Musicals Books

I found this book to be a very thorough history of American music. Excellent for teaching a graduate-level course on the subject.

In the 1980s I was a graduate student in musicology at the University of Toronto, specializing in Canadian music. A visit by Richard Crawford was one of the galvanizing moments in my education. He spoke on the theme of "Studying American Music" (the talk was later published in the Newsletter of the Institute for Studies in American Music, vol. XIV, no. 2, May 1985), but his ideas proved to be applicable to any field of music study. I know I have certainly made generous use of them in my own work. So it was with particular interest that I turned to this book, his magesterial (nearly 1,000 pages long!) summing up of a career devoted to the subject.

In the epilogue to the book, Crawford states that the historian is motivated by a disagreement with received ideas - "the gut-level feeling that says, 'It wasn't like that.'" In 40 chapters covering the entire history of music in America chronologically, from pre-historical to modern times, Crawford tells us how it really was. One tribute to the quality of this book is that the chapters on music in which I thought I had no interest (e.g., 18th century psalmody or 19th century minstrel shows) I found to be every bit as engaging as those on music that I love and cherish.

Crawford establishes his theoretical basis in a section titled "Notation, the Great Divide, and American Musical Categories" (p. 227). Previous historians (notably Charles Hamm and H. Wiley Hitchcock) have proposed a binary opposition in American music between Classical and Popular, or Cultivated and Vernacular. In place of this dualism, Crawford proposes a richer three-tiered categorization: Composers' music, which aims for TRANSCENDENCE (i.e. lasting value); Performers' music, which values ACCESSIBILITY; and Traditional music, ruled by CONTINUITY. The first two are notated traditions, the last is transmitted orally. These categories arise initially from considering the classical, popular, and folk traditions respectively.

Crawford later develops his thesis to show that considerable overlap and bleeding between categories has been characteristic of American music, especially in the 20th century. A chapter on the Beatles (No. 38, which otherwise seems glaringly out of place here - why an entire chapter on a British group?) makes the point that popular music since the 1960s has achieved transcendence. At about the same time, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and other composers in the Classical sphere were aiming for accessibility in preference to transcendence. Similarly, jazz arose from popular roots but achieved transcendence, primarily through recordings rather than notation, however.

Crawford's democratic approach gives equal time to the most widely varied styles and genres of music. He treats everything, from hymns to hip-hop and beyond, with scholarly attention that is balanced, scrupulous, and passionate. In the Epilogue, he admits to a grounding in the Classical sphere (and relays a charming story about travelling to a small town to hear his wife Penelope Crawford perform as piano soloist with a community orchestra), but he obviously has a passionate interest in jazz and a respectful attitude towards all types of music. You might want to turn to Hitchcock's *Music in the United States: A Historical Introduction* for a shorter treatment of the subject, or Hamm's *Music in the New World* for a more argumentative approach, but I feel that Crawford's book in time will take its place as the most thoughtful and the most comprehensive of all surveys of American music.

In the late 1980s, having passed the US Foreign Service written test, I took the Oral Exam, one part of which was basically aimed at probing - in front of a panel of 3 Foreign Service officers - one's general knowledge of American history, culture, and world affairs, plus ability to think on one's feet. Among other questions, I was presented with the following (without any advance warning): `pretend you are a high school teacher giving a lecture on the history of American music; you have 3 minutes - GO!' Well, all I can say is, I wish that Richard Crawford's "America's Musical Life: A History" had been available back then, and that I had read it, because, let's just put it this way, there's a good reason why I didn't pass the Oral Exam!! Having now read Crawford's book, I feel like asking for a second shot at the question...

Basically, what this extremely learned, intelligent, well-organized, readable (and mercifully free of musicologist jargon) book does is to help us understand America from the perspective of music (i.e., what music meant to America), and also to understand American music from the perspective of its social, cultural, economic, political, racial, geographic, and technological history (i.e., what America meant to music). As Crawford states in his introduction, his goal is to undertake a study from a "broader scope [which] might illuminate parallels and intertwinings that give the country's music...its distinctive identity." Crawford accomplishes this, and more, starting from American music's early origins (Native American, Early Christian, "Old, Simple Ditties," and New England Psalmody), moving on to 19th century music (devotional music, minstrels, parlor songs, patriotic and war songs, classical music, etc.) to the folk, jazz, blues, pop, theatrical, and rock music of the 20th century. Throughout, Crawford makes it clear: 1) that there IS such a thing as "American" music; 2) that this music is extremely diverse, both in its expression and its origins; and 3) that to fully understand America, one needs to understand its music, and vice versa.

