Azure Miles Records Piano Improvisation Series

Azure Miles Records Piano Improvisation Series

Piano Improvisations by Michael Eric Robinson Longhi

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)

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Passion Eyes (2023)

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April Bright (2023)

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Summer Kisses (2023)

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Across The Sands (2023)

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Dark Is the Sky (2023)

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A Thousand Things (2023)

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Soul To Soul (2023)

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Found Joy (2023)

Duet recording with Anindo Chatterjee

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Those Sighs (2023)

Duet recording with Anindo Chatterjee

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Throng My Memory (2023)

Duet recording with Anindo Chatterjee

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Begin (2023)

Duet recording with Anindo Chatterjee

Azure Miles Records Piano Improvisation Series 38

A Lark Somewhere (2022)