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Real name: howard thomas

Birthday: 03/18/1948

Nickname: sid

Location: wales, uk

Occupation: science research

Home Page: www.spoonbillmusic.com (under construction)

Information: i started musical life centuries ago as a clarinettist.  at first i wanted to sound like artie shaw.  then i heard "i remember clifford" by lee morgan with the jazz messengers and became an instant modernist.  since then i've tried every way i know to squeeze contemporary noises from the wretched clarinet and will keep trying until i end up wearing the pine suit.  initially to help my understanding of harmony for improvisation i began fooling around on the piano.  i quickly found that the world has more use for a clumsy fake-bud-powell pianist than for a competent clarinettist and that's been the story of my musical life for the four-plus decades to the present day.  i've never had a single music (let alone jazz) lesson in my life and it shows, but it's amazing what fear can do when you're handed some fake sheets and the crowd (not to mention the other band members) are baying for blood.  i'm a fitful contributor to ljp, mostly because i'm supremely unqualified to comment on things like hanon, chopin etudes, reading ba ss clef or deep theory.  but i know a thing or two about making sense of basic elements of jazz while being dazed and confused, so i've stuck my oar in now and then.  i'm honoured to be numbered amongst the vets and endeavour to live up to the standards of others in the guild.

the day job is in science (interesting that quite a few of my fellow musicians are in the trade too) and some people think this shows in my playing as a kind of deliberate, buttoned-up quality, but that's jazz for you - it speaks about who you really are, so better get used to it.

finally, thanks to scot for this site.  it's like a family, even down to the arguments, messy rooms and tribal behaviour.  

• Vol 1
• Vol 2
• Vol 3
• Vol 4

Volume 1 of this educational jazz piano book contains 15 jazz piano exercises, tricks, and other interesting jazz piano techniques, voicings, grooves, and ideas Scot Ranney enjoys playing.

buy pdf version - buy coil binding version - videos

"Latinesque"

Volume 2 has 14 jazz piano exercises and tricks of the trade, and quite a bit of it is Calypso jazz piano related material, including some Monty Alexander and Michel Camilo style grooves. Jazz piano education is through the ears, but books like this can help.

buy pdf version - buy coil binding version

Volume 3 contains 12 jazz piano exercises and explorations by the acclaimed jazz piano educator, pianist, author, and recording artist Tim Richards.

Tim wrote the well known "Exploring Jazz Piano" and "Improvising Blues Piano" books and has several others to his name.

buy pdf version - buy coil binding version

Volume 4 is by Jeff Brent, a jazz pianist, composer, teacher, and author of "Modalogy" and other acclaimed jazz theory and education books. In this book Jeff shares detailed analysis of transcriptions of live performances. He covers everything from the shape of the songs to the tricks and licks he uses in improvised lines to the ideas behind his lush chord voicings.

buy pdf version - buy coil binding version

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