1 comments about Chord-Melody Guitar: A Guide to Combining Chords and Melody to Create Solo Arrangements in Jazz and Pop Styles (Musicians Institute: Private Lessons).

1. I was fortunate enough to study Chord Melody electives with Bruce at GIT recently and this book covers the underlying skills to create nice chord movements.
   Note that no Jazz standard complete chord melodies are included and emphasis is more on the chord part than the process of adapting a melody.
   Some of the material here is part of the GIT Rhythm Level III core class, which Bruce also wrote and this book could also be used as a nice follow-on to 'Rhythm Guitar - The Complete Guide'.
   The material is intermediate/advanced and Chapter 14 - More Chord Voicings contains plenty of fingerings I had never seen before, but which sound great if you can play them.
   Since there is no 'Look inside' on Amazon yet I will list chapters;An overall fretboard view, Shells, Inversions, Harmonized scales, Chord scales, Slash chords, Harmonic moves, Voice leading, Cadences, Moving Lines, Substitution, Diminished chords, Chordal Interpretation, More Chord voicings.

5 comments about Improvising Jazz (A Fireside Book).

1. I started improvising Jazz back in the early 70's. Back then every serious player I knew owned a copy of Jerry Coker's "Patterns for Jazz". Somehow, I missed owning a copy of "Improvising Jazz" until just a week ago. This book, published in 1964, is awesome. It's packed with insight and applicable techniques regarding improvisation that are as fresh today as they were nearly 40 years ago.

   If you already own Pattern's for Jazz, this book is totally different. "Patterns" is a 99% music whereas "Improvising" is 90% discussion and application with the music used to illustrate the discussion.

   My favorite passage is an excerpt the author takes from Richmond Browne on what makes a solo interesting to various listeners. Find this on page 15!

   It's a small book to be sure. However, this just means that it can be read over and over and physically kept in your case. Think of it as a "Strunk & White" for jazz.




2. If you're starting to learn playing jazz, this is *not* the book. There are plenty of others like Amadie's and Ferrara's that are more immediately helpful in this regard.

   With that out of the way: "Improvising Jazz" is an excellent source of unique perspective, advice, and experience from a noted jazz educator, Jerry Coker. Coker focuses not only on how to play but, on another level, how to learn and how to develop further. You will want this book in your collection to gain further depth and pespective on the subject.

   There is advice on how to approach your first jam session, developing the ear, combining intellect with spontaneity. The later chapters on analysis of melody and functional harmony, first written in 1964, were probably the one of the first systematic attempts to "organize" jazz theory. You definitely get the sense that this is a major source material for reference books such as "Modern Jazz Piano" by Brian Waite.




3. I had the first edition of this book when I was learning to play jazz piano in the early 1960s. It's a classic that every jazz musician should own, even if it has been superseded by more comprehensive works. It's a little short on piano voicings, and the language is definitely aimed at beginners. But it's a fun read for musicians at any level.

   And in the back of the book ...

   To avoid paying royalties, Coker prints scores of standard tunes with only the chord changes -- no titles or melodies. It's great fun figuring out what the tunes are. Some of them still have me stumped ...




4. I purchased my first copy of "Improvising Jazz" in 1980. I had been practicing and performing jazz at high school for about a year and this book said all the things I needed to hear at that time in my music career.
   
   What's interesting is that the content isn't really meant to be practiced or developed or anything like that. It's more of a general overview of the basic concepts and ideals of jazz improvisation. "Improvising Jazz" explains things like Swing, Melodic Development, the Role of the Rhythm Section, the Diminished scale and Functional Harmony. Thanks to this book, I had a firm understanding of "functional harmony" before I even entered college and this was partly responsible for my success in all of my theory classes.



5. Good book if you are a jazz student or want to improve your improvising. Work book parts are a bit small. Print could be larger to help us older semi-blind students. Great resource.

2 comments about American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MTV Text & Audio CDs.

1. This book is designed to be an introductory college-level text for courses about Popular Music in America. It's good overall, but not great.
   
