New Sher Music books for 2016

We're very happy to add four new books to our catalog as of the beginning of this year.
In no particular order, they are:

a) "Wisdom of the Hand: A Guide to the Jazz Pentatonic Scales" by Seattle pianist, educator and composer, Marius "Butch" Nordal. This is, dare I say, a revolutionary approach to fingering the pentatonic scales on piano. The wider intervals of the pentatonic and blues scales calls for a different approach than the traditional, Western "thumb under"  approach. This book opens up a new and better approach to this condundrum all pianists face. But don't take my word for it - check out the sample pages at http://www.shermusic.com/1883217849.php and see for yourself.

b) Also for pianists is Jeb Patton second book for Sher Music, "An Approach to Comping, Vol.2: Advanced Concepts and Techniques." Endorsed by Kenny Barron, David Hazeltine, Harold Mabern, etc., Jeb's second book is a masterful and thorough look at the comping of Bud Powell, Bill Evans, Hank Jones, Barry Harris, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner and others. As a bassist, I know that the pianist's comping is one of the most crucial elements in creating forward motion in a band and Jeb's books are the definitive word on the subject. Webpage is http://www.shermusic.com/1883217873.php

c) "Rhythm First!: A Beginner's Guide to Jazz Improvisation" by Tom Kamp is designed for K-12 music students and their teachers. His basic stance is that kids can easily be turned off to music by having to learn and practice a bunch of scales and chords before they can even start to make music. But in this book, Tom has them enjoying the feeling of playing jazz right away by getting them to play rhythms first, before concerning them selves with note choices. "Rhythm First!" then provides a systematic way to learn all the basic rhythmic figures they are likely to need for years, while slowly introducing the notes of the Blues Scale. This is also a revolutionary and long-overdue approach to teaching jazz that we hope will be widely utilized by elementary, middle school and high school teachers. Sample pages and the Table of Contents can be found at http://www.shermusic.com/1883217865.php.

d) Lastly, Randy Vincent has turned his last guitar book ("The Cellular Approach") into a method book for any instrument, entitled "Building Solo Lines from Cells." This book came into being because Jamey Aebersold found himself practicing out of "The Cellular Approach" one day soon after its release last year and wrote us the following: "This book is good for ALL instruments. The patterns and exercises are excellent! There is much food for thought in here." So, of course, we decided that Jamey had a point and that was the genesis of "Building Solo Lines from Cells." Again, take a look at http://www.shermusic.com/1883217830.php and see for yourself.

 Also, stay tuned for two unique books for drummers (by George Marsh) and percussionists (by Michael Spiro) that we will release in March of this year (I hope!), as well as a "Digital Standards Songbook," featuring 170+ individual songs, downloadable in any key, from the best of Cole Porter, Gershwin, Rodgers & Hart, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, Henry Mancini, etc. etc. All are pristine Sher Music lead sheets---the gold standard in jazz charts. Thanks for supporting our labors of love, and keep swinging! - Chuck Sher

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

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!

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

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

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

New books from Mark Levine and Randy Vincent!

Jazz fans - the Sher Music Co. team has been working like little elves and we now finally have pdf downloads of two new books---one by Mark Levine and one by Randy Vincent! The printed versions will be released January 1st, 2015 (only a few weeks away). We are very proud and pleased to offer these labors of love to all jazz players. Chuck says, 'Check them out!'

"How to Voice Standards at the Piano: The Menu" by Mark Levine is a succinct guide to harmonizing songs, using voicings that the masters of jazz piano use every time they play. Mark has created a one-page 'Menu' of these voicings that (once internalized) will allow you to create spontaneous arrangements of standard songs on the spot. This will be an invaluable resource for generations of jazz pianists---and it wouldn't hurt us non-pianists to learn this material too! Please see details at http://shermusic.com.

"Jazz Guitar Soloing: The Cellular Approach" by Randy Vincent is a thorough, detailed look at how to create long, flowing solo lines based on short, 4-note 'cells' derived from solo phrases by jazz masters like Joe Pass, Pat Metheny, Michael Brecker, etc. Randy gives the reader hundreds and hundreds of exercises to incorporate this process into your subconscious so that they will appear on their own as you perform. Fingerings and string choices are often given too, making it particularly valuable to guitarists who want to actually master their instrument. Again, details at http://shermusic.com.

(If you have a minute, please also check out the sample tracks of our forthcoming CD "Poetry+Jazz: A Magical Marriage" at http://shermusic.com/poetry-jazz.)

Chuck Gee memorial

For those of you in the Bay Area:

The long-delayed memorial for our great good friend, Chuck Gee, will take place at Yoshi's San Francisco, 1330 Fillmore St., SF. The gathering will be held on Tuesday, August 12th in the upstairs lounge from 8 pm to 11 pm or so. It will start with an open mic memorial where people can share their memories of, and stories about Chuck. Following that will be an open jam session led by Larry Dunlap - something Chuck would have relished himself - so bring your instruments. Yoshis-catered refreshments will be served.

We are very sorry for the long delay, but arrangements kept being postponed and the venue moved around until Chuck's former employer at Yoshis came to the rescue. All of us who knew and loved him miss him tremendously, but we are at least glad that we will finally get to honor his memory. Feel free to pass this message along to others who knew him too. Hope to see you there - Chuck Sher and Larry Dunlap

Requiem

It is with great sadness that I have to announce that our world-class music engraver, Chuck Gee, has departed this world. Chuck was perhaps the greatest music engraver in the world, but more importantly, a superb human being---always looking on the positive side of things, always ready to be of service to the world and the music he loved so much. There will be a Celebration of his Life later this spring and we'll keep you informed about that so those of you in the Bay Area can attend if you wish. Meanwhile, let's take a page from Chuck's book and greet each day with fresh and sparkling eyes. Rest in peace, our brother - Chuck Sher

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