Essential Styles for the Drummer and Bassist: Book 1 [Paperback] Review

This book could have easily won a 4 or 5 star rating from me, but there is one serious deficiency in this book --- huge portions of what is actually being played is not transcribed. This may be more of a problem for the bassists who are interested in this book, since the drum parts generally are static most of the time. For the first half of the book the bass transcriptions range from very good (and complete) to partial transcriptions ranging from just a couple bars to several bars transcribed while several bars are just left blank, for you to figure out by ear. For nearly the entire second half of the book, the bass player / transcriber (could be a different person I suppose) just decides to entirely stop transcribing the bass part. That's right, for about half the tunes in this book they do not even bother transcribing the bass part. By today's standards, where any guitar / bass book you purchase will have full transcriptions as well as TAB and recordings.....this just doesn't cut it. Yes, even just listening to the tracks could be educational, but.....if I wanted to just learn by listening, I would actually just go buy some CDs of my favorite artists, and do just that....The entire point of purchasing an instructional book is defeated by this lack of complete transcriptions in this book.

The book is more orientated towards blues / funk / jazz styles, which is fine, but there are also many other styles that would make this book more complete and useful as a reference. All of the tracks on the CD are of top quality and true to the styles they represent and are the main reason for the 3 stars in my rating.

Another deficiency is the total lack of explanation of what the bass player is thinking or doing when creating the bass lines. What scales are being used, or theoretical tools, etc...Yes for some, just hearing an example and learning it by ear is enough, but for others like myself I do like to know in more depth what is going on with the scales and harmony.

If you just want to sample and hear different styles, with minimal instructions on how to reproduce it yourself, then you can't go wrong with this book as all the examples are excellent and the playing and recordings are of top quality. If you like to have a bassline fully transcribed, and some explanation as to why the bassist chose the notes or rhythms he did, then this book will fall short. The small amount that is transcribed is in standard notation only, so for those of you who don't read standard notation that would be another reason not to buy it.

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Product Description:
Essential Styles for the Drummer and Bassist, Books 1 and 2, are two innovative book and play-along CD packages that teach 50 essential grooves from today's jazz and popular styles. The books include written-out charts of each selection and performance tips for both drums and bass. All of the grooves have been recorded with a rhythm section and woodwinds, with drums mixed on the left channel and bass on the right, so either instrument may be dialed out. In addition, many of the tracks contain open choruses of comping so any instrument can practice playing solos! Essential Styles emphasizes the most important aspects of solid group playing- locking-in between the drummer and bassist- providing a strong rhythmic foundation and creating an authentic feel for whatever the style demands.--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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In the Course of Performance: Studies in the World of Musical Improvisation (Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology) [Paperback] Review

An excellent set of articles on improvisation, with one on the psychology of improv, and articles on Gamelan, Arabic music, jazz, Cantonese opera, Latin dance, Hindustani music, children's games.
Improvisation is not the same everywhere.And there are differences from culture to culture, and performer to performer, in just how much of a performance is improvised.These essays address these and other issues.

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Product Description:
In the Course of Performance is the first book in decades to illustrate and explain the practices and processes of musical improvisation. Improvisation, by its very nature, seems to resist interpretation or elucidation. This difficulty may account for the very few attempts scholars have made to provide a general guide to this elusive subject. With contributions by seventeen scholars and improvisers, In the Course of Performance offers a history of research on improvisation and an overview of the different approaches to the topic that can be used, ranging from cognitive study to detailed musical analysis. Such diverse genres as Italian lyrical singing, modal jazz, Indian classical music, Javanese gamelan, and African-American girls' singing games are examined. The most comprehensive guide to the understanding of musical improvisation available, In the Course of Performance will be indispensable to anyone attracted to this fascinating art.

