JE Events - Jazzedge Academy

A session to help you get focused with your practice.

How to use Jazzedge AI (J.ai)

A session to help you get focused with your practice.

This week's Friday Game Plan is about creating a plan to master rootless chords.

This week's Friday Game Plan is about one thing: what Academy Premier actually gives you, and whether it is worth it for where you are right now.

I'll be inside the Academy, live, showing you the four parts that do the work. Sending me a video of your playing and getting written feedback back from me. The practice paths and practice actions that decide what you work on next, so you are not building your own curriculum at eleven at night. The live classes — PianoLab with Paul every week, The Confident Improviser with me every other week. And the intensives: six weeks of structured work on one subject, included.

Not slides about it. The real thing, on screen, in about 40 minutes.

Then the last 15–20 minutes are yours. Ask what you should be working on next and I'll give you specific lessons on the spot. Or ask me straight out whether Premier is right for you — and if it isn't, I'll tell you that too.

Open to everyone, member or not. If you don't have an Academy account yet, grab the free one before we start so you can follow along. Can't make it live? The replay posts the same day.

A live, guided-practice class focused on helping you improvise with greater confidence. Willie leads you through practical exercises that develop your musical vocabulary, creativity, and ability to create at the piano in real time.

Improvisation over Sailing by Christopher Cross.

Can't Take My Eyes Off You – Part 2 · The "Everyone Loves This Song" Must-Have
Special day: Monday, December 28 (no class Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve). Part two on Can't Take My Eyes Off You. Paul completes the solo piano arrangement and finishes the study of how the progression moves by small changes. Can't Take My Eyes Off You – Part 1 · The "Everyone Loves This Song" Must-Have
The crowd-pleaser every pianist should have ready. Paul treats it as great solo piano repertoire and as a study in how a chord progression evolves by small changes, one note at a time. This Christmas (Donny Hathaway) – Part 2 · The Ultimate R&B Christmas Song
Part two on This Christmas. Paul finishes the arrangement, nailing the odd-meter passage, the R&B chords and the rhythm-section hits so you have it ready to play for the holidays. This Christmas (Donny Hathaway) – Part 1 · The Ultimate R&B Christmas Song
Donny Hathaway's holiday classic. Paul digs into the odd-meter intro, the electric piano sound, the R&B chord vocabulary and the rhythm-section hits that make this the definitive soul Christmas record. Overjoyed (Stevie Wonder) – Part 2
Special day: Tuesday, November 24 (Thanksgiving week). Part two on Overjoyed. Paul completes the arrangement, connecting the chord structures, transitions and modulations into a full solo-piano performance of this stunning ballad. Overjoyed (Stevie Wonder) – Part 1
One of the most beautiful piano-built ballads ever written. Paul explores Overjoyed's gorgeous chord structures, seamless transitions and modulations, and shows how Stevie makes such rich harmony sound effortless. Knocks Me Off My Feet (Stevie Wonder) – Part 2 · Legendary Stevie Wonder R&B
Part two on Knocks Me Off My Feet. Paul completes the tune, working through the modulation and tightening the 4-way close voicings so the harmony flows the way Stevie plays it. Knocks Me Off My Feet (Stevie Wonder) – Part 1 · Legendary Stevie Wonder R&B
One of Stevie's most-loved ballads. Paul shows how simple jazz harmony, a well-placed modulation and 4-way close voicings combine to give this song its warmth, and builds the foundation for playing it at the piano. The (Lost) Art of the Bridge – Part 2 · Greatest Bridges of All Time
Part two on the art of the bridge. Paul continues through the greatest bridges of all time, including She's Always a Woman and One Hundred Ways, and turns the harmonic and melodic devices behind them into tools you can use in your own arrangements. (No class October 22.) The (Lost) Art of the Bridge – Part 1 · Greatest Bridges of All Time
The bridge is where great songwriters take a tune somewhere new, and it's a dying art. Paul studies some of the best ever written, starting with Billy Joel's She's Always a Woman and Quincy Jones' One Hundred Ways, and shows what makes them lift, turn and land back home. Strasbourg/St. Denis (Roy Hargrove) – Part 2 · Groove Jazz
Part two on Strasbourg/St. Denis. Paul locks in the groove and the cyclical chords, then works on comping, feel and soloing over the vamp, drawing on Red Clay, Chameleon, Just the Two of Us and Kiss of Life for ideas. Strasbourg/St. Denis (Roy Hargrove) – Part 1 · Groove Jazz
Roy Hargrove's modern groove-jazz anthem. Paul unpacks the cyclical chord progression and connects it to the same DNA in Red Clay, Chameleon, Just the Two of Us and Sade's Kiss of Life, so you learn one groove and unlock a whole family of tunes.

Friday Game Plan is a live, weekly walkthrough of the Academy with Willie. Each Friday he takes one part of the site — building a practice list, finding the right lessons, using Jazzedge AI — and shows you exactly how to use it, live, in about 40 minutes. The last 15–20 minutes are yours: ask what to work on next and get specific lesson suggestions on the spot. Open to everyone. If you don't have an Academy account yet, grab the free one before we start so you can follow along. Can't make it live? The replay posts the same day.

The Academy has been rebuilt — not a coat of paint, the whole thing. On this call I'll walk you through it live: where everything moved, what's new, and how to get the most out of it. In this session I will ask you to turn your camera off so you can follow along with me in your own browser. This is an interactive session for members only.

Sailing (Christopher Cross) – Part 2 · The Yacht Rock Standard
Part two on Sailing. Paul completes the arrangement, refining the lush chords, slash chords and tension-and-release, and blending the piano, string and guitar voicings into one solo-piano version you can play start to finish. Sailing (Christopher Cross) – Part 1 · The Yacht Rock Standard
The definitive yacht rock tune. Paul breaks down the lush chords, the built-in tension and the slash chords that give Sailing its floating sound, and shows how to translate the record's piano, string and guitar parts into voicings that work at the keyboard. Just the Way You Are (Billy Joel) – Part 2 · Crooner Piano Pop
Part two on Billy Joel's classic. Paul finishes the tune and puts the pieces to work: borrowed chords, the minor iv, ii-V-I movement and Bill Evans-style voicings, so you can play the whole song with a real piano-pop feel. Just the Way You Are (Billy Joel) – Part 1 · Crooner Piano Pop
Paul opens the fall season with Billy Joel's classic. We'll dig into what makes the harmony tick: borrowed chords, the minor iv, ii-V-I movement and Bill Evans-style voicings, with insight from Billy Joel's own interview on how the song came together.

Come join me for an engaging live coaching experience unlike any other. In this dynamic new format, I'll be calling on each student individually to discuss what they've been working on, share their progress, and get personalized guidance on their biggest challenges.

This isn't a passive session where you sit back and listen – it's an interactive coaching session designed to keep everyone engaged and accountable. Each participant will have the opportunity to be in the hot seat, receiving direct feedback and actionable advice tailored to their specific situation and goals.

Chord Play will show you how to get the most music out of even the simplest chord progressions. You’ll learn how to take a basic two-chord loop and turn it into something rich, colorful, and full of movement. Step by step, we’ll explore different ways to “arrive” at a chord, how to break apart and re-build progressions, and how to combine the chords you already know with new ones borrowed from other keys for fresh, exciting sounds.

You’ll also discover how different chords create different moods—and how you can use those moods to spark your improvisation. By the end of the course, you’ll have a set of practical tools to make your playing more interesting, your arrangements more engaging, and your improvisations more expressive, all while deepening your understanding of harmony in a fun, hands-on way.

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