“Tropical Jam” & “Hurry Up and Wait”

A deeply studied, fiercely creative player, Michel shows what he’s made of in these two excerpts. “Hurry Up and Wait,” from his recent album Spirit of the Moment, contains wicked, metrically twisted Latin grooves in 7/4 and 5/2; check out measures 2–4 for some great interplay between hands and measures 12–14 for a killer montuno. Note that this music was written out by Michel himself and contains bass lines, in addition to melody and chords. Listen along with the original track to see how Michel articulates and chooses his parts once the red light is on.
“Tropical Jam,” featured on Michel’s ’93 trio album Rendezvous, is a roaring island groove that showcases some of Michel’s trademark octaves and powerful motivic development — shown in measures 22 and 9–17, respectively — not to mention the flowing melodic line that leads into the song’s trademark tag, shown in measures 17–22. Michel transcribed this solo himself so be sure to listen and follow along at the same time; as is the case with many piano masters’ work, notes are just the beginning, and the true magic comes from the feel and vibe they pour into every figure they play.

Michel’s piano work is unapologetically virtuosic, so take your time and use the metronome as you practice these transcriptions. And check out Tom Brislin’s and Andy LaVerne’s lessons on pages 44 and 46 to help you along the way.

Where’s the Sheet Music?!

Much of the sheet music that Keyboard publishes is copyrighted material, licensed from the artists to run only in the printed version of the magazine. Keyboard continues to offer the explanatory text of these lessons online, but in order to get the complete song transcriptions and other bits of licensed sheet music, you need to have a copy of the magazine.

Sure, you could run down to the local music shop or corner store and pick up the latest issue of Keyboard, but why not subscribe today? It's easy, cheap and you'll never miss another lesson!