Reviewer: Charles Oldenkamp. 12 Jazz Piano Pieces was conceived as a form of written-out jazz. As the cycle progresses, various aspects of jazz and piano technique are explored in a wide-ranging prelude-like fashion. The work is published by Samuel King , UK in two volumes.

1. Opening Moves The opening mood is set with a bright tempo, the piece containing several elements typically found in jazz music designed to help the listener and performer warm up to the style. One technique in particular is the use of half-step clashes and syncopated hemiolas to create harmonic dissonances and rhythmic momentum.

2. A Few Measures of F A Few Measures of F has a trad jazz ostinato bass accompaniment. The piece is somewhat minimalistic in nature utilizing one progression, one scale derivation, and one melody, (with ornamentation and variation). To further demonstrate the concept of written-out jazz, FeBland notates this movement in 12/8 as opposed to 4/4 with instructions to shuffle.

3. Raindrops This miniature descriptive tone poem is a delightful evocation of lightly falling rain. Raindrops utilises straight eighth notes instead of the swung rhythms associated with most jazz work. The note D is employed as a tonal centre through its use in inner harmonic layers during the melodic mini-variations. No beat is without a D and the note is most recognizably used as part of G minor, B flat major and E flat with an added major 7th. The half note bass pattern is passacaglia-like in nature, and lend the raindrops a steady flow.

4. Braziliana Braziliana is a Latin-American dance with a distinctive melodic line and syncopated rhythms that occasionally disguise the underlying pulse. FeBland creates a work with a distinct Latin flavour that maintains an awareness of 20th Century neo-tonality. The use of the Dorian mode (a minor scale with a raised sixth) is a nod to both jazz and classical idioms.

5. Take Three FeBland uses his written-out swing to pay homage to Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmondıs Take Five. He has somehow reduced the 5/4 idea into just 3/4 by an imaginative manipulation of rhythm. The piece follows a ternary ABA pattern and it is the middle or B section that echoes some of the melodic fragments of the composition it is paying tribute to. The outer A sections are elegantly composed allowing the pianist to show his expressive side.

6. Not another Boogie-Woogie This Boogie-Woogie tune has once again found a home with the 12/8 time signature. More than the first five pieces, it resembles an etude, and is perhaps most like a chart read out of a jazz instruction manual. The piece begins with a melody, or head, and builds upon various solos over refrains of the head. FeBland presents a variety of innovative and exciting ideas which are to be played over this famous jazz bass-line which present a demanding technical challenge to the soloist.

7. Intermezzo Intermezzo is just as the title suggests; middle music that segues between ideas. It re-emphasizes swing rhythms and a melodic style associated with jazz, but intentionally, doesnıt attempt too much in the way of development; it is very much a question of it being time for a little repose.

8. Leaps and Bounds The eighth piece in this series is all about stretching. The performerıs fingers stretch to reach large intervals either as chords or broken-chords as three registers of the piano are used at the same time to carry forward the melodic material in this unusual composition. A further rhythmic challenge is presented as the soloist has to be on top of the combined duplet and triplet rhythms.

9. The Classical One This whir of eighth-notes is certainly a crossover genre piece ­ hardly classical due to the primary meter of 5/8 and yet not exactly jazz either in the normal sense. It is best seen simply as piano music written to lie well under the fingers and allow the pianist to interpret the rapid flow of notes by the subtle use of accents and stresses. The discerning listener may be able to spot a few 3/4 bars which break up the 5/8 pattern. There are also a couple of fleeting quotations from Beethovenıs Für Elise.

10. A Little Rhythm Two syncopated rhythm-patterns are the basis for this attractive dance-like character-piece. The first derives from the spoken or sung phrase A Little Rhythm; the second is in straight eighth notes rather than triplets and even the three loud cadence chords which finish each section have their own syncopated feel of 3+3+2 quavers.

11. Dreaming Dreaming is a slow ballad depicting sleep that is not completely restful, but always imaginative. There is an increasing heartbeat in the middle section surrounded by colourful harmonisations and intricate note weaving, culminating in groups of quintuplet semiquavers. The setup for metric change, quickens the pulse and pushes the listener forward until we reach a varied recapitulation of the opening material and end our sleep with a renewed sense of calm.

12. Service Not Included The final piece in this set again pays homage to early jazz with a modern take on the 12-bar blues in C. The 10/8 measures (the meal), with the 1/8 interruptions (the tip or gratuity), give the piece a constant hiccup. As the right hand progresses higher and increases in complexity, the left hand continues the blues ostinato. The climax of the movement arrives with the pianist imagining the possibility of fitting his melody to the text: Service Not Included.

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