In sum, this book represents an obvious labor of love by an extremely well qualified author. I highly recommend it, whether or not you are a Foreign Service candidate!

Crawford's book is one of the most fascinating I have ever read, and I have read thousands. His graceful, seemingly effortless blend of musical and social history is no less than remarkable. I have read the covers off it.

Richard Crawford's ambitious book seems a culmination of his previous work, attempting to encompass the whole of American musical activity since the birth of the nation. His basic methodology of dividing American music into three spheres, classical, popular and folk, is a successful tool for making a gargantuan subject more manageable. His chronology makes an attempt to at least cast a glance at each of these areas as it progresses through the centuries.

Some of the individual chapters are, in my opinion, among the strongest essays available on their particular topics. Due to my own lack of previous knowledge in these fields I particularly enjoyed the chapters on the beginnings of organized music making in America, through the church. In particular, the split between the Methodist ideal of polished musical performance and literacy, and the more fundamentalist view that music in worship was direct communication with God, communication hindered by too much technical knowledge--this is a schism whose echoes are still apparent today.

Later on, the chapter on Ives takes a very small corner of the composer's output--six songs--to give a lucid and comprehensive survey of his style, a ingenious solution to the problem of how to give an accurate picture of an enormous, heterogenous body of work in a limited space.

Occasionally during the course of such an enormous work Crawford struggles with his task. At times one has the impression that topics and personages are being included and examined out of a sense of duty rather than real conviction about their significance; one can also quarrel with the choice of emphasis as Crawford approaches the present day. Nor do I think his surprising conclusion, which examines an actual, recent concert performance in which he was personally involved, succeeds in his goal of synthesizing his overall points by looking at them in microcosm, as it were. Still, he hits the the mark at enough points in this sweeping chronology to make it one of the finest works yet to appear on this topic.

Anyone with a more than passing interest in Orchestral music should try this one. Especially good for young players in school or civic orchestras. It desecribes what everyone's job is, how they play different effects, hangups, foibles, etc...

Tells you why Horns don't like sitting in front of percussion. Why the tympanist won't play other percussion, but the the rest of the kitchen dept is running around playing 3 and four different instruments.

It talks a lot about keys, notes, and has many copies of the score for illustration, but if you don't read music don't despair... your enjoyment should not be diminished.

When to disagree with the conductor...

And describes the curious relations amongst all those infighting violins.

Great book for music lovers, proffessional musicians and composers. Gives you a real insight into the orchestra and individual instruments. Practical and well written. Highly recommended.

This is an elemental resources for all advanced students of composition and conducting.

I doubt if you can really teach orchestration,like composition; for whatever you are doing is simply revisiting in rote formations of what has already been done, and what has already been done, and what already has been done should be heard in its original form anyway. A book that merely speaks and addresses problems is the most virulent, viable route, I think, Give me what's the most resonant parts of the instrument,tell me where that is please! also tell me what is rather dull, what is noise-like, and what "lays" best in what register.Then how do we come to mix timbres? who can tell you that if you have an original vision for your music,if you write music, If you have many friends who play all the instruments of the orchestra that's the best route as well, real live expositions cannot be replaced by a text.Learning orchestration is about someone being there to ask questions on why you did what you did, and why you didn't do it another way! Texts are merely stepping stones anyway, unless you got "axes" to grind as Gunther Schuller.(incorreect tempi)
Seasoned conductor Del Mar at least has other interesting books on Brahms and Beethoven and potpourris of other lesser knowns on the problems of conducting and indirectly exposing the problems that exist within the orchestral repertoire.This is a facet of orchestration often overlooked. Everyone had some problem at some time that needs to be corrected by an experienced conductor. For if you simply play the music exactly as written it would be rather boring,unispired; how does one explain the phenomenon of; take five conductors, each rehearsing the same piece with the same orcehstra, and you will get/render five different conceptions of timbre, gestural differences, rhythm, balance and meaning. So music breathes I guess, and an orcehstration book will only tell you what to put into the right or wrong pegs in the systems of notations. Orchestrations, the orchestra itself is/are becoming reaching a dinosaur status, with commissioning funds drying up; or only reserved to academia-bound prize winners. Especially now since some orchestras are resorting to playing film music,with the film in the back or not; as interesting as that is, the orchestrations of the cinema have a kind of fixed entity, a horizon you can see, and who would rather listen to music for "Forrest Gump"? than brilliant orcehstrators as Stravinsky or Boulez, or Eotvos, Berio or Xenakis, or Sciarrino.Learning to write film music is not learning about the orchestra, for there still needs someone to develop its timbre, otherwise it dies. This is a good book nonethless, Del Mar has marvelous insights into problems with ample examples not overdone/overdetermined as the Berlioz-Strauss.I learned orcehstration simply by looking at the best (those mentioned above) and re-translating that into whatever I thought I could see as my music,my timbre, or conception of sound.

