'The Jimmy Raney Book' now available at last!

[David B]

Posted yesterday by Jon Raney:

For those of you who know me, you probably know that my intent to digitally reproduce my father's original unpublished melodic link book along with my extended content started roughly in 2006 when I came into possession of my father's handwritten manuscript pages. I had seen them as early as 1985 when I stayed with him for 6 months.

As was the blogging style those days, I decided to document this process on my original Blogspot blog, "Raney Day Thoughts". At the time, I thought perhaps this public declaration would force me to get it done. As it turned out, that fateful decision would leave me and the Raney fans on the hook for nearly two decades, as I nearly gave up on the project for good.

BUT...

Today, in July of 2024, I can proudly announce "The Jimmy Raney Book" has finally been finished and published by Chuck Sher! It is available at Chuck's website in both book and PDF download formats.

The new work has about 130 pages and includes father's original lesson examples, a historical overview of his concepts, and also my deep dive into particular aspects of his style, his cliches and his unique compositional, harmonic and rhythmic concepts. It also details the specific beginnings of his key influences.

At the risk of sounding immodest, I think it goes way deeper into his style and process than anything else out there that I've seen - be in transcriptions or videos. For me, as a Raney superfan with a literal subconscious knowledge of all my father's work, I think I'm in a unique position this way to offer this, even if I'm not a guitarist.

I got som wonderful endorsements from musical phenoms and friends, Dave Stryker, Peter Bernstein, Pasquale Grasso, Jerry Bergonzi, as well as guitarist/educator, Randy Vincent. Big thanks to them all as well as Ed Fuqua and Jeff Brent who are also in my acknowledgements.

For any of you that have possibly bought the book already, please drop me a line and let me know your thoughts.

I'm elated to have finally fulfilled my dream to do his. When I finished this, I looked at this picture where Dad was looking directly at the camera and said, "Dad, we did it!".

Cheers,
Jon

Link to the book on the Sher Music website: https://www.shermusic.com/9781883217853.php

[David B]

[kris]

Looks very interesting.
Thanks for info.
Best
Kris

[Doublea A]

Posted yesterday by Jon Raney:

For those of you who know me, you probably know that my intent to digitally reproduce my father's original unpublished melodic link book along with my extended content started roughly in 2006 when I came into possession of my father's handwritten manuscript pages. I had seen them as early as 1985 when I stayed with him for 6 months.

As was the blogging style those days, I decided to document this process on my original Blogspot blog, "Raney Day Thoughts". At the time, I thought perhaps this public declaration would force me to get it done. As it turned out, that fateful decision would leave me and the Raney fans on the hook for nearly two decades, as I nearly gave up on the project for good.

BUT...

Today, in July of 2024, I can proudly announce "The Jimmy Raney Book" has finally been finished and published by Chuck Sher! It is available at Chuck's website in both book and PDF download formats.

The new work has about 130 pages and includes father's original lesson examples, a historical overview of his concepts, and also my deep dive into particular aspects of his style, his cliches and his unique compositional, harmonic and rhythmic concepts. It also details the specific beginnings of his key influences.

At the risk of sounding immodest, I think it goes way deeper into his style and process than anything else out there that I've seen - be in transcriptions or videos. For me, as a Raney superfan with a literal subconscious knowledge of all my father's work, I think I'm in a unique position this way to offer this, even if I'm not a guitarist.

I got som wonderful endorsements from musical phenoms and friends, Dave Stryker, Peter Bernstein, Pasquale Grasso, Jerry Bergonzi, as well as guitarist/educator, Randy Vincent. Big thanks to them all as well as Ed Fuqua and Jeff Brent who are also in my acknowledgements.

For any of you that have possibly bought the book already, please drop me a line and let me know your thoughts.

I'm elated to have finally fulfilled my dream to do his. When I finished this, I looked at this picture where Dad was looking directly at the camera and said, "Dad, we did it!".

Cheers,
Jon

Link to the book on the Sher Music website: https://www.shermusic.com/9781883217853.php

Thank you for posting this.
I look forward to studying this.

AA


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[m_d]

That's invaluable. An automatic buy for me.

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

Finally.

[Doublea A]

Posted yesterday by Jon Raney:

For those of you who know me, you probably know that my intent to digitally reproduce my father's original unpublished melodic link book along with my extended content started roughly in 2006 when I came into possession of my father's handwritten manuscript pages. I had seen them as early as 1985 when I stayed with him for 6 months.

As was the blogging style those days, I decided to document this process on my original Blogspot blog, "Raney Day Thoughts". At the time, I thought perhaps this public declaration would force me to get it done. As it turned out, that fateful decision would leave me and the Raney fans on the hook for nearly two decades, as I nearly gave up on the project for good.

BUT...

Today, in July of 2024, I can proudly announce "The Jimmy Raney Book" has finally been finished and published by Chuck Sher! It is available at Chuck's website in both book and PDF download formats.

