Customer Reviews for World's Best Piano Arrangements
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R.Lbut my 7th grade son's the viruoso!
Location: from La Crosse, WI
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate/advanced
May 6, 2009
GET YOUR MUSIC BOOK SPIRAL BOUND!
For all of you complaining about "keeping books open," you can find printers who will spiral bind your books! Here in our small town I've gotten most books done (for my 7th grade son, who has already been in piano concerto competitions!) for just two bucks, with really thick books ten. But what a joy to have solved this problem!!! Rich Levinger--Bobby's father!
42 of 73 people found this review helpful.
Phoebe Bender
Location: from Albany, NY
Difficulty Level:
Advanced
March 18, 2009
Fun to play and learn
What fun to have arrangements by first class pianists. I'm a good sight reader, so this book is a dandy: a range of difficulty levels but I could play several songs right away and I'm glad to have others which will take more work. I especially enjoy the George Shearing and Fats Waller versions of a lot of old favorites.
37 of 64 people found this review helpful.
Millie
Location: from New Brunswick, Canada
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate
February 5, 2009
Good Variety
I love The George Shearing arrangements. When I play these pieces I feel like I can play as well as the arranger (which I try). I like the George Shearing sound and enjoy all of the pieces, some of which are easy and others more difficult, especially for older fingers. One of my favorite music books.
30 of 59 people found this review helpful.
pianomom
Location: from upstate NY
Difficulty Level:
Early intermediate
January 23, 2009
Not so much
I am not a fan of this book. I do not like the music or the arrangements.
34 of 70 people found this review helpful.
Anonymous
Location: from Chappaqua, NY
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate
January 21, 2009
A Real Ripoff
Outdated arrangements, many available in other formats. I felt I'd been had.
32 of 65 people found this review helpful.
Anonymous
Location: from Little Silver, NJ
Difficulty Level:
Advanced
July 2, 2008
10 Plus Review
I was totally pleased with WORLD'S BEST PIANO ARRANGEMENTS. I enjoyed looking through the book and I went right to the piano to try out some of the arrangements. I was very pleased at the selection of songs within-the kind of songs that are not being written any more. I was amazed at some of the artists whose work was represented in this folio-George Shearing, Bill Evans, Teddy Wilson and many others.-all of whose names are very familiar to me. at
11 of 24 people found this review helpful.
Anonymous
Location: from Lincoln England
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate
June 25, 2008
Pleased
It has opened the door for some welcome pleasure
10 of 23 people found this review helpful.
Will
Location: from Kanas City, MO
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate/advanced
June 5, 2008
A LOT of George Shearing
You know how in a can of mixed nuts it says something like, "less than 65% peanuts?" Well, this book should say "65% George Shearing." Fortunately I like George Shearing, especially his curious endings, but truth be told, this book is mostly his arrangements.
16 of 26 people found this review helpful.
C. Black
Location: from
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate/advanced
May 6, 2008
Good selections
I really enjoyed this music book. However, some of the chords were too widespread for a woman's hands. But somehow I made them work for me.
16 of 25 people found this review helpful.
Pat Graff
Location: from Columbus, OH
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate/advanced
April 23, 2008
Disappointing with aggrevating binding!
With the exception of a couple of numbers, the book was a big let down and the book is too big for a glued binding. Just keeping the pages open was an exercise in frustration. Lyrics would, as others have suggested, be most helpful in finding the melody line. In some of the arrangements ("The Darktown Strutter's Ball"), it was very difficult to find the melody.
12 of 26 people found this review helpful.
Regan Cannon
Location: from Johnson City, TN
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate/advanced
September 10, 2007
Fantastic collection...
I bought this book somewhat nervous that "After I Say I'm Sorry" might be the only decent arrangement in the whole collection; from first sight I could tell that it was beyond my ability anyway. Man was I wrong! The arrangements are performance quality and strikingly similar to these artists' original recordings (listen to "In Your Own Sweet Way" and follow along with the sheet music). That is to say, fills, runs, and solos are all accurately transcribed: we're breaking some new ground there, Copernicus! I was a bit naive though...some of these are quite difficult. Worth every second of practice though. Whip out some of these slow-burning jazz renditions at a piano bar and stop the show. Exactly what I'd been looking for.
13 of 26 people found this review helpful.
Anonymous
Location: from Nashville
Difficulty Level:
Advanced
September 9, 2007
Great content. Binding is annoying.
Wonderful collection of outstanding arrangements. Print is clear and easy for older eyes to read. Highyly recommended. It would be nice if it came in a binding format that would stay open on the music desk without using a book on both sides to prop it open.
13 of 24 people found this review helpful.
K. Lemons
Location: from Austin, Texas
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate
September 7, 2007
Simple, but unique.
The arrangements are simple and unique, but could have been a bit more elaborate for better presentation. The book is well worth purchasing, though.
12 of 23 people found this review helpful.
Bill Cridland
Location: from Bolton MA
Difficulty Level:
Advanced
September 5, 2007
Comparing Populars Piano renditions
Piano book in question see order was about a 2 rate. I had bought several years ago a similar type popular piano book called 'Let Me Entertain You '( Hansen House # 34) The chords were spelled out for each bar. Also Worlds Best Piano Arrangements were really lacking in the choice of artists . It seemed as though George Shearing was your favorite. You mentioned on the cover Bill Evans and you have only one selected piece by Bill Evans.No mention of Errol Garner one of my favorite artists. Also finally I think the level was targeted for intermediate pianists.
