Sue Keller plays Kitten On The Keys by Zez Confrey

Sue Keller's live performance Saturday night, March 15, 2008 at the Scott Joplin House in St. Louis, Missouri. The piece is Kitten On The keys by Novelty Ragtime composer Zez Confrey. However, the arrangement is that of band leader and boogie piano player Freddie Slack with a little Stride-styled left-hand octaves and 10ths thrown in for good measure. This piece it a good stress-test for the bottom end of any piano. It was played here on a 7-foot Boston model 218 freshly tuned for the occasion. Compare with Sue's Live in Kalamazoo performance on a 9-foot Fazioli F278 which can be found on I-Tunes. And her Irresistible Blues studio recording on a Bosendorfer 275, also on I-Tunes.

For those interested in a higher-res mp3 recording, follow this link:
http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?/topic/1/21777.html

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Sue
• Keller
• Kitten
• on
• the
• Keys
• Zez
• Confrey
• Freddie
• Slack
• Novelty
• Ragtime
• Boogie
• Stride
• Piano

[ralkramralkram]

This is not Kitten on the Keys by Zez Confrey. This is Sue Keller playing boogie woogie with splatterings of Kitten on the Keys in it. Can't she just play what Confrey wrote? Either that or change the title to "Sue Keller plays boogie woogie".

[rtpress]

Check out the notes. Its based on a pretty well known Freddie Slack arrangement. Historical details from the published discography are: FREDDIE SLACK AND HIS ORCHESTRA: NYC, February 13, 1945. Sue's contribution to the arrangement is limited to her occasional stride touches. And her musicality. You might also want to check out how Tony Caramia plays it. His is also based on the Freddie Slack arrangement but he takes it deeper into the Novelty piano genre a la Pauline Alpert.

Howard

[CooCurrent]

@ralkramralkram Well, you obviously don't know the tune 'Kitten on the Keys' then!

[niceguy2685]

@ralkramralkram Dont be silly! Thi is kitten on the keys boogie woogie style, its not got splashes of kitten on the keys in it, it has all 3 themes there arranged to fit the boogie woogie style, fantastic piece in my mind and very well played!

[dovanka]

wonderful...if it is kitten on the keys or not...if I had a hat on my head,I would put it down with respect.

[bestbari]

Great! Sounds like there's more than one kitten on those keys

[2agray]

Wow! Now that is a very interesting interp. Who'd a thunk it - boogie woogie to Kitten on the keys.

[crazycrazyguggenheim]

she does an outstanding job

[super6plx]

OMG I wish I could be as good as you :D

[CrocodileRocker]

0:50...having the time of her life! =]