Music
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BOOK REVIEW
Published in the August 2005 Edition of Australian Guitar Magazine
CONCEPTS OF JAZZ FOR ALL MUSICIANS: VOLUME 1
Bill Palmer
THIS instructional resource from 27-year-old Australia guitarist and music teacher Bill Palmer, is just about the best we've seen in terms of demystifying the art of jazz and teaching the theory in easy-to-swallow mouthfuls. It's aimed at musicians who are already playing, and covers everything from the basics, like the 2-5-1 pattern (the jazz equivalent of rock's 1-4-5 chord progression) and it's variations, through to tips for improvising with 7,8,5 and 6 note scales, arpeggios, triads, digitals, pentatonics and symmetrical scales. All manner of chord substitutions are included, as well as a guide to standard progressions, including jazz blues, Parker blues, minor blues and cyclic progressions. The appendices are extremely valuable, with notation for no fewer than 27 families of scales, and much more. The spiral binding also means you don't have to weigh each side of the book down when you're playing from it, and while there's no tablature, there's nothing really complex enough to require it.
RRP: $26.95.
Karl Mayerhofer
- Australian Guitar Magazine
"...And I love the songs Bill, great playing and writing/arranging. I think you’ll really enjoy the mixing and production I’ve been doing to them, I treat them like their mine own since I like them so much!" "...I had a blast mixing your music! Like I said, great songs!" "...It’s sounding amazing! I hope you can get it to the masses, cause I think it would do well..."
TJ Helmerich USA - virtuoso 8 finger tapping guitarist and engineer: comment via email.
"...Your music and playing is exceptional for the genre and style..."
Karen Lee-Goody - entertainment consulting group Sydney Australia: comment via email.
"...NICE - extremely tasteful playing, so glad you are outside the box...VERY creative..."
Prong (username) USA: comment via MySpace.
"...Wow man you REALLY surprised me. Seems like most of the guys on this forum are stuck in the classic rock and strictly blues areas. Your music grabbed my full attention after about 30 seconds, great great stuff. I'm a metal head myself with a fancy for almost anything original and I give your stuff a 10/10. Truly entertaining to hear, gonna add you on myspace, keep it up!"
Josh Krogstad USA: comment via Carvin Amplification Forum.
"...Had a listen to your stuff on MySpace mate - GREAT work..."
Randall Waller - Shania Twain's touring guitarist and independant solo artist: comment via email.
"...Nice tracks mate, love "Falling Free" thats a top song..."
David Burnard Adelaide Australia: comment via Myspace.
"...Firstly can I say – WOW. Your music is amazing. I had a listen to your songs on MySpace and was blown away..."
Erica Stone (Jazz vocalist) Sunshine Coast Australia: comment via email.
"...Hi Bill... You have monster tones! Great playing too and fresh sounding tunes, cool stuff..."
David Stockden England: comment via Myspace.
"...Hey Bill, love your stuff, you are a brilliant guitarist..."
Michael Martin Sydney Australia: comment via Myspace.
"Hi Bill checked out your site and music...It looks like another player needs to be added to the roster.
I'll add you to my list of must add players, great improv, keep on shredding..."
Laurie Monk (author of "truth in shredding" webpage/blog) England: comment via Myspace.
"...Hi Bill, I checked out your MySpace site and I love your stuff. It's always a pleasure for me to see someone who can shred like that but who understands the space between the notes as well, lovely stuff indeed, mate..."
Neil Coombe (Whiteroom studios) Brisbane Australia: comment via email.
"...Hey, great music and playing! I love the riff of the first song in the play list (SNF), Wicked stuff..."
Lecia QLD Australia: comment via Myspace.
"...Great playing man!..."
Milan Polak Germany: comment via Myspace.
"...Hi Bill, had a listen to your tunes, they sound great. Really well put together, nice playing too.
It's always good to hear from someone doing instrumental guitar and doing it well..."
Paul Wardingham (award winning producer and guitarist) Brisbane Australia: comment via email.
"...I put SNF on my myspace page and within 15 minutes one of my friends from school was saying how good my myspace song was..."
Jordan Wakeford Sydney Australia: comment via email
"...Hi Bill, have just had a listen to your myspace recordings and your guitar playing sounds fantastic and the tone of your guitar is very clean and sweet..."
Getano Bann (singer/songwriter) QLD Australia: comment via email
"...Hi Bill, I've just got the book that I ordered from you. This appears to give me, in one book, all the information that I have been piecing together from lots of others! Fantastic! I am currently studying jazz guitar (one morning a week at Richmond Adult college in London) under the guidance
of Charles Alexander. Do you have any other books that I can buy? Thanks for a great book..."
Harry U.K: comment via email
"...I have received my Concepts of Jazz book. My daughters have looked over it and commented they wish they had it last week, (we had year 11 and 12 assessment tasks due) however it does appear to be a very successful addition to our Jazz Library, thank you again…" Karen Australia: comment via email
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Discography
"Outlines" currently in the mixing and editing phase.
