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Reviews

We just heard the River at the Silicon Valley Symphony, it was wonderful. Tom O

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra is at its best here. On this album, they pay tribute to William Levi Dawson and Duke Ellington, with great, intelligent compositions and performances. The "Negro Folk Symphony" is a deep, ear-pleasing performance with great horn work and the strings sound great. However, one of my favorites is Duke Ellington's "The River Suite". I, myself have played this piece and it is just as much fun to play as it is to listen to. My personal favorite movements are "Meander", "Giggling Rapids" and "Vortex". The whole piece is extremely soulful and still well-written. A definite favorite of mine, and it segways into a great performance of another one of Ellington's greatest pieces, "Solitude". However, the real show stopper here is "Harlem", originally written for trumpeter Cootie Williams. This features William Lucas and Walter White, two of the best all-around trumpet players today. They effortlessly extend into the stratosphere and play beautifully through this challenging arrangement. As the review from the critic says, "Talk about musicians knowing their chops!"Fans of orchestral music and big band music will enjoy this one equally. The DSO is constantly blurring the line between the two styles and this particular outing works wonderfully. It's great to hear an album like this.

Reviews

Randy Graff is known to the fans of Broadway musicals, but she does deserve a much broader audience. She is a truly terrific performer. Buy the CD and enjoy some guiltless pleasure.

Don`t worry, I won`t fuss around. I`ll just tell you why you should buy this album: first of all, Cy Coleman is a fantastic composer and you`re gonna like his songs as long as you like Broadway musicals; and: if you like and know Coleman-show`s you`ll even find some songs you don`t know yet and they sound just brilliant. Well and of course credits to Randy Graff who does a great job and makes this record to a must for every Broadway musical fan...(sorry, I guess, I did fuss around, didn`t I? Anyway, go ahead, buy it!)

Tony Award Winner Randy Graff ("City of Angels") sings some of Cy Coleman's most popoular songs as well as a few "chestnuts" in this highly entertaining CD. Ms Graff's Broadway credits include originating the role of Fantine in "Les Miserables", "Laughter on the 23rd Floor", "Moon Over Buffalo" with Carol Burnett, and "High Society". For some of Cy Coleman's best from a lady who can really sing em, this CD is a must for your Broadway collection.

Reviews

Whenever I have people over for fun food and drink this is one of the concert DVDs I will always get the most request to put on. Some complain about the images shown as the music's playing but it adds to the experience.Sound and production quality are top notch as are the musicians. I really prefer these retro jams because of the excellent quality. This one,Santana,Deep Purple.Black Sabbath and Joe Cocker retro's are all great repeated viewings.

Thought the DVD was very entertaining when it shows the artists on stage, doing their thing or off-stage clips of the players. Steve is so very talented and gifted. Jim is a hoot in most of the clips. I laughed out loud at times while he was playing and goofing around. You can almost feel him sweat while performing. And during performances on stage and off-stage antics and interview clips, you can tell these guys like what they do and have a good time. I thought Garcia looked old and out of place there. He did not seem to contribute that much; Steve steals the show!! The editing at times is distracting and annoying. It feels like someone wants you to feel like you are on some really mind-altering psychedelic drug and you are seeing halluicinations or LSD like highs. Let the musicians and their performances on stage, along with short-clips of dicussions or videos off stage do the work alone.

The dvd is awesome and if you like Traffic, this MUST be in your collection

I concur with others that the video editing is an abomination. But there are extended segments of pure concert footage and, for the most part, the audio tracks of each song are intact. Traffic is not one of my top 10 bands, but this is one of my top 10 concert DVDs. The music is tight, fresh, artistic, soulful, jamming, rocking, powerful. It is a special moment when a band gets into a groove and can build upon it and pull the audience into that groove with them. It is a rare moment for that groove to be captured on film. I ripped the audio tracks so that I could enjoy this as an album. I think these recordings are so special that I will probably also get the DualDisk version as well, just to try to get the best audio recordings that I can.

I thought this was a good live concert footage, well edited, and would recommmend it.

