September 2008

September 2008 Newsletter

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As the political season in the U.S. grinds into full swing, we are here once again to let you know why we think you should vote ejazzlines as your source for jazz this election year. We proudly continue our effort to cross party lines, economic strata, and social divisions to offer an unparalleled selection of the world's greatest jazz-related items. We also proudly continue to roll out new charts in our Jazz Lines Publications series, and the hottest and freshest one this month is Billy May and Frank Sinatra's classic version of Love Walked In. We now offer 26 arrangements of our very own, and more new ones will be coming soon.

This month we are also especially happy to introduce our very first columnist. Starting soon, Evette Dorham, the daughter of the legendary trumpeter, composer, and arranger Kenny Dorham, will be gracing our website with her truly unique perspective. Evette will be sharing with us her thoughts on jazz today; her treasure trove of memories of the glory years of Blue Note in the 1950s and 1960s and the giants who she saw around her home as a child; her experiences from the various jazz cruises and festivals she arranges and attends; and on many other topics which are sure to be of interest to the folks we aspire to have visit our site. Here is Evette's biography and we will soon have a column appearing from her on a regular basis. As fans of all eras of jazz, and especially the 1950s-1960s, to say that we are thrilled to have Evette on board would be a colossal understatement.

The last Tuesday of September remains the projected street date for the forthcoming Jazz Icons Series 3 DVDs. These will feature Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Cannonball Adderley, Lionel Hampton, Sonny Rollins, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Nina Simone, and a bonus disc in the boxed set. We will do our best to be among the very first who have these discs, and we will surely make everyone aware of when they are here and ready to ship. We will certainly have these available as specially-prices sets, with two and/or all three of the sets available together. We will keep everyone posted on this and any other new developments.

September's highlights begin with a brand-new Hal Leonard publication, Best of Antonio Carlos Jobim for Easy Guitar. Jobim's melodies are among jazz's greatest, and are within reach for just about any guitarist with this thoughtful book. Greg Fishman's saxophone books are some of the industry's most popular, and he has now given guitarists the benefit of his teaching with the new Jazz Guitar Etudes. We also have the first two editions of a new Advance publication, Playing Through the Blues, now available for flute and alto sax. September's DVDs feature a new live performance from one of jazz's young queens, Norah Jones, and re-releases of classic live DVDs from the great George Benson and Keith Jarrett. Arkadia's brand new Europafest Jazz Highlights has an eclectic mix of live performances from a German festival. And we proudly present Hilario Duran leading his big band, a DVD of an artist whose playing has long needed more documentation.

New Big Band Arrangements:
We recognize that you have many choices of where you may order music from, so we have tried to assemble the most complete and user-friendly online catalog available. We carry nearly 3,000 arrangements from publishers located all over the world. We also have an educational program to provide our vast jazz catalog at discounted prices. All school band directors are automatically enrolled in our program and there is no miminum order to receive discounts. In addition, you may complete purchase orders directly on our website without the need of a credit card. For more information about our educational program, please email or phone us.

If you're hunting for some great jazz band arrangements you may view titles on our website by any of the following criteria: By Month of Release; By Performer (for famous arrangements); By Arranger; By Style; By Difficulty Level; Vocal Arrangements; Instrumental Features; Festival Suggestions; Opener/Closer Suggestions; Holiday Arrangements; Jazz at Lincoln Center Arrangements; and By Group Size (for small group and combo arrangements). If all else fails, contact us; we're happy to assist you with finding what you're looking for.

