Sher Music’s the Real Easy Book Vol. 3
The latest installment in Sher Music’s series of student-friendly fake books, The Real Easy Book Vol. 3: A Short History of Jazz is broken into sections covering every style a modern player needs to master: trad-jazz, swing, bop, West Coast or cool jazz, Blue Note-era hard bop, contempo jazz, groove jazz, Brazilian standards and Afro-Cuban tunes. A century of music, from “Bill Bailey” to Bird to Mike Stern, is covered in Sher’s squeaky clean lead-sheet format. $25 retail. shermusic.com
Antoine Courtois “XTREME” Jazz Trombone
This new trombone in the elegant Antoine Courtois Paris product line was designed specifically with advanced jazz players in mind. A melding of classic American trombone construction with modern brass innovation, the AC430T “XTREME” retains a weighty, authoritative tone within a lightweight instrument design. The .500 bore instrument features a 7 3/4-inch hand-hammered one-piece yellow brass bell and a hand slide with an ergonomic grip. courtois-paris.com
DW Drums Jazz Series
“[The] first totally custom Jazz-tailored drumset in history” is how DW touts its latest series of sets aimed at the bop-inclined drummer. With an innovative hybrid maple/gum shell, DW’s Jazz Series allows for the high tuning that swinging percussionists prefer without sacrificing tone or resonance. The kits also feature die-cast counter hoops, a “Kickstand” bass drum riser for 18-inch drums, and DW’s calling-card turret lugs. dwdrums.com
