Jazz pieces for students

[astroboy]

Hi, I wasn't sure whether to post this in sheet request or here. I have a student, she is about 16 years old, and she tends to enjoy playing jazzy type pieces. I have a few things, christopher nortons microjazz, a few things by kerin bailey, and jazz, rags and blues by martha meir. Could anyone point me in the right direction of where I could get some more of this sort of repertoire? or does anyone have any they would like to share Thanx heaps.

[lostinidlewonder]

Unforuntately there is difficulty to teach jazz to students directly from sheets. Most of the times all we can get our hands on are the fake sheets (I have thousands and thousands of them if you want). However since you are classically trained I know you would like to have all the notes which need to be played right there on the sheet, but studying jazz is not like this, it is not like classical where all the exact notes are shown, in jazz we have to know how to fill in the gaps, that is the big challenge for classical musicans moving into jazz let alone teaching it! It was my biggest struggle, but now all my jazz students study from fake books, I just have to spend a lot of time giving them the tools to fill in.

I got quite a few Boogie stuff too which I got from boogie woogie forums on the net, you have my msn so just message me .

[ted]

What lostinidlewonder says is true; jazz is primarily a special form of improvised creation. However, if what you mean is transcriptions of what was originally conceived as jazz, then recent years have seen the publication of many interesting things.

Try the Harlem stride transcriptions by Scivales, those of Waller by Posnak and, surely the most impressive of all, the complete transcriptions of everything Morton recorded, by Dapogny. In addition, there is the well known set of fifteen or so Gershwin arrangements of his own tunes. Brubeck was very meticulous about how he wrote out his distinctive pieces; several volumes are available. Mary Lou Williams published at least one volume of her solos, written exactly as played, back in the thirties. I believe a volume of Tatum transcriptions exists, but I don't have that one myself.

Be aware though that what these people played is often distinctly difficult, not necessarily in the playing of the notes, but in getting the right rhythm and phrasing. Some of the simpler Morton ones might be a good start though.

What about starting your pupil on a few Joplin rags ? Some of those are fairly easy. Then progress to harder stuff. Several volumes of transcriptions can be bought from Amazon. The Dapogny is published by Schirmer and the Smithsonian Institute.  

The complete James Scott rags, technically more challenging than Joplin, are also published by Smithsonian Press. Heaps of contemporary ragtime, some of it displaying more eclectic influence and much of it quite demanding, has recently emerged and is well worth playing. David Thomas Roberts, Hal Isbitz, Frank French and Reginald Robinson have all published folios of very interesting ragtime derived music. A search on their names will probably turn up places where you can buy it.

[cz4p32]

How about tackling some music by Nicolai Kapustin.  Excellent jazz/classical music.  Some of the preludes are simple.

[burstroman]

Not jazz, but maybe some tangos by Astor Piazolla.

[ptmidwest]

For those of us who are not as familiar with the works, which of the Kapustin, and which Piazolla are the easiest works for the less advanced students?

[burstroman]

Gamingforce.com has posted many of the Tangos by Piazzola.  Many are of intermediate difficulty.

[ptmidwest]

Thank you!

[tiasjoy]

I have a few things, christopher nortons microjazz, a few things by kerin bailey, and jazz, rags and blues by martha meir.

Some other books very similar to what you already have are the Denes Agay "Boogie and Blues" books 1 & 2.  Many different pieces - some are awful, some are really good.