New Randy Vincent book just released!

Randy Vincent is perhaps the most respected author alive of jazz guitar instruction books. But his new book, MAJOR IS HARMONIC, is pure jazz theory, useful to any musician. I've played in bands with Randy for many years and am always amazed at his dedication and devotion to continually improving his musicianship. Between sets you'll often find him sitting in a corner working on his already formidable chops. This new book is designed for serious musicians only, as it delves into "the most underrated scale" - the Harmonic Major Scale, and how it is the best scale choice in numerous situations. If you are serious about being a complete musician, you'll appreciate all the work that went into creating this little gem of a book. See https://www.shermusic.com/9781883217105.php for more information, sample pages, etc. Happy Holidays! - Chuck Sher

Chuck Israels' "Bass Foundations" released!

 I'm a long-time, big Bill Evans devotee. His music touches me in a way no one else's does. So when Chuck Israels sent me the beginning of a bass method book, the lights bulbs went off big-time. I knew that combining Chuck's own wisdom with presenting his improvised bass lines on a bunch of songs he recorded with Bill would give people an invaluable insight into the workings of Bill's trio conception. In addition, it also allows people to play along with the recordings with Bill's changes there. An invaluable combination! I hope all the jazz bassists in the world pick up on this historic publication and have a ball with it. Peace - Chuck Sher

The Hits Keep Coming!

 Just released at the end of July are two more Sher Music books - Contemporary Latin Jazz Guitar, Vol.2, by Neff Irizarry and The Jimmy Raney Book written by Jimmy Raney and his son Jon.

If you are familiar with Neff Irizarry's first volume, you won't need any encouragement to check out Vol.2 - it's even more amazing than his initial book and includes transcription and analysis of over 50 classic solos in the genre. 'Nuff said.

Jimmy Raney was a legendary bebop guitarist in the '50s and '60s, playing with Stan Getz, Bob Brookmeyer and many more. He wrote a book on his conceptions of what makes bebop such an exciting form of music but it was unfinished after his death until his son, pianist Jon Raney decided to complete, edit and expand the book earlier this year. Among other things, it is the most detailed look at the rhythmic aspect of creating fluid bebop lines that I've ever seen. Definitely worth your time to check it out. 

On a personal note, our local newspaper here in Petaluma, CA, the Argus Courier, did a feature article on me and the free, outdoor jazz concert series I started at the beginning of the pandemic - still going strong in our fourth season (many thanks to Jamey Aebersold and Music in Place for their crucial financial support) - Despite spinal injury, bassist Chuck Sher keeps the music playing - The Petaluma Argus-Courier (petaluma360.com). They spelled my name correctly but refused to put photos of Leonardo di Caprio in there instead of me - can't have everything! - Chuck Sher

P.S. The quartet with Michael Spiro, David Belove, Ken Cook and Kendrick Freeman will return on Sunday, October 6th - fantastic music!

Two More Great New Sher Music Books Released!

 It wasn't exactly planned but we now have four new books for 2024. Just released today are the following:

1. "The Bob Mover Jazz Lexicon" - veteran saxophonist and practicing buddy of Michael Brecker, Bob Mover has compiled in this Lexicon over 400 hip phrases to expand your musical vocabulary. Bob is an old school bebopper and the book can certainly be used in that style, but, like Mike Brecker, Bob is convinced that moving these phrases around by various intervals is an important key to musical freedom and his introduction spells out how to do just that. 

This book has some of the most impressive endorsements of any book I've seen, including ones by Tom Harrell, Kenny Barron, Jerry Bergonzi and David Berkman. As Eddie Daniels says, "I love it… it makes me think in a different way and gets me back to practicing! P.S. I hope that's enough… if not, I will say it a half step higher!!”

 

 2. "Logic and Critical Thinking in Jazz Improvisation" by Vincent Herring is a unique book that will give you a firm and logical foundation for your soloing. Take a listen here for an example of where Vincent's method can lead you - https://youtu.be/Ab58wusI_iw. Like Bob Mover's Lexicon, Vincent's book is also endorsed by some of the greatest players in jazz. I'm proud to be the publisher of this outstanding addition to jazz literature!

