No matter what you say or write about music, its ultimate test is how it sounds when you listen to it and/or dance to it ("the proof is in the pudding" mp3 samples at Dance Video). Nevertheless, I would like to verbally draw your attention to a few noteworthy features of Bill's jazz piano style which I particularly like.

A Dance-Based Piano Style

This is in sharp contrast to many jazz musicians who pick tempos to accommodate their improvising style. For example, a jazz saxophonist who wants to play a fast eighth-note-based improvised line will have the bassist play a fast quarter-note bass line, with the result being a tempo way too fast for swing dancing or even for tapping your foot to. On the other hand, if she wants to play a sixteenth-note-based improvised line (a "double-time" line), she will have the bassist play a much slower quarter-note bass line (i.e., so she can play four notes to one of the bass); the result will be a tempo that is too slow for swing dancing. In the Bill's jazz development, the dance tempos were a given, and he developed his jazz piano style to accommodate them rather than the other way around.

Rich arrangements of the original melody (the "head")

Playing a rich arrangement of the "head" may not seem like much. After all, it doesn't entail any improvising, and you would think that since jazz pianists have improvising skills, it would be easy for them to work out a good arrangement of the original melody - which even "pop" pianists can do. However, it is remarkable how many highly regarded jazz pianists (e.g., Keith Jarrett, Vince Guaraldi, Red Garland*, Ellis Marsalis, Brad Mehldau, and Lynne Arriale) play "head" arrangements that consist of little more than a single-line melody in the right hand and a chord in the left hand. Possibly they feel that since they are "improvisers," they shouldn't be spending their time on something so pedestrian as arranging the melody of the "head." (* Red Garland played "head" arrangements that consisted of a chord in the left hand and a single-line melody or an octave (i.e., doubling the single-line melody) in the right hand.)

A factor that has contributed significantly to Bill's rich arrangements of the "head" is that he starts the development of each tune in his jazz repertoire with the original sheet music, not a "fake book."* This has enabled him to understand the composer's intention, to have a basic arrangement, and, importantly, to learn the composer's bass line. The importance of the latter cannot be over-stated since many composers of classic American popular music, e.g., George Gershwin and Jimmy Van Heusen, made heavy use of the bass line in composing. Jazz pianists who learn tunes from original sheet music are undoubtedly a small minority today.

(* "Fake" books are collections - sometimes illegal - of hundreds of tunes with just the single-line melody and the chord symbols. They do not have the composer's bass line.)

Arranging and embellishing the composer's melody: the raison d'etre of "Pop" Pianists
"Pop" pianists flourished in the first half of the Twentieth Century and into the 1970s and even a bit beyond. They included Frankie Carle, Eddie Duchin, Carmen Cavallaro, Victor Arden, Pete Wendling, Bill Snyder, Roger Williams, Liberace, Earl Grant, Ferrante and Teicher, Floyd Cramer, and Peter Nero. These pianists were not primarily improvisers but basically stayed with the composer's melody which they creatively embellished. Arranging and embellishing the composer's melody with rich voicings to delight their audiences was the raison d'etre of "pop" pianists. (Comment: "Pop" piano is virtually extinct in the United States in 2023.)

The Jazz Esthetic: why jazz pianists often play perfunctory "head" arrangements
Unlike "pop" pianists, the raison d'etre of jazz pianists is not to embellish the original melody but to improvise on it. Accordingly, many jazz pianists such as those cited above play perfunctory "head" arrangements, often consisting of little more than a single-line melody in the right hand and a chord in the left hand. Then they launch into their improvisations, their raison d'etre. (Comment: The improvisations of jazz pianists are ostensibly based on the original melody, but even hints of it are often hard to hear. If you know the tune well that jazz pianists are improvising on, you will observe that often their improvisations are not significantly based on the original melody but instead sound like a sequence of melodic fragments from their bag of jazz licks.)

