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August 2011
| August 2011 Newsletter: The Onset of Chart Season and Tales of Branford and Joey
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Here at ejazzlines, Jazz Lines Publications, and School Music Service, this is our busiest and most exciting time of the year. Things really spring to life during the waning days of summer, as schools and bands the world over feverishly prepare for a new year. The sense of newness and renewal is palpable as we add the season's newest arrangements, books, and DVDs to our site, and continue to prepare the many new pieces which Jazz Lines Publications will publish in the coming months. Following the recent issuing of the complete original charts from Oliver Nelson's The Blues and the Abtract Truth and more from the great Frank Sinatra will soon be Central City Sketches from Benny Carter and Focus from Stan Getz and Eddie Sauter. We are very proud to make all of these works available in their entirety, and as always, from the original scores and parts used by the arrangers and musicians. Perhaps the other most exciting new offering we have is Sierra Music's Radiohead Jazz Project series, the pieces from which are within the July new charts pages. These were done by a variety of great arrangers, and are wonderful vehicles to make some great pop/rock songs accessible to jazz bands. June's new chart pages have an especially excellent selection of classics and new pieces from Alfred. And August already has over 125 new charts with Walrus Music's array of originals by independent writers leading the way. We will augment these listings every week, and vow to continue to provide you with what is truly the very best selection of jazz and jazz-related arrangements available at any one source.
We were fortunate enough to recently be invited to a rehearsal at the local Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Branford Marsalis was appearing with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and we attended a morning rehearsal followed by a meet-and-greet with Branford. The rehearsal was very interesting; the full band played some pieces from Debussy, Ravel, and Bizet among others, and then Branford came out to rehearse a couple of pieces from John Williams (Escapades for alto saxophone and orchestra) and Darius Milhaud (Scaramouche for alto saxophone and orchestra). The pieces were great, and the most impressive parts were the lightning-fast unison lines Branford played with the vibraphone and bass on the Milhaud piece. Branford's playing was smooth, confident, and virtuosic. After the rehearsal was over we had the opportunity to meet Branford. Everything about him oozed class. There was a boy of maybe 8 who told Branford that he played drums and trumpet, Branford smiled and said "my brother plays trumpet too - and he's pretty good!" We went over to speak to Branford, with one particular question in mind.
As big Joey Calderazzo fans, we asked Branford how they started playing together, and his eyes instantly lit up. He could not have been more gracious with everyone, but it was clear that he was very happy to be talking to some serious jazz fans, as most of the others in attendance seemed to be focused on classical. Branford told us that in 1979, when at Berklee, he and Joey's older brother Gene (a very accomplished drummer in his own right) were jamming in a practice space when a smallish kid kept peeking in the window. Gene told Branford that it was Joey, his 14-year-old brother. So they mischievously invited him in, expecting him to want to play rock. So they ask what he wants to play, and little Joey called Moment's Notice, counted it off at breakneck speed, and shredded it! Thirty two years later, they are still friends, and world-class musical collaborators. After this, Branford shared his thoughts on music education today, and interestingly told us about how when Wynton wanted to change his sound, getting a new trumpet briefly helped, but the old sound soon returned; Branford counseled him to listen to Louis Armstrong and to "change what is in your head." We thank Branford for being such a patient gentleman, and for spending some time talking with us.
We once again thank everyone for your support - it is sincerely appreciated every day of the year!
Rob and Doug at ejazzlines
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In addition to the below we also remind everyone of July's JLP charts, which included Frank Sinatra's All I Need is the Girl, Get Me to the Church on Time, and Swingin' Down the Lane; Avalon from Terry Gibbs; and four more from Benny Carter: Melancholy Lullaby, Easy Money, the big band version of Doozy, and People Time, the first movement from the upcoming release of the complete Central City Sketches suite.
