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Intermediate Jazz Conception

February 21, 2006 in Reviews

Jim Snidero has added another volume to his Jazz Conception series. Intermediate Jazz Conception features 15 songs based on chord changes to “St. Thomas”, “On Green Dolphin Street”, “Confirmation”, “Well You Needn’t” and others. The Alto version features Jim Snidero (as do all the other Alto versions of his books), the Tenor version features Ted Nash.

For style and sound, all these books are excellent….

You’d be hard pressed to find a better sound on Alto than Jim Snidero’s. On tenor, previous versions of the book have featured Walt Weiskopf and Eric Alexander, who are excellent players. However, I think Ted Nash’s sound is great in this book. I’d say better than the other two (but that is just my opinion).

The book’s tunes. Honestly, the tunes (or etudes) in this volume are lack luster. The first tune, “Splank Street”, has a great sound to it, but the tune never goes anywhere unlike in previous Jazz Conception books (IE: Basie’s Blues). “St. Sonny” is ok, “Confirmed” and “Freedom” are good. But there is nothing that just screams “cool” to me. In the original Jazz Conception book we had a ton of cool tunes like “Passages”, “Bird’s Blues”, or “Groove Blues” to name a few. But this volume, they are playable, but….not memorable.

Rating. It’s a solid edition to the Jazz Conception series. I give it a 8. I love Ted Nash’s playing in this book. But the tunes are not as good as they have been in previous Jazz Conception books. I’d still love to see Jim Snidero tackle a more contemporary play-along. Something that is really lacking out there.

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Gordon Goodwin Big Phat Band Play-Along Series

February 16, 2006 in Reviews

This is pure gold. 10 songs, playing with the Gordon Goodwin band. The solos are written out. The chart is there. Everything. You get a small clip of the band playing the tune (full band), and then you get the band minus your part and the solos. It’s the actual recording. Hunting Wabbits, yes, it’s the same as the recording. If you listen hard, you can hear a very faint bleed in from the solos.

You need to get this. You need to get both the Alto and the Tenor versions as the written solos are not the same in both books (IE: the solo for Swingin for the Fences is in the Alto book, but not in the Tenor. The solo for Jazz Police is in the Tenor book, but not the Alto).

On a scale of 10, I give this series of books a 12. No, a 14. Hell, ok, 15. It’s good stuff. Very good stuff.

Update: 02/17 21:49 GMT by E :You can get the book via Aebersold, or J.W. Pepper

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The Lighthouse Omnibook – David Liebman & Steve Grossman

January 18, 2006 in Reviews

There are a couple of books every saxophonist should have in their library. The Charlie Parker Omnibook in Eb, Michael Brecker Collection Vol. 1 and Michael Brecker Collection Vol. 2, Stan Getz and now, The Lighthouse Omnibook.

This great collection contains all the solos off Elvin Jones’ Live At The Lighthouse album. This book is great. The notation is a little questionable (IE: bad formatting in Finale, etc), but the content is amazing. I have a transcription of Taurus People I got from someone in college that was ok. The transcription in this book nails it.

For anyone looking to learn how to improvise in a more modern style, get this book. 9.8 out of 10 (.2 deducted for poor notation in areas, which could easily have been fixed).

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Around The Horn Backgrounds Part III

December 14, 2005 in Sheet Music

Final batch of backgrounds for Walt Weiskopf’s book Around the Horn. They were encoded using AAC compression supported by iTunes and Quicktime.

They are zipped for easier downloading. Enjoy!

Band in a Box files for all these.

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Around The Horn Backgrounds Part II

December 2, 2005 in Sheet Music

More backgrounds for Walt Weiskopf’s book Around the Horn. They were encoded using AAC compression supported by iTunes and Quicktime.

They are zipped for easier downloading. Enjoy!

Band in a Box files for all these.

More to come!

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Around The Horn Backgrounds Part I

November 28, 2005 in Sheet Music

Four years ago, I did some backgrounds for the Etudes found in Walt Weiskopf’s book Around the Horn. Well, technology has changed. The original backgrounds were done with Band-In-A-Box version 11 for PC , exported to Midi, and then rendered using a variety of sound modules.

