On Friday, April 5 we had the superb hard bop pianist John Hansen in the house for Jazz in The Georgian at The Fairmont Olympic Hotel in the heart of downtown Seattle, Washington.
John is one of my very favorite pianists to work with. John and I go back many years to our days at the University of Washington where we met on campus in the music building. This would be around 1986-87. We actually never played together in any of the jazz ensembles at that time. We both played in the first jazz ensemble big band taught by the late Roy Cummings, but at different years. John preceded me in that band by a year or two. We actually played our first gigs together in a music project that played at the New Orleans Restaurant in Pioneer Square for a July weekend in 1990 when the Goodwill Games were going on in the Puget Sound at that time. After that John and I traveled separate musical paths. We didn't see one another or play another gig together until 2007.
John's playing style harkens back to the hard bebop style of pianists Bud Powell, Barry Harris, and Mugrew Miller. His phrasing and everything he plays is steeped in a pronounced sense of swing. There is no doubt to where the meter and feel is when John executes his no nonsense straight ahead jazz lines. John has traveled the world playing jazz music with his renowned jazz vocalist wife Kelley Johnson. He is also a member of the Jay Thomas Band and the Jim Knapp Big Band as well as numerous other jazz projects and prolific accompanist for aspiring jazz vocalists.
John at The Georgian
Here are videos of a few of the songs we did that night. The first video is a great jazz tune called Four by MIles Davis. We started out the tune with a sort of 6/8 Afro-Cuban feel and then launched into a bright straight ahead jazz feel for the solos.
Four
This video is a nice standard called You Stepped Out Of A Dream. We did a rendition of this tune in a Brazilian bossa nova style.
You Stepped Out Of A Dream
This last video is of another excellent standard called Just One Of Those Things. This is a version of an arrangement that legendary jazz pianist Herbie Hancock did. Enjoy!
Just One Of Those Things
Please visit our YouTube channel to see and hear highlights of Jazz in The Georgian, and Smooth Groove Productions special events.
Jazz in The Georgian every Friday and Saturday nights, 6pm-10pm at The Fairmont Olympic Hotel, 411 University Street, Seattle, Washington 98101, 206-621-7889.
Please visit www.smoothgroove.net
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