August 2009

August 2009 Newsletter

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Hello again from ejazzlines!

Today is the generally recognized birthday of perhaps the single most important figure in the history of jazz, Louis Armstrong. It is a great honor, and no small irony, that Louis is looked upon as he is today - as a giant of the establishment, a figure universally respected and admired by pretty much all sides. It took decades of hard work for Louis to achieve and cement that reality, and his musical journey is one which surely should inspire us all. He had a difficult childhood, but it led to his becoming a working musician while in his teens. His trumpet wizardry back in the 1920s led to Louis being at the center of some of history's most important recordings, with his soloing right out front. Later decades saw Louis range from a swing icon to a big band leader, from a small group musician to an international singing star. The 1960s gave him number one hits as a vocalist. Today he is still revered for his both his jazz virtuosity and his wonderful personality, as he should be. He touched millions all over the world and was jazz's single greatest ambassador. Maybe best of all to consider on his birthday, Louis stood for equality, and also surely dreamed of a world where everyone would be judged by the content of their character and the quality of their scat solos.

We would like to thank everyone for the very encouraging feedback we have received from the publication of the first of our Supersax charts. Ah-Leu-Cha, Parker's Mood, and Star Eyes have been flying off the shelves - who knew there were this many great musicians who could play these? Rest assured there will be more flowing from that particularly hearty well. In addition to continually offering brand new charts in our very own Jazz Lines Publications catalog, we are also continuing to add the excellent FJH, Lorenz, and Barnhouse lines of charts to our site. This symbolizes and brings to life our continuing effort to present the widest variety of world-class music possible. The next few months should see more Supersax charts, offerings of some wonderful Duke Ellington material, and some other great surprises that we will let you know about as soon as we can.

We also continue to proudly roll out our new and growing Non-Jazz Items section. This area will continue to offer a wide array of performance, documentary, and theory/method DVDs, songbook collections, theory/method books, play-alongs from many styles, as well as a variety of items from just about every other major genre of music. We will focus on the new, while adding timeless classic items as well. Please let us know what you think of this new section of our site.

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: August has just begun, so we anticipate adding quite a few more to the below as the next couple of weeks' releases become available. We can already suggest two new Earth Wind & Fire DVDs, as well as two specially-priced packages of multiple drum DVDs. In stock from July are also the fantastic Anita O'Day DVD, along with the Quincy Jones 75th Celebration at Montreux and the Yellowjackets Live at the New Morning in Paris. ALL AUGUST 2009 DVDs ALL JULY 2009 DVDs
O.C. SMITH: HOW SWEET IT IS O.C. Smith developed his reputation working as the lead singer for Count Basie. His 1968 Grammy Award for Song of the Year not only made him a star, but cemented his place in the world of music. O.C. Smith's wonderful voice and magnetic personality made him one of the premiere artists of the 1970s.	MOSCOW SAX QUARTET: THE JAZZNOST TOUR The Moscow Sax Quintet is considered one of the finest Jazz groups in the world. They launched their Western career with a series of concerts in the U.S., appropriately named the The Jazznost Tour. They not only received great critical acclaim from both critics and audiences, but proved that music is the universal language by showcasing the groundbreaking group's mastery of the American art form.
JEANIE BRYSON: LIVE AT THE WARSAW JAZZ FESTIVAL Jeanie Bryson is a subtle and somewhat sensuous singer with a small and appealing voice. Dizzy Gillespie's illegitimate daughter (a fact hidden from the general public during his lifetime), her mother is the songwriter Connie Bryson. Recorded Live at The Warsaw Jamboree Jazz Festival, October 24, 1991.	PATH TO FRETBOARD MASTERY This superb DVD will teach you a system that organizes the fretboard in a way that enables you to quickly visualize any scale, chord or arpeggio pattern, and also knowing each note's name & function. Whether you are practicing, improvising, composing or performing, this approach allows you to make note choices on the fly.

