No comments about SWING FAVORITES BIG BAND PLAY-ALONG VOL. 1 TENOR SAX BK/CD (Big Band Play-Along).

No comments about SWING FAVORITES BIG BAND PLAY-ALONG VOL. 1 TROMBONE BK/CD (Big Band Play-Along).

2 comments about Swing Guitar.

1. Few guitar instructional books warrant five stars, but this is one of those rare exceptions. Sokolow gives guitarists a lot to work with in this book, ranging from old school swing and jazz to newfangled 1990s swing-knockoff stuff. The tab is accurate, and the CD allows the listener to fade out the background music to focus solely on the guitar parts, which is big time useful. Plus, the solos and chord work in this book are tasty and worth learning, if only to sprinkle into your own guitar style. Definitely worth the cover price if your interested in swing guitar. Another great book to check out is Swing Guitar Essentials by the boys from Acoustic Guitar magazine. These two books rank among the ten best guitar books currently available for intermediate/advanced guitarists who want to get beyond boring old pentatonic/diatonic scale patterns.



2. I normally love the books that Fred Sokolow puts out and have several (his rockabilly and western swing book are especially informative). This book however is just a bunch of tunes that aren't what I think of as standards of swing using six note chord voicings-which isn't accurate to the style of swing guitar.

No comments about Jazz Blues Guitar Solos (book and CD).

No comments about SWING FAVORITES BIG BAND PLAY-ALONG VOL. BASS BK/CD (Big Band Play-Along).

No comments about SWING FAVORITES BIG BAND PLAY-ALONG VOL. 1 PIANO BK/CD (Big Band Play-Along).

3 comments about The Jazz of the Southwest: An Oral History of Western Swing.

1. Ms. Boyd (no relation to the Boyd brothers Bill, Jim and Clyde who hotted up the radio waves around Dallas in the late '40s) went to the trouble to look up many of the stars of western swing and record their stories.

   It's a workmanlike effort, clearly stating its generalizations from the oral histories, and offering many quotes from those who played with Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, the Sons of the Pioneers, and dozens of the less famous and more specialized bands.

   There are a number of pages of photographs.




2. This is not what I'd call an oral history. There were interviews but the bland voice that tells this story is the author's. Jean Boyd is not a storyteller. A lot of the information conflicts with what I've read elsewhere but there is no perspective. Also odd is to seperate the chapters by instrument so there is no chronological sense. It then becomes the story of the mucians. It's interesting but not a great book.



3. As much as I am sympathetic to my good friend Buddy McPeters, and share his concern for the lack of value his attempt to document the history of Junior Barnard and other Western Swing greats [buddy should have a book of his own interviews, writings, and reminiscences published], I would like to endorse this book as a useful book for people trying to understand Western Swing.
   
   That is largely because there isn't much on the shelf, other than biographies of this or that performer or band, written to be interesting, but not written to be analytical. The existing books tend to provide a wealth of information about bands, or specific periods of the music. They leave us with joy and perhaps personal celebration, but they don't answer questions that need to be answered to explain Western Swing.
   
   Boyd attempts to analyze Western Swing and designate it as part of Jazz, a definition that many people still resist out of ignorance. Rather than treating Western Swing as a cultural phenomena, she discusses it in musical terms, and relates the methods of playing each instrument to jazz playing of contemporaries. She also cites interviews with a number of players of each instrument about Western swing playign on their instrument and their own personal experience. She also gives a picture of Western Swing in in fall from popularity in the late 1950s and 1960s.
   
   I came upon this book in a discussion on a fiddler's list about when Western Swing began. A very wise person who recommended that all interested in that question read this book, helped us clarify that question, not because of some story Boyd tells, but because of way she teaches us how the music developed.
   
   One has the feeling that more funding, more time, more support from the publisher might have brought fourth a larger book. One has the feeling the author is reaching a bit far sometimes to situate some of the music as just Jazz.
   
   However, I think the problem is the paucity of books on the subject of Western Swing. Because we want more, because those of us have spoken with the old timers, or haunt the web sites, the reunions, etc, want more, we tend to put too much pressure on the few books to appear. What is really needed is a greater study of Western swing both in regard to analysis, formal musical study, and memories.
   
   This one is worth a read because it tries to present categories to judge Western swing and its development. Perhaps more struggle, more writing by experts like my friend Buddy will show this text's inadquacies. Yet, until that happens, this is one of the best, if only, books out there.
   
   TT

No comments about More Dialogues in Swing: Intimate Conversations With the Stars of the Big Band Era.

No comments about Swinging Classical Play-Along: 12 Pieces from the Classical Era in Easy Swing Arrangements Flute Book/CD (Schott Master Play-along Series).

5 comments about Drummin' Men: The Heartbeat of Jazz The Swing Years.

1. This is an outstanding account of the Big Band Era from the standpoint of the individuals who literally provided the beat. They're all here in the story of the best of the big band drummers: Chick Webb, Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, Davey Tough, Ray McKinley, Big Sid Catlett, and more. This was clearly a labor of love for author Burt Korrall, who is an amateur drummer himself. Following his references to recorded material the reader can become absorbed in the topic in a way he or she never thought possible. The fact is, this book is well written and makes great reading for anyone interested in the Big Band Era or swing/jazz drumming.



2. I am a drummer and I loved reading "Drummin' Men The Heartbeazt of Jazz...the swing years.

   I've always admired the drummers of this era and wondered about some of their secrets. I learned how Gene Krupa got his cool rimshot sounds and why Burt Korall knows of what he writes. I couldn't put this book down. He confirmed some of my own opinions and let me feel what it was like to be in the Savoy Ballroom for a drum battle between Chick Webb and Gene Krupa.

   If you drum, read this book. If you like music , read this book.




3. As a swing influenced drummer, I could not put this book down. It has inspired me as well as affirmed some of my beliefs regarding the drummer's role.



4. This is a GOOD book on the Be Bop drummers, my only complaint is that the author has opinions that I do not agree with. Such as "Blakey is not a virtuoso"; My opinion is that Blakey played solo's that were beyond "Human Technique",they were Spiritual. He also relates a story of how Buddy Rich was Philly Joe's "Demon",and again states that Philly Joe Jones was not a virtuoso. The author also states that the "Rich versus Roach" recording was a "radical mistake" for Max, because Buddy "ran Roach out of the studio". The author seems to think Buddy Rich is "The world's greatest drummer". And that the real innovaters have no technique. I say ,listen to Buddy with Bird & Diz;(Tasteless Bombast),then listen to Max(pure melodic Beauty). I don,t care if Buddy can play 3000 single strokes per minute, lets don,t distort the truth, with this continuing myth. Buddy did'nt make any contribution to "Music", that these cats did.



5. A book about bebop drummers needs to explain 1) what bebop drumming consists of and 2) how the styles of the various drummers profiled diverge. This book does not do either. Instead we are told that drummer after drummer after drummer has "a great feel" and "great time"; we learn nothing.
   
   If it were just that I'd give the book another star for its sketchy and scattered biographical information, but considering how badly written the book is, I can't justify it.
   
   I suggest instead that you buy a copy of "The Grove Dictionary of Jazz" and look up the entry for each famous drummer you want to know about. You'll learn a lot more and have a much better time doing it.
   
   For transcriptions consult Modern Drummer magazine.