Teach Yourself Jazz - online guidebook

For the beginning player, with sheet music samples

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CHAPTER FOURTEEN
LISTENING AND PLAYING
START YOUR RECORD COLLECTION
A jazz book without prejudices would be something like Temperance Whisky or Vegetarian Roast Beef or Nicotine-free Herb Tobacco: worthy but dull. I hope parts of this book aren't dull; but that means they are probably crammed with prejudice.
So I shall now proceed to purge myself by saying that you must listen to jazz, and listen, and listen again. Any sort of jazz that commands an enthusiastic audience, large or small, must have something to it: so listen, and make up your mind for yourself.
Records
You can hear the most wonderful playing of all styles and types of jazz on gramophone records. If you haven't got a record player, buy one as Louis Armstrong bought his horn ("a little bit down, and a little bit now and then"). Your 'little bit down' will not be more than a few shillings—but even if that's difficult to manage, your local jazz club may be able to help you to listen to all kinds of jazz with still less of a financial outlay (see Appendix "A").
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