you, or its "right" to everyone else. You want to play correctly at a contest, but you want to play it your way. That's part of the problem. Anyone who can master the two mediums (lets just call them desire and accuracy) is truly well on their way to being highly successful. I prefer to move with the music my way, to let it tell me a story I want to hear; not someone else's.

[sings2thesky]

I agree with your point as I see it. He's playing "Theme and Variations on..." rather than WC Handy's original work. I believe I'd have preferred hearing the original, or maybe working back into the original's "spirit" before wrapping it up, but I have to admit, it's a helluva showpiece!

[KawhackitaRag]

Yes it is, and parts of it (not all of it) are note-for-note based upon other peoples' versions!

Speaking of other peoples' versions, my two favorite versions would probably be Clarence Johnson's piano roll version on Capitol (I wish he recorded it!) and J. Russel Robinson's roll version on QRS (I also wish he recorded it!).

Albert Ammons also made a nice recording of it where he plays very much like one of his heroes, Jimmy Blythe. Unfortunately, Blythe apparently never recorded this.

[slipknot555133]

oh no..haha i have homeroom with him at school and ive heard this song in about 500 different ways..to be completely honest he probably had no course of action towards this song until he started playing it.

[dovanka]

unbelievable...great talent. I´m sure we will hear about him in the future

[JazzPianoMarvin]

How long have you've been playing?

[david1972a]

An amazing talent!

[Wilshire001]

wow that was really (really) good. I noticed you played some improvisations from John Arpin.

[drjohnmagrann]

Awesome!!! What a talent.

[waynegabi]

Adam is great. I am going to see him this weekend at Old Town Music Hall, June 28, 2009...I can see he's one heck of a performer...it'll be super. Wayne

[prince100]

You are really the best, Adam. You are a fantastic player.

[greenstuff22]

to be a good pianist you need to practice like 4 to 8 hours a day this is this kids life which i'm am proud to say is a truly gifted kid

[pianoenfolie]

I wish i could play like him one day!!!!!!

[RalphSutton]

Awesome!!!

[KawhackitaRag]

I still want to hear Clarence Johnson's version!!! (my friend is nearly finished piecing together my original piano roll, which was in tatters when I gave it to him to be scanned. I had no idea at the time, not having looked inside the roll box before handing it over).

[omegeert]

Sounds like he's been listening to Bob Seeley. Boogie part at around 3.03 sounds a lot like his version of the St. Louis Blues.

[BCSTH]

Part 1:

I am quite sure that Charlie Norman (1920-2005) also used that base somewhere. Charlie Norman became perhaps most recognized in 1949for doing a boogie woogie version of Anitra´s Dance (by Edward Grieg).

[BCSTH]

Part 2 (response to omegeert):

Some Grieg foundation tried to sue Charlie Norman in 1951 (he had "vandalized Anitra´s dance" - Charlie later explained that he just gave more life to Anitra by putting "ants in the pants" of Anitra or something close to it) if I recall correctly.

[KawhackitaRag]

You know what's ironic: Donald Lambert recorded a superb stride arrangement of "Anitra's Dance" in 1941 for Bluebird. No one so much as made a fuss. (Then again, Lambert was very obscure, and the records are very rare today). Even before him, however, people were "ragging the classics", and even before that, "vulgarizing" them by arranging the themes as popular dance steps such as the polka, waltz, two-step, schottische, etc.

Donald Lambert is now a stride legend; recordings keep turning up..

[BCSTH]

Part 3 (response to omegeert):

The record producer Metronome had to withdraw the record but by that time it had already sold in 10 000 copies (after that it was the black market that took care of the business...).

[omegeert]

Well, thanks for the info...

[Kablamooie]

I go to school with this kid. He plays every single morning. Kinda' something to look forward to.

[middle50mile]

You are a wonderful young player.Keep on goin'

[BCSTH]

Is there anyone who can give that boogie woogie base sequence after 3.03 min? It was just so nice. Keep playing man - you are great! Hope I can come over (from Sweden) and listen to you live one day.

[slipknot555133]

this reminds me of the little rascals haha

[qingqing10000]

he plays so well and he is cute. ^_^

[xOhGeez]

I go to school with this kid. He is pretty amazing... imagine, hearing it everday cuz he's always in the choir room playing something lol. We all love you Adam! =)

He played this song for our Jazz Choir last year.

He's pretty good at the bells in marching band too. =)

He's really gonna go places.

[DevineRose]

I used to go to school with Adam, and he is truly a talented kid. :)

[steinwaygrande1]

All I can say is look out Liberace you have competition in young Adam. Great stuff and wonderful to listen to

[ssk196494]

うまいですね　なかなか　いいです・・ｇｏｏｄー

＼(^o^＠)／

[MarkusL2007]

He simply has it. Jelly Roll would have feared him, James P. would have adopted him, Don Lambert would have visited him (or so).

Besht,

Markus

[watermelonridge]

What expression! THIS is a great talent! Can someone tell me where he is from?

[adamrag]

Originally from Dansville, MI but now living in Shenandoah, Iowa.

[idamay1]

Oh my, oh my! This young man is talented way beyond his years! i see nothing but stardom for him,,,,and i hope to see more of him on here.

[tdub1941]

Phenomenal!

I love it!

He is a good kid!

5 Stars

One heck of a great video!

Thanks Sue!

RagJazzMonkey

Tom Warner