This is a well-written and thought-out text about the modern day symphony orchestra. It provides and analysis of every instrument in the orchestra, it's purposes, the sound it produces, and the possibilities. Norman Del Mar's book is a must for music students and professionals alike.

As John Zorn outlines in his introduction to the book, he assembled this project as a reaction to the lack of insightful critical writing about the generation of adventurous musicians he is a part of. This group of artists and their work is not easily defined, although critics have tried applying ambiguous terms like 'comprovisation,' 'postmodernism,' and 'totalism." Anyone familiar with the output of record labels like Tzadik, Avant, Atavistic, and Knitting Factory will recognize several names among the contributors. Unlike the usual music essay which dissects an artist's recordings, most of these are very informal and intriguing peeks into the thought processes and compositional practices of the musicians themselves. Bill Frisell provides an approach to guitar fingering, Marc Ribot talks about earplugs, Ikue Mori discusses how she works with drum machines, and Bob Ostertag details how he adapted the sounds of a queer riot for string quartet. There's a discussion on plunderphonics with John Oswald, an overview from Elliott Sharp on his group Carbon, and David Mahler expounds his responses to a set of nine questions posed by Pauline Oliveros. The writings range from brief 2 or 3 page entries (Mike Patton's "How We Eat Our Young," Marilyn Crispell's "Elements of Improvisation") to long and elaborate essays (Scott Johnson's "Counterpoint," David Rosenboom's "Propositional Music"). Some of the contributions are more unusual, such as Zorn's "Treatment for a Film in Fifteen Scenes," Fred Frith's notebook extracts, or Peter Garland's journal of his trip to Australia's Northern Territory. All of them provide for inspiring and thought-provoking reading, making this an invaluable book for both fans of these artists and aspiring musicians of the avant garde. An appendix of brief bios for each artist ends the book, along with short lists of recommended listenings.

This is an excellent book, with brilliant music contributors like Marc Ribot, Fred Frith, Mike Patton, Bill Frisell, and many others (mostly Tzadik/John Zorn related musicians) - a must read for the contemporary musician/composer, and for those who listen to and appreciate the music of John Zorn.

Arcana is a book that you will go back to again and again.Whether it is to look at Fred Friths notes on composing and playing ( great fun for Frithophiles deciphering the music involved)or the fingering techniques of Bill Frissel this is a book that inspires the act of making music.All of the contributors have uncovered some real gems and John Zorn has done a great job editing this book.
This is not a how to book by any means, in fact Arcana offers far more than that.This is a what if book, a glimpse rather than a map.
If you are a musician I feel you will find lots of things in this book to inspire, and for music fans we have a history of sorts that I am sure will enrich your listening pleasure.
Highly reccomended.

This collection of essays, notes, scores and proclamations of artistic vision serves as an amazing "manifesto" for the Downtown New York improvised/avant music scene. Edited by Maven John Zorn, the text features contributions from guitarist Bill Frisell and trombonist George Lewis (both of whom, along with Zorn, released the wonderful "News for Lulu" LPs in the late 80's and early 90's) among others. A definite must-have for a fan of this scene, free/avant Jazz, or music in general.

largely this is a oblique promo book for Zorn & Company,and other CD labels Tzadik,Hat Art, RecRec, Avant,Atavista etc., as already noted in other reviews, well the avant-garde gotta survive, some do and some don't.
Some are erased from history,
Most of the contributors here play outta The NYC Big Apple,anyway,although writers were selected from all over.It'll be interesting now to see how the cultural scene in NYC develops in light of the World Trade Bombings,especially the free improvisors.
Zorn's a good editor,however, and books like this bring a sense of solidarity in what remains a asymmetrical culture, with no one knowing what each other does and responds to. The musical world is notorious for this social/cultural fragmentation.
I suppose George Lewis,who doesn't now live in Chicago represents the Midwest since his long time,'lontano' long ago association as a kid with Chicago's own AACM. Well that don't cut it.There are other in Chicago who contribute greatly to the scene as the CUBE Ensemble,and Chicago free improvisors. I guess we should get our own promo book.
Garland,Ochs,Rosenboom represents the West Coast, Yeah I guess!Bill Frisell offered renderings on different guitar fingerings was useful, although quite brief,like something he wrote on the bus on the way to the Gig.Likewise Guy Klucevek,Accordeonist/composer as well added some notes,real music notes,I never read anything he wrote,but again something on timbral poossibilities of the Squeeze Box for composers might have been incredibly useful. and,pianists S.Drury and Marilyn Crispell should of talked more about how they play,they play great!, and varied,I'd like to know in print what excites? them why they choose the music they do?, Yes we all know why they choose it, but a little explanation for us unwashed- dispossessed out here who pluck down our Bucks to buy the stuff would have been helpful, a little.