   The book begins with the initial "split" in America between "Classical" and "Popular" music in the nineteenth century, with minstrel shows and brass band music. The following chapters cover social dance and jazz, Tin Pan Alley, "race" records and "hillbilly" music, swing, postwar era music, Rock `n' Roll, the British Invasion, the 1960s, the 1970s, outside influences on 70s music (reggae, punk, funk, progressive country, etc.), the 1980s and MTV, and the rise of "alternative" music.
   
   There are some great aspects about this textbook. First the prose is well-written, informative, entertaining, and thorough from a social/cultural standpoint. The book does not make any significant omissions, which is not easy considering all the subject matter which must be covered. Also, with two CDs included with the book price, the textbook does provide a good value. This is a nice feature.
   
   I was able to find some serious drawbacks to the book, however. The book seems to focus more on the cultural aspects and less on the musical aspects of each section. The analyses of the musical tracks on the included CDs are too fluffy. It is likely that students will not get enough from the book to understand why the music is so special. Also, while 2 CDs may seem like a lot of music, it is really inadequate to chronicle the history of jazz, blues, musical theater, rock `n' roll, alternative rock, and so on.
   
   There was one minor aspect of the book which also cropped up repeatedly. The authors seemed a little too eager to inject race into every nook and cranny. Obviously, racism is a central issue American popular music and deserves a healthy focus. The book, however, includes racism related not just to singers and performers, but record companies, disc jockeys, and more. I found it extraneous in some parts.
   
   This textbook is very strong, but I would probably recommend And the Beat Goes On by Michael Campbell. With that series, one can order a 5-CD set, and the textbook, while shorter, has more in-depth musical analysis. This textbook is very close in quality overall, and is more up-to-date.



2. American Popular Music is a book that is easy to read and is very useful when wanting to learn more about Music History. I would recommend this book for people who would like to brush up on their music skills and who want to learn more about different music that has developed over the years.

5 comments about War before Civilization: The Myth of the Peaceful Savage.

1. This book examines and buries one of the great myths of our times. The myth of the peaceful past, the Noble Savage. Keeley reminds us, with empirical evidence, that war and violence is part of the human heritage and not the exclusive sin of one race, one culture or even one epoch. This myth demeans the humanity of all of us. His final and more speculative final chapters on how the myth of the passive past shapes modern debate is full of uncommon sense.



2. Keeley utterly demolishes the "golden age" idiotological mythos with hard anthropological, ethnographic and archaeological fact. He also, very cleverly to my mind, considering the biases of modern academics, gives "primitives" a great deal of credit for their fighting prowess. There were some flaws to his thesis, of course. But this is a sort of polemic; a bludgeon with which to beat home the unarguable fact that primitive man was a violent creature; not the Rousseauean "noble savage" of popular mythology.
   
   It also contains some great black humor, such as his recounting of a Maori chief taunting the preserved head of an enemy chief: " You wanted to run away, did you? But my war club overtook you: and after you were cooked, you made food for my mouth. And where is your father? he is cooked:- and where is your brother? he is eaten:- and where is your wife? there she sits, a wife for me:- and where are your children? there they are, with loads on their backs, carrying food, as my slaves."
   
   Humanity is ugly. The simple fact that we are unpleasant, violent apes seems to be lost on certain social classes of people. In my opinion, you can't begin to understand people without understanding that human beings are deeply flawed creatures. We are not made horrible by our social conditions, psychological trauma or any other such nonsense: humanity is just horrible. Any meaningful discussion of sociology, history or politics must start from these assumptions, or they are destructive folly.



3. There's a problem when books like this or "Sick Societies" or Ward-Perkins' "The Fall of Rome" HAVE to be written. The same problem can be found in people today who find an equivalency in an attack on a valid military target that results in unintended and unwanted civilian fatalities--collateral damage--and some suicide bomber driving an explosives-packed vehicle directly into a crowd of children. Noam Chomsky claims he was fired up to do battle with the Great Satan when he was confronted by the sister of a child who was killed during the Reagan-era raid on Libya, but he apparently wasn't too concerned about all the young people who were killed in the terrorist attack on a club in Germany that the raid was a response to.
   