Keep it swinging! - Chuck Sher

Rest in Love - Michael Aragon

 For those of you who might not have heard, our brother Michael Aragon voluntarily left his body behind yesterday, heading on to Brighter Moments. We loved him like the brother he was - a real mensch, a loving friend and a superb drummer to boot. Thanks to the Universe for bringing him into our lives - Chuck

Two New Sher Music Books for 2024!

We are thrilled to have just released two cool new jazz books, "365 Days of Practice" by saxophonist Rick Margitza and "Walking Bass Line Construction - F Blues" by Bob Sinicrope. Both can be seen at www.shermusic.com and both have audio files on our website to accompany the books.

Rick's book is some high-level jazz educational material, consisting of short exercises for each day of a year. As Richie Beirach wrote: "This book is a great idea because it makes practicing a kind of ritual. It can be so interesting to practice using Rick’s method!" One of the valuable things in the book is that Rick has an 11-page introduction outlining in detail the practice method both he and Mike Brecker learned from their teacher in Miami, Gary Campbell. The examples themselves are often totally unique sounding and it will definitely open up your ears and musical mind to work on each one.

I have been friends with Bob Sinicrope for many years since he was one of the founders of the Jazz Education Network, JEN, and its past president. His book is part of a series of beginning methods for learning how to walk correct bass lines, starting from playing just roots up to sample choruses in the style of bassists from 'Pops' Foster to Ron Carter. Band directors will find this to be super useful in getting their rhythm sections up and running in a hurry.

I have to give a shout out to my webmaster and bandmate, Bob Afifi, who is crucial to Sher Music's ability to function in the modern world. I'm pretty much a technophobe but Bob is super conversant with that world. I couldn't function without his invaluable assistance. Thanks, Bob!

Finally, thanks to all of you who are supporters of our work here. I feel that we have been given a mission to keep jazz (and Latin Jazz) moving forward into the 21st century. There have been too many fortuitous events in the last 45 years for our successes to have been merely accidental. So a heartfelt thanks to the Universe for letting us serve the greater good by helping to keep our beautiful art form alive and well. Have a great 2024! - Chuck Sher

 

The Unsung Heroes of Sher Music Co.

Folks - it has occurred to me that there are multiple people crucial to Sher Music being the high-quality publishing company that we are, who do not see much of the public limelight. Nonetheless, without them we'd be hard pressed to function as we do. In no particular order they are:

1) Bob Afifi - Bob is our webmaster, which entails dozens of different tasks to keep www.shermusic.com up and running smoothly, to deal with customer questions, get the digital books ready for publication, make sure the email communications with our customers get out every month, and much more. He is super-knowledgeable about tech questions and I can't overstate his value to our company.

2) Attila Nagy - Attila is our in-house graphics person and is responsible for all our advertising graphics, and many of the graphics in our books, including many of our beautiful book covers. He and I go back many decades and it is a real boon to Sher Music that he is available to fix minor graphics problems on a moment's notice, as well as his more substantial work. 

3) Larry Dunlap - Larry has been our transcriber and musical editor for almost 30 years and our music engraver for the last 20 years. He is also my "go to" guy for all musical questions. All the fake books from The New Real Book Vol.3 on are his work and I am super blessed to have him be part of our efforts here. The Practice Notebooks of Michael Brecker is almost entirely his doing and a great job he did on that landmark publication!

4) Doug Morton - is my tech guru and creator of our spiffy new royalty system. A big help in many respects, as well as a superlative musician. 

5) Other important contributors to one book or another include David Demsey, Matt Heister, Rick Margitza, Art Khu, Ian Carey, Chris Volion, Dan Greenblatt, Ken Cook, Rebeca Mauleon, Kendrick Freeman, Gayle Fulton, Bonnie Comerford, Michael Aragon, Drake Bolt, Annalisa Sher, Ben Sher, Jonathan Sher and many more.

6) Of course, Sher Music wouldn't exist without the contributions of all the authors of our method books and the composers of the songs in our fake books. They are the meat and potatoes of Sher Music Co.

