Monday, September 28, 2015

Mark Levine's "Jazz Theory Book" now available in Spanish

Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" has been translated into 7 or 8 languages besides English (those editions are published by overseas publishers), but we are happy to now offer it in Spanish right on our own website at http://www.shermusic.com/1883217857.php. So if you or someone you know would find this a valuable resource, please do spread the word. Thanks for being a supporter of our world-class books! Much appreciated! - Chuck Sher

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Chuck Sher's "Poetry+Jazz: A Magical Marriage" audiobook CD released!

I've been a jazz musician and jazz book publisher most of my adult life, and about two years ago I also started writing poems. Then one day some real magic happened - I started reading something I'd written along with a jazz recording that had a similar emotional tone. And, seemingly all by itself, the music started wrapping itself around the words, as if it had been created specifically for that purpose, sometimes changing along with the words line by line! The feeling I got was almost spooky it was so beautiful. This turned out not to be a fluke, but happened over and over with other poems and music - like magic, like their being together was "meant to be." I felt then, and continue to feel, blessed and honored to be the conduit for these 'marriages made in heaven.'
I then started putting music with the poems of my teacher at the time, Alison Luterman, and then Rumi and Rainer Maria Rilke, Philip Levine, Mark Strand, Kenneth Rexroth and all the rest of the poets included on this CD. Again, it has been a great honor to have these profound artists be part of this project.
Then one more piece of synchronicity happened. A long-time tennis buddy of mine, Cory Bihr, gave me a Christmas present a few years ago of him reciting Dylan Thomas' "A Child's Christmas in Wales." Cory's immense talent completely floored me and so I played him the iphone recordings I had made of the rough drafts of poetry+jazz. The rest, as they say, is history, because Cory is the now the main voice on the CD, with other tracks being performed by Coleman Barks, Rumi's most-loved translator, and Rene Marie, a great jazz singer and actress, among others.

This project took about two years to complete, largely because of the business end of things. All the living poets (or the estates of recently deceased ones) are being paid for the use of their work, all the publishers of the songs are will be getting regular royalties, all the record companies are being paid royalties for the use of their master recordings, all the readers have been paid, of course, and the studios the tracks were recorded in, etc. etc. An expensive proposition, but well worth it to me because to my ears these are uniquely beautiful, new artistic creations. I'm thrilled to have this project out and available to people who might also find great beauty in it.

Sample tracks are available at http://shermusic.com/poetry-jazz. Don't miss it!

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Digital editions of all Sher Music method books now available!

In addition to the Digital Edition of "The New Real Book, Vol.1," we are happy to report that PDF downloads of all of our jazz and Latin music method books, including Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and "The Jazz Piano Book" are currently available at http://shermusic.com.

Again, my webmaster, Bob Afifi, was instrumental in bringing these books to you in digital form and my great thanks to him for that.

We are working on other digital products, and will let you know as they become available. Thanks for supporting our labors of love here at Sher Music Co.! - Peace - Chuck Sher

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Digital Edition of "The New Real Book, Vol.1" released!

For about 15 years now, we have been getting repeated requests to offer our fake books in digital form, as musicians increasingly use iPads, Kindles, computers, etc. to practice, rehearse and gig with. Since the print licenses already obtained for the hard copy of these books did not extend to digital use, each song had to be re-licensed and this was simply not possible until last year. At that point, the major copyright holders decided to allow digital use of the songs they controlled in The New Real Book - Vol.1 and that started the ball rolling. Many months and endless hours of work later, and The New Real Book, Vol.1 - Digital Edition is now available for download!

The book is beautifully crafted from the highest quality scans we could produce. (The original book was hand-copied and so no digital source files exist.) Many thanks to Sunil Sharma for a careful and professional job in that department.

The book features an interactive Table of Contents where you can click on any tune and be immediately transported there - an invaluable feature on gigs. Every effort was made to retain the look and feel of the original edition and we are happy with how close we were able to come, even with the photographs.

All musicians who will be using this digital edition owe a debt of gratitude to my webmaster, Bob Afifi, for single-handedly pushing for this project to come to fruition, and for his invaluable aid and advice in creating the highest quality finished product possible. It simply wouldn't have happened without him. Thanks, Bob!

By giving musicians a legal, high-class alternative to the poorly-done, illegal scans of our New Real Books, we hope to make everyone's job of creating great music just a bit easier. Anyway, 'nuff said  - enjoy our labor of love! - Chuck Sher

Friday, January 30, 2015

Three-Horn edition of "The Real Easy Book, Vol. 1" released!

Never let it be said that we don't value feedback from people who use our books. At the Jazz Education Network conference last year, several band directors told us that it would be great to have a version of "The Real Easy Book, Vol.1" (our most popular fake book) with harmony parts added, instead of just a melody and chord symbols. Voila! As of January 1st, the new three-horn, expanded edition has replaced the original version.

Included in this three-horn edition are:
- separate pages for each harmony part for every song
- background horn lines underneath soloists
- often "shout choruses" at the end of solos
- background lines and shout choruses include parts for the melody player too

These beautiful arrangements by pianist/arranger Larry Dunlap create a fuller, more professional sound, yet each part is simple enough for beginning improvisers to play, and each part could be played by a number of different instruments. The book is now 172 pages, is available in C, Bb, Eb and Bass Clef, and lists for $28. Enjoy! - Chuck Sher