Real Easy Vol. 3 transposed versions available

Just a note to let you know that "The Real Easy Book - Vol. 3: A Short History Of Jazz" is now available in Bb, Eb and Bass Clef, as well as the original C version. We have had nothing but positive feedback about this book since it came out in January and look forward to many schools adopting it starting in September of this year.

Also, it was my great pleasure to help bring David Berkman and his trio out to the West Coast for their first tour here. I caught them three nights in a row and have rarely enjoyed listening to music as much as I did those nights. David himself (the author of our book, "The Jazz Musician's Guide To Creative Practicing") has gotten several times better than he was even a year ago, and in my mind now stands up there with the very best of modern jazz pianists. His bassist, Joe Martin, is also a very accomplished player, a wonderful soloist and a complete professional, handing everything thrown at him without breaking a sweat. 25-year-old drummer Ted Poor is, to my ears, one of the most creative drummers on the planet, able to take the music to any rhythmic zone imaginable at the drop of the hat. Hopefully they will be recording this trio soon, and if a CD is released, don't miss it! Check David's website www.davidberkman.com for future gigs.

Speaking of great piano players, don't miss Enrico Pieranunzi's new duo CD with Marc Johnson, "Yellow And Blue Suites". Enrico at his best, and that's saying something. Not to mention the fabulous Marc Johnson, co-author of our book, "Concepts For Bass Soloing." So far, this CD is only available at www.rhapsody.com, the hippest music site on the internet that I know of, where for a low monthly fee you can listen to the entire track of songs on hundreds of thousands of CDs.

And to mention one more genius pianist, I was fortunate enough to catch the Keith Jarrett Trio performing at the SF Jazz Festival recently and all I have to say is, catch them while you can. Keith is at the height of his powers, as you can tell from his last CD, "My Foolish Heart."

Finally, do yourself a favor and check out Clare Fischer's CD "After The Rain". Not jazz in any sense, this is, IMHO, one of the most beautiful contemporary classical CDs ever recorded. Like Bartok, but without the angst. Just exquisite, and congratulations to Clare for writing such amazing music!

Keep your ears, and your mind, and your heart open and many beautiful things will come your way, even on this bizarre planet. Peace - Chuck

Chuck's Cool CDs List - 2/1/08

My wonderful web expert, Bob Afifi, talked me into starting a blog, so I hope all you Sher Music fans out there find it useful. If you have any thoughts on what shows up in this blog, please comment.

One of my jobs as a jazz publisher (not to mention as a musician myself) is to keep my ears open to the latest developments in jazz, or at least those aspects of jazz that I find personally appealing. So below please find a list of some of the coolest music I've heard lately. I'll probably be doing this monthly to correspond with my monthly jazz show on KRCB. You can hear many of these songs on the show by going to http://www.krcb.org and hitting the "Listen" button the first Saturday of each month from 8 pm to 12 am, Pacific time. Or check out rhapsody.com, where I found most of these CDs and where, for a relatively low monthly fee, you can listen to the entire track (not just 30 seconds) of songs on many thousands of jazz CDs, and other kinds of music too, of course. Enjoy! - Chuck

1. Chris Minh Doky's "Cinematic", featuring Joey Calderazzo, Tain Watts, and other great players. The first tune, "James Bond" is contemporary jazz at its finest.
2. New York Voices' "A Day Like This". I haven't hear the whole CD but Heads Up put out a promotional sampler with tracks from various CDs including a very beautiful tune from this CD entitled, "The World Keeps You Waiting" - very cool lyric for these stressed-out times.
3. George Colligan's "Desire", and "Como La Vida Puede Ser", featuring alto player Perico Sambeat, has some world-class playing and writing on it. Check out the title tune of the 2nd CD. Perico is one of the most mature saxophone voices on the planet.
4. Julian Arguelles' "Scapes". Not all of this CD is to my personal taste, but some of it is just gorgeous to my ears, and one has to commend Julian for being completely creative in following his musical vision.
5. Marcus Tardelli's "Interpreta Guinga". My man Barry Finnerty hipped me to this great musician, playing state-of-the-art acoustic guitar versions of the great Brazilian composer Guinga's compositions. Uncle Chuck says check it out.
6. Perico Sambeat's "Jindungo". See #3 above for comments on Perico.
7. Ali Akbar Khan's "Raga Chandranandan", from the '60s. To my ears, one of the greatest solos on any instrument, from any country, anytime.
8. Kenny Werner/Roseanna Vitro's: "Serve Or Suffer: The Delirium Blues Project". All I have heard is their very interesting version of Tower of Power's classic, "What Is Hip?", which they totally re-invigorate. CD won't be released until next month, evidently.
9. Kenny Wheeler's "It Takes Two", featuring guitarists John Abercrombie and John Parricelli, and bassist Anders Jormin. Great music from everybody on this CD.
10. Morrie Louden's "Time Piece". One of the best bassists and composers I have heard in many a year, including some of the best Bob Sheppard sax playing on record, which is saying a lot. Very highly recommended.
11. Kasper Villaume's "Hands" - Along with Michael Brecker's "Pilgrimage", this CD is the best overall record I've heard in the last year or so. The rhythm section of pianist Kasper Villaume, bassist Chris Minh Doky and drummer Ali Jackson is simply superb, and they create the perfect setting for some of the greatest Chris Potter solos ever recorded. Don't miss it!