Larry Orchs of Rova Sax Quartet, gets into it, ya might think its pedantic to give licks, noodles and fragments of it, as he does but its a world of use,I sat down ans played all of it, loved it.
Some get into philosophy and the results are abysmal like David Rosenboom's shibboleths,too much science sometimes is a bad thing, and he's a great contributer to the electronic thinking of music,computer base pieces,But I'd rather read Kristeva,Derrida,Baudrillard,or Habermas on the Public Sphere if I wanted to read philosphy.But there was a practical side to his essay on the idea of propositional music.
A bit more useful was Miya Masaoka "Notes from a Trans-Cultural Diary". Since the real operative term is multi-culturalism not postmodernity, this was infinitely useful to read other persepctives, and means of performing and improvising with non-Western instruments.

The most political here was Pauline Oliveros's Questions answered by David Mahler, on how we all survive??, what our music is suppose to do???, how happy are we with the results??, who listens to our stuff?, all this throws quite directly the political question into the discursive/dialogue mix. Whom do we Serve? I believe Rzewski asked many many years ago.
There's also some neat goin exegetical excursions into the real sound timbre experience as Elliott Sharp's CARBONic History, Hey man whatever floats yer boat.
I know it's easy/facile playing 'Monday Morning Quarterback-Composer', But there was nothing on the Voice,Diamanda Galas,or Anna Homler,or Carol Genetti,should have written,scribbled something for this.
Peter Garland,the man of the Desert, is always interesting to read, another who has the guts of throwing the political question into the mix. Since Mickey Mouse and Bill Gates won the Revolution, he has some great stuff to say.
I think there should be more writing like this,no matter what the price, Again the greatest observations of Oliveros is that the avant-garde should serve itself first, we should all help each other work at each other's music,Yeah Right! Well not in this best of all possible Worlds.But it's a neat profound concept to contemplate
I think Charitable behemoths might loosen up on their tight purses for more writing emanating from improvisors,pianists,thinkers,composers,conceptualists, as those in 'Arcana' here,of course, ya all have to learn how to wryite, not like me,ee,Charitable people like to hold onto the objects they throw bucks at(not their's) than the music they will never hear, nor go to a conceert anyways,Music is toooo much part of the ether,rareified air,and it's all part of the hypocrisy we all live by and with.

Oh amazon! I was here about to buy this just yesterday at around $26 and left it for a few hours...came back and it jumped to $40!! Goodness, sounds like the house prices in Australia! You blink for a second and it shoots up instantly.

Well I am definitely giving this 5 stars as I am familiar with the copy from another source...and dont want the authors to have a low star review just coz the price jumped- it isn't their fault. And so, I will give a proper review in part two, when amazon gets competive with the price again!

This is the first time I found how to learn about jazz arranging and how to improve my last music knowledge.
It is a wonderful book.

Arranging Jazz for Large Ensemble gives the readers the necessary skills to write for big bands. Although it is an advance subject in the Arranging area, the book starts with writing for unison and octaves. There are also great chapters about background writing with riff and guide tone lines. The Shout Chorus chapter provides beginners writers to fully understand the arrangement "big picture". All levels of arrangers can benefit from these chapters and their musical examples. They will help you memorize sound texture and effects as well as the writing techniques. As you go over the other chapters, you can easily assimilate their content and apply them successfully. It's unique and well written book, one of the best of its kind.

Arranging Jazz for Large Ensemble gives the readers the necessary skills to write for big bands. Although it is an advance subject in the Arranging area, the book starts with writing for unison and octaves. There are also great chapters about background writing with riff and guide tone lines. The Shout Chorus chapter provides beginners writers to fully understand the arrangement "big picture". All levels of arrangers can benefit from these chapters and their musical examples. They will help you memorize sound texture and effects as well as the writing techniques. As you go over the other chapters, you can easily assimilate their content and apply them successfully. It's unique and well written book, one of the best of its kind.

