Blue Shades

#		Title	Length
1		KC Boogie	3:37	Play
2		Kaleidoscope	5:13	Play
3		Blue Boogie	5:42	Play
4		Red Sky	4:31	Play
5		Half Ain't Been Told	4:38	Play
6		Motormotion	5:05	Play
7		Darn That Dream	4:49	Play
8		Steppin' Out	3:34	Play
9		Jungle Blues	4:09	Play
10		Booker Boogie	4:07	Play
11		Pawcatuck Blues	5:59	Play
12		Negev	5:52	Play
13		Only the Sweetness	5:32	Play
14		Flowing Thing	4:01	Play
			1:06:49

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Description	Amount
Bitmunk Marketplace Service	USD $0.98
CD Baby Artist Royalty	USD $5.97
CD Baby 9% Digital Distribution Cost	USD $0.54
Bitmunk Download Service	USD $0.90
Bitmunk MicroPayment Service	USD $0.01
Total	USD $8.37

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Description

Welcome to my third solo piano album, a portfolio of mostly original music consisting of paired selections. The first of each pair is composed or improvised in a blues or song form, while the second is an improvisation derived from or related to the first in some way.

I began playing blues when I was about twelve years old. My father, who was from Texas and loved blues and country music, had been asking me if I could learn to play some Ray Charles or boogie-woogie. In my brother's record collection, I discovered old 78 rpm records of boogie-woogie pianists Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson. They were invaluable teachers. Even when I'm not playing blues, shades of it tend to color much of what I do play.

Improvisation is the lifeblood of music. When I was a baby, my brother, Bruce, used to make up songs for me at the piano. As soon as I started piano lessons, however, I got the message that improvisation would not be a part of my music education, at least, if I intended to pursue a "serious" career in classical music. Only later, when I discovered jazz, was improvisation addressed, but even then, only within the framework of the jazz format. Through listening to music recorded by musicians who had, in some way, stepped outside of the mainstream, I was encouraged to explore and develop my own approach to improvisation. In this effort, Keith Jarrett, Cecil Taylor, Marilyn Crispell, and Matthew Shipp have been invaluable teachers.

Glenn Hardy
Pawcatuck, CT USA
January 2006