As pianists, we can learn a lot from listening to piano/vocal duets. The irony is that although most jazz and blues singers have extensively rehearsed and performed with piano-only accompaniment, they usually record with a full band.
But we can find wonderful examples of vocal-piano performances if we seek them out, and our efforts will be rewarded. Listen to the 7 songs I’ve linked to below. Each performance is a masterpiece, and you can hear everything that’s going on in the piano part. Listen to the bass lines, how each pianist plays the chords with their own unique rhythmic approach, and how they improvise melodic fills in between vocal phrases.
This is a musical education in itself:
Frank Sinatra: One For My Baby
Bessie Smith and James P. Johnson: Wasted Life Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxuC-2J7b5k
Bessie Smith and James P. Johnson: Backwater Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgBWGR0E83Y
Ella Fitzgerald and Ellis Larkins
Janis Siegel and Fred Hersch
Carmen McRae and George Shearing: My Gentleman Friend
Carmen McRae and George Shearing: If I Should Lose You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwCpUN7K0eM
Enjoy, and see how much you can apply to your own playing!
Ron
Learn the 5 Essential Left Hand Techniques with my free ebook: Left Hand Techniques for Jazz Piano
You’ll also get my weekly jazz newsletter with practice tips and inspiration