This book provides a wealth of priceless knowledge. The techniques revealed by the Berklee faculty have greatly improved my ability as an arranger. Although the focus is on jazz, I have found many of the techniques to be useful when arranging in other musical genres. I found the accompanying CD extremely helpful, as it provided demos of a number of famous arrangers and composers. I find myself referring back to the book time and time again and finding new techniques to use each time. I highly recommed it to anyone interested in becoming an arranger or composer.

Joseph Horowitz does a great job of collecting these interviews in order to preserve the ideas and feelings of the last great link we had to the high period of 19th century pianism. You get a good look at Arrau's unusual and rather sheltered life. Horowitz reveals both the simple and the complex in Arrau's nature. A natural born aristocrat, despite facing hard times in his early years, Arrau is quite simple as a man, but as a musician he is even more complex.

A very good and accessible read. I particularly enjoyed the interviews with artists such as Garrick Ohlsson and Daniel Barenboim, among others, at the end of the book.

This is a great book. (Note: It was previously available under the title "Conversations With Arrau.") It does not shoot over the heads of the average reader, but it doesn't dumb down its subject either. Horowitz spoke for hours upon hours with the great Claudio Arrau. What emerges is the portrait of a man devoid of irony or pretense. The biographical part is fascinating--we learn what living in Berlin during the 1920s was like, for example, and while it was harsh, it was also deeply spiritual and enriching for artistic types. The sections on interpretation are interesting conversations that I wish more authors would have with more artists. Next comes a chapter where Arrau speaks openly about psychoanalysis. Then there are sections where colleagues and friends talk about Arrau, revealing their insights of his character. (Colin Davis is particularly devoted.) Finally the author gives us a complete discography and discussion of selected recordings. A must-own for piano or Arrau fans, although I understand this latest version of the book inexplicably skips the discography. Look for a used copy under the previous title instead.

Claudio Arrau was a great child prodigy, and later had a long career as a performing pianist. This book deals in a sensitive way with both the man and his music. I found Arrau, the person, a compelling individual whose virtuosity was both a gift and a challenge. Joseph Horowitz does a superb job of blending narrative with question and answer sessions with Arrau himself. I EXPECTED a nice biography, and I got that. Beyond that, I got numerous invaluable tips as a pianist about playing individual composers and technique.

This book is amazing. Arrau is my favorite pianist, but even for those who aren't yet converts this book is still fascinating for allowing us glimpses into a towering, fantastic musical mind, and his deep and well thought-out ideas on musical interpretation and piano technique. Indispensible.

This book should be owned by all pianophiles. Claudio Arrau was one of the great recorded pianists of all time, even though you may not always agree with his interpretations. It's the same here: Even though you probably won't agree with everything he says about music and other pianists (I personally don't), these are great insights from a pianist whose brilliant career spanned over eight decades and who had personal contact with many musical giants at the turn of the last century. Joseph Horowitz has also done a superb job discussing most of Arrau's recordings and writing biographical notes about several phases of Arrau's life. My only complaint is that the discography that used to be in the first edition (entitled "Conversations with Arrau") is not included in this new edition.

Ever since i read Frank Sliver's book- it have given me confadense to sing at hospitals, nursing homes and bus stations. I learned alot. God BleSs yoU Frank Slivrer.
LAretta Rose

While this book is, of course, geared torwards musical theater, there are many tips in here that can be used for any kind of audition.

The other review for this book was so good, I almost don't want to write a review, but I want to so, here I am. :D

I decided to find books on acting last year and I stumbled across this one.

At the time I wasn't auditioning for any musicals, but I started reading it anyways. I didn't think much of it though, I mean I thought it was helpful, but I wasn't able to see its true practicallity until I was actually in the middle of the audition process.

I found this book extremely useful because it told me how and when to move during a song. And it taught me how to stand out from the "pack" of other singers/actors and make an impact. It also helped me gain some much needed confidence in my own performance abilities.

Also, if you don't sing, but you act, it gives you some pretty good reasons to think about, as to why you may want to consider learning to sing as well. :)

I would reccomend this book to any actor along with "Audition". These too books alone will teach you enough to get through auditions. But I also suggest reading some books about finding your own technique as well. One book I have been reading recently that is quite helpful is "The Actor Speaks". It is a book that has around 20 different actors talking about their own personal technique, and will help you discover or at least really think about your own.

