July 2009

July 2009 Newsletter

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Hello again from ejazzlines!

As we wait for the hot and dry weather to finally arrive in upstate NY and proclaim that "Summer is Here" we are feverishly working to expand all of our offerings as broadly as possible to once again give everyone the best possible selection of items for the upcoming school year. We are happy to announce that we have some brand new charts in our very own Jazz Lines Publications line, Supersax's Ah-Leu-Cha, Parker's Mood, Star Eyes, and Autumn in New York, as recorded by Charlie Parker with strings and big band being the most recent. We are very proud to offer these fantastic and unique charts to everyone. We are also currently adding the excellent FJH, Lorenz, and Barnhouse catalogs of charts to our site, in our continuing effort to present the widest variety of world-class charts possible. There are many more interesting items in the works, so please check back often, and the next few months should see more Supersax charts, as well as offerings of some great Duke Ellington material.

This newsletter's birthday wishes go out to the late and very great Conrad Yeatis 'Sonny' Clark. Sonny tragically passed away six months shy of his 32nd birthday, in New York City, on January 13, 1963. As Thom Jurek says on the All Music Guide, "It can be argued that he never played a bad recording date either as a sideman or as a leader." We here at ejazzlines could not agree more. Sonny might not have had quite the chops of Oscar Peterson or Art Tatum, and was not around long enough to bask in the funk stylings of players like Herbie Hancock, but as a hard bop player, Sonny sits atop the mountain with few peers. Sonny would have turned 78 tomorrow, July 21, and for those of you who are not familiar enough with his playing, discs like Dial 'S' For Sonny, Cool Struttin', Sonny's Crib, and Leapin' and Lopin' should be in everyone's collection. As a sideman he helped make sessions like Lee Morgan's Candy, Dexter Gordon's Go, Curtis Fuller's Volume 3, Stanley Turrentine's Jubilee Shout, and Tina Brooks' Minor Move, just to name a few, among those artists' very best and most interesting works. It saddens us to think that he would have been just 78 tomorrow, and thinking of all the music he never got a chance to record is staggering, but thanks to all of the CDs which have been issued and re-issued over the last decade, Sonny has finally reached the status of a giant which eluded him during his lifetime, and which he so richly deserves. Happy birthday Sonny.

We are also ready to announce the arrival of a long-awaited new section of our website, Non-Jazz Items. This area will offer a wide array of rock and pop DVDs, play-alongs, and books, as well as a variety of items from just about every other major genre of music. We will focus on the new, while simultaneously adding timeless classic items as well. There will be a link on the top of our homepage which will bring everyone to this exciting new area, which will feature selections ranging from Eric Clapton to Jay-Z and far beyond. We certainly want to tell our jazz purists to please rest most assured that absolutely nothing will change regarding our focus on jazz and jazz-related products. Nothing. We are just expanding a bit to offer a wider and more well-rounded catalog, but the jazz will always come first and foremost. As we here at ejazzlines listen to a lot of rock and classical, just to name our favorite other genres, we realize that a lot of you do as well. Please let us know what you think of this new section of our site.

A special thank you goes out to everyone who was so courteous and patient while we were out of the office for our semi-annual vacation and employee break in early July. We assure everyone that we are now very refreshed, and working hard to give everyone the very best selection of the new and interesting for the upcoming school year.

For those of you who like to keep up with new jazz releases, below are some items that you may wish to know about.

We once again thank everyone for your support - it is sincerely appreciated every day of the year!

Rob and Doug at ejazzlines

FEATURED NEW DVDs: In addition to the highlights below, we also have yet another new DVD from the Ad Lib Series, this one featuring Freda Payne in two live performances, one of which includes Stanley Turrentine. Half Past Jump Time is a wonderful collection of some of the greats of the Swing Era. We also have a DVD of rare live performances from Nancy LaMott, and a new issue of a live performance from the Rypdal/Vitous/Gurtu Trio. Finally, there are also quite a few instructional DVDs, with guitar seeming to be the most popular instrument of the month. ALL JULY 2009 DVDs ALL JUNE 2009 DVDs
ANITA O'DAY: THE LIFE OF A JAZZ SINGER This brand new DVD tells the story of Anita O'Day, one of the greatest and most interesting jazz singers of all time. This biography recounts O'Day's life story by intercutting archival performance footage of the vocalist with fond reminiscences from friends and colleagues, and presenting cutaways to O'Day's original reviews and publicity material.	QUINCY JONES: 75th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION The annual Montreux Jazz Festival always attracts big names, but a truly impressive roster showed up to celebrate Quincy Jones's 75th birthday on July 14th, 2008. To fete the musician and mega-producer, a live show was staged, featuring two and a half hours of music and dozens of talented artists.
VAMPS, JAMS AND IMPROVISATION This 2-DVD set from the great Frank Vignola illustrates dozens of approaches for developing solid melodic and rhythmic ideas for soloing or comping over one- and two-chord vamps. You'll first learn how to think melodically and then how to best express those ideas, in a vamp or jam setting, with other band members.	YELLOWJACKETS: NEW MORNING PARIS CONCERT The Yellowjackets have been performing their acclaimed brand of rock-infused jazz since the early 1980s. This program captures the jazz-fusion legends live in concert at Paris' renowned jazz club New Morning in March 2008.

