"Fan Man" - Original Composition by Andrew Kesler (Solo Jazz Piano)

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Author's Note (PLEASE READ):

Thank you again for watching. This video is one of great personal significance to me as music is often inspired by people and the relationships I've cultivated. I originally wrote this song back in 2006 for a very important person, my high school band teacher Nick Fanner (often called the "Fan Man"). Nick has always been an encouraging and inspiring force in my life, and without him I might not be on the career path I am now. With him I studied the saxophone family, french horn, piano, guitar, and even some drums covering styles ranging from wind orchestra music, to Django Reinhardt to contemporary jazz, latin, swing and the like. He truly loves music and truly exemplifies what it takes to be a great teacher, a steadfast and unbiased dedication to learning with a positive, encouraging and embracing attitude.

Initially I wrote this song as an uptempo latin tune... big mistake! However with time and study I've learned a few things and 5 years later decided to give the song a complete overhaul and arrange it for solo jazz piano. I liked my original melody and harmony, which I deemed were typical of most standard jazz, but I decided to thicken it up by arranging it with lush voicings, reharmonization, and counterpoint/movement in the inner voices. It took a lot of work but I'm very pleased with the result. If enough people show interest, I am thinking of putting together a video about how I arranged and constructed "Fan Man" and my thoughts on things like jazz reharmonization and arrangement.

Besides writing and arranging the tune, I also performed, recorded, mixed and produced it (not to mention filmed and edited the video). Although this is mostly a one-man production (totalling over 60 hours of work and a budget of $100) I had some help.

Special thanks to:
Joel Kesler for the album artwork: http://www.joelkesler.com/
Nathan Carter Moore for mastering the audio: http://www.ncmsound.com/
Richard Haubrich for letting me record at The Bassment jazz club in my hometown of Saskatoon, SK. This was recorded on Wednesday June 22, 2011.

I recorded this with Pro Tools using my Neumann TLM 103 and Apex 435 microphones through my Presonus Firepod Interface.

If you have any questions or comments I'd love to hear them. I hope to be churning out more original material as I'm becoming more confident with my musical ideas and how I present them. Be sure to subscribe to keep up to date with my latest works!

Thanks again for watching! Cheers

-Andrew

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[acbulgin2]

Andrew- You have a beautiful soul, in fact you seem to have a beautiful everything. I write from the standpoint of only a fellow musician, and I do not necessarily imply any superiorty on my part to be sure, but I humbly suggest next you write this sort of thing, give some thought to a clear melodic statement on which to hang your beautiful chords and modulations..something sort of like maybe the beginning of this: watch?v=iq5AfeIWSwE My best for you at Berklee! You will be great I know.

[AndrewKesler]

@acbulgin2 thanks for your suggestion, I'll be sure to keep it in mind for next time. The melody for this tune is actually quite simple, I just change texture each instance with slight variations in harmony (I responded to a similar comment above by breaking down the form) as this composition and arrangement is very Bill Evan's influenced. Haha and I'm not at Berklee either, finishing my last year of study at Humber College in Toronto (Canada's answer to Berklee).

[acbulgin2]

@AndrewKesler Last reply: This is really beautiful. Maybe you use too much material in one tune. You want to impress, and you do! Give your beautiful melodies and chords space to breathe! More isolated figures, fewer harmonies. It makes all things more powerful. Less is more! At least I think so. Now, when I can compose something better, I will let you know. ;-) You know, the more Iisten to this, the more I like it. Disregard all above comments.

[AndrewKesler]

@acbulgin2 hanks for your replies, it's giving me something to think about. I definitely see your point, my approach is pretty heavy, and I think that's ok for this, but I'll definitely explore "less is more" in future works. Sometimes when you have a tune in your head for so long and then you "spice" it up as I did with reharms, you can hear the original melodic intention easily, but it's not always clear for the audience as first time listeners. Your suggestions are always welcome! cheers

[SROBERT123]

Andrew, a big hello from Asuncion, Paraguay where a group of enthusiastic musicians follow you. We wish you the best at Berklee. We had one of freat Jazz pianist study there for five years and he had a great influence in all of us. I personally admire you as a instrumentalist and now as a composer. I am sure will be buying you music. Looking forward to hearing and seing you in the tube.

[AndrewKesler]

@SROBERT123 Thank you kindly! I'm actually studying my last year at Humber College in Toronto. Like Berklee, it is also a very good program, in my opinion, the top in Canada for contemporary music (jazz and beyond). I really appreciate your kind words, and I'll do my best to make the best music I can. Thank you for your support, it goes a long way!

[AndrewKesler]

@hartlebeast Thanks man,I love that passage too! Not sure if I quite understand "thematic material" from the perspective you're intending.I'll try and explain myself, this song is AABA with an intro and outro (both similar). The A begins at 0:49, A1(same melody with slight variation) starts at 1:19, B starts at 1:53, and finally A2 at 2:35. If "theme" refers to the melody, then that section is actually the 3rd time you hear it, I just handle it differently each time to keep things interesting:)

[AndrewKesler]

@cherrypie14 I call it the "Cree" or "Fool" era of jazz, a very narrow niche!

[JAnthony37]

It's been a while since I've been able to check on your channel but I look forward to some free time when I can. Came back to revisit this beautifully expressive, heartfelt performance- it's wonderful to just sit back, close the eyes and get lost in it. Thanks again!

[SirCCP4]

Man, i'd love to jam with you sometime!

[tdcmoncton]

Andrew, well done! Bill Evans influenced it is but you spun it out in flawless format. ;D I'd suggest improving on this by adding some brass or strings.

[acbulgin2]

Think classical simplicity! Andrew, you are one of the most promising musicians for your age I have ever encountered. Whatever you do, do not let yourself be diverted as I was by stupid, abortive careers in e.g., aviation and medicine. Yes, there is lots of competition out there, lots of skill, but you have the discipline, the knowledge and the heart of a proper musician more than anyone I have seen. Express your true self as you find him, not what you think others want to hear. Good luck.

[acbulgin2]

Humber must be great! I won't keep bugging you with replies. This is the sort of thing that shows great competence and sensitivity. Musicians are impressed by it. I guess I just like longer melodic explorations. You have a couple of real nice ones which begin but then get dropped in favor of highly impressive but perhaps musically dubious harmonic and technical explorations.

[sevensharpeleven]

Beautiful writing Andrew! Bravo!