Jazz Improv Magazine

[rostasi]

OK, I did a search on this topic globally and under this heading and didn't see any mention, so...

I've been snail mail solicited by "Jazz Improv Magazine" -

never seen it or heard of it before. There are some tempting things about it:

it's size and an included CD with each issue at a pretty reasonable price

(except for the weird fact that a 2 year sub is a nickle more than 2 one year subs).

Anyone want to share their views on this mag?

What's the really best things that you get out of it

and/or the thing that you just can't stand about it.

Articles well written? CD has a nice variety and is not less than an hour?

Too much fluff for your taste? Is there a killer back issue that's a must have?

Comments are welcome and greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Rod

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Now playing: Anthony Braxton/Mario Pavone - These Foolish Things Remind Me of You

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Hmm - this I *know* has been discussed here before.

http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...&hl=jazz+improv

Also there are other matches for a search on: jazz improv

And what the heck, here's a long post of mine from rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz back about five years ago.

===========

On Sun, 29 Oct 2000 12:25:27 GMT, "Faizal Ali" <f.ali@utoronto.ca> wrote:

>I tried the first three issues of Jazz Improv and decided not to stick with

>it. It's a very different publication than DB or JazzTimes. Jazz Improv

>focuses entirely on instructional material and has no artist interviews etc.

>It did have what appeared to be record reviews, but seemed on closer

>inspection to just be descriptive blurbs put together by the record

>companies. In fact, most of the material it contained was simply reprinted

>excerpts from other books. (In other words, advertising). It did have some

>original articles, but these were unsigned and usual consisted of bland

>truisms ("use space in your solos") or bitter rants about the music

>industry. Also, it's layout and graphics were extremely ugly and

>amateurish.

I agree that the earliest issues weren't so wonderful in terms of layout, variety of authors, etc. It is basically a husband-wife operation - did you really believe the names in the credits for art director "Al Terrigo" and for design "Dewitt Yahrself"????

But now that the magazine has established itself (v1n1 was Winter 1997-1998), there are more contributors (even some big name players like Mel Martin, Brian Torff, Todd Coolman, Hal Galper) and things look and read much better - the lastest issue even has some color pages inside. I have continued to subscribe and find it a very useful magazine. There are only 4 issues a year, but each issue is the size of a BOOK! v2n4 is 240 pages (8.5" x 11").

There are always good interviews done by musicians that address serious topics. Subjects have included:

v1n3: Pat Martino, Sue Mingus

v1n4: Billy Cobham, Mike Nock, Jack Chambers

v2n1: Horace Silver, Cedar Walton, Mike Longo

v2n2: Michael Brecker, Lynne Arriale, Frank Tiberi, Alyn Shipton, Amandah Jantzen

v2n3: Wayne Shorter, Bob Brookmeyer, Tom Harrell, Deanna Witkowski

v2n4: Buddy Montgomery, John Patitucci, Jimmy Bruno, Joe Diorio, Chuck Mangione, Ronnie Cuber, Claire Daly, Mark Elf, Charlie Mariano,

They also include chapters from published books (mostly biographies). I find these are very useful when deciding whether or not to buy. I don't consider these to be just "advertising".

v1n1: Nisenson: Ascension

v1n2: Berliner: Thinking In Jazz (pt 1); Gourse: Straight, No Chaser

v1n3: Berliner: Thinking In Jazz (pt 2); DeVeaux: The Birth Of Bebop; Pettinger: How My Heart Sings

v1n4: Chambers: Milestones

v2n1: Rosenthal: Hard Bop; King: What Jazz Is

v2n2: Shipton: Groovin' High

v2n3: Mathieson: Giant Steps; MacDonald: Tadd

v2n4: Murray: Good Morning Blues

They have also done excerpts from music books.

CD reviews vary based on the author (most of the writers are readers, I think). Some are very good, some are useless. But there are now about 100 in each issue.

Transcriptions and lead sheets/arrangements make this totally different from Cadence (which is a great magazine). Jazz Improv is a magazine by musicians for musicians.

v1n1 solos: Coltrane: Naima; Coltrane: Giant Steps (alt); Henderson: Milestones; Mobley: The Best Things in Life Are Free; Green: The Best Things in Life Are Free; Kelly: The Best Things in Life Are Free; Evans: Turn Out the Stars

v1n1 songs: Evans: Two Lonely People; Nemeyer: Bananas and Cream; Coltrane: Moment's Notice

v1n2 solos: Liebman: I Concentrate on You; Azarian: Get out of Town; Broadbent: Ballad Impromptu; Brown: Joy Spring; Rodney: Woody'n You

v1n2 songs: Monk: Ruby, My Dear; Monk: Round Midnight; Monk: Introspection; Brown: Joy Spring; Brecker (Randy): The Sleaze Factor; Gillespie: Woody'n You

v1n3 solos: Martino: Uptown Down; Martino: Alone Together; Morgan: Most Like Lee; Rollins: Airegin; Redman: Home Fries; Khan: Clafouti; Kirby: Point of Balance; DellaRatta: Ara; Ponomarev: Dance Intoxicant

v1n3 songs: Martino: The Great Stream; Martino: You're Welcome to a Prayer; Pohjola: Hair, Scarf and Fragrance; McCaslin: Mountain Mama; Spaits: Dark Blue

v1n4 solos: Davis: Miles Away; Barron: There Is No Greater Love; Barron: Anthropology; Ballin: Cat Paw Skipper; Mobley: Bye Bye Blackbird; Kelly: Bye Bye Blackbird; Kelly: On Green Dolphin Street