   This is an excellent book and the author makes his points well. The problem is that what he's combating is not anything rational or logical, it is an all-encompassing hatred of the West that really needs to be scrutinized by a psychiatrist and not a sociologist. Paul Hollander's superb "Anti-Americanism" covers the territory well be still does not get to the core of the dysfunction. Simply, in the late 1960s the academic world allowed itself to be bullied into letting the kids run the show. Being kids, they brought their juvenile personal baggage and constricted self-referential worldview into nearly every academic realm. Now these same kids have--at least physically--grown up and they are teaching newer generations.
   
   What we have is a juvenilized academia not so much interested in seeking truth but in justifying, for just one example, anti-authoritarian mindsets that have more to do with their relationships with their parents than any geo-political situation.
   
   I'll stop there. Somebody needs to write a good book on this subject.



4. The book has a simple premise - primitive societies, far from being peaceful and cooperative tend to be highly violent. The perception of peace derives from the fact that "they" fight wars differently from "us" and are much smaller. He also describes the evasions that scholars use to "hide" the casualty figures of primitive warfare - namely counting war dead as "murders" because they didn't die in a good old fashioned battle the way westerners would fight.
   
   Keely deals with the different types of combat these societies tend to engage in and highlights how a society based on raids and ambushes can be as, if not more, deadly (in relative terms)than full scale modern warfare based around huge armies. In basic sum if two tribes with 50 people each fight a war and kill 10 people over a year that is a catastrophically high casualty rate for those tribes but it won't register as much for a state of 200 million people.
   
   Keely marshals an impressive array of evidence and examples and offers explanations that will make sense to people who are not anthropologists. The book is well organized and makes the solid point that "primitive" warfare isn't "inferior" warfare. It can be very effective (horribly effective in some cases) and fits the needs of these societies.



5. This scholorly book, written by University of Chicago Anthropology Professor Lawrence Keeley, makes use of the latest research available to make the argument that, before "civilization", humans were predominately (but with exceptions) at war not only within their own clans but perpetually with others. Reasons included the need for more land, food and, of course, women. Keeley shows, through documented research, that this warfare took predominately the form of "low-intensity" warfare that accounted for more dead (as a percentage of population) than even the most vicious "modern" wars (i.e., world wars I and II, etc.). His research shows that the peaceful savage was much more myth than reality.

2 comments about Jazz-Blues Piano: The Complete Guide with CD! Hal Leonard Keyboard Style Series (Hal Leonard Keyboard Style).

1. This is a great book that I picked up! It goes through what few other books do...the Jazz-Blues styles of the twentieth century without "dumbing" it down. This book includes important information about scales and modes, inversions, voicing, harmony, progressions and patters, left-hand vs right-hand, styles, comping, and even soloing...anything that is used in any type of jazz-blues. It goes through Swing/Big band, Jump blues, Bop, Hard Bop, Cool Jazz, Soul Jazz, Jazz/Rock Fusion. The book moves quickly but provides the information that is important for those of us looking to play. It comes with a very handy CD which allows to hear what it's supposed to sound like. Mark Harrison is a wonderful teacher in this book and I highly recommend it.



2. I'm having a lot of fun with this book/CD, especially the piano, bass and drums pieces with accompanying written music for the chords. One can improvise along with the CD music with the right hand, and learn how to comp with the left in due time.
   
   The book conatins a little music theory, a little of which is good. But some of it is,in my view, unnecessary to enjoy jazz blues.
   
   The combo book/cd is well worth the price!

5 comments about Jazzology: The Encyclopedia of Jazz Theory for All Musicians.

1. The book's approach is so intuitive, it almost leads you by the hand into the world of jazz. Certainly jazz is freedom of expression but you have to know what you're doing and this book is the tool for that. Combine it with some tunes and mix in some listening, and the world of jazz is open to you. This should be a standard in every high school with a jazz program and every college lab band.



2. This excellent book is useful and relevant both as a reference work
   and as a coursebook.
   
   In addition to being the definitive compendium of music theory as it
   relates to Jazz usage, it also contains exercises for the student
   that can be used in the classroom as a supplementary teaching tool or
   even as a full blown course of study in itself.
   