So, what are you waiting for? Get this book, and start improving your abilities today!!!

God Bless ~Amy

This book really helped me understand every aspect in auditioning for musical theatre. Honest to God, with this book I feel I have much a better understanding of what I'm auditioning with and that I will have a better chance among the rest of the auditioners.

It's worth every penny :)

Fred Silver is a man who's been around the auditioning block a few times... and this experience is captured in this book for every aspiring musical theatre actor/actress. He spells everything out in terms that even the most naive actors can understand. Not only does Silver explain how to look at an audition, but he also goes into great detail about how to emphasize, breathe, stand, walk, and... well, EVERYTHING! He even talks about the use of your eyes and posture to win those directors over. Another great aspect of this book is that he provides a list of "not-overdone" songs that have worked for his students in the past. What a valuable resource for any musical actor or actress!

I, too, have been around the block when it comes to auditioning for the musical theatre. And I must say, Fred Silver's book points out many of the lessons I have learned through the process. If you want the part, read this book.

The moment I read the introduction I was hooked. Silver uses humor and wit to bring to life these practical and useful methods he shows you to give a flawless performance. He teaches you everything from how to relax before an audition to how to become the part. I can not describe to you all how much I am in debt to this man for teaching me the way to a auditioners heart. Mr. Silver will not let you down.

I can honestly say of all the instructional books I've purchased over the years (Near a hundred now), none have been as helpful as this book: Bass Extremes with Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey.

I bought this at a point where I had pretty much mastered the Flea and Claypool kind of slapping, and was looking for something to take my playing to the next level. Victor's "Super Bass Solo Technique" video was a great watch, but wasn't much help. This book however, offered a much more step-by-step kind of learning with clear and concise descriptions of the techniques and how to achieve them. With a little practice, this book makes it easy to incorporate Victor's open-hammer-pluck technique, as well as the double thump into your playing with stunning results. Never has my playing grown in such leaps and bounds than it did with this book.

The few downsides, well a lot of the tunes are performed on Victor's 4 string tenor bass, which almost nobody has readily available to them. Restringing with a lighter gauge and retuning may be necessary if you want to play the tunes exactly as they are performed. Even worse, all the Steve Bailey material is arranged for a 6 string fretless bass. So if you walked into this lesson armed with your fretted 4 string, you're pretty much SOL when it comes to Steve's lessons, not that they are any less amazing because of it.

The best part is that the tunes you are learning are well thought out and masterful pieces of bass music that are genuinely interesting. In fact you'll find yourself listening to the CD just to hear the songs, not necessarily with the intention of learning them. I feel that these eight tunes are some of both player's best work.

Overall for the most down to earth and hands on lessons from true masters of the bass, this book/CD is the best there is. I highly recommed it.

I bought this at the music store and although I've also got A Show Of Hands, Yin Yang and the Bass Extremes Cookbook CDs, this is the one I play the most. The structure of it is 12 songs, with Victor and Steve Bailey and Jack Bissonette playing with very different feelings, then an intro with tuning tones and 12 brief interviews, re-sequenced, with Wooten and Bailey describing the techniques used on each song.

These Songs Are ASTOUNDING. And, IMHO, stronger than Cookbook, by the same guys. "Thumb Start My Harley" cracks my son up and makes my wife tap her foot, and has a drum solo that justifies the whole idea of drum solos. A Chick From Corea is a series of musical jokes derrived from Chick Corea's music, and again, makes you smile, tap your foot and nod your head in disbelief- are you realling listening to a drummer and two electric bass players with nothing else??? Emerald Forest and Moon Ridge are lovely, gentle explorations and Madonna Lee is the classic (Donna Lee) revisited. Every song is gem.

Part of the strength of this CD is that each piece is built around a technique that Wooten and Bailey want you to hear, an once they've displayed it and had fun with it, they stop. No boogieing on. Its virtuosity on display. For $10 more than a regular CD its well within affordable and you can give the music book to someone who reads music- all the songs are there in all their glory. Not that you'd be able to exactly sit down at a piano and play this... although that would be pretty wild too. Make that two pianos...

As a listener, the how-to sections are interesting too, since they take appart their interactions and explain what each is doing and how it meshes with the other two. If you want to know how jazz (or any other collaborative art) is created, these little seqments, recorded after the actual pieces, are mostly pretty illuminating.

