The Definitive Jazz Collection

Rating:
Summary: Great for classically-trained pianists interested Jazz
Review: No "fake book", or "real book" this. You get full, well-thought-out harmonizations. This isn't how Jazz pianists acquire their numbers, but hey, this graduate of the weekly visit to the traditional read-the-music-and-play-it-exactly-as-written piano teacher likes it just fine this way. Having played through about 25% of the songs, I'll say there are no really bad arrangements, and quite a few very good ones. The technical difficulty is toward the higher end of the non-classical stuff you find in the music stores -- the average song is about as hard (if you want to play all the notes) as a Chopin Waltz or a Clementi Sonatina.

Rating:
Summary: Great for classically-trained pianists interested Jazz
Review: No "fake book", or "real book" this. You get full, well-thought-out harmonizations. This isn't how Jazz pianists acquire their numbers, but hey, this graduate of the weekly visit to the traditional read-the-music-and-play-it-exactly-as-written piano teacher likes it just fine this way. Having played through about 25% of the songs, I'll say there are no really bad arrangements, and quite a few very good ones. The technical difficulty is toward the higher end of the non-classical stuff you find in the music stores -- the average song is about as hard (if you want to play all the notes) as a Chopin Waltz or a Clementi Sonatina.