The Vince Guaraldi Collection - Piano - Artist Transcriptions Songbook Review

This book contains authentic (note for note) transcriptions of many of Vince Guaraldi's greatest pieces - highly recommended!

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Product Description:
Along with Dave Brubeck, Vince Guaraldi was one of the leading pianists to rise to prominence from the California Bay Area scene. Originally a Latin jazz musician, his recording of Cast Your Fate to the Wind is one of the best-selling jazz records of all time. Guaraldi later composed the beloved and timeless music for the Peanuts television specials. This folio spans Guaraldi's multi-faceted career, with note-for-note transcriptions of 9 terrific songs: Cast Your Fate to the WindChristmas Time Is HereGreensleevesLinus and LucyManha De CarnavalO TannenbaumOutra VezSamba De OrfeuStar Song. Includes a biography and a discography.

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The Vince Guaraldi Collection: Piano (Artist Transcriptions) [Paperback] Review

I bought this together with Vince Guaraldi - Greatest Hits, both containing a lot of songs I really wanted to play on the piano myself. That combination has allowed me to hear what Vince played while also reading through the music to see just what it is he played. Without exception, I've found the written music exactly true to what Vince recorded, including pick up notes, tricky min-maj-min progressions, arpeggios, diminished 9th chords, and what-not, and it has made some previously unapproachable passages much easier to understand. I've also been able to use the book as a sort of learning tool, getting a feel for what a jazz musician really tries to accomplish when he sits down and plays a piece. I would like to have seen some fingering indications included, and without those, I think some beginners will not be able to do much with this work. And personally, I didn't find the performance notations particularly useful ("laid back" doesn't really convey much to me), but like I said, I also purchased a CD of Vince's music, so I already have an idea of what sort of sound I want to achieve. Other than those two minor points, I can't find anything wrong with this edition. The binding is "lay flat" perfect bound, so the pages stay glued together but pull away from the spine, allowing this book to retain a crisp appearance and feel even after the pages are pulled open on a music stand. Guaraldi fans and aspiring jazz pianists will gain a lot from this work.

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Product Description:
Along with Dave Brubeck, Vince Guaraldi was one of the leading pianists to rise to prominence from the California Bay Area scene. Originally a Latin jazz musician, his recording of "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" is one of the best-selling jazz records of all time. Guaraldi later composed the beloved and timeless music for the Peanuts television specials. This folio spans Guaraldi's multi-faceted career, with note-for-note transcriptions of 9 terrific songs: Cast Your Fate to the Wind * Christmas Time Is Here * Greensleeves * Linus and Lucy * Manha De Carnaval * O Tannenbaum * Outra Vez * Samba De Orfeu * Star Song. Includes a biography and a discography.

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Gershwin by Special Arrangement, Piano Accompaniment: Jazz-Style Arrangements With a Variation [Paperback] Review

Got this for my sax-playing mom for Christmas. She says it's the best sax arrangement book she's ever had.

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Product Description:
Each collection contains 11 songs arranged for the instrumentalist wanting to play in a jazz style -- without the need to learn to improvise. All of the books are compatible, with only minimal changes in the "variation" section to accommodate the ranges and unique characteristics of the instruments.

Titles are: I Got Rhythm * But Not for Me * Embraceable You * A Foggy Day * Fascinating Rhythm * I've Got a Crush on You * 'S Wonderful * How Long Has This Been Going On * Nice Work If You Can Get It * Someone to Watch Over Me * Strike Up the Band.

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A Charlie Brown Christmas(TM)(Easy Piano) [Paperback] Review

There are several reasons I love this book.For one, the songs are very familiar and are pleasing to play.These are instumental works so you get to play it the way it is performed, instead or incorporating the melody into the right-hand piano parts.The chord progressions are very interesting (flat 9th chords, flat 5th, etc.) especially the way they are voiced.You can see an example at the sheet music plus web site.There is another version of this book with parts that are easier to play.I have only seen one sample page from that book (Linus and Lucy) and in the other book it is played in C major and doesn't have the left-hand rhythmic anticipations (first note begins an eight note early) while this book has the song in E-flat, which is a little harder to play but sounds richer.I have a QRS player piano roll of Linus and Lucy and I noticed that it matches the Christas CD better.The song on the CD goes through the main part of the song three times with two swinging (hard to play) refrains.The two refrains are a little different, with the second one being more dissonant than the first.The book documents only the second.The bass line for the refrains are simple walking quarter notes while the piano roll has a rag-time style alternating eight note bass notes and chords.This is fine by me because this is plenty hard to play as it is (triplets over quarter notes, etc.).

At any rate, check out the sample at Sheet Music Plus to see if the difficulty matches you ability.If so, this is a great purchase.

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Product Description:
This deluxe collection features easy piano arrangements of all ten Vince Guaraldi arrangements from this annually anticipated holiday classic: Christmas Is Coming * The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) * Christmas Time Is Here * Fur Elise * Hark, The Herald Angels Sing * Linus and Lucy * My Little Drum * O Tannenbaum * Skating * What Child Is This. Also includes an 8-page color section featuring Peanuts illustrations!

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