Blue Monk, All Blues, and Maple Leaf Rag: A Journey Into the Past

These are all just some old pieces, but all of these pieces are interesting because of the soul they express. I've been working on playing all of these pieces on the piano, and one of my questions is how the expression of soul fits into all of these pieces. It is hard, if not impossible, to get into the mind of the person who composed these pieces. I do go by the old saying that great artistic works are produced by the depth of suffering a person goes through. I think Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, and Scott Joplin went through a lot of hardship in their lives, and music acted as a form of soul therapy for them. Today, people all over the world celebrate their work and interpret it in different ways. Here are some videos.

Thelonious Monk produced Blue Monk, which is probably one of the deepest blues pieces of all time. The blue notes in the piece, the sadness that permeates the whole piece, the rhythm to the whole piece is terrific. The melody is relatively simple to play on the piano.
http://youtu.be/FRUWtrgTpcs

Improvisation is the spirit of jazz and the blues. It takes rhythm, harmony, melody, and soul to do it right.
I am impressed by all the types of improvisation based on this piece from people from all walks of life.
Here is an interpretation of Blue Monk with a lot of chords and experimentation:
http://youtu.be/mHKqnxaoxpg
Here is another interpretation of the same piece:
http://youtu.be/T6BhVy0hu94
To be honest, I like the interpretations that do not vary too much from the basic melody of the piece. This one interpretation sounds much better:
http://youtu.be/cO9mqA-jkec

Now, a really beautiful piece is Miles Davis' All Blues, which is really soulfully interpreted by Herbie Hancock and Gulda playing on the piano. These guys really make their pianos sing. Check this piece out:
http://youtu.be/hgyxtgHROxg

I can play this piece on the piano fairly well, and I'll post some video of me playing it, but I can't play it at all like these two piano greats.

We can also look back at ragtime to see the early roots of the blues. Scott Joplin was one of the innovators of this style.

This Asian guy just completely expresses Joplin's rag, the Maple Leaf Rag, in such an expressive way. Pretty amazing stuff:
http://youtu.be/0B04--XmZiE