ALL AUGUST 2011 NEW ARRANGEMENTS
ALL JULY 2011 NEW ARRANGEMENTS
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BRADLEY'S GROVE SHOP: MARK TAYLOR
Primarily scored for the entire ensemble with brief choruses for the saxes, this original shuffle really lives up to its name and has a great feel. An open solo section gives you added flexibility and allows anyone in the band to be featured. |
THE FIRST NOEL: MARK TAYLOR
Here is something unique and fresh-sounding for your holiday concert. Mark has taken this familiar carol and crafted it as a light bossa with creative harmonies and lush scoring. A tenor/trumpet duet recurs throughout, and solo space is provided for both. |
LET IT SNOW!: MIKE LEWIS
Just right for that holiday swing tune, this one belongs in every music library. Mike Lewis's clever treatment is effective for any performance setting, enjoyed by the band, the audience, and you too. The trombones will get some section work, the brass section has big sounding ensembles, and the melody bounces around, keeping the whole band smiling. A written tenor sax solo with band backgrounds and a refreshing modulation bring this swinger home. |
CHAMELEON: CHRIS SHARP
Herbie Hancock wrote this funky jazz standard many years ago but it still remains a student favorite with its hip bass line and groovy melody. This modern look at the funk classic has plenty of room to get your groove on with the famous melody, soloing over the friendly chord progression or breaking it down with some hip ensemble shout sections. |
CANTALOUPE ISLAND: DAVE MILLS
Another jam session standard from Herbie Hancock, this laid back funk classic makes a great jazz ensemble chart for younger to intermediate groups. |
DRIFTIN': DAVE MILLS
This sultry jazz classic from Herbie Hancock has been covered by so many artists thru the years, it's hard to keep count. This dynamic jazz ensemble arrangement begins with the feel of the original combo version as tenor sax plays a written or ad lib solo before the band enters to crank up the energy. Next, trumpet 2 gets a chance to solo (improv. or written) before the entire ensemble eloquently re-introduces the theme. Things heat up quickly as this tune becomes a funky blow for everyone before the end. |
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August's DVD selections also include several more instructional discs from Mel Bay, including ones teaching the music of Lightnin' Hopkins, Bessie Smith, and Buddy Holly, in addition to another from Fred Sokolow featuring Beginners Fingerpicking Blues Classics. We also have live DVDs from Louis Armstrong and Johnny Winter, as well as the first featuring LA vibist Jon Nagourney, and several more interesting titles which will be added to as the month progresses. July's best featured the Charles Mingus Quartet Live in Berlin in 1972, the re-release of the classic Louis Armstrong documentary Satchmo and two live DVDs from Larry Carlton: With Tak Matsumoto at the Blue Note in New York and with the Sapphire Blues Band live in Paris.
ALL AUGUST 2011 NEW DVDs
ALL JULY 2011 NEW DVDs
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THELONIOUS MONK QUARTET LIVE AT SALLE PLEYEL PARIS 1969
Thelonious Monk entered a long phase of introspection and cancelled his concert schedule after 1968. He disbanded his quartet with Charlie Rouse, stopped recording for a while, and only performed sporadically. This complete 1969 performance at the famous Salle Pleyel in Paris, appearing here for the first time on DVD, is one of his last concerts ever with Charlie Rouse. |
CHET BAKER QUINTET LIVE AT LE DREHER CLUB 1980
Chet Baker with a quintet filmed live in Paris at Le Dreher on February 29, 1980 in a film by Leon Terjanian. Le Dreher was a small cellar bar which Chet frequented over his years in Europe, often playing several evenings in a row. On his good nights there, he was a poet of still tones clinging next to silence telling the blues of his life with subdued feelings. On these nights, he was unique and unsurpassable. |
CUBA: ISLAND OF MUSIC
