Need piano comping sheet music

**jasaco** · 09-15-2009, 09:00 AM

My wife is an accomplished classically-trained pianist but has not yet really developed jazz chops and voicings. I'd like to play some jazz guitar along with her piano comping and am looking for some books of sheet music that she can play her parts from. This will be for a Unitarian church, so a variety of light jazz can work, like "Over the Rainbow", etc.

Can any of you recommend any good books of such music for piano and guitar? (Or, really, just piano comping; I can play and solo reasonably from just a chord chart.) I know there are zillions of piano-jazz books out there, but they're usually intended for solo piano, not comping...

Thanks,
Jim

**Joe Dalton** · 09-15-2009, 09:04 AM

you can check the realbooks. Many such songs in there, if her trouble is finding voicings on a piano I can't really suggest a book.

**jasaco** · 09-15-2009, 09:07 AM

Thanks, Joe. I have lots of Real Books. That's not the issue. The issue is finding printed jazz arrangements for piano comping. We know the changes.

**peterk1** · 09-15-2009, 09:45 AM

Not "exactly" what you are looking for, but the fellow who wrote the Jazz Theory book, "The Jazz Bible" that appears all over this site, Mark Levine, has written an excellent book called the Jazz Piano book.

If I remember correctly, the first chapter is on the common piano voicings (there are two basic forms). Once you internalize those, you can pretty much play most of what's in the Real Books just by reading the chord symbols (as a guitar player would). I would highly recommend this book.

**jasaco** · 09-15-2009, 12:11 PM

No offense to anyone intended, but I'm not looking for a method to TEACH my wife how to make up her own jazz piano arrangements. I'm looking for piano transcriptions that I can stick in front of her face and she can play on the spot because she can sight-read anything. Plain and simple. Maybe it doesn't exist (at least for comping arrangements)? But, I'll bet there are duo piano-guitar jazz scores out there and, at least, she can leave out the melody notes and end up with the sophisticated arrangements and voicings, while I play melody. It's got to exist...

Thanks again to all,
Jim

**bako** · 09-15-2009, 02:42 PM

http://aebersold.com/Merchant2/merch...ry_Code=PIAVOI

Jamey Aebesold has piano accompaniment transriptions from several Playalong recordings. If a book has a good song selection then this would be one way to go.

Your wife might sound incredible playing Bill Evans, Art Tatum or Chick Corea transcriptions but if they were intended as solos then there wouldn't be much room for guitar.

**mr. beaumont** · 09-15-2009, 03:34 PM

is there a way to get band in a box to print it's computer generated piano accompanyment?

**peterk1** · 09-15-2009, 04:06 PM

Definitely. Good idea...assuming he has the software.

**mr. beaumont** · 09-15-2009, 04:17 PM

well, you figure, the cost of that software is really no more than a few good books nowadays...

but i've never tried to do that--i was wondering aloud if it was an option. have you done it pete? what's the process? i can see myself spending a whole weekend setting different tunes on the "bill evans" setting and then transferring those voicings to the guitar!

**bako** · 09-15-2009, 04:51 PM

Mr. B,

I only have a very early BIAB so this is speculation.

If BIAB files are in midi format then I would try saving a song to desktop. If they are not then it might have a function to convert to midi.
From there I would try and open it with a notation program (Finale,Sibelius, Encore etc.)which would convert the midi info to notation.
The chart might require you to add a key signature so that the note spelling is not based on program defaults.
Also the rhythms might appear overly complicated depending on the quantization the file was created with.
The motivation of the BIAB file makers is for it to play well and not how it would appear in notation.
The result is bound to be as least as useful as that other dirty word around here (tab) but possibly not well laid out for enjoyable sight reading.

**peterk1** · 09-15-2009, 05:01 PM

You can print right from the program and there's no need to go to MIDI first. I often do charts straight from Band In A Box.

**peterk1** · 09-15-2009, 05:08 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

well, you figure, the cost of that software is really no more than a few good books nowadays...

but i've never tried to do that--i was wondering aloud if it was an option. have you done it pete? what's the process? i can see myself spending a whole weekend setting different tunes on the "bill evans" setting and then transferring those voicings to the guitar!

It's dirt simple.

Get an arrangement you like.

Click on the little P button (on the top right) to show the notation for the piano line.

Switch the view from the chord table to notation. (there's a button off to the far left side to do that)

And then you print it from there.

The only complicated bit is deciding on the resolution (trips or 16ths) . Some of the rhythms can come out looking a little funny when notated with the wrong resolution.

I've used Band In A Box to print out solos for tunes I'm working on and entire "fake books" for jams. The printouts come out looking quite professional and you can configure almost everything.

I think you hit on the best solution to this particular problem. I couldn't imagine trawling through all the piano arrangement books out there to find the handful that have total separation between left and right hands.

**mr. beaumont** · 09-15-2009, 05:47 PM

very cool. piano cluster voicing study time!

**jasaco** · 09-15-2009, 07:50 PM

Those are some great suggestions. I do have Band in a Box and certainly know how to print out all the parts. I guess the only limitation to that is that the BIAB parts are kind of 'vanilla'. But much better than nothing.

The Aebersold stuff might be a better solution as it's transcriptions from real pros playing the parts. I need to spend some more time on their website looking at the various offerings but I think the book of piano comping behind a vocalist could work well, with the guitar taking the vocal part. The particular tunes aren't that well suited for a chuch service, though (even a Unitarian one). Hard to imagine into what service we could incorporate "So What" or "Freddie the Freeloader"! LOL.

Thanks for the suggestions, folks. I welcome others too.
Jim

**wizard3739** · 09-17-2009, 12:10 AM

Hey PeterK1!

What version of BIAB do you have? I don't see a "p" button on my 2007 version and would very much like to be able to print out the keyboard comping for my keyboard player (rock/blues background) who is trying to learn how to comp better for our jazz trio. He can sight read like a studio player and I think he would benefit from some comping charts.

wiz

**peterk1** · 09-17-2009, 12:25 AM

Starting from the page where you enter the chords:
hit the button that looks like a quarter note on the buttonbar. It's near the middle of the screen. Bottom leftmost button on the bar. To the right of the tempo and number of chorus settings.

You should now be in notation mode instead of chord entry mode.
At the top of that panel, on the same level as the Opt and Print buttons. There should be a bunch of small buttons; one for each instrument.

When you hit an instrument's button, the notation changes to show the music for that instrument.

Sorry I wasn't very accurate before in describing what had to be done. The UI is a little nuts and its tough to visualize it without having it open.

**wizard3739** · 09-17-2009, 10:24 AM

Thanks PeterK1 ! I got it working last night and I am certain my keyboard player will like the result. I tried using the technique with several different styles (including Bill Evans) and it is perfect for piano comping studies. Go for it Mr. B, you're gonna like it! Thanks again PeterK1!

wiz