Customer Reviews

Charlie Parker Omnibook: For All Bass Clef Instruments

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First off, I have to correct funkybass4ever "baynzer66" 's review as he/she has commented that all transcriptions are in the key of C. This is incorrect and misleading. However all transcriptions are devoid of key signatures which is very useful in jazz, especially in bebop due to the rapid movement through key centers and the heavy use of chromaticism.

Now to the book itself. I view the omni book as one of the most valuable books of transcriptions out there, even if there are a few mistakes in it. It's one of those books that anyone learning the language of jazz needs to at least look at. It's nice to see that it's in bass clef (as I play bass); my treble clef version (I also play guitar) is well hammered and much loved.

If you are a bass player (or anyone else for that matter with good taste) and want to see/hear a bass player using Parker's vocabulary check out Dario Deidda, start at youtube. (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say that!)

This book really helps you appreciate what a master of jazz Charlie Parker really was. Seeing all of these solos with the chord changes right above sometimes makes you wonder "How did he think to do that?"

I like using this book for sight reading practice and a little bit of analysis afterwards. I read through the solos veeeery slowly (did I mention he's ridiculous?) and then look over the parts that I thought sounded pretty cool to see what he was doing. If you're a trombone player don't be intimidated that he had buttons to press very rapidly, just buy the book and play some great jazz, even if you're playing at 1/3 the tempo.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in improvising or just reading jazz. Especially trombone players.

The book is an awesome transcription of Charlie Parker and his amazing solo and style. It is very accurate. It's a great way to enhance your improvisation library. The only problem that I had, was that the music is written down an octave than sounded by Charlie Parker. Obviously the tenor sax plays in a higher range. It's not really a problem, but you have to play an octave higher along with the recordings to try and match the timbre of the instruments. I guess it saves you from reading ledger lines or tener clef. Anyway, great book for a great price.

What can I say? a necessity for all bassists!
Great value, great to play through...the real jazz bible?! buy now and you wont be disappointed!

The book has some great solos but unfortunately they have all been transcribed into the key of C. This means that you are out of luck if you want to play along with original recordings. For advanced musicians only! Challenging enough to keep you busy for MANY years.