The film is a behind-the-scenes look at Afro-Cuban music's role in the daily life of Cubans. Filmmaker Gary Keys brings the audience into the heart and soul of Havana, through a vibrant mosaic of street musicians, big bands, dancers, religious rituals, and classic cars. Keys shows us Afro-Cuban music in New York City, with the music and commentary of jazz legends Billy Taylor, Candido Camero, and Chico O'Farrill. |
B.B. KING LIVE
With trademark Gibson Lucille settled on his lap, B.B. King presents a concert filled with staggering guitar jams on hits like The Thrill Is Gone and Downhearted. In between songs, King's characteristic affable persona shines through as he introduces the band he's always toured with and shares stories from his life. |
JAZZ STANDARDS FOR BEGINNERS
In this lesson, you'll learn six timeless tunes from start to finish: how to play backup while you sing them and how to play a beautiful chord melody solo/instrumental for each song. The tunes are arranged for beginners, with very few difficult chords. Fred Sokolow plays and sings each song, then goes over the tricky spots in each tune before playing it slower, on a split screen with close-ups of both hands. Best of all, you can read all six arrangements (tablature, music and chord grids) in the booklet that comes with this lesson as a PDF file on the DVD. |
T LAVITZ: THE KEY
T Lavitz may be best known as the 6-time Grammy nominated keyboardist of The Dixie Dregs, however his complete performance and teaching resumes are both extensive! When he wasn't recording or performing live, T taught at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. This brilliant DVD features a wide range of material including a private piano lesson with T, a mini-concert, the Rock and Beyond video, an instructional DVD-Rom and a range of live clips featuring fellow Dixie Dregs band mates Steve Morse, Rod Morgenstein, Jerry Goodman and Dave LaRue. |
GANNIN ARNOLD: 5 WORLD CLASS DRUMMERS
Gannin Arnold: 5 World Class Drummers is one of the most unique, entertaining and educational DVDs to ever be produced. It features Taylor Hawkins, Jimmy Chamberlin, Simon Phillips, Terry Bozzio and Gary Novak, along with Billy Mohler on guitar/bass and Tim Landers on bass. Gannin has the respect of these world class drummers and the music industry for his abilities as a performer and writer. All the drummers play on Not From Here and there is a special up close edit of that song showing the overhead and foot on the drummer through the entire tune. The 2 DVD set includes interviews with the drummers and 19 amazing band performances. |
MASTER DRUMMER FEATURING DENNIS CHAMBERS
Imagine getting to hang out in a world-class studio with a musician many would call the most talented drummer alive! Dennis Chambers has played on over 400 records and has worked with some of the biggest names in music, including Santana, Dr. Dre, Steely Dan, P-Funk, Snoop Dogg, Bill Evans, and Herbie Hancock, to name a few. In this DVD, you'll get an inside look at the life of a man that even Carlos Santana called a master drummer. Dennis jams with bass player Benny Rietveld, who plays with Santana and has worked with Miles Davis, John Lee Hooker, Booker T. Jones, Sheila E., and others. Topics include recording, how to dissect a drum beat, working in a professional band, and more. And of course, there's lots of extra musical performances! |
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In addition to the below, August's new releases include Lennie Niehaus's latest, Jazz Conception for the Saxophone Section via Jamey Aebersold; from Mel Bay we have Basics books on Blues Harp, Bongo, Cajon, and Conga; Alfred has just published Blues Soloing Strategies for Guitar and the Dan Coates-arranged Treasury of Golden Standards; and from Hal Leonard we have Jazz Connection: Book Three, and the Jimmy Reed Blues Play-Along. In our continuing effort to make our offerings as comprehensive as possible, we have recently added several classic Gordon Delamont arranging texts from Kendor, as well as several Hal Leonard books featuring the works of Scott Joplin for various levels of players. Finally, there are several new Christmas books this month as well. July's best included Jazz Bass Improvisation, Stephane Grappelli: A Life in Jazz, and great new essential play-alongs featuring the music of Freddie Hubbard and Stan Getz.
