Little Labels--Big Sound: Small Record Companies and the Rise of American Music [Hardcover] Review

O how the landscape has changed!Fifty years ago there were literally hundreds of independent record labels operating in cities and towns all across the USA.Many of these companies were fly by night operations that lasted for only a short period of time. Some managed to stick around long enough to have a hit record or two before disappearing from the scene forever.But, a fair number of these independent labels were quite successful and would leave an indelible mark on American popular music.This is what "Little Labels-Big Sound" is all about.
Whether you are a fan of the blues, rock and roll, R & B, group harmony or jazz, there is little doubt that these "little labels" made asignificant contribution to the development of your kind of music.Authors Rick Kennedy and Randy McNutt have focused on 10 of these important independent labels.It is a very readable and highly entertaining book that both record collectors and history buffs are sure to enjoy.
Hoagy Carmicheal and Louis Armstrong spent their formative years in the 1920's at Gennett Records, a small indie based in Richmond, In.When a young and dynamic James Brown audtioned for King Records in the mid 1950's, label owner Syd Nathan remarked "Nobody wants to hear that noise."History would indeed prove him wrong.Most critics agree that jazz legend Charlie Parker made his finest recordings at Ross Russell's Dial records."Little Labels-Big Sound" tells the story of how Charlie Parker wound up at Dial.There are also chapters devoted to seven other notable indies including Sun, Riverside, Monument and Duke-Peacock. I enjoyed reading about them all.
Today, a few major conglomerates dominate the music business.There is little for most of us to get excited about. "Little Labels-Big Sound" fondly recalls that time in America when small record labels flourished and creativity thrived.It is worth remembering.Recommended.

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Soul Jazz: Jazz Piano Solos Series, Vol. 11 (Jazz Piano Solos (Numbered)) [Paperback] Review

Within hours of recieving this book I sightread through the entire thing in about an hour and I can't wait to play them some more and work with some background percussion. I own much of the HL jazz solo series and this is by far the best collection yet. The arrangements are fun and kept interesting throughout. A nice twist on some of the familiar tunes like Unchain My Heart, and a fairly decent arrangement of Ray Charle's What'd I Say. I use fake books for a lot of this stuff and get a little bored with my own arrangements. This book freshens a lot of them up for me, still including the Chord symbols if I choose to add something. Something a pianist can really sink their fingers into!

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Product Description:
Solo arrangements of 20 soulful tunes: Dat Dere * Hot Toddy * The Jody Grind * Sister Sadie * Soul Eyes * Unchain My Heart * What'd I Say * When the Sun Comes Out * You Are My Sunshine * and more.

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Jazz-Blues Piano: The Complete Guide with CD! Hal Leonard Keyboard Style Series [Paperback] Review

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 9practicing 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.

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Product Description:
This comprehensive book/CD pack will teach you the basic skills needed to play jazz-blues piano. From comping to soloing, you'll learn the theory, the tools, and the tricks used by the pros. The accompanying CD features many of the examples in the book performed either solo, or with a full band, including a full chapter of complete songs. Topics covered include: scales and chords * harmony and voicings * progressions and comping * melodies and soloing * characteristic stylings.

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