   There are hundreds of musical examples to flesh out the prinicples
   and topics covered in the text.
   
   The material is well paced and in a logical order. The uncrowded look
   of the page layouts aids considerably in making this vast amount of
   technical material easily digestible for learners of any level.
   
   This extremely deep book is certainly poised to become the standard
   Jazz Theory text of the 21st century.



3. Although it is only one of many jazz theory books on my shelf, I find that this book sticks out for its breadth and applicability to performing and arranging in the jazz idiom. This is accomplished through the sections on piano playing for all jazz instrumentalists where the topics include both voicing and comping rhythms. The latter is usually left out from theory books. There is also a chapter devoted to solo styles where the student can read through analysis of solos with the musical example provided in the book. There is a chapter on arranging for various ensembles as well as a chapter that deals with "Early and Traditional Jazz" a much overlooked area in our jazz history studies. The book even ends with a chapter on practicing that deals not only with what one should practice, but why we practice particular aspects of the music.
   
   Of course there are all of the requisite chapters on scale/chord theory and the ii-V-I progression that you will find in most books, but it is the added material that appleals to the player as much as the theorist. That is what makes this book a superior buy to many others.



4. This book is one of the very best I have seen,
   along with "hearing the changes" by Jerry Coker,
   and Jazz and Popular Harmony by Daniel Ricigliano,
   it has become a favorite.



5. This is a good look at a rehashing of what has been, for a long time. Some authors are better at portraying certain subjects in better context than others. These 2 gentleman seem above the average! I like it, very much.
   
   The biggest value of this book though, is the fact that the great Jeff Bent was such a huge part in the authentication process.... I personally am working on several learning methods for publication. It would be an honor to have Mr. Bernt give a look at my ciriculum also. ( I probably mispelled that, thats why I need Jerf!!)
   
   Anyway, good book. Nicely done!

4 comments about Louis Lion Sings Good Night: Baby Loves Jazz.

1. I bought this book for my ~2.5 year old daughter. We simply read the book first and didn't play the CD right away. The book in itself is really cute, and it soon became one of my daughters favorite bedtime books to pick out. It features Louis Lion who is a singer in a jazz band, and how he comes home after singing with his band to see his lion sons and put them to bed. It is nice in that it goes through (and enforces) things to do before going to bed... they brush their teeth, take a bath, put on their pajamas, etc. Then he sings them a lullaby, which features some nice imagery and great illustrations. When we first got this book, may daughter wanted me to read it three times in a row each night. We've had it for a few months, and she still loves to read it. The illustrations overall are really fun, colorful, and engaging. After loving this book so much, I went out and bought most of the rest of this series. I think this may be our favorite by far, though.
   
   We just started to play the CD, and played it when she was taking a bath. She loved it. CDs from the other books are not quite as fun as this one, and there is a fun bath-time song as well on this CD so it worked out well we played it during that time. Now, she always asks for me to play this CD when we go to take a bath and get ready for bed.
   
   Overall, I would highly recommend this book, especially to anyone with toddlers/preschoolers.



2. This series is wonderful! Our two-year-old absolutely loves the Baby Loves Jazz series. We bought a few to start out, then ended up buying the whole set. Two months after acquiring them, she is still enamored and requests to listen to them and read them every day. Her favorites? Well, these are the words we hear most often: "Mommy, read Duck and Miles?" or "Daddy, listen to Duck and Miles?" Philly Joe is also high on the list. I recommend them all. The books stand out on their own, but the music is what makes this series really shine. For example, on Duck Ellington's CD, he does a great Monk style on one track, then switches to great impression of Coltrane's classic quartet on the next track, with a very nice McCoy Tyner impression. Lots of variety and high quality make this series worthwhile (though I could have done without Louis Lion's potty tune). Don't forget the Go Baby Go CD as well (a stand-alone CD without a book), which is perhaps a notch above the music on the book CDs. The ABC tune is her favorite on that one.



