Michael Horrowitz's Django Books

Pearl Django Play-Along Songbook : $ ?? (0 en stock à Montréal)

This songbook contains Django Reinhardt compositions, Gypsy jazz standards, and Pearl Django originals for instrumentalists of any skill level. The easy-to-read standard notation, guitar tablature, and chord diagrams will allow beginning students to quickly learn the core Gypsy jazz repertoire. More advanced students will benefit from the carefully notated intros and outros, melodic embellishments, advanced chord voicings, and harmony parts. The accompanying play-along audio CD will allow you to practice your own solos with the Pearl Django rhythm section.

The Pearl Django Play-along Songbook Vol.1 includes:

-Seventeen accurate transcriptions of melodies, harmonies, and chords for Django Reinhardt compositions, Gypsy jazz standards, and Pearl Django originals.

-Two chord-melody arrangements by Dudley Hill.

-Transcriptions that are both standard notation and tablature (guitar chord diagrams included).

-Fingerings and chord voicings as played by Pearl Django.

-Guitar, violin, and accordion parts included.

-Examples of Gypsy-style swing, Latin, and folk accompaniment.

-Easy-to-read Real Book style format suitable for sight reading on the gig.

-An audio CD with seventeen play-along tracks compiled from Pearl Django’s CDs: Under Paris Skies, Avalon, and Souvenirs.

- A play-along version of a previously unreleased Pearl Django recording of Djangology.

-Pearl Django history and discography.

-Extra sturdy mylar reinforced spiral binding and heavy coated paper. This book can withstand years of on-the-gig punishment!

One unique feature of this book/CD is that the music and play-along tracks were taken directly from Pearl Django’s original recordings. Many other play-along books offer “distilled” melodies and clinical sounding play-along tracks. For maximum educational value, the melodies notated in this songbook contain all the embellishments, variations, and harmonies that were played on the original recordings. The play-along tracks themselves are simply Pearl Django’s original recordings with the solos removed. The recordings were engineered by David Lange and are of the highest audio quality.

These transcriptions were done with careful attention to detail. Each piece was transcribed at least three times using the most advanced digital tools. Additionally, members of Pearl Django were consulted on note choices and fingerings to insure that the transcriptions are as accurate and as playable as possible. And finally, these transcriptions were “field tested” by guitarists of varying skill levels.

Song List :

Avalon, Blues en mineur, Djangology, I’ll See You in My Dreams, I’ve Found a New Baby, Le Rive Gauche, Limehouse Blues, Manoir des mes Rêves, Minor Swing, My Blue Heaven, New Metropolitan Swing, Nuages, Plum Crumble, Radio City Rhythm, Swing 42, Troublant Boléro, Zingarelli

 

Gipsy Picking: $ 50 (0 en stock à Montréal)

Michael Horrowitz, passionné de musique manouche, a énormément appris en Europe à force de cotoyer des musiciens manouches professionnels. Diplomé de Berklee, Michael a su déchiffrer les notions essentielles au style unique de la guitare manouche.

Je considère ce bouquin comme essentiel à la maîtrise de ce style. Si j'avais eu un tel livre quand j'ai débuté ce style alors j'aurais sauvé beaucoup de temps. J'en ai tellement perdu à jouer de la façon traditionnelle, et maintenant je dois ré-apprendre à jouer...C'est très bien expliqué dans ce livre.

D'autres précieux ouvrages sont en préparations et seront prochainement disponibles, donc un sur lequel j'ai collaboré (voir ci-bas).

Pourquoi acheter Gipsy Picking ?

Qu'est-ce que les Django Reinhardt, Tchavolo Schmiddt, Fapy Lafertin, Angelo Debarre et un grand nombre de guitaristes manouches ont en commun ?

Une technique de picking très particulière, pour ne pas dire in orthodoxe. Michael l’a compris et l’exprime clairement dans son bouquin Gipsy Picking.

Mon opinion sur l'achat : si vous voulez sonner « manouche » i.e. approcher le son unique du style manouche alors ce livre vous livrera la recette – faudra réapprendre à jouer ce qui signifie que vous devrez être très patients.

Unaccompanied Django: $ 85 (0 en stock à Montréal)

So, have you heard? Michael Horowitz' latest book, Unaccompanied Django, will be on sale Oct. 1st.

Those of you who've seen Gypsy Picking know how important his first book was to Gypsy jazz. It brought a new level of understanding to the right-hand picking technique.

His next book allows you to take these skills and apply them to unaccompanied pieces by Django as well as contemporary players like Stochelo, Angelo, Boulou, Fapy, and Bireli.

Working on soloing skills is a noble and satisfying undertaking. But, in my mind, studying unaccompanied pieces provides a different and possibly greater satisfaction -- especially, if you are a lone player in your neighborhood.

Being able to pull off a Django piece by yourself allows you to dictate the emotional content and expression in a way independent of other's influences. And there's nothing like sitting on a deck or walking into a music store and being able to play a whole Django piece by yourself!

The pieces Michael's picked provide you with more than this, however. They offer you an insight into Django's head, helping you to form the vocabulary of his music and the mental blueprints he used to develop his Gypsy jazz soloing style.

There are 16 songs in the book. Enough material to keep most of us studying for a long time to come.

This book is the book that Michael worked on for years. Every piece has been carefully noted and tabbed. He has carefully identifed the proper Gypsy fingering patterns and pick strokes, something often missing with other tabs. The very process of memorizing these pieces brings insight and those "AH HA!" smiling moments of understanding.

Think of the first book Gypsy Picking as an "introduction" to the skills you need to appreciate the rest of your studies--much as RA Wilson's Mask of the Illuminanti prepped you for the great Illuminantus trilogy, or Tolkien's Hobbit opened the way to the Lord of the Rings. Think of Horowitz' Unaccompanied Django as the beginning of your Gypsy jazz journey.

Archtop Eddy Parson - Colorado

Pourquoi acheter Unaccompagnied Django ?

Disons dans ce cas-ci que c’est le meilleur livre de transcriptions de Django – meilleurs que tous les autres car il y a un souci énorme pour ne pas dire colossale quant à la qualité de la transcription et positionnement des doigts.

C’est comme ça qu’on doit faire un livre de transcriptions dans le style manouche. Les principes de bases du « Gipsy Picking » y sont appliqués à la lettre. Vous n’y trouverai pas les Minor swing et Nuages mais plutôt les compositions en solo de Django qui son vénérées par la communauté des guitaristes manouche. Je vous en livre un exemple avec l’une de mes préférée Improvisation No.1 enregistré en 1937.

Mon opinion sur l’achat : Ca peut sembler cher mais c’est un gros bouquin. Les pièces qui y sont transcrites sont sublimes et vous révèleront un aspect exquis du guitariste manouche – de plus j’y ai participé…