This is a Live Recording of Dotan Negrin playing A Version of Take 5 by Dave Brubeck

I’ve been exploring this piece for a few years now, trying it in different keys and time signatures.

Recorded on February 13, 2012

This is a live recording of Dotan Negrin playing Bad Romance by Lady Gaga on Piano.

I figured it would be interesting to try this piece out and add my own flavor to it. I’m not a huge Lady Gaga Fan but I wanted to try it anyway.

Recorded on February 13, 2012 at the Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn

I was playing in front of Alice Tully Hall on October 7, 2012 and this is an improvisation that I played. This emerged from a song that I’ve been playing over and over again for the last 2 years.

Enjoy!

Here is an awesome video that aired on RAI5 National TV in Italy.

Video by Matteo Minasi

Interesting mix of Piano and Reed Organ. It really makes me want to start learning how to play the accordion.

This is a beautiful piece called Czardas by Vittorio Monti.

Brad Mehldau is one of my biggest inspirations right now. Not only is he an amazing pianist, he is also a great person to talk to. Really smart guy. I speak to him once a year or so at a concert and hes always really down to earth.

thepiano:

Song of the day #131: Bittersweet Symphony (covered by Brad Mehldau)

WOW. I love Brad Mehldau that much more because of this… Whats so amazing is that he makes the piano sound like a synthesizer. I like that Brad has transcended the idea of Jazz and brought it to younger generations. I got to meet and speak to Brad once at Birdland in New York CIty and the things he told me blew my mind. What an incredible man!

Song of the Day #130: Carl Czerny: Étude in D minor, Op. 740, no. 37.

"In a cosmic perspective, most human concerns seem insignificant, even petty. And yet our species is young and curious and brave and shows much promise."
Carl Sagan

A great video of Victor Borge. This is incredibly inspiring.

I love Improvising. It really gets to the core of who you are. You have nowhere to run and hide. Its freeing and limiting at the same time.

pianoacrossamerica:

On this day in 1959 a bunch of musicians came together in a studio session to create one of the most influential albums ever made: Kind of Blue.

This album is the reason why I started playing piano almost 7 years ago.

Get the money out of Politics!

This is what needs to be done!

The song that got me to start playing piano. 7 years later, I’m traveling the world with my piano…

Blue in Green by Miles Davis and Bill Evans

Its strange walking the same streets of Philadelphia I walked on 6 years ago and seeing the same things again.

Oct. 24, 2011

I talked to the The Bum on the corner of 12th and Spruce…still asking for change and giving excuses. The security guard from the dorm I lived in…planning on retiring soon: more power to him! One of the sandwich shops I liked closed down… I didnt recognize a single person in the hallways of the school. But I kinda felt like I was back in college again.

Change is good. Abrupt change can be one of the greatest experiences of your life…

2011-2012 Book List

While traveling across America for 5 months, I met many people who recommended some books that I should read based on what inspired them and my free spirit approach to life. I am a firm believer of self-education through experience and reading. Here is a list of some of the books I will be reading in the next year:

  • Walden by Henry David Thoreau
  • The Prophet by Kahlil G
  • The Road by Cormac McCarthy
  • Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance by
  • Think on these Things by Krishna

These first 5 books were given to me by a man named Shawn in Albuquerque who was inspired by my attitude towards life.

  • The Art of War by Sun Tzu
  • The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
  • Death of Sisyphis by Albert Camus
  • Positioning: The Battle for your mind by Al Ries & Jack Trout
  • Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn
  • Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
  • T.S. Elliot Various Poems
  • Four Quartets by T.S. Elliot 
  • Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
  • Cloud 9 by Caryl Churchill
  • The Stoic Philosphy of Seneca
  • Notes from the Underground by Dostoevsky
  • Big Sur by Jack Kerouac

If you have any recommendations for books you think I should read…Let me know