Jazz on Google Video

If you are old enough to remember the debut of television in the early 50's, you probably remember only having 1 or 2 channels and programming was, well "slim pickens" at best.  50 years later you can get hundreds of cable channels and watch just about any type of program you can imagine at the flip of a switch.

Like the television debut over half a century ago, a new milestone has been made just recently with Google's new video search and play service.  I just checked it out at video.google.com and it is very cool.  Yes, it is pretty slim pickens at this point, but give it some time and it is going to be a serious addition to the internet and being able to get video downloads of just about anything you can imagine, including jazz performances, jazz instruction, big band performances and interviews with jazz greats from all over the world.

I did a search for jazz, jazz piano, big band, etc. and found a few interesting things, including a terrific 5 part interview with music great Quincy Jones.  On a smaller scale, I found a guy playing Donna Lee on guitar, (rushed a little at times but was pretty good overall.)  A better one is Jack Zucker blowing over the same tune on jazz guitar. and a video on how to play a jazz waltz.

I would guess that in just a couple years you'll be able to find video instruction and performances on just about anything you can imagine.  Download it to your video ipod and you are good to go.  Question is, what big band will be the first to get a good performance out there in video cyberspace?  Crack out those digital video cameras at your next concert and submit it to Google!

Free Tom Kubis chart

Tom Kubis is a terrific writer who writes some great charts on tunes that many arrangers wouldn't touch.   I say that because some of the tunes he tackles are too mundane or simple to make something good out of them.  But he seems to do a great job of it. Case in point..... how many hip arrangements do you know of on the tune You're a Grand Old Flag or the Star Spangled Banner?

Anyway, here is a gift for you if you haven't gotten it, a free chart that Tom is offering on his website right now that is also listed for sale at $50. It's a chart on I Ain't Got Nobody. You'll recognize it when you hear it.  Get it free in pdf format at the link below.  Buy something while you are there, will ya?.  You can listen to mp3s and there are some really good charts on his site too.  Tom's stuff always swings like crazy.

You can download I Ain't Got Nobody at this link. (it's in a zip file, so you Mac people, I think you are out of luck)

And you can listen to the MP3 here.

That's all for today!

Get the Jazz Piano Book

If you have ever looked for a really good, straight ahead, no nonsense jazz piano book, then you have to check out Mark Levine's book called The Jazz Piano Book.  I think every musician should have a good grasp of basic jazz piano, even if you're technique sucks.  You should still be able to voice and play good sounding voicings over chord changes.  If you are a writer, do yourself a favor and get this book.  It will expand your knowledge of voicings, tunes, chord progressions, you name it.  I often crack out this book just as a refresher and I always seem to pick up something new. Here is more information, and you can even get a used copy for less than the cost of a 1/2 hour piano lesson.

More information..

The Jazz Piano Book Rating: Price: $32.00 Buy Used From $23.35 Sales rank:   9822 Catalog:   Book ASIN:   0961470151 EAN:   9780961470159 Binding:   Spiral-bound ISBN:   0961470151 Publisher:   Sher Music Publication Date:   2005-06-01 Usually ships in 24 hours

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Product Description:

Endorsed by Kenny Barron, Jamey Aebersold, Richie Beirach, and more, this book presents all the information a student of jazz piano needs in an easy-to-understand, yet thorough, manner. For intermediate to advanced pianists, written by one of the acknowledged masters of jazz piano playing.

Reviews for The Jazz Piano Book

Simply the Best! This is a great book on jazz piano. It should be part of every jazz pianist library - even beginners. This book is geared more toward intermediate players, but it will act as a great guide no matter what your level of expertise. It`s nice to see a well formatted book. I`m so tired of buying jazz piano books that were hammered out on a typewriter. I was pretty green when I got this book. I worked thru the first few chapters and put it down for a while. I picked it up again the other day (needed something to read on a long flight), and was amazed at all the good stuff in there. It will be quite a while before I`m able to assimilate all the information in this book which is probably appropriate as it is the result of tens of thousands of hours of work on Mark`s part and hundreds of thousands of hours of work on the part of all those who came before him. Highly recommended!