Jazz piano teaching and practice, transcription projects, lesser-known pianists, and music technology. https://charlesperforms.com/feed.xml 2026-08-24T12:00:00-07:00 Charles Chen https://charlesperforms.com/ https://charlesperforms.com/blog/bud-powell/ 2026-08-24T12:00:00-07:00 2026-08-24T12:00:00-07:00

Most of what Bud Powell played on records before 1949 has never really been heard. Ninety-two sides from 1944 to 1950, with his piano lifted out from behind the horns.

<p>The Bud Powell everyone knows is the leader on the Blue Note and Verve records. Before that he spent six years as a sideman, mixed the way sidemen were mixed in the forties: the horns in front, the piano a rustle between phrases. Ninety-two sides from January 1944 to July 1950, with his piano on its own fader.</p><p><a href="https://charlesperforms.com/blog/bud-powell/">Read and listen</a></p> https://charlesperforms.com/blog/tatum-adelaide-hall/ 2026-08-12T12:00:00-07:00 2026-08-12T12:00:00-07:00

Tatum's first records were accompaniments, not solos. Eight takes from Adelaide Hall's 1932 Brunswick sessions, with the pianos, the voice and the band on separate faders.

<p>Art Tatum's first records are accompaniments. In August 1932 he backed the singer Adelaide Hall at Brunswick, and he was not even the only pianist on the date. Four songs survive in two takes each, with the pianos, Hall's voice and the band on separate faders.</p><p><a href="https://charlesperforms.com/blog/tatum-adelaide-hall/">Read and listen</a></p> https://charlesperforms.com/blog/red-hot-peppers/ 2026-07-27T12:00:00-07:00 2026-07-27T12:00:00-07:00

Between September 1926 and June 1927 Morton recorded nineteen tunes for Victor in Chicago. I gathered 295 transfers of them and put his piano on its own fader, along with the banjo and the drums.

<p>Between September 1926 and June 1927, Jelly Roll Morton recorded six dates for Victor in Chicago: nineteen tunes, most with the Red Hot Peppers. A 78 has no master tape, so for each tune I collected every transfer I could find, 295 of them, and ran them all through the same pipeline. Morton's piano, the banjo and the drums each get a fader.</p><p><a href="https://charlesperforms.com/blog/red-hot-peppers/">Read and listen</a></p> https://charlesperforms.com/blog/emanon/ 2026-07-24T12:00:00-07:00 2026-07-24T12:00:00-07:00

Nick Rossi heard an uncredited rhythm guitar on Dizzy Gillespie's 1946 Musicraft recording of Emanon. Source separation pulls it out of the band: seven transfers, every guitar stem ranked and playable.

<p>Nick Rossi heard an uncredited rhythm guitar on Dizzy Gillespie's 1946 Musicraft recording of Emanon, a session with no guitarist listed in the standard discographies. Source separation pulls it out of the band: seven transfers, two separation passes, every guitar stem ranked and playable, with a mixer to solo the part or rebalance the mix.</p><p><a href="https://charlesperforms.com/blog/emanon/">Read the full post</a></p> https://charlesperforms.com/blog/clyde-hart/ 2026-07-21T12:00:00-07:00 2026-07-24T12:00:00-07:00

The pianist on bebop's founding record dates, and almost nobody says his name. The stem mixer in the post lets you solo Hart's piano across 121 sides from 32 sessions, 1936 to 1945.

<p>Every history of bebop has the same cast on the piano bench, but put on the records where the music actually arrives and the pianist is usually Clyde Hart. A profile of the swing-to-bop transition's purest case, with a stem mixer that lets you solo Hart's piano across 121 sides from 32 sessions, from Billie Holiday in 1936 to "Groovin' High" in 1945.</p><p><a href="https://charlesperforms.com/blog/clyde-hart/">Read and listen</a></p> https://charlesperforms.com/blog/welcome/ 2026-07-20T12:00:00-07:00 2026-07-24T12:00:00-07:00

Why I'm starting a blog: jazz piano teaching and practice, early jazz transcription projects, lesser-known pianists, and the software behind them.

<p>For fifteen-odd years, most of my writing has lived in setlists, lead sheets, and the occasional liner note. This page is for the rest of it: ideas from the teaching studio and the practice room, early jazz transcription projects like the King Oliver 1923 critical edition, lesser-known pianists, and the software behind them.</p><p><a href="https://charlesperforms.com/blog/welcome/">Read the full post</a></p>