But even if you just play the instrumental tracks this CD is a joy to own and treat to share. And great way to share humor and complexity and unique vision with other music fans. It's particularly superb while driving along highway 395 in the Mojave Desert, with the family, silly and beautiful and unexpected.

I wrote my review (which you kindly posted) from memory but I mis-remembered how many tracks there are on the CD. There are actually 8 songs, an intro to the lessons, then 8 lessons:

1) A Chick From Corea
2) Bangkok Blues
3) Stan The Man
4) Victor's Jam
5) Thumb Start My Harley
6) Exerald Forest
7) Moonridge
8) Donna Lee

9) Introduction and tuning

10) Lesson 1: A Chick From Corea
11) Lesson 2: Bangkok Blues
12) Lesson 3: Stan The Man
13) Lesson 4: Victor's Jam
14) Lesson 5 Thumb Start My Harley
15) Lesson 6 Emerald Forest
16) Lesson 7 Moonridge
17) Lesson 8 Donna Lee

To VERY briefly summarize the material:
A Chick From Corea is about triplets and 'country and western' sound. Victor plays the melody, while Steve plays chords.

Bangkok Blues finds Steve playing etheral false-haromonics over Victor's anchoring funky blues,then Victor plays hammer-ons over Steve's fretless chording.

Stan The Man: Dedicated to Stanley Clarke. Victor plays a tenor bass- ADGC - against Steve's chords, both take solos at the same time. The chord progresson starts gently so you can hear it, then they crank it up.

Victor's Jam: A funk workout from Victor and drummer Greg Bissonette.A range of techniques is used to keep with the drummer

Thumb Start My Harley: With Steve's fretless played through wicked distortion (like Pink Floyd's "One Of These Days") over Victors pumping foundation, which turns into competing, over-the-top triplet solos. Jack Bissonette's emphatic drumming morphs into a VERY complex solo, in correct time. As Steve says in the lesson intro, "If you think you have good time, pat your foot all the way through that at the tempo of the song and you
should come out right. Until you do, keep trying!" Victor will later explain how he does the very funky "open-hammer-pluck".

Emereld Forest: Victor arpegiates chords through sweet reverb while Steve's fretless sings a sitar-ish melody.

Moonridge: Steve's solo, a study for the right hand (6 string fretless) keeping the D string going, with chords and harmonics. If you had thought there were any limitations to electric bass this should put those fears to rest.

Donna Lee: Victor plays the scales using thumb and index finger, using thumb-down, thumb-up, index finger triplets. The scales are sewn together in the familiar tune, while Steve pays the chords that Charlie Parker copped from "Indiana" to support it. DENSE, with some call and response at the end. (Another take on the same classic tune appears as "Madonna Lee"
on the "Cookbook" cd.

The book/cd has some great tunes on it, and that alone is enough reason to pick it up. However, there are a few mistakes here and there in the transcriptions, but these are in places where they are just improvising anyway, so it doesn't really matter. It's good music to improve your technique on without sounding like fretboard exercizes.

Well im playing bass for 4 years now, and as being so i really recomend this book. This is definetly not for beginners, but more for advandced bass players. Wooten explains some cool stuff for those who want to play funky stuff and Bailey is the living Pastoruius. The songs are really cool and even cooler, you got the notes to them and the coolest they explain what they actually do both on the cd and the book. Go ahead.

If you are a soon-to-be-famous rock star with your own group playing just your own music, this book is going to broaden your musical horizon and give you lots of new ideas for your own bass lines. But if you want to be a serious bass player, versatile stylistically and firm in many different musical situations, this book is IT! And if you like to gain some deeper knowlegde and understanding, get Ed Friedland's "The Working Bassist's Tool Kit" as well.

This is not a typical book with bunch of licks without explenation. Here everything is explained in detail - how drums (should) work with bass in different styles. Great musical examples although it would be much better if music was split into seperate channels for bass and drums. Great book worth money.

After attending Bass at the Beach 2005, I came away knowing how important time and groove is to a bass player. My whole goal was to become a solid groove player once I came back. If you have any questions or difficulties about rhythm or keeping a strong groove than this book is the answer. I have never felt super solid about reading syncopated rhythms even though I have read numerous books and been told countless ways to try and learn them. This book has answered that problem for me. A drum machine is highly recommended as the book dissects the drum parts that should be programmed in to play each bass groove over. This is the first book that I've come across that really explains "feel" from many different angles. I could go on and on about it but the basic gist is that this book has me thinking about rhythm in a whole new way and it is helping my bass playing more than anything else that I've read. This will be my Bass Bible for years to come...Thanks Ed!

