Our landmark publication, "The Real 'Cool' Book" now available

I discovered jazz in the 1950s by putting my ear to my brother Norm's room as he and my uncle Ben practiced Chet Baker/Gerry Mulligan duets. So when I joined the Neal Buckley Octet a couple years ago, it lit up a part of my musical subconscious that had long been dormant. What I found was that the West Coast, "cool jazz" charts we played sounded even better than I remembered them. So when someone said I should put out "The Real 'Cool' Book" this project just popped into being---first as a conception and now as a reality. My heartfelt thanks goes out to my musical editor/transcriber Larry Dunlap and our music engraver Chuck Gee for dedication to excellence beyond the call of duty. A world-class job!

What we have done is to take 14 of the best octet songs from that era and transcribe them from the recordings so that this happy, swinging version of jazz could be played by any college-level, or even good high school ensemble. There are separate books for each player, all in one big binder. And on our website there will soon be transposed versions of each of the horn parts so that groups with different instrumentation can still play these songs.

Jazz used to be "the music of the people." Without cowtowing to blatant commercialism, I feel that this book can bring back some of that connection with audiences that jazz has lost over the years. Why? Because the music is upbeat and unapologetically tonal, with great melodies, wonderful counterpoint writing and arranging, and a swinging forward motion that won't quit. And the sheer beauty of five horns blending with other is unbeatable, in my experience.

My hope is that schools, jazz camps and just groups of jazz players will find "The Real 'Cool' Book" to be as advertised, "The most fun you can have for $11 apiece!" - Chuck Sher

Randy Vincent's LINE GAMES just released

I have been very fortunate to play music with guitarist Randy Vincent in several different settings over the last half dozen years or so. My observations are that he is talented, no question; great ears, no question; completely conversant with the jazz tradition to the point of being able to tell you which chord substitutions were played by which artist for innumerable tunes, etc. etc. But Randy's unique gift is an insatiable curiosity with how music works, what the underpinnings are of the music played by the jazz masters. This is what makes him a great teacher and, at this point in time, the greatest living author of jazz guitar books.

His third book, LINE GAMES, is further proof of that claim. I won't go into a description of what he covers here - that is spelled out clearly on our website. But I do believe that, among others things, Randy (like Sher Music Co. itself) was put on this earth to accomplish the goal of creating the best jazz books possible. It is a real honor to work with him.

One further source of pride for me with this book is that the mosaic guitar on the cover was created by my wonderful wife and soulmate, Sueann Bettison Sher. If they gave Grammys for the best music book cover of the year, Sueann and our graphic artist, Attila Nagy, should win first prize. I hope you all enjoy this labor of love - Chuck Sher

Two new Sher Music books!

Things are popping here at Sher Music. Today we released two very well-done books. If the subjects interest you, you can't do better.
1) Method for Chromatic Harmonica by Max De Aloe is the first book on the big harmonica to treat it as a legitimate instrument. Endorsed by Toots Thielemans, Hendrik Meurkens, Olivier Ker Ourio and others, the book is designed for all levels of players and any style of music. Like classical method books, Max takes the reader through all the keys and makes sure that you learn to have facility all over the instrument. Scale studies, arpeggio studies, rhythmic training, ear training, special harmonica techniques like bending and vibrato, and more. Plus a very well-done play-along CD with a good Italian rhythm section.

2) Afro-Peruvian Percussion Ensemble: From The Cajon to the Drum Set by Hector Morales. Berklee professor and drummer with Paquito d'Rivera says: "This book/DVD package is a goldmine of information on Peruvian music and percussion." The book itself contains charts written out for all the various instruments - cajon, congas, bongos, cowbell, etc. for all the main styles of Afro-Peruvian music, photos showing how to play them, and good historical background on the music. There are also charts for bass and guitar parts and for the drum set too. The best part of the package, to me, is the DVD. The instructional sections are beautifully filmed, and many of them slowed down to half time, as well as normal speed, to facilitate easy learning. And the ensemble tunes on the DVD are quite fun to watch and listen to. The band includes one of the world's greatest Latin bass players, Oscar Stagnaro, along with the author, Hector "Jereto" Ferreyra, Eric Kurimski and others.

We have two more new books slated for release by the end of the month, "The Real 'Cool' Book" and "Line Games" by Randy Vincent. Stay tuned! - Chuck Sher

The Digital Age

Thanks to my webmaster & buddy Bob Afifi, I am being dragged kicking and screaming into the Digital Age. Which is good news to all of you iPad and Kindle owners. In addition to the Digital Real Book and the 16 Sher Music books released in digital form last year, we now have the following items ready for downloading:
1. "Three-note Voicings and Beyond"
by Randy Vincent
http://www.shermusic.com/new/9781883217662.shtml

2. "Introduction to the Conga Drum" - DVD
by Michael Spiro
http://www.shermusic.com/new/242169.shtml

3. Play-Along CDs for The New Real Book: Vol. 1
in downloadable format
http://www.shermusic.com/new/0961470143-cd.shtml

Enjoy! - Chuck Sher

"The Latin Real Easy Book" just released!

After about two years of work, we have finally finished a great new fake book - "The Latin Real Easy Book." This is the fourth in our "Real Easy" series of fake books designed for classroom use, with educational material tailored for each tune as part of the chart. But this volume features exclusively great Latin jazz, salsa classics and Brazilian music. A wonderful feature is that we have audio files for every tune in the book on "The Latin Real Easy Book" page at shermusic.com so you can hear the songs. Some gorgeous music is there and I hope all you jazz fans out there will take the time to explore the songs we've presented.

