Customer Reviews

Stride & Swing Piano: Hal Leonard Keyboard Style Series

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Normally books like these present you with the "dumbed down" and easy version of piano music--music you can play with one hand while drinking a sweet iced-tea with the other. Not so with this book. The methods and techniques Valerio teaches are the real thing, and the pieces within the book are those transcribed straight from the big boys--Waller, Johnson, Wilson, Tatum, Joplin, and Morton. This is an excellent introduction/continuation for those interested in stride piano.

I have a few of the other books in this series and find them all great, which is why I purchased this book! Scott Joplin has always been a favorite composer of mine and to be able to learn his style, yet ad my own style is something that I have struggled with up until now. John Valerio is a wonderful composer and teacher and has a very similar style to Mark Harrison (another composer in this series). This book includes everything from the history of ragtime and swing to how to voice lead. Techniques, rhythmic layering, variations, harmony, form, call and response, and so much more is included in this book. It goes through classic ragtime, blues & boogie woogie, New Orleans jazz, stride piano, and swing piano. It is such a wonderful teaching tool for those interested in the big-band era. The CD it comes with has standard tracks to listen to, but also wonderfulk original tunes that encourage you to come up with your own style! I can't wait to try more books in the series!

For me this is just what I was looking for: I completed the very excellent Blues Piano from Mark Harrison and this one is perfect fit to continue ...

The selected artists are very good (Art Tatum, Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, Teddy Wilson, James P Johnson),
and go in a proper progression for learning. He carefully lays out the general feel of what each artist does
as well as many of their tricks & techniques. There are numerous examples recorded on the included CD,
with excellent sound quality. There are plenty of exercises and sound-alike pieces composed by the author.
I have not seen anything more helpful on this particular subject, unless you find the right person to give
you personal instruction.

Stride Piano is a method to play one of the most dificult styles in jazz. This book it's not for beginers,but it is clearly explain and organize by styles: ragtime, blues, stride piano, early swing and late swing.Today many jazzpianists don't play stride piano,be one of the few.You are the orchestra when you play this style and it requires a good pianistic technic to play it,nothing to envy a classical pianist.I'm a classical pianist and jazz pianist and the challenge comparing to classical repertory it's the same in some cases.

If you want to learn the ideas of Art Tatum,Fats Wallers,Jelly Roll Morton and Teddy Wilson, you are in the right place.This is the root of the plant....
I recomend all the books of this series and all the books write by Mr.John Valerio.

This is an awesome book but definitely not for beginners. It's got excellent explanations and exercises, and authentic music to learn. You'll definitely learn stride, but unless you're an accomplished pianist, expect to spend a lot of time leaning the pieces.

i bought that book thinking that i would find some transcriptions or adaptations of swing and stride pieces, along with tips and reviews, some history about the style and.... i found some of those things but all the songs are written by John Valerio "a la Fats Waller" etc etc

It OK, songs are quite good, he's done a great job, but why not put some standards there?? It's my fault, probably didn't read the description carefully but... think twice before buying this book to learn this style (i'm not saying it's useless, simply think twice, there may be a better one depending on what do you want it for)