"Pop" pianists worked out arrangements with embellishments of the composer's melody, and they played basically these same arrangements in concerts. Doing this, however, is antithetical to jazz which values spontaneity and is averse to "pre-planned" arrangements of the original melody. (Comment: Some jazz DJs are even averse to rehearsals in jazz, much less "pre-planned" arrangements, because rehearsals "stifle the spontaneity," and these DJs openly express their disdain for rehearsals on the air. These DJs include an influential jazz DJ on the San Francisco Bay Area's public jazz station.)

Other reasons why jazz pianists tend to play perfunctory "head" arrangements are related to their development. "Pop" pianists started out playing solo piano in hotels or restaurants and concentrated on arranging and embellishing the composer's melody because that was what customers (the audience) wanted to hear. Jazz pianists, in contrast, often start out as a member of a group led, for example, by a saxophonist or as an accompanist to singers. In these settings, jazz pianists do not play the original melody. So, their development often does not cover learning how to arrange the composer's melody. (Arranging is a learned skill.) Later when jazz pianists start playing in a trio (after years of being a "sideperson" in groups or an accompanist to singers), they lack experience in arranging the melody. So, they tend to resort to perfunctory "head" arrangements such as a single-line melody in the right hand and a chord in the left hand.

Another reason why jazz pianists tend to play bare-bones "head" arrangements is that they usually pick up the tunes from lead sheets or fake books which consist of one staff only, in treble clef, a single melody, and chord symbols. Lead sheets and fake books militate towards jazz pianists playing "head" arrangements consisting of little more than a single-line melody in the right hand and a chord in the left hand. "Pop" pianists, in contrast, learned tunes from the original sheet music which not only had the melody line and chord symbols but also had a basic arrangement which "pop" pianists embellished, and, importantly, had the composer's bass line.

Great Jazz Pianists Who Placed Value on Arranging the "Head"
Despite the factors cited above that militate towards jazz pianists playing perfunctory "head" arrangements, some great jazz pianists played excellent arrangements of the original melody, often in the rich lower-middle range of the grand piano (the "guts of the piano"). These pianists included Erroll Garner, Oscar Peterson, Hampton Hawes, Ahmad Jamal, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington, Bill Evans, Phineas Newborn, Jr., Hank Jones, Sonny Clark, John Bunch, and Billy Taylor. It is noteworthy that these pianists developed in an era when "pop" piano was prevalent.

See section at the bottom of this Piano Style page for technical details on arranging the original melody for grand piano using inversions versus using voicings.

Also see the Notes (Liner Notes) page (https://lupitarecords.com/LinerNotes.html) for examples of arranging the original melody (the "head") in the rich lower-middle range of the grand piano.

A Melodic Improvising Style

For example, a recipient of Bill's demo tape wrote,

"Sorry I missed you today because I wanted to tell you how much I am enjoying your tape. I must tell you that I love classical music and have never been much of a fan of jazz. However, I find your jazz style very pleasant on the ear. The melodies are discernible. Sometimes jazz tunes all sound the same." (See Testimonials)

Bill's gift for melodic creation probably goes back to his childhood when he assimilated many melodies of classic American popular music and European classical music from hearing his mother Anne play them on the home's grand piano. Melody is a top priority for Bill in his jazz improvisations. He believes that the goal of jazz improvisation should be the creation of new jazz melodies based on the original tune (i.e., the theme) you are using. Improvisation is the means toward the end of melodic creation, not an end in itself. The outcome of jazz improvisation should be good music, of which melody is an essential element. As Duke Ellington said, there are two kinds of music: good and bad.

A type of note which Bill uses imaginatively in creating his improvised jazz melodies is eighth-note triplets (e.g., on Satin Doll and On Green Dolphin Street). This is noteworthy because eighth-note triplets are under-utilized by most jazz pianists. One of a handful of other jazz pianists today who make significant use of eighth-note triplets is Billy Taylor.