FEATURED NEW BOOKS: Alfred has leaped into the all-instruments play-along field with two great new ones, the Billy Strayhorn volume below, and a second one called Swingin' Now. Advance has just issued the newest volume in Fred Lipsius' Playing Through the Blues series, the Trombone Edition. Hal Leonard has also just published the CD-ROM version of their outstanding Real Book, Volume 2 in C. In addition to all of these, we have quite a few more, including several books this month for bassists, and vibe and mallet players. ALL AUGUST 2009 BOOKS ALL JULY 2009 BOOKS
BEBOP LICKS FOR PIANO Written for the musician who is interested in acquiring a firm foundation for playing jazz, this unique book/CD pack presents over 800 licks. By building up a vocabulary of these licks, players can connect them together in endless possibilities to form larger phrases and complete solos. This book is a dictionary of melodic ideas for improvisation.	LATIN GUITAR HANDBOOK The most complete and comprehensive handbook in print outlining the role of the guitar in the music of Cuba, Brazil, Columbia, Mexico, and other South American countries. A complete survey and guide for any guitarist interested in performing different styles of Latin music. Each chapter examines the styles common to the music of a featured country. Includes a thorough exploration of the history, common instrumentation, core rhythms, guitar patterns and chord voicings, transcriptions, application, and provides musical examples in each style.
BILLY STRAYHORN PLAY-ALONG Go beyond the typical play-along with Alfred's Jazz Play-Along Series, an innovative approach to teaching improvisation. Each volume contains parts for C, B-flat, E-flat, and bass clef instruments and includes a sample written-out jazz solo for you to listen to, study, and play.	JAZZ PIANO STUDIES 1 AND 2 These two Jazz Study books from the pen of John Kember are fantastic collections of studies and study pieces for the developing jazz pianist. Each book spans a host of jazz idioms from blues, trad and big band to gospel, ballad and more reflective styles. Jazz Piano Studies 1 concentrates on swing, anticipation, syncopation, chord sequences and walking bass. Both books contain hints and tips throughout to keep the performer on the right track. Jazz Piano Studies 2 concentrates on chord shapes, complex rhythms, blue notes, ornaments and chromatics. Both books contain hints and tips throughout to keep the performer on the right track.

FEATURED NEW BIG BAND ARRANGEMENTS: AUGUST 2009 BIG BAND CHARTS JULY 2009 BIG BAND CHARTS
DRUM BOOGIE: GENE KRUPA Drum Boogie was a big hit for the Gene Krupa band, featuring Irene Daye on vocals. This chart naturally features your drummer, and the drum part has been written to reflect Krupa's playing. This is not an easy chart, but will sound fantastic when done right.	A FOGGY DAY: MAYNARD FERGUSON This Al Cohn arrangement, from the Maynard Ferguson Band 'Boy With Lots Of Brass' CD, is a wonderful, medium-swing tune. This chart is loaded with Al's supreme musical taste and sense of humor. There is solo space for tenor saxophone and trombone.
INVITATION: ERIC RICHARDS This is a high-energy jazz chart set as a samba with a funky groove and a swing feel. A few features include sax solis, powerful ensemble writing, and a jazz solo for 2nd trumpet. It's a challenging chart but worth the work and it will bring down the house.	WHEN YOU'RE SMILING: FRANK SINATRA This chart has been transcribed from the Nelson Riddle arrangement as performed by Frank Sinatra on 'Sinatra's Swingin' Session,' and is very true to the original. The backing string lines are scored into the trumpets (muted) and the trombone section has been augmented to 4 voices. The muted trumpet solo fills and the important drum licks and kicks have also been written out.

In our truly ceaseless effort to present the best selection of interesting new items for you, as of this newsletter we have added 44 new CDs for the month of August 2009 and 52 for the month of July 2009; 10 new DVDs for August 2009 and 28 for July 2009; 35 new music books for August 2009 and 64 for July 2009; 12 new big band and combo arrangements for the month of August 2009 and 141 for the month of July 2009. We admit it, we do like to keep track, and we would like to once again point out that our jazz-related DVD selection of universal recognition is now lining the shelves at over 2075 titles and growing! We have 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 truly 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.