7) And lastly, my lovely and hard-working wife, Sueann Bettison Sher, is my rock and forever love and keeps me sane amidst all the ups and downs of keeping Sher Music Co. afloat.

 THANKS UPON THANKS TO ONE AND ALL! - Chuck Sher 

  

"The Practice Notebooks of Michael Brecker" is in the world!

After many months of hard work, today we finally released "The Practice Notebooks of Michael Brecker." As you might know, during his whole career Michael kept extensive notes on noteworthy things that came up during his practice regime. These notes were just for himself and were not publication-worthy in their original form. But after we graciously got permission to publish them from Michael's widow, Susan Brecker, we went ahead and re-engraved everything that we could from his original notebooks. So now they are supremely legible and easy to use to guide your own practicing. The url for the book's webpage is https://www.shermusic.com/9780991077359.php.

Michael was, of course, one of the greatest saxophonists in the history of jazz and his innate talent was linked with a serious work ethic, fueled by his conviction that he never sounded as good as he wanted to. There's a story in Bill Milkowski's wonderful bio of Michael, "Ode to a Tenor Titan," about the time Michael called Will Lee to come be the bassist in one of his early fusion bands. Will was from Tennessee and had never been in a big city in his life, so when he got to Manhattan he couldn't tell one street from another and all the buildings looked the same. But when he went out to the store, all he had to do was put his ear to the wind and he could get back home by following the sound of Michael's practicing!

In any case, everyone here at Sher Music did an incredible job on this project and big thanks to every one of them:

Larry Dunlap for his world-class music engraving and the musical intelligence to figure out ambiguous passages in the original notebooks. David Demsey and Tim Armacost for figuring out the saxophone fingerings from Michael's cryptic notes - now a "Saxophone-Specific Appendix" in our book. Art Khu for his expert proofreading. Our graphic artist, Attila Nagy, for making it all look as beautiful as it sounds. Matt Heister for great help getting the digital version to work correctly and Bob Afifi for everything under the sun. We sincerely hope you enjoy this real labor of love! - Chuck Sher

April Discounts on all Sher Music Digital Songbooks

Folks - continuing monthly sales on our digital books, here's the books that are on sale for the month of April - Enjoy! - Chuck Sher

- "The New Real Book, Vol.1 - Digital Edition"

- "The Digital Standards Songbook" (complete books only)

- "The Jazz Songbooks Series" - separate books of songs by Kenny Barron, Tom Harrell, Alan Pasqua, Carla Bley, Randy Brecker, Benny Golson and many more

- "The Digital Real Book" over 600 songs from all our fake books

- "Jazz Arrangements of Public Domain Songs" by Chuck Israels

Expand your iPad library with selections from the greatest jazz songbook collections ever created. 

Books endorsed by Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner, Ron Carter, Mark Murphy, Maria Schneider, Jamey Aebersold, Down Beat magazine, etc.

Prices reduced to half the cost of the physical books (with equivalent savings on digital-only songbooks).

Discounts on all Sher Music piano books

 

For the month of March, all our world-class piano method books (digital versions only) will be discounted so that they are half the price of the physical book. (This is way below the industry standard!)

• Mark Levine's The Jazz Piano Book, The Drop Two Book, and How to Voice Standards at the Piano
• Rebeca Mauleón's 101 Montunos
• Jeb Patton's An Approach to Comping: Vol. 1, An Approach to Comping: Vol. 2 and Introduction to Jazz Piano: A Deep Dive
• Marius Nordal's unique treatise on pentatonics, The Wisdom of the Hand
• Mike Greensill's Playing for Singers, invaluable for piano accompanists
• Metaphors for the Musician by Randy Halberstadt - thought-provoking!
• The Jazz Solos of Chick Corea, transcribed by Peter Sprague
• Inside the Brazilian Rhythm Section by Cliff Korman and Nelson Faria

We hope you will take a look at the webpages of each book to see how you can benefit from the expertise of these great jazz and Latin pianists! See www.shermusic.com. Enjoy! - Chuck Sher