A "Modern" and Supportive Left Hand

Early "Bop" pianists, such as Bud Powell, Al Haig, Elmo Hope, and George Wallington, mainly used a root position "shell" style of left hand. It was played relatively down low on the piano, was used sparingly, and was not melded into the right-hand line. Later jazz pianists, such Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Wynton Kelly, and Red Garland, pioneered a different style of left-hand chords to accompany their single-line right-hand improvisations. Evans, in particular, developed "cluster" style left-hand voicings that often did not include the root of the chord, which was picked up by the bassist. He played these voicings higher up on the piano than the earlier Bop pianists had played their left-hand chords and melded them into his single-note right-hand lines.

A variety of modes; broad differences in color

• Hands-in-unison mode: This technique, which exploits the power of octaves, was perfected by Wes Montgomery on the guitar (i.e., playing in octaves) and Phineas Newborn Jr. on the piano. In this mode, the improvised jazz line is doubled in the left and right hands, usually one octave apart, but sometimes two. Before getting into this mode, Bill typically has played a few choruses during which the listener explicitly hears the harmony (i.e., the chords) of the tune. When Bill changes to hands-in-unison mode, the listener suddenly no longer explicitly hears the chords, but has to hear the harmony in the piano and bass lines. This makes the listener "perk up" and mentally supply the chords. The hands-in-unison mode was used heavily by composers of European classical music, but is not utilized nearly enough in jazz piano today.

• Locked-hands mode: This "block chord" technique was pioneered by Milt Buckner and perfected by George Shearing. It also exploits the power of octaves, with the chord being played within an octave and the jazz melody being doubled on the octave notes that enclose the chord. Usually, the left hand plays only the bottom octave note of the chord, with the right hand playing most of the chord as well as the top octave note. It is called the locked-hands mode because the hands are literally locked together when playing in this mode. This mode is particularly well suited for the rich lower-middle range of the grand piano, a range Bill is especially fond of.

• Full-piano mode: This "block chord" technique is often associated with Red Garland, but other jazz pianists such as Oscar Peterson and Gene Harris were also masters of it. When Miles Davis used to tell Red Garland to play "block chords," he was referring to this piano mode. Compared to the locked-hands style, this is an open style, with the hands well separated. The left hand plays a chord, and the right hand plays an octave with fill. This mode physically occupies much of the piano keyboard and has a big sound; Bill usually saves it for his last chorus of jazz improvisation. Contrary to what I had thought, Bill has showed me that these big "block chords" of the open style are actually much easier to play than the smaller "block chords" of the locked-hands style.

• Ballad mode: On ballads, Bill typically starts the jazz improvisation choruses with small melodies, characterized by considerable space. He builds these melodies from eighth-notes and eighth-note triplets, which unfurl slowly at ballad tempos. Then for contrast, Bill shifts to the classic "double time" (i.e., 16th note) mode. Even at relatively slow ballad tempos, 16th notes unfurl rapidly.

A Melodic Accompanying Style

Making the Piano Sing

Bill has worked long and hard to develop the technique needed to have control over piano dynamics and to make the piano sing. I believe he has achieved his goal and that you will agree with me when you hear the music of the Bill Jackman Trio.

Arranging for piano using inversions or voicings: technical details.

What is an inversion of a chord?
In an inversion of a chord, the notes are stacked in a different order than that of the root position. In the root position of a Dm7 chord, for example, the order of the notes is 1-3-5-7, with the root on the bottom. In the first inversion, the order of the notes is 3-5-7-1, with 3 on the bottom. In the second inversion, the order of the notes is 5-7-1-3, with 5 on the bottom. In the third inversion, the order of the notes is 7-1-3-5, with 7 on the bottom.

In an inversion, the notes of the chord remain close together and are within an octave of each other. If you are playing inversions of chord in the left hand (for example, inversions of a Dm7 chord), you can easily play them in your left hand alone without having to play part of the chord in your right hand.

In a voicing of a chord, in contrast, the notes are distributed over different octaves. For example, the root position of a Dm7 is 1-3-5-7. A voicing of this chord might be 1 and 7 in the left hand and 3 and 5 in the right hand an octave up.