Contributors are Stephen Blum, Sau Y. Chan, Jody Cormack, Valerie Woodring Goertzen, Lawrence Gushee, Eve Harwood, Tullia Magrini, Peter Manuel, Ingrid Monson, Bruno Nettl, Jeff Pressing, Ali Jihad Racy, Ronald Riddle, Stephen Slawek, Chris Smith, R. Anderson Sutton, and T. Viswanathan.

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Steely Dan's Aja (33 1/3) [Paperback] Review

Finally, a piece of writing worthy of Steely Dan.Don Breithaupt, himself a Juno-nominated musician, tells the inside story of the making of this classic through exclusive interviews with Fagen and many of the major players.He places Aja in the context of the Dan catalogue, of pop culture, even song-writing history.He expertly deconstructs lyrics, chord patterns, instrumentation, gives us insider-studio details, making-of stories, and does it in engaging -- often hilarious -- language.Casual readers will be engrossed.Serious musicians will reference it over and over.And Becker & Fagen fanatics will get the answer to the question so many of them ask:How the hell did they DO that?

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Product Description:
Aja was the album that made Steely Dan a commercial force on the order of contemporaries like Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles and Chicago. A double-platinum, Grammy-winning bestseller, it lingered on the Billboard charts for more than a year and spawned three hit singles. Odd, then, that its creators saw it as an "ambitious, extended" work, the apotheosis of their anti-rock, anti-band, anti-glamour aesthetic. Populated by thirty-five mostly jazz session players, Aja served up prewar song forms, mixed meters and extended solos to a generation whose idea of pop daring was Paul letting Linda sing lead once in a while. And, impossibly, it sold. Including an in-depth interview with Donald Fagen, this book paints a detailed picture of the making of a masterpiece.

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What to Listen For in Music [Paperback] Review

THIS IS A BOOK FOR PEOPLE AT ALL LEVELS - LAYMAN, COMPOSER, OR ADVANCED MUSIC LOVER."Why should one have to learn or need guidance on how to listen to what one is hearing?" is the question that William Schuman asks in his Preface."The answer is simple.Listening to music is a skill that is acquired through experience and learning.Knowledge enhances enjoyment."
What makes What to Listen for in Music so invaluable is that it is the ONLY book on musical appreciation written by a GREAT COMPOSER."This is a composer's book," Aaron Copland states."Given the chance, every composer would like to know two very important things about anyone who takes himself seriously as a music lover...1. Are you hearing everything that is going on? [and] 2. Are you really being sensitive to it?"
The only shortcoming of this book is that it should be taken as part of a class to make sure that one gets everything out of it.It would be great if it came with a CD of all the examples to which Copland makes reference.However, each chapter does end with a list of "recommended listening."To make specific points, Copland does include sheet music (but I didn't read this book sitting next to my piano).However, these problems are minimal, considering we live in an age of the cheap CDs and music downloads.
Copland covers EVERY aspect of music, starting with "how we listen," - on the sensuous plane, the expressive plane, and the sheerly musical plane.He then goes on to explain to us the Four Elements of Music - Melody, Rhythm, Harmony, and Tone Color.We find out about all the musical instruments, their history and classifications.We find out about all the genres in music - Sectional Form, Variation Form, Fugal Form, Sonata Form, Free Form.Did you know that Sonata Form includes symphonies as well?And that symphonies grew out of operatic overtures?
This is a book that bears re-reading.A lot of technical jargon gets bandied about and, although Copland does his best to explain it all, it still gets a tad confusing.I advise reading this book, listening to a LOT of music, and then reading it again.I know my own knowledge and appreciation of music has grown from reading it.Now I DO have an idea of the nuances I should be listening for in a Mozart piano concerto.

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Define "Normal" [Paperback] Review

Antonia, a straight-A student, a teacher-pleaser, and a "priss," is assigned Jasmine, a punker, a "in-your-face" non-conformist, for peer counseling in their middle school.Both are certain that the counseling is a waste of their time.But as Antonia's home life disintegrates, she finds she looks forward to meeting with Jazz.And Jazz likes talking with Antonia about her family life as well.The two slowly form a bond.

