Easy Does It

TEXT: Oliver/Young
TEXT: 'Easy Does It' - I think it was played originally by the Basie band. It is 24 bars long (8+8+8) - and the chords are all basically I iv ii V  in 2 keys (C then F then C again) and the challenge is to create variety by finding lots of ways around this wit
MARKER: Walking bass on I.vi,ii,V - chord roots preceded by chromatic neighbour(s)
MARKER: Give each note its full value - one bass note is always  sounding
MARKER: Note that pedal is NOT used over this walking bass line
MARKER: Often chromatic neighbour tones are on the 'a' of a triplet - a one, a two etc - and accented
MARKER: On a good piano go right down low - even to this bottom A
MARKER: Finish with 2 handed  chord blocks -  LH plays rootless voicing, RH plays octaves with 5th
MARKER: Kind of simple stride style in LH
MARKER: Notice that Pedal is used judiciously over stride LH  often 4 times per bar
MARKER: LH and RH in unison 2 octaves apart for this Oscar Petersonish lick
MARKER: Bass and Drums (brushes) in - First chorus play head
MARKER: Little or no use of pedal - the drums and bass fill in the gaps when piano not playing
MARKER: Oscar Peterson cliche - LH plays Dominant (G) on turn around
MARKER: Drums to sticks - Improvised choruses begin - lots of Blues scale licks used
MARKER: Modulating to F - using C half/whole dim scale on C7 chord
MARKER: Descending F blues scale figure - note the use of 2 notes to accent
MARKER: Tremolo continues as chords change under it
MARKER: Common Blues phrase - repeated over different harmonies
MARKER: Another cliche blues phrase
MARKER: Another dim (half/whole) scale over C7 to modulate
MARKER: Short Blues phrase is repeated but displaced on different beat
MARKER: Head repeats - brushes return
MARKER: RH white note glissando on G7
  • Path: Disklavier Jazz 1/068-Easy Does It.mid
  • Size: 34 KB
  • Updated: January 31, 2026

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