Check out www.myspace.com/palmermusic for streaming play of 4 unmixed and unmastered tunes from my forthcoming release...
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
BILL PALMER (Bmus Jazz Perf)
A professional guitarist, musician and teacher, Bill is well versed in many styles including Rock, Blues, Funk, R&B, Jazz, and Country.
His versatility in a range of genres and ability on both acoustic and electric guitars make him a much sought after musician.
LIVE PERFORMANCE
Bill has played, performed, recorded and/or toured with a number of acts including: Original artist AVRA's 2003 Australian east coast ‘Superalterego' tour: the tour included a live-to-air web cast performance at the Basement.com
Artists such as:
Susi Davies/Salty (Adelaide) www.saltymusic.net
Jacki Cooper (Sydney) www.jackicooper.com
Evelyn Duprai (Sydney) www.evelynduprai.com.au
Tim Carter (Brisbane), Craig Calhoun (Sydney), Bryley Danoon (Sydney), plus many others.
Cover bands Bill has played with over the years are many and varied ranging from duos and trios to all out 6 piece ensembles. Some include: Ask Bruce (Jazz/Funk 5 piece - Sydney), The Firm (Rock 6 piece - Sydney), Shaken not stirred (Covers sequenced trio - Sydney), Jazzhouse (Jazz 5 piece - Adelaide), Metropolis (Covers 4 piece - Adelaide), Unplug the Jukebox (Rock covers 6 piece - Adelaide), Chartbusters (Rock covers 4 piece - Sydney), What you need (4 piece plus sequencer INXS tribute show) and many others too numerous to list.
Bill also performs solo at restaurants, weddings and private functions. His repertoire in this regard includes jazz standards, classical pieces and his own interpretations of modern tunes.
RECORDINGS AND SESSION WORK
Previous clients have included: Soul Shack recordings (N.S.W), Soundbox Studios (N.S.W), Trevor Glass productions (New Zealand), Adrian Holmes studios (S.A), S.A Jazz Archive Inc (S.A) and many other independent, unsigned original artists and bands.
"Outlines" is to be Bill's debut album and is presently in the mixing and editing stage and will be released sometime in the very near future.
The album features a mix of styles but is predominantly in the rock fusion vein.
Melbourne musician and songwriter Dave Graney commented on Bill's guitar playing on the self titled Salty CD saying - "...I do like the clarity and the sparseness of a lot of the songs though... the different sounds and the fact that the guitar player, although he can play great, knows when to step out for the sake of the song sometimes altogether..."
STUDY AND EDUCATION
Bill studied at the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney (for 1 year only). He completed his BMUS Jazz performance degree at Adelaide's Elder Conservatorium of Music in 2004 and also released his first instructional book "Concepts of Jazz, for all musicians, Vol 1". A revised and updated 2nd edition of Volume 1 is also about to be published (May 2007) and Bill is hard at work on Volume 2.
ALBUMS BILL HAS FEATURED ON
*Amaze by Squeaker (unsigned) 2002
*Lorem Ipsum by Jarrad Payne (unsigned) 2003
*Ellington's Heirs by S.A Jazz Archive Inc 2004
*Salty self titled by Salty (unsigned) 2004
*Free by Hannah (Soundbox records) 2007
ALBUMS BILL HAS TOURED IN SUPPORT OF
*SuperAlterEgo by Avra (JSEM music) 2003
*Centre of Gravity by Tim Carter (Supersonic) 2003
*Silent Broadway by Ash Hansen (Upside music) 2006
PUBLICATIONS
*Concepts of Jazz for all musicians Volume 1 (Self Published) 2004
-A non-instrument specific self help guide for would-be jazz musicians. Essentially a jazz theory "text book" with a conversational writing style and clear concise methods for getting into jazz orientated harmony. Described by Australian Guitar Magazine as "...just about the best we've seen in terms of de-mystifying the art of jazz guitar and teaching the theory in easy to swallow mouthfuls..."
*Amaze songbook (self published) 2003
-Bill contributed to the songbook/transcriptions published by Adelaide act Squeaker from their self-titled debut album. His contribution was essentially helping clear up the names of some of the chords; Bill scores a mention in the credits.
*Silent Broadway songbook (Upside Music) 2006
-Bill proofed and edited the songbook/transcriptions from Ash Hansen's debut solo album Silent Broadway. The tasks included checking the guitar voicings, notation, spacing, clefs and various other mundane eye squinting tasks. Bill receives a mention in the credits at the start of the book.
UPCOMING PUBLICATIONS
*Concepts of Jazz for all Musicians Volume 2
-A continuation of Bill's initial book with further study of jazz harmony.
*Outlines songbook
-Transcriptions (notation and tablature) from Bill's forthcoming solo album of the same name.
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