… thinking of Nat King Cole

I realized that some of my favorite musicians are singer/piano players; players like Jamie Cullum, Louis Rose and Diana Krall (to name just a few). There are even singers who typically didn't perform in that format, but they were competent players. Carmen McRae was no slouch as a piano player and I love the part of the set when she would sit down at the keyboard and accompany herself.

I suppose part of my interest is that I aspire (in my own way) to be one of those rare entities. The other cool thing is that you can have a musical conversation with yourself. The only closer musical collaboration would be with a sibling. The brother/sister groups out there succeed partly on that level.

It's technically a tricky thing. When I play piano or drums and sing, (or sing and play piano or drums), the multi-tasking gets pretty intense and part of what I do must be semi-automatic. The mechanics have to be really solid or something goes out the door. When I'm doing that in a group, there is another level of awareness that needs to be there so I communicate with the other players as well. At the highest level though, when things are really locking together, I forget about the mechanics of playing and singing and reach deep into the emotion and heart of what I'm doing.

Nat King Cole is really the model. His popularity as a singer has overshadowed the fact that he was a fantastic piano player! I have a very limited sampling of his recordings. I need to make some investments in that area—just doing my part to enhance the economic stimulus.