This book will give you the basic facts and insight required to build a solid groove. It provides some technical stuff, that's for sure. But the main thing is, you can develop a feeling of the groove in yourself (not your guitar only) and start to understand what it really means "to groove".

However, advanced / pro players trusting their groove may consider alternative books.

This book is one of the best books out there for the budding bassist, in my opinion. Ed Friedland, an experienced instructor and seasoned studio bassist, really lays down a solid foundation for understanding the role of the bass and how to fit in with the band.
Some definate pro's would be Ed's lively writing style and clear descriptions of the examples being played. Instead of pulling random grooves out of nowhere, he really gives solid insights on the music. And the examples are clearly first rate and give good bredth within different genres. He also gives very good ideas simply on becoming comfortable playing the instrument, which I've found is one of the biggest concerns for beginners.
The book does not go without a few cautionary bits, however. Ed Friedland highly recommends getting a drum machine to jam along with (he even writes out the drum parts). This naturally, is great advice if used, but without a drum machine (or, better yet, a real live drummer!), the book really can't be enjoyed to the same extent. So if you don't have a drum machine and have absolutely no interest in getting one ever, this book might not be the best option. Also, one should note that though this book covers many different genres, it doesn't go into real depth concerning any particular one. So, if, for example you dig motown, heavy metal, or whatever, try getting a book that focuses specifically on that style in addition to this book. Concerning just pure insight and ecclectic examples, this book rocks, but this shouldn't be the only book in your bass library if you are interested in diving deep into a specific genre.

This series of books by Marshall are a worthy addition if you are an experienced player who is already familiar with the songs and know the lyrics. The lyrics are NOT available with this book. Once you have figured out the method to the transcriptions, it opens up a wonderful insight on the Beatles.

Great bargain, every Beatles song you can think of. I bought the A-I book as well and am very pleased with my choice.

For people who are interested in playing Beatle songs, this is a good book for you. Marshall is a genius. He has accurately presented the Beatles' unique, high caliber style and sound. The CD and transcripts will certainly help those wanting to play along.

To make a good thing even better, this book includes some information on each song. This book is a collection of songs of love. A winner!

This is exactly what I was looking for. Very accurate chords and lots of fun. Excellent book.

If your looking to play Beatles, this -- and the companion book -- is the place to go. Marshall has done a great job capturing the Beatles sound, and the combination of CD and transcripts make for a quick learning curve. By adjusting the balance control, you can mute the lead and play along with the backing track. The book also contains a couple of paragraphs on each song featured -- background, innovations, who is playing what, etc. You get a sense that this was a labor of love for the author, and the final product refects it.

Excellent transcriptions! Be warned that the version of "Sugar" is not the live version. You'll be sorely disappointed if that's what you wanted. The artwork is so cute and hand picked by Tori and her dad!

"Bee Sides" is perhaps the best of the Tori Amos songbooks. For most of us who cannot obtain copies of the out-of-print singles, this book may be the only way to hear her unreleased songs. Edward J. Lozano (project editor) did a remarkable job of setting Tori's music to paper. Especially enjoyable to play are "Honey", "Sister Janet", and "Ode to the Bananna King". You will not be disappointed!

If you have missed the experience of The Bee Sides of Tori Amos this is a fabulous book. It includes the rare and the known. "Here in my Head" "Honey" and "Ode to the Bananna King" are included in the large set list. Here in my Head is especially beautiful and true to Tori's playing.A definite must have for all Tori fans.

This book was printed after Under The Pink was released, so her later b-sides are not represented here, but this songbook is still a gem. Also Paulina Stuckey's artwork is superb! Tori and her dad chose from among her drawings, and they fit so well with the songs they are paired with. Anyway that's all I'll say since other reviews deal with the music itself and I'd just be repeating..

lets see...where do i begin? since i am not a die hard fan of tori amos yet, although i love her very much as a person and a musician, some of the songs were not noticable yet to me. i will learn the song and when i do, i know i'll learn to love 'em. i just got the book today so it'll take while...you know? anyway, my favourites must be kinda "home on the range" (i like it because it's noticable) and i love "black swan". "here in my head" also is nice, but since i'm not the greatest at the piano, and it has 6 flats, i just play the music with the f's #. it's kinda hard at first, but after...man, it's a beautiful song. oh yeah, and if you decide to do it my way, make sure that when there's a natural sign, play the note sharp. you do the math...BOTTOM LINE: GREAT BOOK!