In our Jazz Lines Publications series we have a new Frank Sinatra arrangement this month. Love Walked In was arranged by Billy May and was featured on Sinatra's first recording date for newly-formed Reprise Records in 1961, titled Swing Along with Me. In typical Billy May style, this chart begins quietly with just vocals, rhythm section and bass trombone. Trumpets and the sax section follow (altos are on flutes and tenors are on clarinets briefly - alternate parts that do not require doubles are included). The arrangement features 2 great shout sections. This is a solid, swinging arrangement of this Gershwin classic. The vocal key is D flat throughout. Michael Mossman's Mambo adaptation of The Blues Walk pulls out all the stops on this unique and exciting setting of Clifford Brown's jazz standard. The brass section screams out the melody while the saxes fill in blazing counterlines and a soli of their own. Solos are flexible and the rhythm section is called upon to propel the entire chart in an energized and vibrant style. We also want to mention a new Sammy Nestico vocal arrangement of the classic Teach Me Tonight. This chart is presented as recorded by Dennis Bono. It is a hard-hitting medium swing chart and the band gets a chance to shine here in addition to providing support for the vocalist. Lastly, there is a new Mark Taylor arrangement of the Ray Brown tune Gravy Waltz. This is a swingin' arrangement that features the saxes and plenty of great-sounding ensemble writing. This offers a nice style change for festivals or concerts.

New DVDs:
September's newest features Norah Jones recorded live on the popular Austin City Limits. The aforementioned George Benson and Keith Jarrett re-releases should be welcomed by those who missed them the first time around. Hilario Duran leads his big band through an excellent set. We also have some great new instructional DVDs, including several for guitar featuring the very varied styles of Lorne Lofsky, Carlos Santana, Brownie McGhee, B.B. King, John Hammond, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Jorge Morel - where can you find a more diverse selection of instructors than that! We also have another Albert Collins live DVD, yet another excellent Salsa release featuring Jose Alberto "El Canario," the just-released Modern Drummer Festival 1997, and many other new DVDs from around the music world. We again also point your attention towards some of August's very best, Art Tatum the Art of Jazz Piano and Wynton Marsalis the History of the Trumpet.

New CDs:
Blue Note has been particularly busy lately with several reissues including the long awaited release of Grachan Moncur's Evolution. In addition, they have put back in print Sam Rivers' Dimensions and Extensions, Stanley Turrentine's Dearly Beloved, Sonny Clark's classic Leapin' and Lopin', and Hank Mobley's Peckin' Time.

New Books:
Greg Fishman's newest must be considered among our highlights for the month so far. Greg's sax books sell consistently well, and we imagine that his Jazz Guitar Etudes will be a welcome addition to our guitar offerings, and should offer a helpful, unique, and creative perspective. The Jobim book mentioned above gives guitarists of all levels a chance to enhance their repertoire with some classics from a giant of 20th century composition. Peter Erskine's books are present in libraries of all serious drummers and his newest Alfred publication, Essential Drum Fills, is sure to be very popular as well. We also have Fred Lipsius' two new ones (Playing Through the Blues), we continue to add the newest Christmas publications we can find (even including an Elvis one!), we have several new Allen Vizzutti trumpet books from this excellent educator (Best of Allen Vizzutti and Concert Etudes for Trumpet), and among our other offerings is an interesting new one called African Rhythms for Independence and Drumset. Finally, we again recommend last month's hottest items, Keyboard Wisdom and the Big Band Jazz Classics and Smooth Jazz play-along series.

New Release Summary:
In our old-fashioned, dawn-to-dusk effort to present everything that is new and interesting, as of this newsletter we have added a total of 76 new CDs for the month of September 2008 and 36 for the month of August 2008; 22 new DVDs for September 2008 and 24 for August 2008; 31 new music books for September 2008 and 71 for August 2008; 8 new big band and combo arrangements for the month of September 2008 and 208 for the month of August 2008.

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.

In our DVD section, we now carry nearly 1,700 jazz DVDs!

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, almost everything featured in this newsletter should be available to ship within 5-7 days; some imports may take 2-3 weeks.

As always, we are here for all of you and we truly appreciate all of the support we continue to receive. While we know everyone has many choices in the jazz retail world, we aspire to provide the best one-stop source for jazz recordings, DVDs, charts, and educational materials. Please accept our continued gratitude for your support, and please let us know anytime what we are doing right and what we need to improve. And enjoy the beautiful onset of fall!

We are Rob and Doug at ejazzlines and we approved this message.