On Piracy by Chuck Sher

Musicians - beware. There are CD-ROMs being sold on the internet with scanned versions of the old "Real Book" and also Sher Music Co.'s The New Real Book series. ALL these CD-ROMs are completely illegal. Sher Music Co. had nothing to do with them and neither should you. Here's why.

Sher Music Co. remains what it was when it started 24 years ago---a small business by musicians, for musicians. Putting together a legal, accurate, high-quality fake book (such as The New Real Books) takes us about two years of intense effort and expense: countless hours of finding and listening to records to discover the best tunes to include, then tracking down the publishers, doing all the business negotiations, meticulously transcribing the tunes, and re-working each chart until it is the most complete and useful version of the tune possible. Then we painstakingly copy them, proofread them, and road-test them with our musician friends at jam sessions and rehearsals. We often consult with the composers to get any feedback they might have, then revise them, re-copy them, paste them up in book form, and proofread them over and over until they are perfect. And that doesn't include the effort and cost of creating esthetically-pleasing book covers, promoting the books once they are out, and the daily hassles and expenses of running a business. There are blood, sweat and tears on every page. (And great joy too, of course. We love what we do!)

If you produce, copy or buy a pirated version of our books, you are stealing the fruits of years of effort that went into creating them.You are also stealing money from your favorite jazz artists. Every six months we faithfully send fair royalty payments to all the publishers and composers of the tunes in our books. By buying these pirated copies (or the old, illegal "Real Book"), you are stealing from Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Richie Beirach, McCoy Tyner and hundreds of other less-well-known composers who count on these royalties to pay their bills. You wouldn't walk into their living rooms and take their stereos, even if you knew you could get away with it, right? Well, these illegal CDs are just as much an act of theft as any street crime. And in the worst-case scenario, these bootleg CDs could put us out of business and then there would be no more New Real Books.

How can you tell if a book is ripping off the composers' right to benefit from their creations? Just look at the bottom of each tune. If no copyright notices are there, then the book is illegal, plain and simple. Again, Sher Music Co. has never authorized a CD version of any of our books---they are all illegal. And let me publicly thank the musicians who have alerted us to where these bootleg CDs are being sold. We greatly appreciate your loyalty.

Piracy of musicians' recorded efforts are, of course, even more widespread on the internet. But here too, you have a legal, moral alternative. For about $10 a month, you can be a subscriber to a new online music service, Rhapsody, where you will be able to listen to thousands of CDs at the push of a button. Rhapsody, of course, pays royalties for every use of every tune, eliminating the moral dilemma of using Napster and its clones. Another great idea! (See www.listen.com for details.)

These are perilous times on our beautiful planet. The forces of greed and indifference to human suffering are increasingly powerful, and the only countervailing force is the basic goodness inherent in each of us. So I would encourage you to exercise your better nature: work for a more just and peaceful world, be kind in all your dealings with people, and use your purchasing power to support honest, life-affirming products, like The New Real Books and Rhapsody. You'll feel better.

Chuck Sher is a jazz bassist, author of several bass instruction books and the owner of Sher Music Co., publisher of high-quality jazz and Latin music books (www.shermusic.com).