Jazz Piano Book Reviews on LearnJazzPiano.com

Review: European Real Book, The by Various Composers

The Best in Contemporary Jazz from Europe
European Real Book, The by Various Composers - review and discussion

Author: Various Composers
423 pages
Copyright © 2005
Published by Sher Music Co

Summary:

The European Fake Book by Sher Music contains a lot of fresh material and unique tunes that most people haven't had a chance to play, or even listen to, yet these tune are worth taking a look at. You can find mp3 recordings of many of the songs on SherMusic.com so you can get an idea of what you're getting.

Description (book jacket or other publisher notes):

Sher Music Co. proudly presents The European Real Book! Jazz lovers will surely want a copy of this landmark document, with over 430 pages of tunes by Europe's greatest jazz composers, including Michel Petrucciani, George Shearing, Toots Thielemans, Philip Catherine, Bill Bruford, Tommy Smith, Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, Barbara Dennerlein, Claus Ogerman, Nguyen Le, Kenny Wheeler, Django Reinhardt, Enrico Pieranunzi, Tim Garland, Joe Zawinul and 100 others. Publisher Chuck Sher comments, "For sheer beauty, this is the single greatest fake book I have ever published. And the people you have never heard of are the most amazing ones in the book!" The European Real Book has all the features musicians have come to expect from Sher Music's world-class books: 100% accurate composer-approved charts, easy-to-read manuscript, great tune selection, and many extra features like sample bass lines, chord voicings, rhythm section hits, harmony parts, an extensive drum appendix, etc. Streaming MP3 files of over two-thirds of the tunes are online at www.shermusic.com so musicians can hear the songs for themselves! Jazz educator Mark Levine says, "At last! The New Real Book goes global with the hippest jazz tunes from Paris, London, Barcelona, Rome, Warsaw, Amsterdam..."

Full Book Review and Other Notes:

When I sat down at the piano with The European Real Book from Sher Music, I had no idea what most of the music would sound like. This is jazz from Europe, not Bird, not Bill Evans, not Richard Rodgers.

I played through the entire book, struggled at times, and recognized a handful of tunes. Afterwards I knew what the the musicians I hire must feel when I throw a stack of complicated original music at them during lunch and say, "Downbeat at six tonight."

I don't do that any more. Instead, I give them a recordings of the music along with the charts so they have an idea of what it's all about when they are practicing.

Chuck Sher knows this music isn't going to be familiar to everyone, so he put together deals and made available free streaming MP3's of somewhere around 140 of the tunes in the book. I decided to take a listen and went through the book again.

The recordings gave me a baseline of what the music sounds like. The tunes were beautiful the first time I went through the book, but with the MP3's playing, the ideas behind the tunes came to life.

And why not?

There's not a standard around that we all haven't heard at least once, so when it comes time to play them, we know how they are supposed to sound, which makes it a lot easier. Chuck Sher gives us a chance to have that same feeling with tunes we haven't grown up with by providing recordings of the music.

So what makes this book unique?

There are a lot of fake books out there. However, most of the fake books cover the standards- Broadway tunes, movie tunes, classic be-bop, etc... Some of Sher Music's books cover more recent tunes, but there has yet to be a book that specifically targets what has become the New World of Jazz: Europe.

The jazz compositions in this book reflect the studied nature of jazz and music in general throughout Europe. The tunes are compositionally sound, they flow, and they are fun to play. Some of them also hint at the ethnic backgrounds of the composers, similar to lot of European classical music.

It won't surprise me if some of these tunes become part of the "standards" repertoire in the years to come because many of them have that synergy of musicality, fun factor, and room for personal expression that all the great standards have.

As usual with books from Sher Music, The European Real Book is beautifully put together. The pages are easy to read, there are often parts for the rhythm section, and the music is annotated to give you hints about how the tunes were recorded and/or intended to be played.

The only other fake book I've seen that comes remotely close to the wealth of new tunes that The European Real Book provides is one of my favorites, and the first Sher Music real book: "World's Greatest Fakebook, The" by Various Composers (which still contains a ton of great tunes found in no other fake book.)

I recommend The European Real Book to any musician who is looking for new areas to explore. The fresh harmonies, melodies, and rhythmic aspects in the music are not only enjoyable to play, they will stretch a musicians mind, open new musical doors, and help expand that artistic playground in your subconscious.

Get ready for more improvisational moments like, "Wow, that was cool... where did it come from?"


Is there a jazz book you'd like to have reviewed? Contact us for submission guidelines.

LearnJazzPiano.com Sponsor: Sheet Music Plus Jazz Piano

Help support LearnJazzPiano.com by clicking on our sponsor, thanks!


Jazz Piano Notebook Series
Scot Ranney's Jazz Piano Notebook, Volume 1 - jazz piano tricks of the trade

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

Scot Ranney's Jazz Piano Notebook, Volume 2 - jazz piano tricks of the trade you can use today
"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

Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Notebook - jazz piano tricks of the trade

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

Jeff Brent's Jazz Piano Notebook - jazz piano tricks of the trade

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

Most Recent Discussions
Great Resource for Jazz Pianists
Scale in Calderazzo solo
analyzing Someone To Watch Over Me
Site updates
Korg SV-1 vs Nord Electro
Brad Brad Mehldau's independant left hand
more...
Articles

Piano for Adoption Scam
Aprender Jazz en Piano
BEWARE: FREE BABY GRAND PIANO SCAM
Oh Tannenbaum for Jazz Piano
Volume 5 of the "Jazz Piano Notebook Series" is Available!
LearnJazzPiano.com File Downloads News
more...

Top Sheetmusic Picks

Jazzy Christmas Arrangements
Cocktail Piano
Best Songs Ever, 6th Edition
Christmas Medley
Moana Songbook
Late Night Jazz Piano

Jazz piano education is cool.

be the main character in your own story

Rock on. Follow your passion.

Sign In

privacy policyterms of serviceabout • 50,655 messages 63,069 accounts 57,171 logins
LearnJazzPiano.com Copyright © 1995-2024 by Scot Ranney • website software and design by scot's scripts
LearnJazzPiano.com is For Sale - Serious Inquiries Only