The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Just got the book and cd, i love this stuff, it's the only cd in my car right now and my other instruction books are shelved, it may be a years worth of practice and learning but none of my instruction books sound this cool, it's exactly what i want to play. Also, i've learned a lot from this forum , thank you everyone !

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Quote Originally Posted by Scorch
    Just got the book and cd, i love this stuff, it's the only cd in my car right now and my other instruction books are shelved, it may be a years worth of practice and learning but none of my instruction books sound this cool, it's exactly what i want to play. Also, i've learned a lot from this forum , thank you everyone !

  4. #3
    Well i just learned the last measure of I'll see you in my dreams, looks like it took 7 weeks. The version of this tune from Paul Mehling's video has been kicking me where it counts for years, saying " your not good enough to play me ! " But now, after a few years of working on stuff from the popular books around here, getting the fingers to play the lines was less difficult than remembering them, so that's some progress. This one tune has lots of what the jazz books lack, the nuances of Mr Aldens playing, the good pick up and lead out phrases, the cool sound of how well connected lines flow and the 'shapes ' those phrases have, in my mind's eye it's like the silhouette of the tops of a mountain range, and my sweetheart will walk around humming the tune, which has never happened with a method book. I plan on smoothing this one out for a couple of weeks and next will be that solo guitar version of I'm forever blowing bubbles, i've heard the tune here and there forever and never knew what it was. And Phoenix is still HOT, Thanks for reading this !

  5. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by Scorch
    Well i just learned the last measure of I'll see you in my dreams, looks like it took 7 weeks. The version of this tune from Paul Mehling's video has been kicking me where it counts for years, saying " your not good enough to play me ! " But now, after a few years of working on stuff from the popular books around here, getting the fingers to play the lines was less difficult than remembering them, so that's some progress. This one tune has lots of what the jazz books lack, the nuances of Mr Aldens playing, the good pick up and lead out phrases, the cool sound of how well connected lines flow and the 'shapes ' those phrases have, in my mind's eye it's like the silhouette of the tops of a mountain range, and my sweetheart will walk around humming the tune, which has never happened with a method book. I plan on smoothing this one out for a couple of weeks and next will be that solo guitar version of I'm forever blowing bubbles, i've heard the tune here and there forever and never knew what it was. And Phoenix is still HOT, Thanks for reading this !
    Is this Sweet and Lowdown an instruction book written by Howard Alden?

    I know that Alden played guitar for the Woody Allen movie since I have talked to Alden a few times about that at various house concerts my friend held.

  6. #5
    How cool that you got to Speak with him, whenever i have meet someone at that level, i talk about anything except their talent, usually goes well, gives them the chance to say " do you know who i am ? " The book is most of the tunes from the movie soundtrack, notation and tab, a brief paragraph before each tune. blowing bubbles is not on the cd, however, the tune is on youtube , named: Emmet plays for Hattie , it's the scene from the movie, and Mr. Alden also has his own recording of the tune on YT, clearer and easier to hear whats happening on the guitar.

  7. #6

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    A few years ago I gave Howard Alden a lift to the railway station after a gig (a driver was requested and I volunteered!). He had concluded his set with a great solo version of Stardust, in which he pulled out all the stops improvisation-wise. I told Howard that I had just put together my own solo version of Stardust, but it was very basic compared to his, really it was just the melody with some chords. Howard said ‘no that’s still cool, the most important thing you can do is to get the melody across.’

    So I was quite pleased to hear that! He was a really nice friendly guy.

    Luckily a friend of mine who was at the gig managed to video some of Howard’s version, and let me post it on my channel:


  8. #7

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    I thought “Sweet and Lowdown” was a movie about a fictional Gypsy Jazz player in the thirties. Just a coincidence in name, or does the book have something to do with the movie?


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  9. #8

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    Presumably it is this book - i.e. Howard Alden’s guitar arrangements which were used in the film:

    Sweet and Lowdown Book - Mel Bay Publications, Inc. : Mel Bay

  10. #9

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    It's quite a good film, saw it a long time ago. The guitar work by Alden isn't Django, nor is it supposed to be, but that's the good thing, you don't want bad imitations. It's not a film about guitar playing but it's good enough to help the character through the scenes without upstaging him, if you see what I mean. But well worth a watch anyway.



    (Don't look too closely at the fingers :-))

  11. #10

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    'What do you think of when you play?' Oh, god, not again!

  12. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by Scorch
    How cool that you got to Speak with him, whenever i have meet someone at that level, i talk about anything except their talent, usually goes well, gives them the chance to say " do you know who i am ? " The book is most of the tunes from the movie soundtrack, notation and tab, a brief paragraph before each tune. blowing bubbles is not on the cd, however, the tune is on youtube , named: Emmet plays for Hattie , it's the scene from the movie, and Mr. Alden also has his own recording of the tune on YT, clearer and easier to hear whats happening on the guitar.
    These were house gigs that had around 40 - 50 people so during the breaks it was easy to chat with Alden. The guy whose house it was, was really into Gypsy Jazz and the reason he asked Alden if he was willing to play at these gigs was because of the film Sweet and Lowdown. Thus most of the people at these were Gypsy Jazz fans. Alden told my friend and I that he really wasn't that interested in playing that style of music. That was fine with me but Alden would get request after request for Django songs but would only play one; He would mention the film and then play one song like Swing 42, and then it was all jazz standards.

    Alden would typically just have local talent for the bass and drums or just another guitar, but once the only drummer he could get was Jake Hanna, who he knew well from Concord records and that was something. Jake was magical.

    Another time Bruce Forman joined him. My favorite part of that concert was hearing Alden comp behind Forman.

    I also saw Alden with George Van Eps a few times since George lived in the So Cal area. That was around the time the two did those albums for Concord.
    Last edited by jameslovestal; 09-18-2021 at 12:46 PM.

  13. #12

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    That would have been worth seeing

  14. #13

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    I also saw Howard with George van Eps when they did some UK gigs. George was a bit frail, but still played great, I knew I was seeing some guitar history!