Mark Tanner: Jazz hands: Piano Solo

Jazz Hands is a series of original jazz pieces for Piano by Mark Tanner, which covers all standards from grade one through to red hot. Although the player may feel free to indulge in a spot of improvisation in response to the printed music, there is no expectation to do so in any of the books. Nor are there any chord symbols or other bespoke abbreviations, the like of which presuppose a degree of familiarity with the genre, which may not actually be the case. Rather, the idea is that the player will become gradually more confident and adept at playing in a jazz style as he/she works through the books. It may well be that a classically-trainedpianist has reached, say, grade 5, but feels currently at a more modest stage when tackling jazz. This is absolutely not a problem, and indeed is all the more reason for the 'straight' player to extend their jazz skills to match.

The title of this series, 'Jazz Hands', derives from the familiar exuberant gesturing seen in music theatre fingers spread and extended, with palms facing upwards, an effect frequently amplified by a convulsive shivering of the hands. Cheerleaders have tended to make widespread use of jazz hands, while the concept has also found its way into revues, Broadway shows and films, as well as contemporary dance. In the current context I am of course referring to the jazz pianist's hands, which in only the most ambitiously spaced Art Tatum chord would require the player to stretch the digits to such an extent as in the aforementioned theatrical sense.

The term 'jazz' has been adopted and adapted in a multiplicity of ways (not unlike 'classical', indeed), so that it no longer tells us very much about the music itself. Aficionados immediately recognise the better-known subgenres, such as 'bebop' or 'New Orleans' styles, and may even be able to distinguish 'smooth' from 'groove', or 'fusion/crossover' from 'postmodern'. And yet these are just labels, not music. In an understandable bid to define all that we hear