Blog by 2-time Grammy winning Jazz Pianist, Composer and Arranger

Alan Broadbent

New Album

Broadbent plays Brubeck

To be released: 24 August 2021

“Broadbent plays Brubeck” is a return to Alan Broadbent’s beginnings.

When Alan was 14 I found Howard Brubeck’s transcriptions, in two volumes, of Dave Brubeck’s solo album “Brubeck plays Brubeck” in a music store in Auckland, New Zealand. By this time I was aware of Dave Brubeck as “Take 5” was the rage on the radio, even in the then remote corner of the world where I lived.

I have sought, in my arrangements, to recreate those feelings about these pieces that have never left me in all these years.

Order at eden-river-records.com/shop

Solo Piano Sheet Music

Are you a piano player? Did you always want to play my music?

In addition to the lead sheets in female keys
The Songs of Alan Broadbent & Georgia Mancio are now also available in male keys with solo piano parts. So it is also ok to play them without singing voice 🙂

Arrangements for intermediate level.

Please take a look here and don’t hesitate to share your recordings:

Available at Georgia’s shop: www.georgiamancio.com/shop

Enjoy! Yours, Alan

FIRST BOOK – LEAD SHEETS

The Songs Of Alan Broadbent & Georgia Mancio

To be released: 27 March 2021

We have now written 33 songs together, over these last seven years, published now in our new book: The Songs Of Alan Broadbent & Georgia Mancio. Available in both digital and physical formats (wire-bound to stay open!), this 94-page volume is presented with the elegance and expanse of an art book, with clear lead sheets (in standard female keys), Simon Manfield’s evocative artwork from both our albums (Songbook and Quiet Is The Star), photos and song by song descriptions.
From the profound poetry of ballads, waltzes and bossa novas to the linguistic and melodic joy and gymnastics of bop and samba; through journeys and resting places, childhood and old age, community and solitude: our collection displays an astonishing conviction and consistency, already praised and performed by artists Sheila Jordan, Janis Siegel, Tierney Sutton, Claire Martin, Steve Tyrell, Judy Wexler, John Proulx and Norma Winstone.

Pre-order starts on 27 February 2021 at www.georgiamancio.com/book

NEW ALBUM

Quiet Is The Star

To be released: 27 March 2021

Sisterly, maternal, romantic, universal: the ties woven through this collection of 9 new songs, the much anticipated companion to vocalist / lyricist Georgia Mancio and Grammy-winning pianist / composer Alan Broadbent‘s 2017 Songbook.

This duo recording, again featuring bespoke artwork from Simon Manfield, will be released alongside Alan and Georgia’s book of 33 co-written songs from both albums and many more besides. 

Pre-order starts on 27 February 2021 at www.georgiamancio.com/album/quiet-is-the-star

NEW ALBUM

The new album is released on Savant Records and is called “Trio in Motion”.

Trio in Motion topped at #6 on the JazzWeek Radio charts, you might like to give it a listen too 🙂

Playing with Harvie and Billy, we’re trying to discover new ways of moving forward. We have no idea what the end result will be, but we know we’ll get through it. It’s a cliché , I know, but the process all comes down to love.

Of course you can get it on all platforms.

Lessons with Alan

As a professor of jazz studies at NYU I am also making myself available for teaching private students via Skype or Zoom. 

Lessons can be any combination of the following:

1. Jazz improvisation on any instrument, but mainly piano, with an emphasis on jazz time and note to note improvisation as revolutionized by Bud Powell and Charlie Parker.

2. Jazz harmony and its related scales; how to build chords and apply appropriate voice leading.

3. A study of standard songs, including jazz standards and their structures; composing in the style, so as to develop one’s own compositional voice.

4. Big band orchestration and composition.

5. Arranging for singers; small group, big band and orchestra.

6. Symphonic orchestration.

7. Informal study and discussion of the 10 symphonies of Gustav Mahler, their composition and orchestration. 

If you are interested, please write a message using the contact form and I’ll let you know how we can proceed.

Alan

New Album

Instead of releasing the announced “Broadbent plays Brubeck” with string orchestra (to be released on April 23, 2020) we managed to release another album yesterday 🙂

It is released on Eden River Records and is called “To the Evening Star”.

Please give it a preview listen via this video: “To the Evening Star”

With his new album “To the Evening Star” Alan combines his love for solo piano bebop with classical music. Of course, Alan is aware that a single piano cannot compete with the emotional power of a hundred member Wagner orchestra. But it is precisely this aspect that makes “To the Evening Star” so exciting.

Alan has taken on pieces by Wagner, C.P.E. Bach, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Borodin and Bernstein and added 2 more original compositions.

This combination is so successful that Alan’s very own sound world can be heard.

New Album

Instead of releasing the announced “Broadbent plays Brubeck” with string orchestra we managed to release another album yesterday 🙂

It is released on Savant Records and is called “New York Notes”.

Please give it a preview listen via this video: https://youtu.be/9_xGhXA_uog

It is a conversation between old friends. As intimate as possible with no separation between us three and you, the listener. I hope you will experience, as I do, a new sense of discovery on each hearing and I hope we have communicated something beyond the notes into your heart.

2017 review for newsletter friends

Press Photo Alan Broadbent_by Tony Kellers

Press Photo Alan Broadbent_by Tony Kellers

To read my review letter to you about my 2017 musical escapades, please subscribe to the free e-mail newsletter here: http://www.alanbroadbent.com/newsletter/?p=subscribe&id=1

“Dear newsletter friends,
It’s that time of the year when my manager and friend, Jan Matthies, twists my arm and asks me to write about my 2017 musical escapades. …”

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