Posted on November 23, 2005 by md in
Wednesday, November 23, 2005 – The Independent, by Joan Baym
Count Basie is said to have called her “Stride” for her command of this incredibly difficult technique of fast left-hand syncopated jumps that beat out rhythms against right-hand melodies.
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Posted on August 14, 2005 by md in
Sunday, August 14, 2005 – The New York Times, by Brian Wise
The exuberant sounds of stride piano, with its stomping left hand and ornate right-hand melodies, developed in the late 1920s with performers like Fats Waller, James P. Johnson and Willie Smith, who was known as the Lion. The style was considered transitional, a link between ragtime and the later swing era, and with its formidable virtuosic demands, stride piano never fully caught on among modern-day jazz performers. Still, a handfull of contemporary advocates have been determined to raise stride’s profile, including Judy Carmichael, who is at odds with the image of cigar-chomping men playing in clubs with shirt sleeves rolled up and a bottle close by.
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