This is much more than a book about two girls in middle school.It's about the effects that both "good" and "bad" parents have on their children, it's about deciding what is, and isn't, normal, and it's about accepting the non-conformists in our midst.

This is an excellent book for all ages (even though it is about 8th graders, high schoolers can get something from it).Parents, too, should read it - it might help them understand what - and more importantly why - their children are revolting.

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1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die (1,000 Before You Die) [Paperback] Review

What most readers/reviewers fail to recognize is that this book is not about the BEST 1000 recordings it is about recordings you should HEAR. Those who complain that some really great music is missing are missing the point. Buy this book for education and enjoyment not to see how close Moon comes to your top 1000 music recordings ratings of all time.

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Product Description:
The musical adventure of a lifetime. The most exciting book on music in years. A book of treasure, a book of discovery, a book to open your ears to new worlds of pleasure. Doing for music what Patricia Schultz-author of the phenomenal 1,000 Places to See Before You Die-does for travel, Tom Moon recommends 1,000 recordings guaranteed to give listeners the joy, the mystery, the revelation, the sheer fun of great music.

This is a book both broad and deep, drawing from the diverse worlds of classical, jazz, rock, pop, blues, country, folk, musicals, hip-hop, world, opera, soundtracks, and more. It's arranged alphabetically by artist to create the kind of unexpected juxtapositions that break down genre bias and broaden listeners' horizons- it makes every listener a seeker, actively pursuing new artists and new sounds, and reconfirming the greatness of the classics. Flanking J. S. Bach and his six entries, for example, are the little-known R&B singer Baby Huey and the '80s Rastafarian hard-core punk band Bad Brains. Farther down the list: The Band, Samuel Barber, Cecelia Bartoli, Count Basie, and Afropop star Waldemer Bastos.

Each entry is passionately written, with expert listening notes, fascinating anecdotes, and the occasional perfect quote-"Your collection could be filled with nothing but music from Ray Charles," said Tom Waits, "and you'd have a completely balanced diet." Every entry identifies key tracks, additional works by the artist, and where to go next. And in the back, indexes and playlists for different moods and occasions.

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The Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music: From Rock, Pop, Jazz, Blues and Hip Hop to Classical, Country, Folk, World and More [Hardcover] Review

This book attempts to cover the whole musical spectrum, which sections devoted to pop, rock, jazz, blues, country, folk, classical, world, dance, hip hop, reggae, soul / R+B, gospel, electronic and soundtracks / theatre, each of which is divided into sub-styles. There's a final section headed popular and novelty, which coverscontemporary Christian music, novelty songs, music hall, children's songs, Christmas songs, easy listening, lounge music and nostalgia. I guess that covers everything, however briefly, remembering that each main chapter covers a wide range. At the end of each section is an index of artists for that section, but there's also an overall index at the end of the book. The overall index is the essential one, because artists may not always be classified the way you expect them to be.

The perennial problem of classification is never far way. How do you define the boundaries of each musical style? Where does one musical style begin and other end? It is, of course, an impossible task, but in a book such as this, the editor had to make some kind of decision. You may not agree with his classification, but since the book is divided up according to styles, you'll have to get used to it if you buy the book. Each section contains an introduction giving a general history of the music, before exploring each sub-style in turn. As far as the editor is concerned, pop music began in the fifties, which is a fair enough decision, though not everybody will agree with it. Older music can be found scattered among other sections including jazz (Glenn Miller), easy listening (Bing Crosby) and nostalgia (Vera Lynn), although I consider those artists to be among the pop stars of their time. It's even more telling to see that Bing and Vera are classified differently. Both of them continued recording well into the seventies and each of them could be classed as nostalgia or easy listening, as could Glenn Miller.

