Review

Randy Hunter
Complete Jazz Styles: Introductory Etudes in Jazz Comprehension Books 1 & 2:

Woodstock, GA, United States
Publisher: Randy Hunter Jazz
Date of Publication: 2003
URL: http://www.randyhunterjazz.com

Twelve etudes with play-along compact disc (both books)

Primary Genre: Jazz Material - etude

These etudes help fill a void in current brass pedagogy (they are available for trumpet as well as trombone). The reviewer has used them for one academic year with students ranging from junior high through graduate level in college. The author's stated intention is to provide "etudes that would not seem 'corny' to younger students or 'novel' to more mature students." Maybe he should reverse the adjectives. My college students' "corn detector" is more highly-developed than that of my 15-year-old students. Anyone familiar with Tommy Pederson will readily adapt to titles like Funky Melon and Baha Breeze. Styles covered include swing, bossa nova, funk, and jazz rock. Chord symbols are provided for those who wish to improvise, but the emphasis here is on reading and interpretation. As they say, "the devil is in the details," especially in matters of jazz articulation, never mind that elusive phenomenon known as "swing feel." Articulations can be taught, while swing feel can only be encouraged and, hopefully with the use of materials like this, mimicked. Two small cautions are in order. One, the author intentionally creates some ambiguity: "articulation patterns are often established and left for you to continue." While developing this instinct is important in older readers, the expectation can be confusing for novices, i.e. you may get tired of reminding them. Two: Bob Lewis, the trombonist on the compact disc demo tracks is close to the microphone in a somewhat dry acoustic, which is not flattering to his tone in the lower mid-range. That said, it has been beneficial for my students to play in unison with him, instead of just taking their turn with the minus-one track. Ranges are conservative even in the advanced book. Assigning these along with a typical classical regimen could do wonders for your trombone section in terms of listening and matching styles. And, best of all, as Randy Hunter has promised in his introduction, they are fun!

-Gerry Sloan
University of Arkansas