Fast-forward four years, these backgrounds were done using Band-In-A-Box 2005, and Roland’s Super Quartet. These were rendered in seconds using DXi. They were encoded using AAC compression supported by iTunes and Quicktime. They are zipped for easier downloading. Enjoy!

Band in a Box files for all these.

More to come!

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Jazz Saxophone Etudes By Greg Fishman

November 4, 2005 in Reviews

Greg Fishman has released a great new book titled Jazz Saxophone Etudes. What sets this book apart from others is the addition of two CDs, one for Alto and one for Tenor. You use the same etude for both instruments. So, you don’t have to deal with bad transposition jobs that you find in say, Bob Minzter’s books. Plus, the CDs feature extended rhythmn section only parts that allow you to stretch out and play on the tunes.

The tunes are based on standard changes. There are two blues etudes, two rhythmn changes etudes, and etude based on the changes to “A” Train, etc. All the etudes are named after streets in Chicago, which figures as Greg Fishman is from Chicago.

The one thing I would want more of in the book is voice leading. It would have been great to include the voice leadings to the solos, along with some analysis of what was used. It was mentioned briefly in the front of the book, then….nada. It would really make this book stand out if it had detailed, one page sheet on the voice leadings used in the solos. Anyhow, I’ve done a bunch of them for my students so they can see how he constructed the solos.

Rating for this book. 10/10. For $20, this book rocks. You get excellent solos, great sounding CDs, and a lot of information. Go get it!

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Articulation At Fast Tempos

August 10, 2005 in Articles

harry63 writes “In slow and medium swing tempos I understand that “off-beat” articulation is used most often (I know there are times of course, that you don’t use this articulation, but I am generalizing on purpose). With fast tempos this articulation can really make your playing sound heavy and tend to drag. I am curious to know what sort of articulation patterns you all use at break-neck tempos?”

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Jazz Oboe – Yusef Lateef

April 20, 2005 in Articles

yampol writes “As long as we’re talking about doubling on oboe, let’s talk about jazz oboe. The first player that comes to mind is the amazing multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator, band-leader Yusef Lateef. His Eastern Sounds and Three Faces albums made a very strong impression on me. Check out the track “I’m Just a Lucky So and So” on the Three Faces album.

Anyone else have a favorite jazz oboist?

–Todd”

I don’t recommend the album with Bob Cooper and Bud Shank. They did an album that was jazz flute and jazz oboe. Bob Cooper played Oboe. I couldn’t bear it. I love Bob Cooper in Bob Florence’s band, and in solo albums, but his jazz Oboe….unbearable to me.

Update: 04/22 18:25 GMT by E :You know, I posted this story, and low and behold iTunes decided to put 2 of those Bob Cooper/Bud Shanks songs in my Random Selections Smart-Playlist. I still think Jazz Oboe is not cool. Hopefully someone can point me to something to change my opinion.

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Oboe Etudes For Saxophone Technique

April 19, 2005 in Articles

As a follow-up to my previous article about taking up Oboe as a double, Yampol pointed me towards the International Double Reed Society. They have a wealth of free technique etudes available for downloading that work on saxophone. They also include the Finale File for them, so you could even load them into Finale and make a SmartMusic accompaniment. Good stuff.

Anyone have other good sites where one can find etudes available to help build technique?

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Oboe As A Double

April 16, 2005 in Articles

I dabbled with Oboe playing in college. I suppose one goes to the dark side every now and then. I was terrible. Looking back on it, I think I was learning too many instruments. I was taking clarinet, saxophone and flute lessons, suffering through piano classes, in addition to all the performance groups that I was in. So, Oboe fell to the wayside.

Now, some 6 years out of college, I took it up again. Mainly due to a flute student of mine trying it out in her middle school band. She did not believe me that I could play Oboe. I said I could, though not nearly as well as the other instruments I play (flutes, clarinets, saxophones). So, I rented one (really low end student model….anyone want to finance me a Loree or something? 3K people. I’m good for it ;-) ).

First day of practicing was painful. The embrouchure for Oboe messed up my usual embrouchure, and it took about 20 minutes for me to get it back. Subsequent oboe practice session have made the transition back to the light side (ie: normal woodwinds, not evil double reeds) a painless thing. The fingerings, which I vaguely remembered, but never was good at, are really easy now. Even the stupid second octave key. And the fact that low C is above Eb. And F on sax is F# on oboe. And half holed D’s. Oboe is turning out to be a piece of cake.