Reviews

The DVD is a great resource. It shows some very very fine drummers, each demonstrating his INDIVIDUAL style. That can be inspiring for a numbers of reasons, not east of which is the subtext that you too are entitled to your own style. It's also interesting to hear different takes on the function of brushes, whether legato or staccato. Best of all is the inclusion of the play-along tracks -- great opportunities to experiment with what you've seen and discover what you'll keep, what you'll change, and you may let go of. It was a coincidence, but I received the DVD a few weeks before a gig that required a lot of brush playing. Because of the DVD, the brushes felt very comfortable. I didn't feel the need to follow a "style" or technique, but -- because this is what the masters show on the DVD -- simply played what sounded best at the moment. The DVD is worth the investment. It shows there is a musical way to use brushes -- and it's open to personal interpretation.

I will admit I am biased since Adam has taught me, but, his teaching and communication talent absolutely shine on this DVD set. The insistance on camera angles is consistent and diligent. He has real, old-school, brush playing icons and in this, they play along at different tempo's, and to several styles, then discuss and demo their individual techniques. All the while, the are interviewed by either Adam or Steve Smith. The masters are even asked to move one arm or another, just so the camera can 'see' what's going on. Also, Adam and Steve show their stuff in similar fashion. There is real respect here that you can 'feel' and that makes for great interplay and cooperation while attention to detail is the rule. The players are willing to really break down their methods and repeat them so we can really learn. This opened up my mind and my playing after just watching less than half of it and it illicited compliments after a gig from people who really know. I have to highly recommend this to any drummer who wants to play for real- no matter what level you are currently this will improve you! Happy drumming and have fun!

This is an excellent production but could have been improved by the addition of a music score. The additional cost of UK VAT was £5.90 plus Post Office handling charge of £8.00 made this an expensive product.

It's not often that a product that you can't test first blows one away. But this is definitely one of them. The main take away is that playing with brushes has all to do with individual tastes and desires for producing a pleasing sound. Playing jazz with brushes offers a multitude of expression. This package clearly demonstrates that fact with some of the best in the business. And with the play-along CD, you can experiment with some of the techniques picked up from the masters on the DVDs. Don't expect to get much explanation from these guys. They just do what they do and you will need to learn by listening and watching what they do. Often times, they can't adequately put into words what they are doing. It's like someone asking you to explain how you breathe. You just do! This product is highly recommended for the jazz drummer who is young, old, neophyte, or expert.

I had to do a listening assignment for this and write and paper. Here is my paper - tells what is presented in the DVD and my opinions: The Art of Playing with Brushes, released by Hudson Music, is a true treasure trove of information and tools to learn to play brushes. Steve Smith and Adam Nussbaum host other elders of the art to demonstrate their techniques and explain their philosophies, inspirations and tips. The complete set includes two DVDs and a play-a-along CD with tracks that match the charts the interviewees play to. In total there is over seven hours of video to soak up and learn from! The DVDs are organized by examples of different styles, lessons from different teachers, and other "bonus" material. Under each category Joe Morello (of Dave Brubeck fame), Charli Persip (Dizzy Gillespie), Eddie Locke (Coleman Hawkins), Billy Hart (Hank Jones), Ben Riley (Thelonius Monk) play and talk about each style or lesson. It is through these extensive examples that the viewer can learn many approaches to brushes. First and foremost, all the drummers discussed the fact that brushes are based on individuals and personalities. Each brush player uses different "moves," creates different colors, and adds in unique kicks and tricks. But they also explain some fundamental truths about brush technique. First, brushes are based on lateral and circular motion. The most common implement, the drumstick, uses mostly vertical movement to achieve sound. Brushes, because of their unique design and purpose, call for more subtle, lower, finessed movements. The goal with brushes is to create a "sound-scape" of swishes and accents, whereas drumsticks are more about time and rhythm. Interestingly, Billy Hart talks about how he completely avoids thinking about rhythm when playing brushes, and instead focuses on the melodies and feelings of the music around him. It is much harder to play brushes well if you are focused on counting more than feeling. Each drummer offers their own takes on swing (many different tempos), ballads, ¾ time playing, and latin brushwork. Basic swing patterns usually included the left hand making a circular motion, with the right hand tapping a ride pattern around the left hand's motion. This is made very clear in all the demonstrations. Some of the drummers incorporated more staccato movements, accents on the cymbals, hi-hat splashes, and varying amounts of bass drum playing. All of these variations are valid and worth examining so the viewer may incorporate what they like into their playing. Besides more than five hours of hardcore brush demonstration and talk, the DVDs also include eleven archival clips of great brush players, brush lessons with Adam Nussbaum, Ed Thigpen, and Louis Bellson, and a 5/4 brush solo by Joe Morello. If the viewer inserts the DVDs into their computer, extra PDF articles can be found. They include biographies and listening guides of the artists featured in the DVDs, a written brush lesson with Adam Nussbaum, an article on the sounds of the brushes, and information about playing along with the included CD. As an individual player, there are many things I can take from this package to improve my brush playing. As I am currently studying brushes in Philly Joe Jones's book "Brush Artistry," I was familiar with some of the basic concepts presented in the video. A picture (or video) is worth a thousand words -watching masters of brushes has given me direct connections between concepts, movements, and sounds. It will take me time and more watching of the DVDs to develop and integrate all of these ideas into my playing. As described in the video, my practice could be with or without music on any suitable surface: a drum, newspaper, record cover, or book. Truly, The Art of Playing with Brushes is a monumental resource for playing brushes. The material presented can help develop any drummer into an individual, swingin' brush player.

