Glenn’s Piano Blog #56 - “Is That So?”

New "Glenn's Piano Blog" video up today.

I've been playing the music from "Fellowship", my recently released trio record. Although the record is mostly original music, there are a few classic tunes included that to me represent perfection in a jazz composition. This is one of them: Duke Pearson's "Is That So?". The changes are derived from traditional harmony, but rearranged in such a clever and original way that they still sound surprising, even now fifty years after the tune was written. Rhythmically, the form of the tune keeps you on your toes: It's in three eight bar sections, each in a different key, and with the middle section arranged in five and three bar phrases. But what makes it all work, technicalities aside, is an infectiously catchy melody that's just repetitive enough and just diatonic enough to stick in the ears of musicians and non-musicians alike.

The album “Fellowship” is available on all major streaming platforms, as well as an old-fashioned CD that you can order here.