Bradley Sowash performs Ellingthoven

Heaven -- angels floating around playing lyres? Not for me. My idea of heaven includes a neighborhood known as the "Musician's Quarter." Here, musicians across the ages hang out together trading licks, jamming, telling music jokes, and co-creating. Suppose the great American jazz composer Duke Ellington sits down with classical music giant Beethoven. The two find they have a lot in common. Both epitomize their musical time, place, and culture. Both are powerful pianists widely admired for their improvisational abilities. They decide to collaborate. Beethoven insists on creating the introduction and a cadenza (the point near the end of concertos where the featured musician tries to squeeze in as many notes as possible into a small amount of time). Ellington agrees to handle the main theme allowing room for improvisation along the way. Together, they hammer out a piece sadly destined only for celestial ears unless some mortal can be found to perform it for earthlings. I'm the lucky one they choose. This is the result.

[Produced and recorded by Mills James Productions for "The Piano Guy" on public television. Used with permission.]

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Bradley
• Sowash
• Beethoven
• Duke
• Ellington
• piano
• jazz
• classical
• solo
• improvisation
• keyboard
• virtuoso

[JazyGirl26]

i met him a few years ago and he signed my cd lol

he composed "whodunit" a really cool dance piece for balletbet it was like a mystery jazz show, veryyy cool.. Nice guy too :D

[bradleysowash]

@JazyGirl26 Aw shucks!

[theraa]

Great work and it's always a pleasure to see this clip!

Which pieces of Beethoven did you use though? (and Ellington if it's not only his style you improvised)

[bradleysowash]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. There's a hodgepodge of little Beethoven quotes including "Ode to Joy", "5th Symphony", "Fur Elise" and also the general classical style in the intro and cadenza.

[evanderzeus14]

Simply outstanding, seeing this reminds me of the 2007 TMTA convention in the summer. This was by far the coolest thing I saw eventhough it was only my first convention. The tune of this piece hasn't left my mind since I heard it. Bravo, Mr. Bradley; your "That's Jazz" series is great, and thank you for signing my copy this year.

[bradleysowash]

The Texas Music Teachers Conference was one of the best I've been to. I really appreciate the enthusiasm the teaching community has there for jazz. Thanks for using my jazz piano method. Look for new supplementary books soon.

[TheBoogieNovice]

You make my day with your feeling and your swing...

Thanks ‼

[bergenick]

Can somebody please tell me what is the name of the melody that inspired the beginning of the song?

[patrikackander]

This is amazing, its 4:40 in the moring here at Sweden and your music has gotten me paralyzed, I can't go to bed I just want to hear more and more, I'm speachless. Thank you for sharing this tallent with us!

[IronMicey911]

You have that WoW factor

[MESS129]

If heaven is like what you think it is, I can't wait. xD

Anyways, I love what you had going there. The mixture of all those different styles really pleased my ears. It was pretty much perfect. The licks, all the little snippets of different songs, the emotional dynamics... I could listen to this over and over again and never get tired of it. I'm glad to have met you and worked with you (I was at some of your jazz improv classes in Columbus) and I hope to meet you again.

[UNOxDExELLOS]

Lucky...