Reviews

I LOVE it !! CD and DVD, the price is GREAT.. quality is fantastic. Love all the music it in it..

Legends of Jazz is an amazing work of artistry. Larry Rosen, thank you so much. Also, a big thanks to Bill Richert, the still photographer of the coffee table book. It is a wonderful addition to my library. You are very talented. I do hope to see more of your work in the future. As a former educator, my hat is off to all of you that put this great piece of work together. This is what our youth needs to view. Many thanks for the hours of entertainment I have enjoyed.

Legends of Jazz: Showcase [Blu-ray] The wonderful performance of the maestros of jazz has driven me mad by wonderful quality of image and wonderful tone quality every day.

This is a great sampler of a variety of jazz styles by some reknowned artists. The quality of Blu-Ray HD video is excellent. Overall this is the kind of DVD you'd want to watch over and over again!

Good selection of artists, although concert or show is quite short, expected a longer presentation ...overall it is a good concert

Reviews

I don't own this cd but from listening to the samples it sounds like nice christmas music. The questions is, however, why are sellers asking $93 - $214 for this CD. Does the 'DJ's Choice Smooth Christmas' cd have some special or historical value that I am not aware of? At least Amazon sells the download for $6.98

Reviews

Anyone just beginning to explore the world of jazz improvisation needs to purchase this book. While the instruction is lacking, in my opinion, it is still a very useful tool for practicing when fellow musicians are not available; and the consistency is helpful when you want to try something new. It is a beginner's book and should be used by beginners.

This was the book I first started learning jazz tunes from, and have since bought many copies for my pupils. There's some classic tunes in it that are easy to read, perform and learn basic improvisation. A good place to start for beginners to jazz, and to use as a practice aid for soloing.

Aptly named, Maiden Voyage features tracks that are nearly ideal for beginning jazz improvisers. The chord changes are not overly quick, nor are the tempi on the tunes. Like most of the packages that Jamey Aebersold has put together over the years, Maiden Voyage works best for players of melodic instruments (flute, trumpet, saxophone, trombone, guitar, etc.). This is useful for guitarists and pianists who want to practice their comping, as it is for bass players. The only problem with using the basic version of any of Aebersold's book/CD packages for comping or working out bass lines is that there is no soloist to react to. This features, however, a solid rhythm section and putting yourself into it requires practice. A nice selection of tunes. Some people that prefer a more chord-based approach to improvisation might find Aebersold's focus on modes a little tricky at first, but this kind of modal approach is basically where jazz has been for some time now. Besides, using a scale (mode) based approach will help the improviser develop a more flowing melodic style. Give Maiden Voyage an "A."

