Thelonious Monk for Guitar (Personality) Review

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(More customer reviews)No longer is the idiosyncratic style of Thelonious Monk inaccessible to the guitarist.
For the guitarist who has ever spent time listening to the genius of Monks music - feeling at the same time enlightened by it's wisdom, and saddened by the ever nagging feeling that you, as a guitarist, could not truly benefit, this book is the answer to your unspoken wish.
If you have a desire to go beyond the limitations of the instrument - which turn out to be false - and are looking for your own unique voice, this book can be part of that journey for you. Somebody has finally done it for us. Gary has put in much time and effort, and he has found all the essential notes - those required to express Monk's style, and he's figured out how to put them on the fretboard. Every measure brings awe and surprise to the player. You won't believe that the sounds are coming from your guitar!
The book is well written, and each piece is a distillation of the essentials from numerous recordings. Gary Wittner has an encyclopedic knowledge of Monk's music, which is apparent in this book. There are extensive performance notes for each piece, some detailing almost every measure. These are essential, as they point out points that may not be obvious to you on first or even subsequent reading. For example, the duration of certain notes are very important to bring out the melody which is sometimes "hidden" in the chord voicings. The chord names are included at each measure. Fingerings are included when necessary, and everything is in TAB as well as standard notation. It couldn't be clearer.
It's not an easy journey - Monks' wasn't, and I don't imagine Gary's was either, but when you begin to work through the material you will start to see the connections. You'll start learning that wisdom that Monk was trying to pass on to us. It was meant for all of us.

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Product Description:
Explore the songs of one of the greatest jazz composers with this collection of 11 solo guitar arrangements in standard notation and tab. Songs: Bemsha Swing * Blue Monk * Little Rootie Tootie * Monk's Dream * Nutty * Played Twice * Reflections * Round Midnight * Ruby, My Dear * Ugly Beauty * We See. Includes in-depth performance notes, an introduction, and a discography.

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Four Lives in the Bebop Business Review

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(More customer reviews)Spellman, a lucid analyst of the avant garde jazz movement in the '60s (see his liner notes, for example, on the original release of Coltrane's "Ascension"), has contributed with this book four compellingportraits of musicians who gave and have given their lives tojazz.
"Four Lives in the Bebop Business" profiles two altoists,Jackie McLean and Ornette Coleman; and two pianists, Cecil Taylor andHerbie Nichols. Spellman skillfully crafts the narratives, while wiselyallowing his subjects to tell large chunks of their stories in their ownwords.
It becomes clear as one reads the book that it took a lot of gutsto be a jazz musician during the '50s and '60s (and still does). All fourof the musicians faced major obstacles in pursuing their art.
McLean,who enjoyed the greatest amount of commercial success of the four,especially early on, battled drug addiction. Taylor and Coleman faced openhostility because of their challenging, groundbreaking approaches toplaying their instruments. Nichols (the only one of the four who is notstill alive) was just plain ignored, despite his brilliantly originalplaying (check out the two-disk Blue Note compilation of his music), andspent much of his all-too-brief career playing in Greenwich Villagedives.
In spite of bad accommodations, poor pay, public indifference,critical hostility and difficulty finding gigs, these artists, the bookmakes clear, would never play anything other than jazz. In this sense, thebook has an underlying inspirational message. Still, it remains for Americato fully embrace its only true indigenous art form, something which to thisday has not occurred.
The book also offers insights from the musicians onthe creative process and about the historic changes in jazz that occurredduring the '60s, from the perspective of men who were on the front lines ofthe battles between critics, musicians, and the listening public.
Required reading for the serious jazz listener.

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This book offers biographical sketches and quotations from four black musicians: Herbie Nichols, Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, and Jackie McLean. Photographs.

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Charlie Parker - Omnibook: For B-flat Instruments (Criterion) Review

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(More customer reviews)Even as a Classical musician, I find great joy in this book.Yes, saxophonists would do better to get the E-flat edition, since that was Parker's axe and everything works better.As a trumpeter, of course I'm using the B-flat edition, which sits very well for trumpet.In fact, the range requirements are so reasonable that long practice sessions on this music at the end of the day are not overly tiring.This book is a window into Parker's genius, and a welcome diversion from repetitive exercises or square etude books, because the music is very challenging and complex.Enjoy.

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60 solos such as Moose the Mooch, Ornithology and Anthropology, transcribed by Jamey Aebersold and Ken Slone. A cross section of the music of Charlie Parker. Spiral-bound, with chord symbols, metronome markings, record information, and practice suggestions.

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