3. I bought this book+cd for my 8 month old baby and she loves it! I play it for her in the car and at home. She really likes the illustration in the book as well as it seems to hold her attention from start to finish. I think this is a hit with her and I intend to get the others books in this collection.



4. We started off by purchasing the Cd known as "Baby Loves Jazz" and were thoroughly pleased by the performance of the musicians and the catchy tunes that caused my three children to dance about the living room.
   
   We recently purchased the Louis the Lion book w/CD...and as far as I can tell from my wifes and children reaction, it is also another 'out of the park homerun'.
   
   The book is a great product and very colorful...all of the songs are great too. One thing I would have liked is to have the songs work in conjunction with the pages of the book.
   
   But don't let that dissuade you from making the purchase with confidence of this book. You will have a romp roaring good time!

5 comments about The Jazz Language.

1. The Jazz Language is, quite simply, a theory resource for the jazz improvisor and writer. The book effectively functions as an index of chord change nomenclature & corresponding chords and scales, running the gambit from basic chords and modes to polychords, pentatonic chords and scales, to synthetic chords and scales.

   The Jazz Language is to the jazz improvisor and writer as the dictionary is to the novelist: one would not allege that Steinbeck learned to write or was inspired to write by a thorough reading of Noah Webster.

   But as a jazz theory text, The Jazz Language is as complete a resource as will be found for the modern jazz musician.




2. A reviewer here complained that this book wasn't inspiring. Inspiration is not the point. Having already been inspired elsewhere, your next step is to clearly understand the information in order to create easily and effectively. For this purpose, Haerle's text is absolutely great.
   
   I always recommend this book to anyone seriously interested in learning and mastering the information. I have even bought and given away a couple of copies.
   
   Do the review exercises and take the quizzes. They are there for a reason.



3. Dan Haerle was one of my teachers at the University of North Texas and I can say from personal experience that this man is BRILLIANT!! I make a living as a jazz pianist and I owe much of my success to what he taught me in those classes. This book was our textbook for Jazz101. You will find this book easy to use if you have a strong musical foundation. If you are one of those people who completely plays by ear and can't read music--this book is not for you.
   
   If you are mainly a classical pianist/musician looking to expand your abilities--BUY THIS BOOK. This book is NOT a collection of transcribed jazz arrangements--it's a book that explains, in detail, the basic concepts of jazz theory. All instrumentalists will find this book helpful.
   
   It has in depth discussions and examples of chord voicings, jazz/blues scales, and improvisation. It also contains and explains the many terms that we musicians use to communicate quickly and efficiently in the studio or rehearsal.
   
   If you want to learn to play jazz this book is indespensible!
   
   BUY IT!!



4. A simple,well organized and concise explanation of what constitutes a specific musical language known as Jazz....Important item to have all those interested in this musical style



5. this book has everything you'll need for learning alot about jazz. i know i did. however, some parts are for very advanced players.

4 comments about Scat! Vocal Improvisation Techniques (Vocal).

1. I love this book. It taught me a lot about scat, improvising and vocal percussion. Not really easy, but fun.



2. Bob Stoloff's "Scat" is a book that should be included in every course in jazz education, techniques and improvisation. The lessons are clear and sequential. Many are modeled on the included CD. Students find the exercises fun and challenging and learn to overcome the inhibitions involved with vocal improvisation.



3. Enjoyable yet slow down a little, Mr. Stoloff! Stoloff goes into a a brief history of how the scat style came about and then dives straight into jazz theory without giving well understood reasons on how it applies to his scat examples(e.g. Some Theory and then many examples, some more theory and then more examples.) The theory that's introduced with each chapter appears very academic and dry at times. Perhaps this is understood with Stoloff's educational background. However, I wish Stoloff would have kept in mind that the majority of singers out there who wish to delve into this subgenre of vocalization are not necessarilly theory-based and the text could have been adjusted accordingly. I would have liked the author to cover more of his personal philosophy and approach to vocal improvisation beyond the "just do what I've written and you'll be fine" mentality.

