Azure Miles Records Piano Improvisation Series

Azure Miles Records Piano Improvisation Series

Piano Improvisations by Michael Erick Rabinovitza Longh (Michael Robinson)

The Azure Miles Records Piano Improvisation Series represents an unexpected yet welome development. While my compositions and performances for meruvina are my primary music, these piano improvisations show another side of me.

When I first learned how Bill Evans refused to divulge his pianistic secrets to another player because he feared this would deprive that person of the enormously pleasurable (and perilous!) experience of developing a personal approach, I thought it was an excuse, and Bill was being miserly. Now, that impression has changed drastically. All it really takes is to actually spend consistent time playing the piano, together with nurturing one's musical spirit and knowledge through listening to and studying music with creative substance, to see that Evans was not joking. Most recently, the influence of Lennie Tristano, the teacher of my primary jazz teacher, Lee Konitz, arose spontaneously without any conscious premeditation.

Jocelyn, in her nineties, and owning an Steinway grand over a hundred years old, is the person who first asked me to play standards for her once a week, a custom that began my pianistic explorations, including her most kind encouragement. I've only played standards for her, this being her favorite music. Sometimes she sings along and often taps.

While meruvina composition and performance remains my primary musical avenue, improvising on the piano is engaging, too. Now, for the first time since childhood and teenage years, I actually have a keyboard at home.

Over Chicken Soup details some of my earlier piano playing. The first two paragraphs here are taken from Thank You Bill and Jocelyn.

- Michael Erick Robinovitza Longhi, Los Angeles

Above the World (2023)

Azure Miles Records Piano Improvisation Series 39

Summer Skies (2023)

Azure Miles Records Piano Improvisation Series 40

Passion Eyes (2023)

Azure Miles Records Piano Improvisation Series 41

April Bright (2023)

Azure Miles Records Piano Improvisation Series 42

Summer Kisses (2023)

Azure Miles Records Piano Improvisation Series 43

Across The Sands (2023)

Azure Miles Records Piano Improvisation Series 44

Dark Is the Sky (2023)

Azure Miles Records Piano Improvisation Series 45

A Thousand Things (2023)

Azure Miles Records Piano Improvisation Series 46

Soul To Soul (2023)

Azure Miles Records Piano Improvisation Series 47

Found Joy (2023)

Duet recording with Anindo Chatterjee

Azure Miles Records Piano Improvisation Series 35

Those Sighs (2023)

Duet recording with Anindo Chatterjee

Azure Miles Records Piano Improvisation Series 36

Throng My Memory (2023)

Duet recording with Anindo Chatterjee

Azure Miles Records Piano Improvisation Series 37

Begin (2023)

Duet recording with Anindo Chatterjee

Azure Miles Records Piano Improvisation Series 38

A Lark Somewhere (2022)