Bob Griffin’s Jazz Piano Project

When I was 15 years old I signed up for piano lessons here in Westport,CT with one of the great unknown figures in jazz ,John Mehegan.I was both psyched and frightened with the prospect of studying with this guy.The thing about John Mehegan was that he was the real deal.Friends with Bill Evans and someone with enough statsure to have Leonard Bernstein write the line notes for his book(Rhythmic and Tonal Principals),Mehegan was a guy who was first anf foremost angry. What he was angry about was up to conjecture but he was known to be angry about just about everything.Just the mention of the name ‘Elton John’ would send him into a rage. See,here was a guy who had spent his life learning and eventually putting down on paper what a jazz musician (especially pianists) does when he’s improvising.He put down all the steps and strands of theory one should know when playing jazz.

To me a shy 15 year old self taught boogie-woogie piano player with a good ear and absolutlely no idea what I was doing technically,it was a experience that I will document in my next series of posts because it documents how I got to here from there.-And became friends with the man along the way,though I did mention Elton John’s name a few too mant times.I’ll also fill you in on what was in the orange juice glass at 7:30 in the morning which blew my mind then and now.Watch for my next post and thanks for reading.

Hi my name is Bob Griffin and I appreciate you taking the time to check out JazzPianoProject .

I am the type of person who when I get into something I really get into it. I don’t just skim the surface. I dive in deep and try and learn everything I can about something. I’m a musician and I’ve played piano all my life. My mom took me for piano lessons when I was 8 years old (thanks mom!) and along the way I’ve either taken lessons or figured out on my own how to play the: trumpet; saxophone, clarinet and flute. I actually was a flute major in college. I love jazz. I had a radio show on WPKN the station from the University of Bridgeport and there I was afforded the opportunity to interview jazz musicians. Some of the most memorable ones were Chick Corea and Jaco Pastorious (the greatest electric bass player ever and one of my heroes).

I also (being a child of 60’s -70’s) love rock n’ roll.

Somewhere along the line I saw a few gigs by Dr.John (aka Mac Rebbeneck ) one cool dude and who became a friend of mine. He taught me about New Orleans music and its piano style and made me hip to guys like Professor Longhair; James Booker Allen Toussaint and the Meters In 1995 I recorded a CD called ‘Piano, Bass and Drums’ (how’s that for truth in advertising).The experience of recording a record with your heroes is analogue to doing a joint venture with one a internet marketing guru. Kind of surreal.

The reason I mention it is because I find that sometimes I think I had less fear when I was younger. More on that some other time.

The only other thing that even comes close to music for me is Internet Marketing I love Internet Marketing and not just because of the potential to make big bucks. Actually It has a lot in common with music.

Both are difficult to master
Both require discipline.
Music interfaces with technology (synths, amplification)
IM wouldn’t exist without technology)
Both require creativity.
Both reward collaboration as well as the one-man-show.
Both reward genius.
Both in music and in Internet Marketing the cream always rises to the top - (ok usually rises to the top.).

It’s like Aaron Neville said to me in an interview I did with him “It’s not what you say but how you say it” Simple but kind of profound. In other words it’s all between the ears. That’s where it all happens. That’s where growth happens.

To me Robert Kyosaki, Tim Ferris, Terry Dean, Dan Lok, John Hostler, Terry Hansen, to name a few of my mentors in the IM arena are saying the same things to me that Dylan Charlie Parker, Miles, Sly, Springsteen and Duke Ellington said to me through music. That it’s all about how you carry yourself, we all need to celebrate in yourself what makes you stand apart, what makes you unique. People respond to people who aren’t afraid to be themselves. Who believe in learning and listening but in the end believing in your own voice? This is what a leader should be. Being strong, flexible, resilient and lean in the sense of not hanging on to a lot of baggage that life likes to throw at us. Streamlined.

I try and focus on these things everyday and most days I’m pretty far off the mark but they’re my goals,
my destinations.

