Jazz Improvisation: Tonal and Rhythmic Principles [Paperback] Review

This serious, authoritative book turned me on to jazz.The author presents the material inbite size chunks.He has a gift for pulling structure from the chaos. This is not Jazz-For-Dummies.The reader isexpected to be hard working, but needs no previous experience with jazz. The reader should have access to a piano to play the various chordsequences, but the lessons are invaluable to all instrumentalists.
Onedownside to this book it that you have to learn the author's unusualnotation (figured bass), but the power of this notation is also the book'sgreatest strength.The notation reveals the structure of jazz and thesimilarities between the songs.And, hey, Bach used the same notation, soit can't be all bad.
The author gives the chord changes to many commonjazz songs.Usually no particular artist or recording is referenced.So,the reader has to hunt around to find performances that resemble thechanges the author has given.
Once again, this is my favorite book on thesubject.It is never unnecessarily pedantic.It never waters downdifficult concepts.The way the book talks about music is how musiciansthink about music.If this book is not enough, other books in this seriesby John Mehegan pick up where this one leaves off.

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Product Description:
The fundamentals of jazz are here explained and systemized in 70 lessons based on 60 jazz standards. It covers the styles of musicians from Buddy Bolden to Dizzy Gillespie.

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FastTrack Keyboard Songbook 1 - Level 1 (Fasttrack Series) [Paperback] Review

This book is great.Just remember to shift your hands as indicated by the finger numbers and be sure to master those notes as they teach you before moving on too fast.But you'll be surprised how fast you learn.But everything in this book is on playing notes and scales on Treble Clef.There is no bass clef in this book or the second (Keyboard Chords & Scales)... I just bought it 3 weeks ago and am loving it.The book does teach you music notes.It just gets confusing when it renumbers the notes (not explaining that your hand is moving over a key for a while and then back again.They make it sound like you just reach your finger while keeping your hand in place.This is not true after the first page of learning A and B notes in Middle C.)But I am wonderfully surprised at how fast you pick up and start playing.I never read music before and now I am.That in itself is amazing.

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Product Description:
A supplement to the FastTrack instruction books, this great songbook/CD pack features 8 great songs in rock score format: Brown Eyed Girl * Great Balls of Fire * I Want to Hold Your Hand * Oh, Pretty Woman * Wild Thing * Wonderful Tonight * You Really Got Me * Your Song.

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Movie Songs by Special Arrangement (Jazz-Style Arrangements with a ""Variation""): Piano Acc. [Paperback] Review

This book is markedly better than many of the "play along" books I have purchased for alto sax.
First, the books are aimed only at alto sax--not at a hodge-podge collection of instruments.This means every page of the book is useful to the alto sax player, unlike some books where music for other instruments takes up large portions of the book.
Second, Strommen has created arrangements that have the "basic" melody in the first half of the song followed by melodic riffs/alto sax solos in the second half.The arrangements are targeted for alto sax and are put together to get a full and interesting sound.This allows a novice or intermediate player to sound like a "real" saxophonist instead of someone who is stuggling through a barren and uninteresting melodic line.
Third, the accompanying CD is excellent.Even numbered tracks have a trio made up of percussion, piano and a REAL alto sax.(This is compared to many other CDs which have the piano or bells playing the sax part.) Odd numbered tracks leave out the sax so you can play along.In all tracks the piano and the percussion are arranged to support the sax so again you really feel and sound like a saxophonist.
Strommen has three books that I know of that are all produced in the same style--a movies book, a Gershwin book and a Christmas book.They are all excellent in my humble opinion. If you are looking for an alto sax book that has sound musical values, is playable by a novice/intermediate player, and will make you sound AWESOME then these are the books for you!

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Product Description:
Each collection contains 11 songs arranged for the instrumentalist wanting to play in a jazz style -- without the need to learn to improvise. All of the books are compatible, with only minimal changes in the ""variation"" section to accommodate the ranges and unique characteristics of the instruments.

The immortal and memorable motion picture titles are: Sweet Georgia Brown
* Over the Rainbow
* A Day in the Life of a Fool
* Bye, Bye, Blackbird
* As Time Goes By
* Days of Wine and Roses
* Emily
* The Way You Look Tonight
* Misty
* On Green Dolphin Street
* Almost Like Being in Love.

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The Ultimate Beginner Series: Blues Keyboard Basics, Steps One & Two Combined [Paperback] Review

I am a beginning piano player, but this book had me playing the blues within hours. First listen to the CD while following along in the book and I'll bet you'll be so stoked you will stop and try the exercises! This is a winner!

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Product Description:
Take the first step towards experiencing the fun of playing blues keyboards. This book/CD will guide you through everything you need to knowto begin playing blues keyboards: the 12-bar progression, shuffle patterns, triplet feels, inversions, and much more!

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Advanced Piano Solos Encyclopedia [Paperback] Review

At first I thought that this book would be just like the other hundreds of music books like it but it isn't. The book contains songs everybody will know and love.The songs are arranged in a way that makes them easy tosight read, wonderful to listen to (according to those who have heard meplay them) and yet interesting to work on and perfect.They are arrangedin such a way that they are clear for sight reading.The songs are notreally easy to play properly so I wouldn't recommend it to beginners.Thisbook is a treasure for the advanced pianist and wonderful to impress yourfriends with.
I can guarantee you won't regret buying it

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The 42 titles include: All for Love * (They Long to Be) Close to You * Don't Get Around Much Anymore * Evergreen * I Swear * The Lady in Red * Linus and Lucy * The Lion Sleeps Tonight * My Way * Right Here Waiting * The Rose * Searchin' My Soul * Steam Heat * Take Five * Theme from Ice Castles (Through the Eyes of Love) * Up Where We Belong * We've Only Just Begun * You Light Up My Life * You're the Inspiration and many more.

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Jazz Hanon (Private Lessons) [Paperback] Review

This book's major drawback is its lack of variety. The left hand voicings for the first 13 exercises I practiced over a period of eight months were the same, using the root, perfect fourth, and flatted seventh. The right hand involved variations on a minor pentatonic scale, moving chromatically through two octaves. Though I enjoyed the serious practice and development of certain fingerings, I have reservations about its improvisational value. In fact, I don't think it's always wise to practice exercises that have little practical applications. Technique is not an end in itself, and I would have preferred exercises and etudes based on real jazz progressions that incorporate more than just pentatonic ideas. The latter half of this volume seems a bit more inspired, but there's room for improvement. Overall, I give it four stars because some benefits may be derived from this inexpensive book, but what should have been a modern approach to Hanon's original exercises in a jazz context turned out to be stylistically limited and of questionable use. With some imagination, this could have been a far more versatile effort.

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Product Description:
This one-on-one lesson with Musicians Institute instructor Peter Deneff features 50 exercises for the beginning to professional jazz pianist, covering: angular lines, large intervals, pentatonic patterns, blues scales, irregular chromatic melodies, double-note patterns, suggested fingerings, suggestions for practice, and more. Also available by Peter Deneff - 695226 - Salsa Hanon.

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