Customer Reviews

The Big Book of Torch Songs 2nd Ed.

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have a wide range... can sing soprano and alto quite easily, but when I sing torch songs or other jazz/blues standards, I prefer to sing them in my lower register. This book is great with offering these types of songs, but the keys they are in are HORRIBLE! They must be transposed down to even be comfortable for a woman to sing them in that "sulty-torch-song" style. I wouldn't recommend it at all... instead, I found a book called "Belter's Hot Standards." This has been my Bible of music! Go find that book if you're a woman looking for low jazz songs.

This is a great compilation of the best torch songs, with all of the favorites. All of the songs are set in very low keys, which is great for an alto or baritone. However, a tenor or soprano may want to check out another book as they would have to transpose most of the selections. Most selections are chorded so that transposition for charts is fairly easy.

I was after one song and received much more than I ever envisioned. A great book of music for your collection. I write the songs I like into midis, than I can transpose them and modify them if possible - and this songbook has mucho songs to do this with.

I was disappointed with this book. There are verses missing, the arrangements were simplistic, and the "universal" key puts these lovely, smokey songs into a very high register for a torch singer, and a very low register for a balladeer. I wound up having to buy a different book to get the complete picture.