Erskine Jazz Essentials app released

[Lucas Ives]

Hey all,

I mentioned it in the chatty, but in case anyone's interested: Erskine Jazz Essentials, Vol. 1

Info below; would love to hear feedback and any bugs/sugs you might run into.

Happy New Year, everyone.

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Featuring Peter Erskine on drums, Alan Pasqua on piano, and Darek Oles on bass, this app has been designed and created for use by all musicians who are interested in perfecting their jazz skills and artistry. The heart of jazz is being able to play the blues and “standards” in common keys and at different tempos. With a century’s worth of professional and pedagogical experiences between the three musicians, these tracks target and explore an essential variety of requisite jazz modes and styles that we have found to be of the most use.

Utilizing the built-in mixer, you can create your own combo: full rhythm section (trio), music-minus-piano, music-minus-bass, music-minus-drums, or solo tracks of drums-only, bass-only or piano-only. There are click-track and count-off options as well.

PDF lead sheets are included in the keys of C, Bb and Eb. These charts can be printed or emailed from the app. In the case of some well-known standards, we have adhered to the form and chord changes of the songs unless otherwise noted. The melodies to these tunes can easily be found on-line or in a RealBook, etc. There are also some classic tune forms from the post-bop era, making this collection up-to-date and relevant.

We suggest that you listen to the full trio mixes at least once in order to hear how the band is playing this music — unless, of course, you wish to fully embrace the jazz spirit and experience the performances in real time: hearing and playing the music for the first time just like in a true jazz setting. In any event, you now have a world-class rhythm section at your fingertips.

As the beboppers say: “Straight ahead and strive for tone...”

There’s no better way to play better than to play more. Keep on swinging.
--Peter Erskine

[Matthijs Ament]

Cool & nice! Two questions though ;-].....how many songs are available in this app? And, why only Trio? Most, if not all standards come from bands the size of a quartet or quintet? If there would be such an app with Wynton, Brandford etc. together with this awesome trio I'd pay twice the money in a heartbeat.

[Steve Holmes]

Great job Lucas and Erskoman! Looking forward to checking this out.

[Lucas Ives]

Cool & nice! Two questions though ;-].....how many songs are available in this app? And, why only Trio? Most, if not all standards come from bands the size of a quartet or quintet? If there would be such an app with Wynton, Brandford etc. together with this awesome trio I'd pay twice the money in a heartbeat.

1. 10 tunes this volume.

2. There are no articulated heads or solos here, but instead the changes and comping from the trio. If you play a lead instrument, you'd use the chart in the appropriate key (we supply charts for C,Eb, and Bb instruments) to practice over. If you're in the rhythm section, you can mute your instrument and work on your comping and setups.

So, yeah, the main idea is a little different than what you're proposing -- but agreed, that would definitely be pretty cool.

[circh bustom]

Any chance of a release for Android? I bought your Polynome last year when I had an iPhone and liked it. I would definitely buy this one as well.

[Lucas Ives]

Right now there are no plans for it -- for various nerdy reasons, an Android version would be basically a from-scratch project, and this is a spare time gig for me (also, I don't own any Android device on which to test). But we know you guys are out there and that there's demand for it .... Hopefully someday.

[Lucas Ives]

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that there's a new version of Peter, Aaron, and my Afro-Cuban Essentials iOS app out this week with 2 *brand new* tunes .. both 6/8 feels. It's a free upgrade for current owners ... and for those not yet on the bandwagon, we're running a special for the next week: the apps are 30% off at only $7.99 ....

Jazz Essentials Volume I
Jazz Essentials Volume II
Afro-Cuban Essentials

Straight ahead and strive for tone ....

[Julián Fernández]

The JE is a great app... Will check the update later. Cheers!

[Lucas Ives]

Hey all,

Our latest playalong app, Mintzer Big Band Essentials, is live! Featuring the big band music of Bob Mintzer, the app is a free download with 2 free tunes (Slo Funk and Havin' Some Fun). Great for any instrumentalist, play and record yourself with some of LA's top studio players including Erskine, Mintzer, Russ Ferrante, Wayne Bergeron, Bob Sheppard, and more.

Get some!

[Terry Branam]

On it!

Great job with these apps, Lucas, Your work is very inspiring