Except for reeds. I’m too lazy and not skilled to make my one reeds. I’ve been buying them. Avoid Rico oboe reeds. Terrible reeds. Fox Oboe reeds are good, as are Meason reeds. I’m finding that medium hard reeds give me a good tone and intonation.

Anyone else have Oboe as a double? Or have dabbled in the dark art of double reed playing?

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Developing Sightreading

January 14, 2005 in Articles

One of the things I try to do with my students is make them excellent sight readers. If there was one thing I learned in College, it was that sightreading is essential. To that end, I usually start a lesson trying a new song, something I picked up from those years in Tim Smith’s (mainly) and Dave Eshelman’s Bands. Dave didn’t always do it, but Tim, being Tim, allocated time (15 minutes or so) on his very detailed (obsessive?) rehearsal schedules he would publish.

Anyhow, I did a gig a month or so ago, and talking teaching, someone recommended “A Study of Intervals for Sightreading and Transposition
William Vacchiano”. Supposedly a trumpet book, but he said it was good none-the-less. I also have used a Sightreading book by Bugs Bower. Both of these do not seem to be published at the moment. Another excellent book is Vol. 3, Rhythm Studies by Joe Viola. Anyone have any other recommendations?

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Liebman – Developing a Personal sax Sound

November 2, 2004 in Articles

Andy Davey writes “I’ve been reading through your site for a number of years now and find it really interesting. Recently went to a gig in the UK featuring one of the sax tutors from the Birmingham Conservertiore. She played really well and was getting a great sound out of what I thought was a fairly weak set up. She explained about the Liebman book and recommended I check it out in order to improve my own sound. Have any of you used this with success and can anyone tell me what it’s all about.”

Honestly, I have not seen this book. I do have his book on Chromatic Jazz, and his teaching book. Both are very well written and thought out.

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Random II-V Patterns

September 6, 2004 in Sheet Music

I had, a while ago, posted some Patterns that fit Aebersold Volume 3, Track 3 (Random II/V Progression). Here is an updated version. It has ballooned to 246 pages (up from 137 in the last version).

These are intended for practice with that track, or something similar (like backgrounds generated via Band in a Box). Enjoy!

Adobe Acrobat 7 is required to view and print these.

  •   Random II-V Patterns in Bb (4.1 MiB, 5,256 hits)
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  •   Random II-V Patterns in Bb pages 1 to 100 (1.7 MiB, 5,119 hits)
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  •   Random II-V Patterns in Bb pages 101 to 200 (1.8 MiB, 5,090 hits)
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  •   Random II-V Patterns in Bb pages 201 to 246 (763.6 KiB, 5,088 hits)
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  •   Random II-V Patterns in Eb (4.1 MiB, 5,132 hits)
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  •   Random II-V Patterns in Eb pages 1 to 100 (1.7 MiB, 5,056 hits)
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  •   Random II-V Patterns in Eb pages 101 to 200 (1.8 MiB, 5,053 hits)
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  •   Random II-V Patterns in Eb pages 201 to 246 (755.2 KiB, 5,074 hits)
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Where Do I Start?

June 20, 2004 in Articles

olsonco writes “I learned to play saxophone in high school and have decided to take it up again as an adult approaching my late thirties. I have discovered that learning to improvise is a far different process than that used to teach high-school band students how to play.


After relearning my major and melodic minor scales, I bought some Jamey Aebersold play-along books. So far so good … I’m very slowly beginning to hear some sounds that I think are not entirely offensive.


What suggestions can the experienced players offer on where I go from here? What other teaching aids would you recommend? Should I engage private lessons? Are there any recommendations for finding a compatible teacher? And how can I find people to jam who are at my level?”

Private lessons are probably the single best way to get better.

Secondly, go get Jim Snidero’s Jazz Conception books. Play those. Then get Bob Mintzer’s books. Play those. You need skills, and these etude books will expose you to a variety of styles, and you can hear how things sound over chord changes.

Third, go get the Charlie Parker Omnibook. This is a great repository of jazz. And get the recordings so you know how it is supposed to sound.

Fourth, set reasonable goals for yourself. I’d aim to do a Snidero etude or two a week, plus maybe jam on a Aebersold playalong using different scales/patterns.

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