My musical influences when I was growing up were primarily TV themes,
or music from movies I watched on TV.
After that, it was AM radio, where pop music was played in those days, and Broadway show tunes.
As a pianist, I was influenced by the records of Roger Williams playing Rhapsody In Blue
and Andrew Previn playing jazz arrangements of My Fair Lady.
My father had bought me a Fats Waller album when I was younger.
That and the Previn album were the only contacts I had to jazz.
I played bastardized stride piano because of hearing Waller
and the style of a friend of my father’s who used to come over
to our house and play piano.
In junior high school a friend plaed the John Coltrane record “My Favorite Things” for me
but at that point I really didn’t understand that music too well.
My attention span was way too short for that music and to my ears, there was no melody.
Even today when I am asked who my influences were, I usually say Chico Marx
Jimmy Durante
and Victor Borge
(Jimmy Durante and Victor Borge had TV shows, you know.)
Who did you listen to growing up?
Feel free to leave your comments here!
Get Your Own Copy of
Kenny Werner’s Effortless Mastery book & CD
or
Kenny Werner’s Effortless Mastery DVD
by using our Secure Nimbit WebStore below:
Thank you for being here as part of our Effortless Mastery Community.
To Your Effortless Mastery,
Kenny Werner
and
Dr. Andrew Colyer
KennyWernerLive.com
and
ConsciousWorldMedia.com
Technorati Tags:
Kenny Werner, Kenny Werner Live, KennyWernerLive.com, Effortless Mastery, Effortless Mastery Tips, Jazz Blog, Dr. Andrew Colyer, ConsciousWorldMedia.com
Technorati Tags:
Roger Williams, Rhapsody In Blue, Andre Previn, My Fair Lady, Fats Waller, Jazz, John Coltrane, My Favorite Things, Chico Marx, Jimmy Durante, Victor Borge, Effortless Mastery Reminders
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve read your amazing book several times over the past 4-5 years. I really identified with the concept of trying to play what I wish I could play, instead of what I already know how to play, or what naturally wants to come out. Also the bit about performing when I should be practicing and vice versa. The first thing your book did for me was drastically improve my approach to teaching. I realize that through obsessing about my playing I’ve learned a lot of things THE HARD WAY! Now I realize that at least my students don’t have to. I’ve been putting a lot of time into applying the concepts put forth in your book (patience, focus, the quiet mind…) and after 17 years of playing music and many times wanting to throw the damn thing out the window, once again my favorite thing to do is pick up my instrument, close my eyes, and just have fun. I don’t know if I would’ve come back this refreshed without your book. Thank you!! Jason H. P.S.when I care this much about a book (David Ray Griffin’s “New Pearl Harbor” comes to mind) I usually end up just giving away my copy to people who seem likely to be moved by it. Needless to say, I’ve bought several copies. I hope they’re out there doing good work.
…good morning effortless masters…when i was little and growing up we didnt have TV, i listened to Luigi Boccerini (78 recordings), Humperdinck (Handsel and Gretel), Gilbert and Sullivan (Mikado), Lerner and Loewe (Brigadoon), Chopin. In 1953 when i was six, i was introduced to Elvis Presley and other rockers via radio (actually i rather liked Gene Vincent more than Elvis however i didn’t dare reveal that to my “hit parade conscious” older sister…she would have been scandalized)…we walked a lot then, and a great way to make the walk go better is to sing “Heartbreak Hotel” and imagine the scenes as they go by. Early teens my parents bought some pop records one was Doris Day “Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered” and also at that time Bobby Darin arrived in our home. On the radio I also was introduced to Paul Anka who I still admire all the more now it is 2009. Catholic school imbued me with the learning of the singing of the Mass in various forms…good for the sense of pitch and harmony…and longing, too?…but on a trip to visit my aunt in Los Angeles, California, in 1954, i was, for a week, exposed indelibly to television and the incessant and riveting jingles/animation of commercials (eg “Pampers, pampers new shampoo, gentle as a lamb, yes mam, pampers pampers new shampoo!) with which my sister and I drove my parents nuts by singing it over and over and over and over in the back seat of our 1948 ford mercury all the way up the west coast highway back to Canada…
My dad played Eddie Duchin arrangements of “The Shiek of Araby”, “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love”, “If I Had You”, “You Turned the Tables on Me”, etc. In fact, at 92, he still plays every day. He played quite well, but loathed playing in a public setting, because he got too nervous.