Baby Steps to Giant Steps review at MikeDolbear.com

http://www.mikedolbear.com/story.asp?StoryID=2169

If there was ever a book that simply tells you exactly what”s in it, this is definitely one of them. The producers of ‘Turn It Up & Lay It Down’ have called upon the musical expertise of Peter Retzlaff and Jim Rupp to produce an educational book with a play along CD minus drums.

Retzlaff and Rupp take you on a musical journey of swing and explain the fundamentals of jazz including the major differences and its relation to Rock and Funk. The book is designed for the drummer who wishes to learn jazz or those who are looking to refine their already established skills and knowledge.

For ease and simplicity the book is split in two, in which the first half of the book provides the theory and the understanding behind playing jazz and the challenges faced by contemporary rock and funk drummers when playing jazz.

Topics include: the ride cymbal, feathering the bass drum, jazz time, fills and brushes. The second half of the book tells you how to the 10 play along tracks on the CD which are performed at a variety of speeds from slow to very fast. The tracks are very well produced the will definitely give you the very next best thing to playing with actual musicians which makes this a very strong practice tool.

The standard of good educational material is constantly being raised and the successful products always contain the same major elements: simplicity, creativity and purpose. ‘Baby Steps to Giant Steps’ is a great book and will definitely be one of those books that will have teachers, students, musicians talking about it. This is definitely one book I”ll be using as a drummer and a teacher.

Adrian Graham

£12.95