Play Along Books

[Liarspoker]

So I was just browsing on Amazon and saw the Play Along series of books.

I then looked at the tunes and players and, of course, the players are all the usual big sellable names who, I assume, are playing big things in these books.

That got me thinking. If you're at this level of playing shouldn't you work all this out by ear?

Shouldn't you work everything out by ear anyway?

What do you think?

[Litterick]

Who are we talking about?

[Liarspoker]

Who are we talking about?

Take a look for yourself. Joe Pass, Pat Martino, Jim Hall etc...

[sgosnell]

Where there is a market, there is a product. And sometimes products which attempt to create a market.

[grahambop]

Aren’t these just the same as the Aebersolds? I looked at one (Joe Pass) and the comments complained that they contain the heads, no solos.

So I assume you get a lead sheet for the tunes, and a CD with backing tracks. But if you want to play Joe’s solos on those tunes, you’ll still have to figure them out (or find someone else’s transcription!)

[Liarspoker]

Aren’t these just the same as the Aebersolds? I looked at one (Joe Pass) and the comments complained that they contain the heads, no solos.

So I assume you get a lead sheet for the tunes, and a CD with backing tracks. But if you want to play Joe’s solos on those tunes, you’ll still have to figure them out (or find someone else’s transcription!)

One of the books that I looked at had some unfavourable reviews due to not being able to hear the melody due to the runs.
I'm guessing that's the solo section that they are talking about.

[dconeill]

There are several publishers of playalong books

Jamey Aebersold - Jamey Aebersold Jazz: jazzbooks.com - probably the longest-published series. Typically have the head of the tune and then several choruses of comping meant for improvizing. Lead sheets provided. Solos not provided, but refers user to selected recordings of the tunes.

Hal Leonard - Jazz Play Along Series | Hal Leonard Online - similar in concept to the Aebersold books but somewhat newer in feel. Hal Leonard also publishes many other series of playalongs, including, maybe, some transcribed solos.

Both of these are pretty good to use.

There are other playalongs published, of varying quality, by several publishers. Some of them are just solos for the player to learn, others are more like lead sheets.

It sounds like the OP is talking about some publisher who does solo transcriptions. Transcribed solos have a couple of good points: they help the player develop technique to play the solos, and, if used in conjunction with a lead sheet and lots of skull time, can give the player a starting point for trying to figure out why the artist played what they played in the solo.

[grahambop]

One of the books that I looked at had some unfavourable reviews due to not being able to hear the melody due to the runs.
I'm guessing that's the solo section that they are talking about.

I can’t see anything here that suggests the actual solos are provided in any way. There’s mention of ‘melody cues’ whatever that means, maybe the reviewer didn’t like those?

Joe Pass - Jazz Play-Along Volume 186 - Jazz Play Along | Hal Leonard Online

Some details on youtube:

[grahambop]

There is a nice Aebersold of Jimmy Raney playing duets with his own comping, you get a split-stereo CD of him playing both parts (so you can remove either side), and you can get the book of his solos to go with it. No rhythm section, just Jimmy and Jimmy!

I have it, although I confess I haven’t done much with it yet. Always the way with books...

[Litterick]

Take a look for yourself. Joe Pass, Pat Martino, Jim Hall etc...

Some links would have helped. It is not up to me to find out what you are talking about.