The first section is about pop music. Accepting (however grudgingly) the editor's assumption that it started in the fifties, this 64-page section does a good job in tracing the changing face of pop music from then until the start of the new millennium. Next is the 44-page section on rock music. The editor suggests that rock music began as pop music with attitude, and that while pop music often tells us that everything is OK, rock music tells us that it's not OK, but we can change it. That's an interesting definition, but hardly a clear one and not always accurate, although it's never been easy to define the dividing line between pop and rock. A look at the sub-styles in the two categories make the division look easier than it really is.

Subsequent sections provide great overviews of jazz (36 pages), blues (28 pages), country (30 pages) and folk (28 pages). The 26-page classical section mainly sticks to the traditional music, but acknowledges that the music is being challenged as never before to retain a distinctive identity. (Jazz, folk and country all face this problem, as pop and rock influences encroach into all of them, but I suspect that classical music faces the biggest challenge of them all.) The remaining chapters are all excellent, though I wish there could have been more than one page about Christmas songs. Actually, I wouldn't have expected there to be more, but I'm wondering (since this book was published in 2003) whether Bing Crosby's White Christmas was still the biggest-selling single of all time even then. I thought Elton John's tribute to Princess Diana had surpassed it, but I must check that. I'd also dispute the list of leading exponents of Christmas music, some of whom only recorded one Christmas song.

Because this book covers so much ground, it can't cover anything in depth, but I knew that a book such as this one could barely scratch the surface (many big names don`t even get mentioned, or only do so briefly), especially as the same publisher released a similarly-sized volume devoted exclusively to country music, which is restricted to thirty pages here. You'll want to buy specialist books about your favorite styles, but this book is particularly useful at providing the basic information about those musical styles that you aren`t sufficiently interested in to buy a specialist book (well, not yet anyway) but which you`d like to read a little about.

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Product Description:
Music touches us all, from the dancing and rebellion of youth to the quiet contemplation of the older listener. Music provides the beat to the rhythm of our lives, introducing TV programs, selling advertisements, blasting out from market stalls or along the aisles of superstores.
The Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music is the ultimate guide for anyone with a passing or a passionate interest in music. Authoritative, informative, accessible, and entertaining, the book conveys the spirit and substance of practically every type of music one might listen to, from rock, pop, jazz, folk, blues, hip-hop, reggae, and dance, to classical music, country, gospel, R&B, soul, soundtracks, musical theater, and world music.
Organized by genre, the book presents a concise introduction to each music form, listing its major exponents, offering a four-bar sample of its style, and provides information on major musicians, performers, composers, and songwriters - over 12,000 names in all - highlighting their main period of activity and cross-references to the relevant music style section.
Also included are three useful appendices. A short "Instruments" glossary covers all key instruments mentioned in the narrative, showing the reader which type of music each instrument is normally used in, with examples of its best or most rewarding use. "How to Read Music, the Basics" instructs the reader on how to read music, providing a simply understanding of the four bar examples of music offered with each major genre. The appendices contain a comprehensive bibliography as well.
Bringing the world of music to life are 800 colorful illustrations of musicians, instruments, album covers, music engravings, and more.
Whether passionate or casual listener, anyone interested in music will find The Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music a must-have for both enjoyable reading as well as for reference.
Foreword provided by the legendary Beatles producer, Sir George Martin.

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Drummin' Men: The Heartbeat of Jazz The Bebop Years [Paperback] Review

A book about bebop drummers needs to explain 1) what bebop drumming consists of and 2) how the styles of the various drummers profiled diverge. This book does not do either. Instead we are told that drummer after drummer after drummer has "a great feel" and "great time"; we learn nothing.

If it were just that I'd give the book another star for its sketchy and scattered biographical information, but considering how badly written the book is, I can't justify it.

I suggest instead that you buy a copy of "The Grove Dictionary of Jazz" and look up the entry for each famous drummer you want to know about. You'll learn a lot more and have a much better time doing it.

For transcriptions consult Modern Drummer magazine.

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