   The big benefit and treasure of this book is the accompanying CD though. However, I do have two complaints: 1) it still purveys the "I'll do it and you copy me" approach and you just hope somewhere down the line, everything will come together 2) some of example melody lines he's flying by in lightning speed(I had to get a wave editor to slow down some of his jazz runs). The benefits: This CD is indeed great for loosening up your vocal chords, lips, nervousness and perhaps just to loosen up your entire 'soul' before a gig. I've been working with this book/CD for over six months now and have noticed a more relaxed approach to my melody lines in practice or performances after warming up with the CD examples.
   
   The last part of the book covers vocal drumming for the Bobby McFerrin/ rap beat boxer types. He does an impressive job with the examples but it was only amusing at best. I feel that it takes a little too much real estate in the book and CD though. Again, I felt that he doesn't properly explain how this section connects with the rest of the material.

   Overall, I am thankful that I ran into this book though for the sake of finding something to counter balance the regimen of scales and typical vocal exercises. I do know that I am a more confident improviser and not afraid to stretch out the melodies because of Stoloff's material. Recommended but be creative how you practice the material!




4. This is a very comprehensive scat singing program with a lot of exercises and tips that must help you develop your singing abilities and creativity.

5 comments about I Put A Spell On You: The Autobiography Of Nina Simone.

1. I found this book to be a very insightful look in the personal life and perofessional life of Nina Simone. I particularly enjoyed learning about how her musical talents were shaped by her family and her upbringing in the South. This book provides a very facinating look into the life of a gifted artist.



2. This book was good in that it was concise and to the point (unlike the bloated, rambling autobiography of Miles Davis)-- and that's a good thing, because 176 pages is about all of Simone that I could handle.
   
   The book was written for an American audience, but a lot of the usages/ spellings were British English, and that became annoying.
   
   The quality of the photos was very poor-- One comes away from this book with the impression that it was done in a very seat-of-the-pants way.
   
   1. She seems to think that every thing that went wrong in her life is the fault of America. So, she did not pay attention to where her money was going during the time that she was performing and duly got ripped off. But that has something to do with America and the establishment.
   
   2. Ego! She's been known to call herself "Dr." Simone-- on the basis of having been granted an honorary degree. She also talks of being able to play "hundreds of songs" and reviews herself in glowing terms-- but her songs are distinctly not even as technical as, say, something done by Ray Charles.
   
   3. Not the sharpest pencil in the box! Can you imagine someone that marries a man AFTER he beats her to a pulp and then has no memory of doing it? Can you imagine someone that talks about socialism as something that was a good idea-- in a book that was published AFTER the collapse of the Soviet Union?
   
   4. Very needy/ emotionally unstable. Someone dancing naked at a club? Passing over many other men to find a married man that she thought was going to leave his wife for his piece on the side? Huh? Huh?
   
   Not worth more than $5 (I bought it second hand) and one afternoon of reading time.



3. Delivery-time of the book was really short. Thanks.
   Great book from a really great artist.
   
   Greetings,
   
   Frank Debruyne



4. This was a great book. We read it for our book club and everyone enjoyed it. It was also easy reading.



5. It is true that this book is not well written and seems to have been put together on the quick without any professional editing. My guess is that it was written as a means to make a fast buck. That said, the autobiography is worth reading because it is the only real glimpse many of us will ever get into the psyche of Nina Simone. I read that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the 1960s and this was kept secret until well after her death. I don't know for a fact if she actually had bipolar disorder. However, it is evident from reading her life story as told by her that she did have emotional and psychiatric problems. She made rash and erratic decisions for her and her daughter and her life seemed to be filled with self imposed chaos. She was an angry person, was always running from some thing, and blamed anyone and anything but herself for her unhappiness and problems. Most surprising to me was how she was always looking for someone, usually a man, to save her. I had no idea before reading this book that Nina Simone struggled so much with low self esteem, fear, hate, and erratic behavior. Her music is so powerful and she comes off as such a strong and solid person. That is why this book is worth reading. Compared with her music and stage persona, the autobiography shows a different side or Nina Simone. With the two combined, the reader realizes just how complex and even tragic, Nina Simone the woman was. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know a little more about Nina Simone. She is an imperfect human being and this is her account of her life