ALL AUGUST 2011 NEW BOOKS
ALL JULY 2011 NEW BOOKS
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NAT ADDERLEY PLAY-ALONG: 10 CLASSIC TUNES
The newest volume in Hal Leonard's series features the always tasteful Nat Adderley. Perhaps best known for his association with his legendary brother, Nat certainly carved out an important niche for himself as a composer and player as well. For use with all B-flat, E-flat, bass clef and C instruments, the Jazz Play-Along series is the ultimate learning tool for all jazz musicians. With musician-friendly lead sheets, melody cues, and other split-track choices on the included CD, these first-of-a-kind packages help you master improvisation while playing some of the greatest tunes of all time. |
BIG BAND DRUMMING AT FIRST SIGHT
With Big Band Drumming at First Sight, Steve Fidyk offers a comprehensive approach to improve sight-reading skills in a big band setting. With advice on how to accompany different musical forms and playing styles, Fidyk gives detailed information that will strengthen your ability to recognize band figures and beat patterns quickly and easily. The companion play-along MP3 CD features 10 arrangements of varying style with beat and figure examples extracted from each score that are "looped" or repeated several times for thorough study. |
JAZZ SOLOING STRATEGIES FOR GUITAR
Jazz Soloing Strategies for Guitar is a study of essential and innovative approaches to jazz improvisation. Designed for blues and rock guitarists with a desire to broaden their musical vocabulary, this book shows you important concepts for playing great jazz solos. Eight full-length solos in a variety of jazz styles, ranging from classic standards and Gypsy jazz to Latin, modal, and smooth jazz, are covered in great detail. The chord progressions are analyzed, as are the techniques, structural characteristics, and material used to improvise over them. This book takes an intelligent and thorough approach to shed new light on jazz guitar soloing and provides you with fresh strategies to apply to your own playing. A CD demonstrating all the examples in the book and for playing along is included. |
VOCAL COMPLETE: JAZZ STANDARDS FOR FEMALE VOICE OR MALE VOICE
This deluxe package (songbook plus two enhanced CDs) provides everything you need to arrive at auditions and performances completely prepared, whether your accompaniment will be live or pre-recorded. With Vocal Complete (female and male editions available), the sheet music matches the original key and form of the backing tracks, so if you practice singing with one, you won't encounter unexpected variations with the other. Upload the tracks to your portable music player for practice, performances, auditions, parties, or even singing for fun in the car! There are two versions of every song on the CDs: a full-performance track with sound-alike vocals for listening and learning, and a professional-quality backing track for singing along. |
JAZZ WARM-UPS AND VOCALISES
Here's a perfect set of warm-ups for the vocal jazz ensemble that's designed to enhance and stimulate the growth of each member's vocal and choral ability. Thinking of the warm-up as a "mini voice lesson," you can reinforce concepts with consistent encouragement, criticism, problem-solving and praise. This practical volume will help the conductor provide purposeful leadership and develop artistry in each individual through exercises that build styles such as swing, Latin and rock using solfége and scat syllables as well as tone and ballad style. |
EXPLORING JAZZ CLARINET
This definitive book is designed for the intermediate clarinettist looking for an introduction to the world of jazz. Renowned jazz saxophonist Ollie Weston introduces key concepts step by step, explaining clearly and simply throughout, with the minimum of musical jargon. Improvisation is featured from the very beginning, with authentic live jazz trio recordings on the accompanying CD for you to play along with. Key subjects covered include: modes, swing playing, melodic development, the 2-5-1 progression, jazz blues progressions, pentatonic scales, jazz chord extensions, stylistic development, unique clarinet sounds and many more. |
MODERN ARRANGING TECHNIQUE
This text is a complete examination of all aspects of modern arranging and composing. Adopted by high school and college music theory programs everywhere, it provides students with a logical, progressive and comprehensive study of modern trends. |
BLOSSOM DEARIE SONGBOOK
The All Music Guide states, "A distinctive, girlish voice, crisp, impeccable delivery, and an irrepressible sense of playful swing made Blossom Dearie one of the most enjoyable singers of the vocal era." This folio celebrates Blossom's career with arrangements of 15 of her most enduring favorites. Includes an excellent bio! |
| As of this newsletter we have added 18 new DVDs for August 2011 and 23 for July 2011; 45 new music books for August 2011 and 59 for July 2011; 129 new big band and combo arrangements for the month of August 2011 and 43 for the month of July 2011.
Our DVD selection, which we build and improve on almost every day, now contains 2474 titles! We invite you to browse our easy-to-navigate DVD pages today-we have jazz, blues, funk, and soul; live and documentary; method and master class; and much more - we are proud to 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 1 to 2 weeks.
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