randy halberstadt - metaphors for the musician

official plug:

"metaphors for the musician" gives insights into almost every aspect of jazz musicianship, including scale/chord theory, practice strategies, composing techniques, performance psychology and how to create the states of mind that produce the best improvisations. included are chord voicings, comping, and exercieses. this book is designed for any level of player."

scot's note: randy halberstadt is one of the few pianists that the legendary jerome gray actually thinks is good.

by Scot Ranney on 10/12/2004, 00:11:29 # 7937

randy reminded me today that i haven't posted the review for metaphors. oops! i had it written up a couple months ago, but, well, you know how it goes :)

better late than never, and i hope you all seriously consider looking into purchasing a copy of this book.  the only surprise you'll get when you recieve it is how much it will help you improve your own playing.

by Scot Ranney on 07/10/2005, 12:41:23

and, so useful, it has a comb binding.

by Kai on 07/11/2005, 09:15:34

randy reminded me today that i haven't posted the review for metaphors. oops! i had it written up a couple months ago, but, well, you know how it goes :)

better late than never, and i hope you all seriously consider looking into purchasing a copy of this book.  the only surprise you'll get when you recieve it is how much it will help you improve your own playing.

by Scot Ranney on 07/10/2005, 12:41:23

and, so useful, it has a comb binding.

by Kai on 07/11/2005, 09:15:34

no, that is really a "spiral" binding, which is lots better!

by 2Shlo on 09/04/2005, 03:00:47

randy reminded me today that i haven't posted the review for metaphors. oops! i had it written up a couple months ago, but, well, you know how it goes :)

better late than never, and i hope you all seriously consider looking into purchasing a copy of this book.  the only surprise you'll get when you recieve it is how much it will help you improve your own playing.

by Scot Ranney on 07/10/2005, 12:41:23

and, so useful, it has a comb binding.

by Kai on 07/11/2005, 09:15:34

no, that is really a "spiral" binding, which is lots better!

by 2Shlo on 09/04/2005, 03:00:47

randy reminded me today that i haven't posted the review for metaphors. oops! i had it written up a couple months ago, but, well, you know how it goes :)

better late than never, and i hope you all seriously consider looking into purchasing a copy of this book.  the only surprise you'll get when you recieve it is how much it will help you improve your own playing.

by Scot Ranney on 07/10/2005, 12:41:23

and, so useful, it has a comb binding.

by Kai on 07/11/2005, 09:15:34

no, that is really a "spiral" binding, which is lots better!

by 2Shlo on 09/04/2005, 03:00:47

i like it better than the levine books. highly recommended.

by Jazz+ on 12/01/2006, 11:52:35

i finally ordered this book (from the link on this site).  i own many jazz/piano/theory books but randy's book has become my favorite.

by flapjack on 04/18/2007, 10:37:10

i'm really happy to see scot's in-depth review of randy halberstadt's book. i couldn't agree more. it really opened up my eyes and ears and i go back to it constantly, three years after i started working with it. i'm just surprised more people haven't heard about it.  

i suspect the title may be off-putting to some as it could seem a bit unfocused (i.e. it's not called 'nail your pentatonic scales' or something). but, as randy writes, there was really no other title given all the metaphors he uses to help explain a concept. he's also very generous with responding to email queries. and no doubt way too modest to have called the book: the best jazz piano book you'll ever read tm.

and, like david berkman's 'creative practicing' book, randy's approach really works well complementing other books, especially mark levine's jazz piano book.

by goose on 07/17/2007, 14:31:02

i just got this book and it is great.  i've read the first few pages and i can already tell that it is markedly different than most jazz books i've come across.  when i ask musicians questions, i learned a long time ago to stop asking "how do you do this...?" because the response was somewhere along the lines of "i don't know, i just do it." or something not helpful like that.  sometimes people explain things in a very abstract or overly philosophical way, which doesn't help either.

so, now, i ask my questions like this, "what are you thinking when you do this...?"  this always gets a better answer, and randy's book really goes into the practical mindset of what jazz technique is.

by superboy on 10/03/2007, 08:44:44