August 2008 Update

August 2008 Update Newsletter

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Summer is winding down once again, and while there is absolutely nothing we here at ejazzlines can do to forestall this horrid annual eventuality (and believe me, we have researched this possibility endlessly!), we can certainly do our best be sure that everyone is ready for another bright and shining year at school. Yes, our friends at the major publishers have been busy this month, and we have an outstanding collection of new books and educational materials at the ready. We have a phenomenal selection of new big band charts this year, including all of the newest from Walrus, Kendor, Hal Leonard, Alfred, Lush Life, Powerhouse, Northern Colorado Jazz Press, as well as our own Jazz Lines Publications' most recent, and an even better than usual selection of new arrangements from our good friend Bob Curnow at Sierra Music. We again acknowledge that there are other folks out there who do a wonderful job in jazz retail, but at this time of year especially, we like to take the time to remind everyone of our unparalleled selection, service, prices, and general ease-of-use/customer friendliness. We continue to aspire to be the one-stop source for all jazz and music needs for as many of you as possible.

We should have a couple of interesting developments in September. We do hope to finally begin with our first featured columnist, whose work will be an exceptional insider's look at jazz happenings of all shapes, sizes, and locations. Her jazz pedigree is truly peerless, and we hope to introduce her to everyone in September. The last Tuesday of next month is also the 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, and Nina Simone. 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. In addition, we are also working towards publishing a series of famous, professional-level big band arrangements which will bring another well-known arranger into the Jazz Lines Publications catalog. We are also currently engraving many of the Dave Pell Octet charts so that they will be professionally laid out and printed and come with a complete score.

Play-alongs are plentiful this month, with Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin and Dixieland Jazz featured, and there are also play-along series for various instruments focusing on Jazz Classics for Big Band and Smooth Jazz, and we have a very interesting series from Schott called the Swinging Romantic Play-alongs. Perhaps most intriguing among this month's DVDs is Art Tatum: The Art of Jazz Piano, a brand-new documentary on the life of the brilliant pianist. We also have a new DVD from Wynton Marsalis, continuing his educational direction, The History of the Trumpet. Live DVDs from Joey DeFrancesco, Frank Vignola and Tito Puente round out this month's usual wide selection of hard-to-find new items. A special mention must be made of a CD which is finally in print in the U.S., Stan Getz's Sweet Rain. Many of you have been generous enough to purchase the various import editions of this classic from us over the years, and the great quartet of Stan and the young Chick Corea, Ron Carter, and Grady Tate is finally now available as a low-priced domestic release. All that needs to be said of this approximately 38 minutes of classic jazz bliss is that if you dont have it or know it, you need to. Soon.

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 2 new vocal arrangements this month. First is Hal Mooney's chart of the standard Hey There as arranged for Helen O'Connell. Like most of our arrangements, this is not a transcription, it has been engraved from the original manuscript. We're happy to provide a vocal arrangement of this standard as there isn't another one currently available. In our expanding Frank Sinatra series we have Nelson Riddle's arrangement of Blue Moon from the 'Swingin' Session and More' record. This classic Sinatra chart features a half chorus tenor saxophone solo which we have written out in full, though chords are supplied in the event that your tenor player wished to improvise instead. There are several new Hal Leonard arrangements this month including Michael Philip Mossman's arrangement of the Jobim classic Agua de Beber done in a nice samba style with a tenor solo and great ensemble passages. If you're looking to get your group into a funk (instead of out of one) here's the classic R&B hit Brick House as arranged by Paul Murtha. This medium level chart is guaranteed to bring the house down. Continuing in his Mingus series, Andrew Homzy has just put together a great chart on Duke Ellington's Sound of Love. This chart features some fantastic, lush voicings for the ensemble and an optional flute or piano solo.

New DVDs:
August's newest DVDs feature The Art of Jazz Piano, on the life of Art Tatum. Truly one of the giants of twentieth century piano, Art Tatum is lovingly remembered on this DVD tribute, with remembrances from contemporaries as well as classic archival footage. Wynton Marsalis' History of the Trumpet is the newest in his series of educational releases. Wynton explains the history of the trumpet over time, in his unique way, educating and enlightening students of all ages. One Take is a very interesting sounding new DVD featuring Joey DeFrancesco and Lorne Lofsky, which focuses (as the title suggests) on jazz being produced without overdubs or edits. We also proudly present a new DVD/CD package featuring Frank Vignola live, as well as a brand new live DVD from the late Mambo King, Tito Puente. We also would like to remind everyone of some of this month's earlier DVD offerings, Monty Alexander Live, The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra Live, The Craft of Piano Playing, and The Bob Mintzer Big Band Live, which has been perhaps our best-selling DVD since The World of Maynard Ferguson (still just a few copies left of this one by the way).

New CDs:
The first CD we want to mention this month is the new Roy Hargrove CD Earfood. We're big fans of Roy's past CDs, but on this one he demonstrates some very impressive technique that he really hadn't shown in the past. More than half of the 13 tunes were penned by Hargrove. Alto saxophonist Justin Robinson also sounds great on this. We've gotten some new releases on the M&I label in from Japan. Included is the title First Standards by a group calling themselves the Juilliard All-Stars. This group really shines on a number of well-known standards including So What, Caravan, and Secret Love. Also in from M&I is a new Art Pepper release recorded in London in 1980 and aptly titled London Live 1980. This recording features Milcho Leviev on piano, Bob Magnuson on bass, and Carl Burnett on drums. Savant here in the US has released a brilliant new duo CD featuring Harvie S and legendary pianist Kenny Barron. This CD called Now Was the Time features some of the best piano/bass duo playing recorded in recent memory.

New Books:
Smooth Jazz fans can rejoice, as Hal Leonard has just issued a five-volume (so far) Smooth Jazz play-along series. With classics from the genre, this will be a welcome edition for the many of you who feel that smooth jazz does not receive its fair space on the bookshelf. We also are getting ready for Christmas early as always, with new holiday books for guitar, piano, and trumpet. We have just added some classic collections from American Songbook A-listers Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Rosemary Clooney, Cole Porter, The Gershwins, and Cy Coleman. And continuing the educational theme which we pursue every summer, we have lots of books loaded with woodshedding potential, including the 3-volume Clarinet Fundamentals, the 2-volume Flute Etudes, Keyboard Wisdom, Step By Step-Basics of Trumpet Technique, The Complete Snare Drum Book, The Guitarist's Complete Technique Kit, and many more. Finally, one of this month's earlier books, Oscar Peterson Plays Standards, deserves another mention for the overview it gives of one of the true giants playing some classic tunes in his inimitable style.

New Release Summary:
In our back-breaking and exhaustion-inducing effort to present everything that is new and interesting, as of this newsletter we have added a total of 53 new CDs for the month of August 2008 and 73 for the month of July 2008; 28 new DVDs for August 2008 and 24 for July 2008; 77 new music books for August 2008 and 54 for July 2008; 198 new big band and combo arrangements for the month of August 2008 and 93 for the month of July 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 short remainder of your summer!

Rob and Doug at ejazzlines