I'm an intermediate level bass player backing up a praise band at church and a company sponsored big band, but I'd never soloed or played a melody till I took a jazz class that used this book.Melody lines in the tunes are very readable, even though I did not know most of the songs, and had never played any of them. Tempos are moderate for a productive learning experience--our jazz band performs "Impressions" a lot faster than Aebersold teaches it. And his improv technique got me up and playing pretty quickly. Now I know what in improv solo is and how to get there. It improved my backup skills as well, and overall improved my confidence to step out more even in the backup role. Had a great time, and I'm headed back for another class with another Aebersold book.

This is a terrific purchase for intermediate level players. The selections are in relatively slow tempos and there is a wealth of information if you are a multi-instrumentalist. The CD recording is good and allows you to mute either the bass or piano acoompaniment as they are recorded on separate channels. There is a recommended discography for each track. My only criticism is that it would be better to have the tracks recorded twice, once with just piano,bass and drums (what you get now) and recorded again with a lead instrument playing the notated themes in the supplied booklet.

Reviews

This book teaches how to learn to improvise for all instruments. Jamey's message is that it is easy to improvise. He introduces a way of practicing that starts simple and adds complexity step by step. There is much wisdom here, though sometimes a bit scattered and not that organized. The book is more practical than analytical, with short chapters on different topics and many musical examples and licks. I think the main strength with this book lies in the inspirational tone and the play-a-longs on the companion cd. I really like to play along with the songs. Even though the pianist, the drummer and the bass player play "simple" chord progressions and 12-bar blues songs they swing and they groove! You should buy the DVD also, because in the DVD Jamey sits at his piano and explains many of the concepts presented in the book and shows how to play along. I find his way of talking about and demonstrating jazz to be very inspiring. He makes it simple. I have watched the DVD many times by now, just to get me in the right mood. /Anders Vesterberg

The book explains the scales to be used with different chords. And gives some patterns to be played over these scales. The first play-along track have chord progressions to go along with those pattern, so you can play along using those pattern. The pattern starts very simple to more complex ones. Of course you may also improvise freely over the same backing tracks, using notes from the given scales. The book further explains ideas about hwo to build a nice solo, and introduces the concept of tension and release. While all well done, I have only rated it 3 stars. I play the guitar, and found that an introduction to jazz specificly written for the guitar was much to prefer, e.g. by providing ideas on fingering of different scales. I guess that this would be similar for most instruments. Morover the main part of the book has to be written three times for instruments of different tuing. The book proceeds directly to a modal approach to improvising. Non of the backing track would allow imporivsations within one major scale. I guess that the author want to avoid the reader to get stuck in the diatonic approach (Using the same scale if all chords are derived from one common scale, as the chord progression for many songs is.) Still, this makes the initial learning curve steeper. On the other hand, after studying other book, I found lots of useful ideas when I reconsidered this one.

Reviews

Some highlights: The CD takes you through II-V-I progressions in all keys, major and minor. There are scales to look at, if you want to look at them when you start. There are some sample etudes. There is a long list of sample runs in D that start out simple and gradually grow in difficulty. Some of them have comments to explain the techniques used. This set is a versatile tool - the CD tracks have a great band accomaniment that you can use to practice improvising on your own, learn some comping skills, practice your own comping, practice scales and chords, . . . Exercises are in Bass, Treble, Bb and Eb, so just about anyone that doesn't play F french horn can use them easily. The charts in the book are extensive. The set is as good as you care to make it. I had a small customer service that the publisher remedied instantly and courteously. Bravo! If I could change one thing, the exercises in D might be a little more musical and a little less "classroom". I wouldn't recommend playing many of them "as is" in a real setting. However, you aren't tied to those examples when using the CD, so it's not really a big issue. A CD with 12 tracks of ii-v-i, one in each key (major and minor) instead of just D, might be a nice addition for the beginner level, but it is also beneficial to jump around different keys as some of the exercises do. Why four stars instead of five? I have a personal bias. Music books that "change your life" with minimal user effort get five stars from me. Music books that "change your life", but only with considerable effort on your part, get four. Call me lazy.

Reviews

My big brother Rodney is always right,cause he use common sense.plus he's a great bass player.

