The Deep Suite - Part 4 Improvised Acoustic Piano by Steve O'Keefe is copyright-free, royalty-free music you may use without permission. Thank you to the many friends who have used my music in your videos!

The Deep Suite is my first release in a long time. It's the first thing I've done since Drum Piano that has me excited. I have been trying to work up a reliable 45-minute set or suite of continuous improvisation. My early efforts usually included a raga, a walking blues, a fast blues, and an exuberant ending. But even that structure felt too restrictive. I wanted to be able to start and not stop and not necessarily have sections and have it be continuously fresh, beginning to end.

Then I got a Keith Jarrett recording that was recommended to me which was not in my enormous Keith Jarrett collection. It's called "Radiance," and it is a solo performance in its entirety in Osaka, Japan, recorded Oct. 27, 2002, with a piece of a second performance in Tokyo recorded three days later. I love that, in the liner notes, Keith Jarrett basically says, "If it sounds awful, that's because I intended it to not be melodic." And I thought, I can use that. If you find my music to be awful, that's because I intended it to be so.

In any case, Radiance is at times radiant. It is not entirely improvisational, and that is a good thing. I hear some of the same riffs used in Koln Concert and it is fascinating to hear how Jarrett works them out again. He is always working himself into corners and then forcing himself to find a way out and it is marvelous to hear.

The Deep Suite has three other parts, and I may upload them sometime. They all come from a 38-minute session. Part 4 is the most Keith Jarrett like material I've ever done. It opens with a drone-like sound which is the piano wide open and resonating from the last chord of part 3. Then the melody is stated at 1:00 and re-stated in chords and as a solo. We get McCoy Rolls about 30 seconds in and again at 2:20 -- rolling the right hand McCoy Tyner style.

At 3:00 I put some Jarrett learning to use. He is not afraid to stay in one spot maybe too long, or to repeat maybe too much, so I tried to not be so jumpy and stay in one place a little longer. At 3:30 a lovely call & response develops in my right hand, and that resolves at 4:20 to preachy chords, McCoy rolls, and tolling bass. The preachy chords keep going, and become a little bluesy preachy chords, and then it starts to fade out at 8:00 and closes with the tolling of the bass in the left hand.

I hope you like it. Deep Suite - Part 4 is copyright free by me, Steve O'Keefe, and has wonderful potential for video music. Enjoy!

Photo of Steve O'Keefe by Chelsea K. Vance  https://www.instagram.com/chelseakvance/ used with permission.

The Deep Suite - Improvised Acoustic Piano by Steve O'Keefe

The Deep Suite - Part 4 - Improvised Acoustic Piano by Steve O'Keefe

In 2015, I started volunteering one morning a week -- Tech Tuesday -- at The Legacy Senior Community near my home. I've been a lifelong volunteer because it chases the blues away. I volunteered at The Legacy because I wanted to see how people handle the approach to the end of life. It's been illuminating and rewarding!

I thought, "This is a place where I could play piano and people would find it soothing." But sure enough, I got caught up doing tech support for the residents and I never did get to play piano there until last week.

One of my resident friends knew about my desire to perform a morning piano memorial service and she pestered the staff until they put it on the calendar. This recording is from the second performance on the Yamaha upright in The Legacy Chapel.

What I'm attempting to do is memorialize those we have lost at The Legacy, those we have lost in our families and in our communities, with 20 to 30 minutes of quiet, drifting piano that doesn't go anywhere but allows you to get lost in your thoughts.

Very often for me, when I'm playing, and for members of my audience, those thoughts go to absent loved ones. It can be very emotional, cathartic and peaceful. It's very different from my other piano work.

I hope you like Live at The Legacy Chapel and that you'll join us some Tuesday for the piano memorial service.

Live from The Legacy Chapel

Live from The Legacy Chapel - Piano Memorial Service

I play improvised acoustic piano, usually recorded live in one take. I often play public pianos. My music on Soundcloud is copyright free; if you like something, take it, because I remove things often. Thanks for listening!

"hilariously awful" -- The Unz Review

New tracks tagged #steveokeefe