The new work has about 130 pages and includes father's original lesson examples, a historical overview of his concepts, and also my deep dive into particular aspects of his style, his cliches and his unique compositional, harmonic and rhythmic concepts. It also details the specific beginnings of his key influences.

At the risk of sounding immodest, I think it goes way deeper into his style and process than anything else out there that I've seen - be in transcriptions or videos. For me, as a Raney superfan with a literal subconscious knowledge of all my father's work, I think I'm in a unique position this way to offer this, even if I'm not a guitarist.

I got som wonderful endorsements from musical phenoms and friends, Dave Stryker, Peter Bernstein, Pasquale Grasso, Jerry Bergonzi, as well as guitarist/educator, Randy Vincent. Big thanks to them all as well as Ed Fuqua and Jeff Brent who are also in my acknowledgements.

For any of you that have possibly bought the book already, please drop me a line and let me know your thoughts.

I'm elated to have finally fulfilled my dream to do his. When I finished this, I looked at this picture where Dad was looking directly at the camera and said, "Dad, we did it!".

Cheers,
Jon

Link to the book on the Sher Music website: https://www.shermusic.com/9781883217853.php

Purchased.
Downloaded.
Working on Chapter 1.
Thank you for doing this.
Your hard work is appreciated.

AA


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[alltunes]

Just purchased. Looking forward to learning something new.

[Mick-7]

Re: "Section II: Concepts in Recording"

Are specific recordings referenced? (I would hope so.)

[David B]

Re: "Section II: Concepts in Recording"

Are specific recordings referenced? (I would hope so.)

Just checked and yes, the recordings are cited in footnotes at the bottom of each page.

[enalnitram]

I was lucky enough to be one of the people to take lessons from Jimmy in the 80's and receive early drafts on loose sheets. I'm assuming that a bunch of people here have those pages. This is sooooo much more complete than that stuff. Now I know what I'll be working on for the next couple of years.

[ScottM]

I attended the Belarmine College Jazz Guitar clinic for a couple of years, (maybe 1990 and 91?), and was absolutely blown away by Jimmy's playing and teaching, and it really had an impact on me. Too bad it's not evident in my playing.

I've had several of these pages, in the original hand-written and photo-copied, in a folder since then. I had never shared them with anyone, assuming that they would someday be published, and for a long time forgot I had them. Very glad to see the book is out, and I didn't hesitate to buy a copy. Hope it does well.

Cheers!

[RaneyJR]

Purchased.
Downloaded.
Working on Chapter 1.
Thank you for doing this.
Your hard work is appreciated.

AA


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Your welcome, Doublea

[Mick-7]

Your welcome, Doublea

A biography is next, right?

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

A biography is next, right?

Seems like you never visited Jon's website dedicated to his father's and brother's memory, Mick.

Biography – The Raney Legacy

[Mick-7]

Seems like you never visited Jon's website dedicated to his father's and brother's memory, Mick.

Biography – The Raney Legacy

Well, I must be clairvoyant, it says "in progress," but I meant a print book, not an article on a website.

[David B]

Your welcome, Doublea

Hi Jon. Welcome to the forum. It's great to see you here!

[DanielleOM]

Just purchased the pdf from the Chuck Sher site. Looking forward to looking at it and also to following this thread.

[David B]

Jon Raney just posted two videos to his YouTube channel, with an introduction to the book and a look at some of the examples of displacement in Jimmy Raney's lines.

[alltunes]

These will be helpful. As a self taught reader of standard notation my ability to read rhythms properly is not that great and the subtleties in phrasing is a big part of the book.

How is everyone else liking the book so far and any particular things you like or have learned?

[enalnitram]

I love this so much! Thanks for your effort, Jon!

I grew up in Louisville, and I and everyone I know, that has ever spent some time there (Jimmy included) will say, "but, uh" while speaking and collecting their train of thought. Makes me feel homesick.

[RaneyJR]

"but, uh"

Like Buttah, right?

[enalnitram]

These will be helpful. As a self taught reader of standard notation my ability to read rhythms properly is not that great and the subtleties in phrasing is a big part of the book.

How is everyone else liking the book so far and any particular things you like or have learned?

I absolutely love the book. It systematizes the important aspects of Jimmy's playing, and makes what is interesting about him, even clearer. I appreciate the examples of usage of rhythm to achieve tension. That part in particular is something I knew Jimmy was doing, but I hadn't broken it down.

[joe2758]

Is there a lot of phrases to copy or is it mostly concepts to apply to our playing?

[grahambop]

Is there a lot of phrases to copy or is it mostly concepts to apply to our playing?

I have only skimmed through the book so far (I got the PDF version), but it looks very detailed, lots of concepts covered and there appear to be over 300 music examples by my quick reckoning.