Reviews

This is a great book and CD for the jazz beginner. I'm pretty much self taught in piano, in my sixties, and not very accomplished. However, Harrison's book and CD (along with the book How To Play Popular Piano, by Monath, which focuses heavily on using the left hand strictly for chords and the right hand for melody)has helped me enjoy playing more than ever and really begin to enjoy playing jazz. You can move around easily in Harrison's 80 tracks in the CD for practice and listening. There are Jazz Solo pieces at track 72 and beyond that are fun to listen to and try to play and let me see how close I am to really being able to play the improvisational jazz like I want to. The bass and drum accompaniment is very good. I have other beginner material, but the quality of Harrison's music is the best I've found for this purpose. There is plenty of theory and advanced material, but I'm able to pick and choose what I'm interested in. I highly recommend it for the beginner. Of course, the better your skills at reading music, the more helpful this book will be. For me, the best part has been learning 7th chords for the left hand while using the jazz scales for improvisation.

I just love this book! It gives you the foundations for all types of Jazz-blues styles. By the time you finish this you'll be able to know exactly what is being played on a jazz-blues or blues record. This will help to really continue your developement after you get through the book. It covers harmonic foundations, rythmic motifs, comping, and improvisational keys used in the various jazz-blue styles. If followed properly, by analysing all the lessons and transposing them and mixing and matching the different styles and also improvising on the different examples, this book will take you from intermediate to advance in a matter of months. This is a jewel.

I've been playing jazz piano for about two years now, and have had great success with The Jazz Piano Book (as one might imagine). The next book that has served me well is Post-Bop Jazz Piano - The Complete Guide with CD!: Hal Leonard Keyboard Style Series, which is from the same series as the Jazz Blues Piano book under review. So, when I began looking for a book to help me sound bluesy, something noticeably lacking from my skill set, I gravitated toward this book for that reason and because my piano instructor didn't have this book (although he had many others in the same series). I have to say, that overnight, this became my favorite book to work from. There are a lot of reasons for that. First is that this book contains a good dose of easy-to-digest jazz music theory and explanation. The student can choose to skip over this and concentrate on playing the exercises, but I chose to read everything carefully and to try and understand and apply it, and I found it very useful. I was also quite pleasantly surprised when I found myself playing a ii-V-I progression (the backbone of jazz music) in a fashion I had never been shown before (with a moving bass note changing the mode of the chord). I was fascinated, and it made it easy for me to work on doing it in all twelve keys (which is normally drudgery), and to quickly press on in the book. As I played through the exercises, read through the material, then reached the exercises that are on the CD, I kept working on the suggested chords. Because I'm not a raw beginner, the first twenty pages went very quickly, and all of a sudden I found myself at about twenty pages in on exercise 9 practicing a straight up blues lick. That's right: two hours and I was playing blues. Very, very exciting. Like all piano books, including a number I have reviewed, this still requires practice and stick-to-itive-ness, but this book provides some small rewards on every page, which I find quite motivational and desirable. I can easily picture myself working through this entire book in a relatively short period of time. Beginning piano students will still need to work on some of this material with an instructor, but anybody with a good technical foundation in piano and at least a small amount of jazz knowledge should be able to work through most of this by themselves, thanks to the useful and well executed CD. Although there are many options and levels available, if you want to sound jazzy or bluesy, without a lot of fuss and without spending a lot of money or time, I really think this book is the best and simplest place to start.

I'm having a lot of fun with this book/CD, especially the piano, bass and drums pieces with accompanying written music for the chords. One can improvise along with the CD music with the right hand, and learn how to comp with the left in due time. The book conatins a little music theory, a little of which is good. But some of it is,in my view, unnecessary to enjoy jazz blues. The combo book/cd is well worth the price!

This is a great book that I picked up! It goes through what few other books do...the Jazz-Blues styles of the twentieth century without "dumbing" it down. This book includes important information about scales and modes, inversions, voicing, harmony, progressions and patters, left-hand vs right-hand, styles, comping, and even soloing...anything that is used in any type of jazz-blues. It goes through Swing/Big band, Jump blues, Bop, Hard Bop, Cool Jazz, Soul Jazz, Jazz/Rock Fusion. The book moves quickly but provides the information that is important for those of us looking to play. It comes with a very handy CD which allows to hear what it's supposed to sound like. Mark Harrison is a wonderful teacher in this book and I highly recommend it.