By now you may have heard that Richie Beirach passed away on January 26th. He was a vanishingly rare original voice in this music. We hear words like “genius,” “giant” and “great” so often, their meaning has diminished. These words apply to Richie in their truest sense.
I studied with Richie formally for about six years back in the ‘90s and we became good friends. I remember going to his gigs and recording sessions. They were learning experiences too. After a lesson sometimes we’d go to Wo Hop or the Cuban-Chinese restaurant in Chelsea. Richie introduced me to those restaurants.
Here is some advice he gave me on solo piano. It’s an excerpt from an email he sent me when I was working on my first solo piano album in 2011:
- remember not too much pedal
- don’t bang. Drop your arm. Use your shoulder weight
- develop your ideas stay with one motive as long as you can – smooth transitions from motive to motive
- remember, melodies are most important,, lines connect them,, nobody ever remembers the lines!!! just how they FEEL!!!
- play simple short endings
- love you good luck and play your ass off!! dont let the big motherfucker piano play YOU!!! YOU are the bitch in control!!!!
Richie said so many things that changed how I play and think about music. Something he wrote in an article about five years ago had a profound effect on me:
“You have the right to play what you imagine.“
It sounds like an egotistical statement, but it was actually the opposite. The simplicity of it took all the ego out of playing. I started saying this to myself before playing, and it made my playing much freer and stronger.
Something else he said when I first studied with him that stayed with me was:
“Your compositions should sound improvised, and your improvisations should sound composed.”
As recently as last week, while teaching in Groningen, Amsterdam, I told several students about Richie. I told them to check out his music and that, if he were in better health, I would tell them to get to Germany and take a lesson with him, as I’d told many of my students over the years.
Richie was always supportive, yet he still maintained the highest musical standards. Just “chatting” with Richie was to find yourself inspired to a higher standard and ideal of creativity.
The last musical advice he gave me was in response to a new composition I played for him during a FaceTime call about six months ago. He thought the composition and my soloing on it were very original, but he told me I should find my own left-hand voicings, the way Chick and McCoy (and Richie himself) had.
What a Herculean task! But this was Richie Beirach’s uncompromising standard, that there is always another level to attain and that originality, finding one’s voice, is paramount.
“You have the right to play what you imagine.” Rest in peace, dear friend.