The intervals between notes in inversions are basically the same. The root position of a Dm7 chord, for example, is creating by stacking thirds (1-3-5-7). Inversions of the Dm7 chord are also created by stacking thirds, but in a different order. However, the intervals between notes remain thirds. This is not true of voicings. The intervals between the notes of the chord change markedly in different voicings of the chord. (Note: Voicing is an integral part of arranging for piano and for orchestral and vocal groups.)

Why use an inversion of a chord?
Suppose you are playing a Dm7 chord (iim7 in the key of C) in the left hand on the piano, and the single-note melody in the right hand is A. If you play the Dm7 chord in root position (1-3-5-7), it will be too low on the piano and will sound too thick. So, you use the first inversion (3-5-7-1), the next inversion up, which sounds better with the melody note A.

Suppose the next chord in the left hand is G7 (V7 in the key of C), and the single-note melody in the right hand is B. If you play the G7 chord in root position, it will be too high on the piano and will sound too thin, and the transition from the Dm7 chord to the G7 chord will not be sonorous. So, you use the third inversion of the G7 chord (7-1-3-5), the next inversion down from the root position, which sounds better with the melody note B.

Suppose the G7 chord resolves to a C6 (I6 in the key of C, a major triad with a sixth added for color), and the single-note melody in the right hand is C. If you play the C6 chord in root position, it will be either too high or too low on the piano keyboard and will sound too thin or too thick, respectively, and the transition from the G7 chord to the C6 chord will not be sonorous. So, you use the first inversion of the C6 chord (3-5-6-1) which sounds better with the melody note C.

Inversions Versus Voicings in Arranging for Piano
In the two sections above, we discussed a simple melodic segment in the key of C, having the melody note A with a Dm7 chord, the melody note B with a G7 chord, and the melody note C with a C6 chord. Imagine that these three notes are the last notes in a 32-bar popular tune with the melody notes A and B in bar 30 and the melody note C in bar 31. (Bar 32 either is the final measure of the tune or is the "turn-around" to get back to the top on the tune.) There are two quarter-note beats on A, two quarter-note beats on B, and C, the last note of the tune, is held for four quarter-note beats. The words to this melodic segment might be: "I will love you true" with "I will" on the melody note A with a Dm7 chord, "love you" on the melody note B with a G7 chord, and "true" on the melody note C with a C6 chord.

Playing "I will love you true" with inversions:
This is how most jazz pianists who use lead sheets or fake books would play this melodic segment: the melody notes A, B, and C would be played in the right hand as single-note lines with the first inversion of the Dm7 chord, the third inversion of the G7 chord, and the first inversion of the C6 chord in the left hand, respectively. Playing the melody in this way is relatively spontaneous, and little to no "pre-planning" is entailed. The single-note melody line played in the right hand comes directly off the lead sheet as do the chords played in the left hand.

Playing "I will love you true" with voicings:
There are several ways to voice (arrange) this melodic segment. You find the way that sounds best by trial and error and then remember it. Here is one way to voice the chords:

The melody note A with the Dm7 chord:
The left hand plays 1-5 (D-A), and the right hand plays 7-3-5 (C-F-A) one octave up. The melody note A is the top note of the voicing.

The melody note B with the G7 chord:
The left hand plays 1-5 (G-D), and the right hand plays 3-7-3 (B-F-B) one octave up. The melody note B is the top note of the voicing.

The melody note C with the C chord:
The left hand plays 1-5 (C-G), and the right hand plays 3-6-1 (E-A-C) one octave up. The melody note C is the top note of the voicing.

Arranging the melody using voicings entails "pre-planning" and is less spontaneous than just playing the melody as a single-note line in the right hand with a chord in the left hand which can be done on the spur of the moment. Arranging and embellishing the composer's melody was the forte of "pop" pianists, who, incidentally, developed in an era when sheet music was ubiquitous.