10 of 23 people found this review helpful.
Sean N Henderson, Music Instructor
Location: from Brookfield, CT
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate/advanced
June 25, 2007
Good Book for Teaching or Performing
June, 2007: My teenage jazz student brought this in and it's been instrumental as a book on fleshing out jazz arrangements. If you or your student have gotten in a rut with fake-books or weaker arrangements, this is a good way to get back into specific arrangements that are performance quality. I could see the arrangements in this book also being the basis of of one's "casual" set - in other words, one could gig solely on the contents of this volume. This is not a purely intermediate volume, but a nice intermediate-to-advanced one. This would make a better subsequent experience in any study of jazz or pop standards. Lastly, the volume contains no performance notes or pedagogical materials, so the instructor must have some familiarity with these types of arrangements.
18 of 30 people found this review helpful.
Bobbee Hepworth
Location: from Spokane, WA
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate
June 8, 2007
No words; no verses
I wanted a book that had the verses and the words to the songs. The four arrangements by Duke Ellington were very good, but I already had them. There were a coupld of good ones by George Shearing. The only one of the 100 pieces that had a verse and the words was the one by Hoagy Carmichael. I was disappointed.
10 of 22 people found this review helpful.
Michele Casarico
Location: from Claro, Switzerland
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate
April 30, 2007
Good for your daughter :)
(if she likes to play piano)
12 of 26 people found this review helpful.
Bob Jones
Location: from Houston, Texas
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate/advanced
April 20, 2007
Tickle your fingers---and put a smile on your face
If you love George Shearing, this collection should please you: over 30 of the arrangements are his. But, the jewel-like arrangements by Teddy Wilson, Art Tatum, "Fatha" Hines, Mary Lou Williams and Bill Evans (!) so rarely found in print more than compensate for the Shearing lopsidedness. This collection a worthy addition to my library.
13 of 23 people found this review helpful.
Harvey Tepfer
Location: from Murphy, TX
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate
March 16, 2007
lumping arrangements into glued binding
Somehow I expected the book to be loose-leaf for ease of use. There's no way one can comfortably sight read 100 arrangements that are glued together in such fashion. I think the guy who put these together ought to be glued.
10 of 25 people found this review helpful.
Rita Blair
Location: from Wilmington, NC
Difficulty Level:
Advanced
March 8, 2007
World's Best Piano ARRANGEMENTS!
I found it VERY ADVANCED for just a middle of the road keyboardist. I'm also sorry there are no words included with the music. I wish I had realized the difficulty of this book before I purchased it. The pieces themselves are very classic & I love all of them, I just can't play them!
13 of 21 people found this review helpful.
Marian Strong
Location: from Columbia Falls, MT
March 8, 2007
Not What I Wanted
Arrangements were way beyond my ability. I was looking for a piece I had many years ago and which was contained in this book but it was an entirely different arrangement and I can't even play it.[...]
10 of 28 people found this review helpful.
Alice R.
Location: from Orlando FL
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate/advanced
February 26, 2007
This Is What I Was Looking For
I have been playing for hours at a time--I particularly like the George Shearing arrangements. Of the others, some are immediately playable-- others take work. Most of the selections would appeal to the over-sixty crowd. The binding is not convenient. I took the book apart, stapled the pages and put them in a three-ring binder.
11 of 23 people found this review helpful.
laurie andrews
Location: from Great Bookham England
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate
February 22, 2007
One to keep you amused for hours and hours
Very good value for money especially if you like George Shearing
9 of 20 people found this review helpful.
Heather
Location: from Seattle, WA
Difficulty Level:
Advanced
August 4, 2006
Absolute Treasure!
I love this book. Some of the pieces are written by men with large hands so are a challenge for average hands. One must consider that there are so many fine arrangements in this book that even if you only like 5 pieces, it's a bargain. Pieces range from mid-intermediate to very advanced. This is one of my prized books.
13 of 29 people found this review helpful.
Anonymous
Location: from New York, NY
April 26, 2005
Great Arrangements...
The arrangements in this book are by some of the greatest jazz pianists of all time and some of them make this book truly worthy of its title. The pieces range in difficulty from easy (anything arranged by shearing) to very difficult (anything arranged by hines or tatum). My only complaint is that most of the arrangements are only 32 bars long, which is too short for serious performance.
11 of 22 people found this review helpful.
Carole
Location: from Michigan
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate/advanced
January 12, 2004
All time greats
When trying to improve your own music, it is always good to look at those who went before and had the respect of fellow musicians of that time. This book is a gem. I am remembering songs of the fifties, sixties, seventies. Wonderful jazzy arrangements. Some easily played, some that require some extra effort. I play a variety of music, read mostly advanced, from jazz to pop to classical.
12 of 22 people found this review helpful.
Marny Ruhland
Location: from Elgin, Il
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate/advanced
July 10, 2001
Piano bar music
Just really fun arrangements. I love this book. I like to imagine myself playing for an audience at a bar or restaurant. I bought this book sight unseen because I lost my "doll dance" music. When I tried to play the arrangement that came with this book I was very disappointed because it was so different from the arrangement I had learned before. I didn't touch the book for a few months. Now I can't leave it alone. I still haven't tried to learn the doll dance arrangement but I love "Cabin In The Sky," "Blue Moon," and "Over The Rainbow" to mention a few.
13 of 23 people found this review helpful.