I’ve always been entrepreneurial in spirit. All of my recordings have benefited from a famous musician endorsing me by writing liner notes for the CD. Allen Toussaint the legendary New Orleans producer and songwriter wrote liner notes to my first record ‘Stretch the Strike’. For ‘Cats Like Angel’s was blessed to have Dr.John (aka Mac Rebbenack “I want to funkasize your brain cells”) write something for the record.The point here is that these things are akin to a joint venture in the IM world. The cache and respect these guys carry among other musicians lends instant credibility. In exactly the same way it would if someone like Mike Falsaime decided to put out ‘Butterfly Marketing’ with my name on it too.

So the idea to remember here is ‘perceived value’. Musicians at that level just like marketing superstars treasure their reputations as much as the bottom line so these guys won’t do things that might diminish their ‘perceived value’. Therefore by endorsing a record by writing liner notes or sending out a JV email to their list accomplishes the same thing–A little of their magic rubs off and you gain instant credibility and increased sales because of their ‘perceived value.

It’s powerful and it helped me sell a lot of CDs.

In 2007 I built a bog called MyMusicReview Blog I look at it as a warm up to JazzPianoProject.

Ok, I’m starting to get out there. Is there a way for you guys to communicate the gesture “cut” over the internet?

If I start to levitate try and stop me.

Anyway that’s some of the stuff that rumbles through this cranium.

Thanks for stopping in. Feel free to join in the conversation. Add to it . Agree, Disagree. It’s all cool. It’s the point of why were all here. I’ll be posting regularly to JazzPianoProject. See Ya.

Bob

Bob Griffin here with a bit of background as I continue to get my ducks in a row. I have great plans for this blog - you’ll want to stay tuned I promise you - and in the meantime, please enjoy this expert from an article by Carolyn Polinsky entitled “The Development of Jazz in New Orleans.”

Jazz is known as being one of the only styles of music created in America, though it is a mixture West African and Western music traditions. Jazz’s began in New Orleans, around the 1900’s, but its roots can be traced back hundreds of years earlier when slaves who were brought to America developed spirituals and blues in order to communicate with one another and express sadness, desires and religious beliefs. The music was passed along orally with each new generation making their own unique changes to the songs, which were often of a call and response form and unaccompanied by musical instruments.

Rhythms and melodies from the black community were combined with European compositions leading to the development of Ragtime music around 1895. “Ragging” a song meant dragging out certain notes and livening up music by rearranging notes. Ragtime and Jazz are similar but Ragtime music is predominantly sole piano music while Jazz music is played in ensembles.

Though jazz is closely associated with blues and ragtime, one of the most important elements of jazz music is that it is improvisational music—well-known notes and lines are a starting point for musicians to develop unique songs around. Early jazz musicians often could not read music but they thrilled audiences by bringing emotion, excitement and the unexpected to their pieces. While ragtime music was popular in restaurants, clubs or hotels, Jazz was mobile, versatile music played at funerals, parades, weddings, and at festivals.

The 1920’s were known as the Jazz Age as New Orleans jazz was brought to nightclubs in Northern cities such as Chicago and New York. It was more upscale than the music of New Orleans, and New Orleans Jazz distinguished itself as being a more folksy and spontaneous form of Jazz. Throughout the 20th century, many variations of Jazz music were popular including Dixieland, bebop, Big Band, swing, cool jazz, soul jazz and Latin jazz.

All forms of jazz music and the types of music that inspired it or have preceded it are celebrated during the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The event began in 1970 as means of showcasing the musical heritage, arts, crafts and cuisine unique of New Orleans. The first Jazz Festival had a lineup that included Duke Ellington and Fats Domino and only about 350 attendees.

Quickly the Festival’s popularity grew and it now draws hundreds of thousands of visitors, world-renowned singers and the top talent of New Orleans and Louisiana.

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I will be back with further developments soon! Keep on keep on coming back