A jazz piano lesson to help you learn the jazz standard “Mysterious Traveller,” composed by Wayne Shorter and performed by Weather Report.
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A wonderful yet seldom-played composition 0:09
Composed for the group Weather Report 0:15
Getting a sense of how to play “Mysterious Traveller” 0:24
Taking a deep dive into jazz standards 0:44
Understanding the musical and historical place of Weather Report 0:55
Weather Report’s co-founders: Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul 2:04
Weather Report’s 1st and 2nd stylistic periods 3:02
The musical freshness of “Mysterious Traveller” 3:45
Seeing Jazz Fusion as a blend of the new with the old 4:39
Weather Report’s 3rd and 4th stylistic periods 4:58
Learning to play the tune as written 5:46
Scales to use when improvising over F#m 6:11
Analyzing Wayne Shorter’s voicings 6:27
The tune’s changing time signatures 7:07
An abstract verse/chorus structure 7:28
Some cool stuff 8:08
Ideas for improvising on “Mysterious Traveller” 8:23
Planning an approach to playing the tune 8:52
Bringing in a classical influence 9:10
A solo jazz piano performance of “Mysterious Traveller” 10:05
Transitioning to the written arrangement 10:20
Beginning the improvisation with an A Pentatonic scale 11:29
Improvising with voicings similar to Shorter’s 11:50
Soloing with an F# minor scale 11:57
Parallel 4ths 12:09
Going “outside” 12:20
Clavinet-style funk 12:40
Developing the 2-note motif from the tune itself 12:53
A fuller, warmer texture 13:00
Longer melodic lines 13:04
Funky fourths 13:10
Flourishes 13:14
Soloing in octaves between the hands 13:27
Returning to the F#m vamp 13:49
Getting calmer 14:28
Atmospheric sounds over the funk groove 14:35
Being inspired by the written music 14:49
Returning to the written music 15:12
Parallel maj7th chords in the RH 15:30
Bbmaj7 over F#m 15:48
Playing the tune more slowly 16:03
Evoking the atmospheric intro 16:19
Ending with a melodic fragment from the composition 16:31
Keith Jarrett’s advice on ending vamps 16:36
A Miles Davis/ John Coltrane story 17:08
Give it a try yourself! 17:42
The F#m Pentatonic A major Pentatonic connection 17:50
Continuing the journey 18:22
Yes, you can become a more fluent improviser! 18:30
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Enjoy the journey, and "let the music flow!"
Ron