News

Don Sickler: I can still remember the thrill of meeting the legendary pianist Phineas Newborn, thanks to composer/pianist James Williams. James first brought him to our rehearsal studio in NYC to go over music for some upcoming projects James had planned for Phineas, probably in the early 1980s. Phineas Newborn, Jr., can already be found on jazzleadsheets.com playing Ray Bryant's...

Pianist and vibraphonist Buddy Montgomery was a unique and fascinating composer who deserves wider recognition. We've had his song Here Again on jazzleadsheets.com for a while; now we're making four more of Buddy's songs available. Three of these were recorded on his 1997 trio album, "Here Again." Aki's Blues is a 24-measure blues head, full of Buddy's signature subtle harmonic...

We are continuing to expand jazzleadsheets.com's Piano Corner with seven newly added songs by four of our great pianists. All but one of these songs have Solo Piano Arrangements. Cecilia Coleman, who celebrated a birthday yesterday (September 8), wrote The Man In The Brown Hat in tribute to Thelonious Monk. It's a quirky medium-up song that accurately captures that unique...

Hank Mobley's music is very popular on jazzleadsheets.com, and for a good reason: it makes you feel good to play it. We're excited to announce that all six songs from Hank Mobley's 1967 album "Hi Voltage" are now available on jazzleadsheets.com. This album has sometimes been overlooked, but features an all-star lineup and plenty of fun, catchy songs. In particular...

Five songs by master pianist and composer Don Friedman are newly available on jazzleadsheets.com. For two of these, we have Don's solo piano arrangements available with exclusive recordings by another great pianist, Kenny Drew, Jr. Opus D'Amour is a dramatic, passionate song which Don recorded in solo, duo, and quartet settings. It works equally well as a bossa or a...

All musicians should check out the phrasing mastery of singer Mark Murphy, and we have a great way for you to do just that. Mark created a lyric version (Empty Room) of an absolutely beautiful Fritz Pauer composition. Then he recorded it with Fritz in 1996. Fritz was excited about it and got an audio copy to me shortly thereafter...

Two very different composers are now represented for the first time on jazzleadsheets.com: pianist Harris Simon and trumpeter Charlie Shavers. Both happen to have the same birthday, August 3rd (though Shavers’ is sometimes given as September 3rd), and both were born and raised in New York. Besides that there isn’t very much in common between them. Harris Simon, who plays...

Four more Kenny Drew, Jr. compositions are now available. This One's For Bill, his tribute to pianist Bill Evans, is a lyrical 3/4 song which Kenny recorded in both solo and trio settings. The later trio version is with bassist Jon Burr as well as drummer Marty Morell, who played with Evans. The bossa Las Palmas comes from Kenny's first...

Thanks to Aida Brandes Hargrove, we found out that today, April 8, 2022, is the 30th anniversary of the release of Roy Hargrove's "The Vibe" recording. It was celebrated by the Roy Hargrove Big Band at NYC's Jazz Gallery on April 7. To continue the celebration, jazzleadsheets.com is adding Roy's two blues from that album to our NEW ARRIVALS (Caryisms...

jazzleadsheets.com's fans have an opportunity to enjoy the artistry and creativity of pianist/composer Kenny Drew, Jr., with new releases from our video library. We were able to film Kenny as he played his compositions on Rudy Van Gelder's magnificent Steinway D. A Silent War Farmer's Waltz