Tuesday, March 5, 2024

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

Saturday, January 27, 2024

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


Tuesday, January 2, 2024

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

 


Monday, August 7, 2023

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 

  


Monday, June 5, 2023

"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

Saturday, April 1, 2023

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).

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

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!)

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

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Discounts on all of Sher's Latin Music books

 

For the month of February, all of Sher Music Co's world-class digital method books on Afro-Cuban Music, Brazilian Music and Latin Jazz will be on sale for half the price of the physical book! (This is way below the industry standard.) This includes:

If you haven't been bitten by the Latin bug yet, here's your chance to learn this incredible, exciting music from the masters of the genre. And if you are already a pro, each of these books will be invaluable in teaching Afro-Cuban or Brazilian music to your students.

Sher Music Co. is also the creator of the only professional-level Latin Music fake book - THE LATIN REAL BOOK (https://www.shermusic.com/new/1883217059.shtml). If you buy this amazing 550-page labor of love from www.shermusic.com, just send the receipt to shermuse@sonic.net and we will send you a free PDF of any one of the Latin music books on sale. Gracias!

 

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Sunday, January 1, 2023

Sher Music sale on books for student musicians

Music Teachers take note! For the month of January 2023, Sher Music will be discounting our world-class digital books designed especially for student musicians. For this month only, they will all be half the price of the printed books! These prices are way below the industry standard. The sale includes:

With practical exercises and step-by-step progressions, these books will make music lessons more fun for you and your students both, and the prices will never be lower! Enjoy, and here's to a great 2023! - Chuck Sher

Saturday, September 24, 2022

Jazz Theory books discounted this month!

During the month of November, Sher Music is offering the digital versions of our world-class jazz theory books and practicing guides at 50% off of the physical book prices!  If you want to experience a real leap forward in mastering your instrument, these books will be invaluable. Our holiday gift to you is unbeatable quality at unbeatable prices! See below for books included in this sale, including Mark Levine's classic text, "The Jazz Theory Book."

1. The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine
2. The Jazz Harmony Book - by David Berkman
3. Jazz Musicians' Guide to Creative Practicing - by David Berkman
4. Serious Jazz Practice Book - by Barry Finnerty
5. Serious Jazz Book II - by Barry Finnerty
6. Building Solo Lines from Cells - by Randy Vincent
7. Minor is Major! - by Dan Greenblatt
8. Forward Motion - by Hal Galper
9. Metaphors for the Musician - by Randy Halberstadt

 

See www.shermusic.com for details