Four new jazz books to start 2014 with!

We've been busy here at Sher Music Co. - four new titles just released as follows:


1. "THE JAZZ HARMONY BOOK" by NY pianist David Berkman. An instant classic, The Jazz Harmony Book is a course in how to add chords to melodies, showing how a single melody can give rise to rich harmonic variations. Endorsed by Kenny Werner, Fred Hersch, Mark Levine, and others, this book fills a big gap in the jazz literature and will be used by generations of jazz musicians to learn both the basics and subtleties of Jazz Harmony. $32 list price - 206 pages, including two CDs.

2. "AN APPROACH TO COMPING: The Essentials" by NY pianist Jeb Patton. The most comprehensive book ever publishing on how to accompany jazz soloists with supportive, propulsive 'comping.' Written by the long-time pianist for The Heath Brothers, An Approach to Comping starts with basic comping patterns and then uses transcriptions of the masters—Horace Silver, Barry Harris, Bud Powell, etc.—to dig deeply into how jazz pianists make the rhythm section cook. Endorsed by Benny Green, Renee Rosnes, Monty Alexander, etc., 272 pages, plus 2 CDs, $34 list price.

3. "MINOR IS MAJOR!" by Dan Greenblatt is the most comprehensive book ever written on minor key harmony. Minor is Major! gives the reader hundreds of ways to negotiate through chord progressions in minor keys, including scale choices, 'hidden chords' within those scales, melodic patterns, intervals studies and more. Includes numerous transcriptions of great jazz improvisers such as Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Clifford Brown, McCoy Tyner, and Joe Henderson showing how they make use of the harmonic and melodic minor scales. Endorsed by George Cables, Jerry Bergonzi, etc. 150 pages, $28 list price.

4. "PLAYING FOR SINGERS" by Mike Greensill. Playing For Singers explores, in depth, the art of accompaniment for the jazz and cabaret pianist. It covers all the fundamentals of playing for vocalists, as it applies to the performance of the “Great American Songbook.” Topics covered include how to accompany singers as a solo pianist, what changes when bass and drums are added, the art of 'out of tempo' accompaniment, the accompanist as arranger/composer, copyist and musical director, and more. Endorsed by Michael Feinstein, Lee Musiker (Tony Bennett's pianist), Larry Dunlap, etc. 121 pages, including numerous musical examples. $25 list price.

I hope you find these as fun to go through as it was to create them. Enjoy! - Chuck Sher