WWW.PhillyJazz.Org - One of America's websites

Jazz Improv Magazine / CD

    I've had a link to Jazz Improv for several years now.   Being the Philly Jazz webmaster, I get my share of promotional materials, CD's, bios etc... which is good, because if I had to buy these things, I'd probably be divorced, and have to move to a neighborhood that didn't have cable modem .. maybe not even cable !!

    Anyway, about 10 minutes into cracking the cover of a Jazz Improv issue, I had my credit card out.  At $10.00 US an issue ($12.95 for the Canucks, [which is a better exchange rate than you'll get at the Royal Bank, eh ?? ]) this is THE BEST JAZZ EDUCATION DEAL ANYWHERE !!  A year's subscription (quarterly issues) costs $39.95. Look, you can drop forty bucks in a bar without trying ( I know I can).  If you're really afraid of commitment, or your card is maxed out, you can pick it up at Border's .. also some music stores carry Jazz Improv.

    Jazz Improv is a thick magazine packed cover-to-cover with transcriptions, hints, philosophical musings, history and book/ CD reviews....but wait ... there's more !!!  Each issue comes with a companion CD which contains the tunes which are transcribed and analyzed within.  Now I don't know where you shop, but the last time I bought a CD it was well over $10.00 US, and didn't contain the variety of incredible tunes (with very high Philly-related content) the companion CD's have.   It will certainly expose you to a wide variety of artists, some of whom you will probably be hearing for the first time.  There are also a few "Play along Tracks" with a swinging  rhythm section.

    Eric Nemeyer, noted jazz educator and multi-instrumentalist ran the company from nearby Jenkintown. Just recently he found a Jazz-loving editor-soulmate, Jen whom he married, and with whom he high-tailed it up to the Green Mountain state, Vermont.  They and and their contributors do a fantastic job of keeping the magazine interesting on several levels. For those of you like me (whose reading only kicks in once you know the song by heart anyway) the transcriptions are interesting to analyze slowly.  There are also measure by measure theoretical explanations of solos, and "armchair improvisor" sidebars, for example, that show the beginner how to use the blues scale against dominant-type 7th chords.  Even a non-player could get a few hours of good reading from the content-rich editorial sections.  Articles, interviews, and book / CD reviews make up a fair part of each issue (which helps when your mind numbs from analyzing Pat Martino solos) balancing the material very evenly.  

    For the professional musician, there are large doses of practical music business advice, from relationship maintenance to independent CD distribution.

    I don't read much beyond technical reference guides and computer trade publications these days.  Jazz Improv will be a quarterly treat.  I recommend it VERY highly.  I still read one through five whenever I pick one up. It would be worth the price just for the CD !!!!  Each issue is more a book than a magazine.

Ethical disclosure -  I have been writing for the Mag for several months, but don't get paid.  I don't have a lot of extra time.  It's THAT worthwhile.