v1n4 songs: Parker: Confirmation; Parker: Ornithology; Steen: Seven Come Five; D'Agostino: Son Finite Le Vergini; Johnston: For Thomas; Nock: Ozboppin; Nock: The Emperor's Clothes; Nock: The Philosophers; Nock: Snafu; Kienle: Quiet Earth

v2n1 solos: Walton: Bolivia; Zellon: Cherokee Samba; Silver: Stop Time; Silver: Satisfaction Guaranteed; Brecker: Yodel Lady Blues; Brecker (Randy): Yodel Lady Blues; Mitchell: Ah So; Mobley: The More I See You; Hubbard: The More I See You; Kelly: The More I See You; Gordon: The Days of Wine and Roses

v2n1 songs: Walton: Bolivia, Zellon: Cherokee Samba, Warren: The More I See You

v2n2 solos: Arriale: Turning; Tiberi: The Garz and I; Brecker: Outrance; Brecker: Madame Toulouse; Tyner: Have You Met Miss Jones; Christlieb: Shaw Nuff

v2n2 songs: Powell: Hallucinations; Tiberi: The Garz and I; Maslov: Kolobok; Gillespie/Parker: Shaw Nuff

v2n3 solos: Shorter: Pinocchio; Shorter: Dolores; Hancock: Pinocchio; Stitt: Our Delight; Garland: Our Delight; Harris: Hot House

v2n3 songs: Shorter: Pinocchio; Shorter: Dolores; Dameron: Our Delight; Dameron: Hot House; Dameron: Good Bait; Dameron: The Scene is Clean; Ellington: Sophisticated Lady;

v2n4 solos: Kelly: What's New; Kelly: Unit 7; Montgomery: Jingles; Montgomery: In Your Own Sweet Way; Montgomery: Unit 7

v2n4 songs: Montgomery: Jingles; Brubeck: In Your Own Sweet Way; Lacey: Theme for Ernie; Nemeyer: Zip-ta-toonie; Bruno: Polarity; Montgomery: West Coast Blues; Diorio: Monk-ing

I'm not even going to get into the CDs which include classic things (many related to the transcriptions or interviews) and also play-alongs.

Just one last mention for the great photos - some rare ones by people like Bob Parent, Lee Tanner, Jan Persson, etc.

At about $10 an issue, how could anyone not like this? Right now I'm up for renewal and I'm going to do it again.

Mike

============

and one from a couple years ago:

On Mon, 21 Apr 2003 03:09:29 GMT, mleggett@nospam.ca (Max Leggett) wrote:

>Their interviews leave me cold, but that might just be me.

I find the interviews to be quite good. All (or almost all) are conducted by musicians so there is a lot of information that would get skipped over or left out in a Down Beat/Jazz Times or even a Cadence interview.

I've been a subscriber since the first issue and will continue to support the magazine. The collection so far is already an incredible resource for transcribed solos, lead sheets, and interviews.

Record reviews are of no interest to me, so I generally don't read those - but they do cover a lot of releases. The quality of the writing varies - some reviewers are horrible, some are good. It's very much a small-time operation so it's not like they have a huge budget for writing staff.

They have some major contributors - like Todd Coolman writing on the demise of the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band. I found that to be a very interesting story. Mel Martin, Paul Combs - some quality people there.

In 250-275 pages there's a lot of garbage, but I bet there are more pages in each issue of good stuff than in half a year of something like Down Beat.

Mike

==============

Mike

Edited February 12, 2005 by Michael Fitzgerald

[rostasi]

I don't get it!

I do Google all the time - no prob, but

I put "jazz improv" in the global search AND in the periodicals and it comes up bumpkis!

No, I'm not using the "+" sign, but why wouldn't the two words together work?

Now, it says "jazz improv" cause I just posted, but none other(?)

Edited February 12, 2005 by rostasi

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Oh - that's easy!

Gotta change the date from "30 days ago" to "Any date"

Mike

[rostasi]

Oh - that's easy!

Gotta change the date from "30 days ago" to "Any date"

Mike

...I'll go hide my head now...

thanks...

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Now playing: Anthony Braxton/Mario Pavone - Eronel

[SGUD missile]

I'm of several minds about this Magazine:

1. Some of the interviews are excellent, as are some of the columns. The record reviews are fairly good, but they all seem tied to advertising revenue somehow ..

2. The transcriptions vary in quality and accuracy ( from what I can tell ) and some of them aren't printed in the concert keys ..( maybe this is for playalong purposes, but what if you play a horn with a different transposition ?)

3. The theoretical stuff seems kind of strange and sometimes I'm not sure exactly what they're trying to teach someone. Same for the excercises on changes ..what good does it do to just run up and down arpeggiated chords ( usually all in root position ) ?

my $0.02 cents ...

[Soul Stream]

I think the last couple of issues were horn-oriented. And I dug the first several issues a lot...the ones on Coltrane, Miles, Monk, ect...

But for a long time it could have been a guitar player's magazine

[rostasi]

I'm of several minds about this Magazine:

1. Some of the interviews are excellent, as are some of the columns. The record reviews are fairly good, but they all seem tied to advertising revenue somehow ..

2. The transcriptions vary in quality and accuracy ( from what I can tell ) and some of them aren't printed in the concert keys ..( maybe this is for playalong purposes, but what if you play a horn with a different transposition ?)

3. The theoretical stuff seems kind of strange and sometimes I'm not sure exactly what they're trying to teach someone. Same for the excercises on changes ..what good does it do to just run up and down arpeggiated chords ( usually all in root position ) ?

my $0.02 cents ...

Thanks Phil. I'll check the other thread.

rod

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Now playing: Åke Hodell - Structures III (part 3)