It's hard to know what is more beautiful - Ivan Lins' scrumptious melodies, Tito Puente's slamming version of Chucho Valdes' "Triton," or Tito Rodriguez' soulful rendition of "Si Te Contara," just to name a few. All of the composers have contributed to making the world a better place because of their artistic creations--- and we hope that you will enjoy the book and pass along their message of positive energy by adding these tunes to your band's repertoire. Have fun! - Chuck Sher

Sher Music ebooks released!

Sher Music Co. has just released digital, ebook versions of 16 of our best-selling books, for use with the iPad, Kindle and other digital readers. Books released include Mark Levine's classic works, "The Jazz Piano Book" and "The Jazz Theory Book", as well as "The Salsa Guidebook" by Rebeca Mauleon, "The Brazilian Guitar Book" by Nelson Faria, "The Serious Jazz Practice Book" by Barry Finnerty, and many more. For a complete list of titles and outlets where they can be purchased, please see http://www.shermusic.com/new/digital_books.shtml.

The iPad versions feature some cool capabilities, like being able to click on a chapter in the Table Of Contents and be instantaneously taken there, or being able to search for a word and have a list of all the pages in the book including that term appear for you to check out, etc.

The Digital Real Book itself, including about 650 songs from all our fake books, is now downloadable to your iPad as well. Keep an eye out for more digital releases later in the year. Enjoy! - Chuck Sher

2 New Sher Music Co. books

We are happy to release two new books at the beginning of 2011 and hope you find them to be useful in your pursuit of beauty.

The first one is "Essential Grooves For Writing, Performing and Producing Contemporary Music." This was written by three Berklee College of Music professors, Dan Moretti, Matthew Nicholl and Oscar Stagnaro and is a very useful document if you have the need for templates of a bunch of different styles of music—from soul to jazz to hip hop to Afro-Cuban to reggae, and more. Each groove has all the rhythm section parts written out for a sample of the style, as well as some cogent historical background. Then there is an audio CD so you can hear what the groove sounds like and a multi-track DVD with each member of the rhythm section isolated so you can loop the bass part, create your own play-alongs, etc. Lots of uses, especially for arrangers, producers and writers of contemporary music. All for only $24.

The second one is "Three-Note Voicings and Beyond" by veteran guitarist Randy Vincent. This book has the best endorsements of any book we have ever published—from Pat Metheny, Jim Hall, Mike Stern, Ben Monder, etc. And their praises are certainly well-deserved. This is the second book Randy has written for Sher Music Co. and he is already deep into the third one. This series of books will become the new standard reference books for guitarists for a long time to come. Randy is one of those rare birds (like Mark Levine) who is not only a great player, but also has the ability to clearly and thoroughly explain the nuts and bolts of how jazz players do what they do.

Lots cooking in the Sher Music world for release later this year: legal downloads of 16 of our best-selling instructional books, an amazing selection of tunes in The Latin Real Easy Book, a new jazz harmony book from David Berkman, and more. Just send your email address to shermuse@sonic.net and we'll put you on our mailing list for notice of new releases as they happen. Thanks for supporting our high quality books and for letting people know that illegal, free downloads of our books is theft, plain and simple. Peace - Chuck Sher

"Jazz Inside" interview with Chuck Sher

I'm a bass player, so I don't generally indulge in "tooting my own horn," but I thought that fans of Sher Music Co. might be interested in an interview that Jazz Inside magazine did with me in their latest issue. The link to it on my website is
http://www.shermusic.com/chuck_sher_interview.html. Hope you enjoy it! - Chuck

Jazz Guitar Voicings, Vol. 1 - The Drop 2 Book just released!

Over the last few years I have been very fortunate to play music on a pretty regular basis with one of the most advanced guitar players I've ever heard - Randy Vincent (who has recorded &/or toured with Dizzy Gillespie, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, etc.). I've been amazed sometimes just watching chorus after chorus of brilliant, spontaneous music come out of him, and have asked him more than once if he'd be interested in writing a book for Sher Music Co. Finally, given the task of applying Mark Levine's Drop 2 Book to guitar, Randy agreed to share his many decades of musical knowledge with the world, and the results have been well worth waiting for! I will let its web page describe the contents, but I was not surprised when glowing endorsements by Vic Juris, Steve Maskowski, Larry Koonse, John Stowell and others started coming in. And before the ink was even dry at the printer's on this book, Randy sent me the beginning of Volume 2! Randy is a very dedicated musician and his love of exploring the way music works comes through in this book, just as much as the practical information itself. If you are a jazz guitar player (or have one on your Holiday gift list), don't miss Jazz Guitar Voicings, Vol.1: The Drop 2 Book!

Foundation Exercises For Bass released!

After pouring over the text a thousand times, adding new exercises after every bass lesson I gave for months, getting very useful feedback from dozens of musicians, and putting all the conscious energy I could muster into making my new book as good as possible---Foundation Exercises For Bass, by yours truly, is finally out! As far as I'm concerned, this is the crowning achievement of my thirty years in music publishing and I hope all you bass players (and bass teachers) out there find it to be most useful, comprehensive and even inspiring!
I'll leave its web page to describe the contents for you, but my general intent was to create a method book that contained all the information anyone would need in order to successfully play bass with others, regardless of the style of music they were interested in, or how long they have been playing. At the same time, my goal was to give people a sense of how to practice so that the process of learning becomes an enjoyable, creative experience in itself. If people have half the fun using it that I had creating it, then it will be a big hit! Music is a beautiful thing and I hope this new book helps people feel what a great gift playing music can be. Enjoy! - Chuck