Praise ... Light Jazz Style (Piano/Vocal/Guitar Songbook) [Paperback] Review

i liked wilhelmini's work, so i chanced this book.as i suspected, however, praise music, especially from the passion movement genre, just doesn't morph well into light jazz.i think this stuff is well written from a pianist viewpoint, but it still sounds cheesy.i can't bring myself to play any of it publicly.

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Product Description:
Wilhelmi's fresh solo interpretations of ten contemporary praise favorites: Awesome God * Better Is One Day * He Is Able * I See the Lord * Shout to the North * Step by Step * The Heart of Worship * With All of My Heart * You Are My King (Amazing Love) * You're Worthy of My Praise.

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The Giants of Jazz Piano [Paperback] Review

First, meet the reviewer.I'm a proficient rocker that can read music with effort, but I prefer lead sheets.I'm learning jazz now for fun and profit.For me, this book was a real find, especially in the bargain bin.The following established giants are well represented:Bill Evans (my hero, includes A Time For Love, from his Grammy-winning Alone), Art Tatum (the original jazz piano monster), Dave Brubeck (includes famous hits Take Five and Blue Rondo), plus others better known to piano geeks, like George Shearing, Marian McPartland and Duke Ellington (better known as a band leader).The transcriptions appear as accurate as anything available, and most are solo arangements that won't suffer from lack of a bass player (though I spotted one Bill Evans number from a trio arrangement).The difficulty level veers toward intermediate, with some passages and selections that are quite advanced and require more time that I have to master.There are some spots that would probably challenge an accomplished player.I don't think that I'd play many of these arrangements note-for-note in public (the light's bad where I play and I don't plan to memorize them), but there's plenty to learn from here.Great stuff!

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Product Description:
Songs written by, piano arrangements of, or simply tunes made famous by some of the greatest jazz pianists the world has ever known are featured within this fantastic folio, including Dave Brubeck, Art Tatum, George Shearing, Duke Ellington, Marian McPartland, Matt Dennis, David Benoit and Bill Evans. The 38 titles include: Drop Me Off in Harlem
* Emily
* Fascinating Rhythm
* Get Happy
* MWA (Musicians with Attitude)
* On Green Dolphin Street
* Somebody Loves Me
*Spring Is Here
* Stompin' at the Savoy
* What is This Thing Called Love? and many more. Four selections from this book are on the Royal Conservatory of Music Popular Selection List (2007 Ed.): Blue Moon
* Blue Rondo A La Turk
* Lullaby of Birdland
* Take Five.Blue Rondo A La Turk is also listed in the Conservatory Canada Contemporary Syllabus (2006 Ed.)

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Elton John - Jazz Piano (Piano/Vocal/Guitar Artist Songbook) [Paperback] Review

Some of the arrangements are interesting, but they are at most an intermediate level.The "jazz" aspect is achieved by lots of major ninth and major eleventh chords, and somehow seems very contrived.I was hoping for something more like the classic Bill Evans piano arrangements or even the Stan Freeman arrangements of Gershwin songs.At least the chord symbols are present, so that a good pianist can add/improvise on his own.

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Product Description:
Twelve classic Elton John songs specially arranged in jazz style for solo piano. Includes: Blue Eyes * Candle in the Wind * Circle of Life * Daniel * Rocket Man * Your Song * more. Includes chord symbols.

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The Best Jazz Standards Ever (Easy Piano Songbook) [Paperback] Review

Some of the more popular tunes in this compilation are A night in Tunisia, Satin Doll, Sophisticated Lady and All the things you are. Missing out on classics like Take the A-train in lieu of several rather obscure tunes that aren't exactly Jazz standards, by my measure, is the book's greatest flaw. For the beginning to intermediate jazz student, its a nice book to own. All the songs are full arrangements and not too difficult to play. Advanced pianists will probably be happier with a nice, solid fakebook.

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Product Description:
Easy arrangements of 71 favorites: Ain't Misbehavin' * Autumn Leaves * Body and Soul * Come Rain or Come Shine * Don't Get Around Much Anymore * The Girl from Ipanema * How Deep Is the Ocean * I'll Remember April * It's Only a Paper Moon * The Lady Is a Tramp * Lullaby of Birdland * Misty * My Funny Valentine * The Nearness of You * Satin Doll * Some Enchanted Evening * Stardust * Stormy Weather * The Very Thought of You * more.

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Jazz Piano Vocabulary: The Phrygian Mode (Volume 3) [Paperback] Review

Phrygian mode existed long before jazz and pianos did!This book is an excellent introduction to improvisation, but it does require a lot of work.The scales are already written out for you so half of the battle is over.Everything is presented in a methodical and progressive manner. I find the chord suggestions simply brilliant! A must have for any pianist! Any pianist who wants to enter the creative process that is!

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Jazz Ballads: Jazz Piano Solos Series, Vol. 10 (Jazz Piano Solos (Numbered)) [Paperback] Review

Somehow they managed to simplify the arrangements so that they still sound professional, but not so tricky that onlya gifted few can play them. I have many sheet music transcriptions of Bill Evan, Chick Corea, Mehegan jazz studies, etc that I purchased over the years, but most are so technically challenging that you can forget about getting in a relaxed groove, so I ended up just playing some playable classical sheet music from time to time to keep in practice. But this jazz piano series of Hal Leonard has really filled a need, in my opinion.

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Product Description:
Fresh solo piano arrangements of 24 favorite ballads in a jazz style, including: Body and Soul * I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry * Misty * My Funny Valentine * The Nearness of You * When I Fall in Love * and more.

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Mel Bay's You Can Teach Yourself Jazz Piano [Paperback] Review

I have a few piano books, and this is the best one. I think this is the best way to learn Jazz piano, without a private teacher.

I should say that my main instrument is guitar, and as I manage to get a private guitar teacher shortly after I got this book, I have not used it extensively. On the other hand, I have made huge progress on jazz guitar with a similar approach.

The book consist of two parts. A section of tunes in an easy jazz arangement. With the acompanying CD you can hear how it is supposed to sound. This is a quick way to make your piano playing sound like jazz.

But to really play jazz is not play ready made arrangements. So the other part of the book is a fake book. I'd like to see some more well known standards there but that is ok. More important is the section on how to approach a tune in the fake book. Here are ideas about how to play the left hand. Note that unless you are already quite good at the piano, it takes a lot of practise to use those ideas.

I tried some of them, like a simple idea of playing arpeggios on the left hand and the tune in right hand. I only manged to play two notes per measure when I should play the tune at the same time. But the result sounded surprisingly jazzy on some tunes.

It may not be right for the absolute beginner at the piano, and not for those who already know some jazz piano. And be warned, working with the fake book takes time to progress. It may not sound right the first time you try, but working consistently should move you in the right direction.

Recommended.

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Product Description:
This book is the perfect introduction to jazz piano fro those who are already somewhat proficient as pianists but aspire to playing in the jazz style. The author emphasizes the importance of chords in playing jazz music and offers a comprehensive dictionary of traids, dominant sevenths, half and fully diminished seventh chords, plus ninth, and thirteenth chords. Chord symbols and voicings as well as modal and blues scales are also addressed. The last half of the book includes a generous fakebook and a songbook consisting of several of the authors progressively arranged compositions.

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