FEATURED NEW BOOKS: As the new school year approaches, we are very glad to be able to offer a bumper crop of new play-alongs. Hal Leonard has just released Volumes 6 and 7 in their Big Band Play-Along series, featuring Latin and Standards. There are editions available for eight different instruments in each series. We also have the new Swinging Standards and On Green Dolphin Street & Other Jazz Classics play-alongs for all instruments. There are also play-alongs featuring Peanuts tunes, the music of Elton John in a jazz style, and Let's Groove, featuring many styles. ALL JULY 2009 BOOKS ALL JUNE 2009 BOOKS
GIANT STEPS FOR GUITAR Here is an in-depth look at the Coltrane classic from a guitarist's point of view. Topics covered include a comprehensive harmonic analysis and informative history of Giant Steps, melodic patterns in linear and positional form, rhythmic patterns and variations, ii-V and turnaround ideas, chordal studies, modal solos, and much more.	SONNY ROLLINS STYLES AND TECNHIQUES This definitive book provides a step-by-step breakdown of the sax styles & techniques of this giant of the tenor sax. Explore the unique sound and soul of jazz innovator Sonny Rollins on licks from 12 classic songs.
KENNY BURRELL STYLES AND TECNHIQUES This brand new book takes an in-depth look at Kenny Burrell's jazz guitar mastery, and teaches you how to play some of his hottest licks.	AFRO-CUBAN PERCUSSION PLAY-ALONG Afro-Cuban Percussion Play-Along is a valuable recording and chart that provides a clear example of some of the most common popular and folkloric Latin percussion instruments and rhythms. These rhythms are provided in a variety of tempos to enhance your practice session.
FUNK BASS The Hal Leonard Funk Bass Method is your complete guide to learning funk bass. It uses real funk songs to teach you the basics of grooving and soloing funk bass in the style of Flea, Victor Wooten, Marcus Miller, Rocco Prestia, and many others.	DAILY TECHNICAL STUDIES FOR SAXOPHONE From the author: "My only goal is, on the one hand, to lay the foundation for a daily study and practice routine, tackling the different technical problems and, on the other hand, to emphasize the importance of abiding by this scheme with discipline and perseverance. I have tried to compile a series of exercises which should enable you to accomplish this task."

FEATURED NEW BIG BAND ARRANGEMENTS: JULY 2009 BIG BAND CHARTS JUNE 2009 BIG BAND CHARTS
AH-LEU-CHA: SUPERSAX Here is Med Flory's arrangement of Ah-Leu-Cha as recorded by Supersax. Our arrangement is based on the original manuscript; this is not a transcription. Charlie Parker's original solo was transcribed in full by Med Flory and then harmonized to be played by a standard big band sax section (2 altos, 2 tenors and 1 baritone). This is a very difficult arrangement but well worth the workout. Med said that it took his band nearly a year to rehearse in advance of recording each of the Supersax records. Well, here's your chance to put your sax section to the test! Enjoy the workout!	PARKER'S MOOD: SUPERSAX Here is Med Flory's arrangement of Parker's Mood as recorded by Supersax on 'Supersax Plays Bird.' There is a trumpet solo on the recorded version, but that can be an optional part. This is from the original manuscript, this is not a transcription.
STAR EYES: SUPERSAX And, here's Star Eyes as recorded by Supersax. Again, this is from the original manuscript.	AUTUMN IN NEW YORK: CHARLIE PARKER WITH BIG BAND AND STRINGS Here is Joe Lipman's brilliant big band with strings arrangement that he did for Charlie Parker. This was recorded in 1952 and is presented here directly from the original manuscript. This is NOT a transcription. However, everything Parker played on this recording has been transcribed and presented here as-played, though we have also included (in a separate staff) what was originally written for him. So, this arrangement can certainly be played without the need to mimic Bird. This chart was scored for solo alto sax, 2 altos (both double flute), 2 tenors (both double clarinet and bass clarinet), baritone sax (doubles clarinet), 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, 4 violins, 2 violas, 2 celli, harp, guitar, piano, bass, and drums. The brass parts have been augmented to 4 trumpets and 4 trombones.

In our never-ending, valiant effort to present the best selection of interesting new items for you, as of this newsletter we have added 52 new CDs for the month of July 2009 and 77 for the month of June 2009; 29 new DVDs for July 2009 and 40 for June 2009; 67 new music books for July 2009 and 67 for June 2009; 71 new big band and combo arrangements for the month of July 2009 and 77 for the month of June 2009. If you haven't visited our Imports and Rarities section lately, please check it out. We are now stocking more and more obscure, rare, and hard-to-find titles from Japan and Europe, including many titles that you may not be able to find elsewhere. We are exceptionally proud to once again point out that our industry-pacing jazz and jazz-related DVD selection is now tipping the scales at over 2000 titles and growing! We have all of the live performance DVDs, the documentaries, the method DVDs, the personal master classes - we proudly offer a selection of jazz and jazz-related DVDs that is second to none. As always, please keep in mind that many of our new releases are available in limited quantities. We do our best to predict demand and fill orders as quickly as possible, but we do run out of new releases. Even if we run out of stock, everything featured in this newsletter should be available to ship within 3 weeks.