Nine Good Arrangements. Six Good Tunes
926055
Most of the arrangements in the Popular Perfomer Series are full and interesting without being overly complex. This volume is no exeption although I would put it at the more advanced end, playing technique wise, in the PP Series. As with other PP volumes this one is also a bit thin. At least another 1/2 dozen tunes would fill these volumes out nicely and would motivate me to upgrade their reviews to five stars.
3153471
After working with Nelson Faria's excellent Brazilian Guitar Method for awhile, I was looking for authentic arrangements of complete tunes that I could play unaccompanied. This book delivers with great tune choices, all Brazilian classics, and a large well designed book. The solo arrangements are intermediate in level and require a pretty solid knowledge of typical jazz chord forms, though TAB can help with this I guess. There are quite a few interesting and characteristic Brazilian open string voicings not typically found in jazz. The lead sheets with decent changes and english lyrics and comping chorus are a nice bonus. All in all, each arrangement presents a creaqtive solution to combining melody, chords, and bass simultaneously. The most challenging aspect of authentic Brazilian music is rhythmic feel ("Ginga"). Unfortunately the examples on the cd are out of tune and stiffly performed. If you are already familiar with Bonfa, Gilberto, Baden Powell, Toquinho, etc, you can adapt the feel to make the tunes flow more smoothly. There are chord substitutions and some liberty is taken with the melodies. I have been warmly received playing these arrangements in public and have come another big step closer to getting at the heart of this amazing and timeless music. The arrangements are designed for Classical fingerstyle guitar. This book is a great value, and worth the time it takes to master the tunes, which are ultimately playable-not nearly as rough as the Barbossa-Lima book. I graduated from Berklee if that makes a difference.
705654
Great album.  Wonderful arrangements.  Just a fun album.
3784631
Alan Munde's name has come to be synonymous with good, clean, precise banjo-picking that emphasizes tone, timing and technique. He currently fronts his own group called The Alan Munde Gazette. He's also built a strong reputation as a knowledgeable and credible instructor who has, since 1986, taught full-time in the Bluegrass and Country Music Program at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas. This book and CD feature 15 tunes from his popular "Solo Banjo" project. The banjo tab transcriptions correlate well with the renditions. There are many bluegrass and traditional standards such as Old Joe Clark, Red Wing, Liza Jane, Lonesome Road Blues, Prisoner's Song, Grandfather's Clock, and John Henry. I wish that his tab would have included indications of where each tune's "A" and "B" parts begin. With over four pages of tab for "Old Joe Clark," it's easy to get lost among the 166 measures. "Red Wing" has some interesting double-note accents. A three-part song medley includes The Old Spinning Wheel, Put On Your Old Grey Bonnet, and Seeing Nellie Home. I was familiar with an arrangement of "The Old Spinning Wheel" in D-tuning, so it's nice to see it here in G-tuning. "Liza Jane" gives a 5-string player a good workout with slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs. A few other numbers incorporate harmonics. Alan uses both Scruggs and melodic styles, and he'll get you thinking banjaristically as you work through the material.

Variations for many of the songs like "Titanic" and "Liza Jane" get you playing high on the neck. Have fun in the 20th and 21st frets on the latter! Three of Alan's own originals will really test your chops. "Fred's Frolic" is a creative piece. Melody and harmony parts for his self-penned "Peaches and Cream" make for a delicious and sugary treat. Munde's "The French Broad (River Song)" requires a different banjo tuning of GDGAD lowered   step to F#. In a similar way, Munde's arrangement of Maurie Ravel's "Pavane For A Dead Princess" lowers the banjo's tuning  step from the standard GDGBD. Playing along with this music will help you appreciate why Alan Munde is one of the most highly respected and best-loved banjo players in the world. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)
3772689
The arrangements are fantastic!  But be aware that much of this is in alternate tunings.  DADGAD, etc.  If you're into that it'll be very useful.  Unfortunately I am not so that limits my ability to pull these out at a gig.  Nonetheless, it's worth the price even for the songs that are in standard tuning.
179340
The arrangements in this book are very well done:  Not hard to play and effective.  A lot of good songs with lyrics that for the most part do not offend or cause controversy in the elementary music environment.  Am glad to have it in my elementary music classroom.
4784252
Have been going over the different arrangements; they are excellent and bring a fresh sound to familiar tunes; particularly, Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.
2346572
Great piano arrangements that veery closely match the original 1967 arrangements of these charming and (in some cases) classic songs. All your favourites are there from the ubiquitous "Happiness" to the more eclectic, but VERY FUNNY "Queen Lucy", and is there a kid with homework who can't relate to any (or all) of the opinions on "A Book Report". Lovely stuff....
4942689
I love the Wicked music. These arrangements are nice because they have the melody in the accompaniment most of the time. There are several songs where you'd have to pick the melody out from non-stop 16th note runs.  The piano line is quite difficult, not for a novice player, and even an intermediate player (like me) would need lots of practice. Be warned: there are changes from the Broadway recordings. For example: No Good Deed skips the opening chanting completely and starts with the chorus. Over all, I'm happy with the purchase and the excuse to practice more :)
2158415
You will find a lot of these songs are old classics, I think theres like only a handful of songs in here published after 1950, most of them are from the 30s and 40s. A lot of these songs were arranged by George Shearing who is a 91 year old British jazz pianist who had the honor of performing for three U.S. presidents, and we also get some older classic arrangements by Fats Waller and Art Tatum. I was impressed with how many rare songs are included in this like Jitterbug Waltz or Coming to Virginia. The way these songs are arranged, you won't be surprised that these came off the pens of the professionals, everything flows together so well, with the advanced bass lines and chords. This is not for beginners at all, these songs are even difficult for me and I am more intermediate. If you are a performer, this book would impress many people if played the way they were arranged, and the only problem I find is that lyrics are not included to most songs that have them. I can just look those up online though, so this book gives you great arrangements.
4384326
Volume IV brings smiles to my face with its wide, fun selection of tunes.

I LOVE seeing "I Love Lucy" in here and other TV themes.
A really eclectic mix all the way from "I Feel Good" by James Brown
to fusion tunes by Mike Stern, Chick Corea, plus plenty of big
band classics, standards, pop songs, Bill Evans tunes, obscure jazz tunes,
 "Minute by Minute" by the Doobies, etc, etc,  a great mix.

And a bunch of tunes that were missing from previous Hal Leonard
Real Book volumes (when compared to the original underground Real Book) are now
included, like "Days of Wine and Roses", "A Foggy Day", and others.

The only truly weird thing is the 2 page lead sheet for KoKo
by Charlie Parker omits the 'head'.  It has the composed
interludes, it has the chords but omits Bird's melody of KoKo.
Every bebop fan and musician knows KoKo has a wonderful, composed melody, not just
solos as shown here.  It's like a page is missing, but the pages are numbered correctly.
There are plenty of other Charlie Parker tunes that ARE included,
with correct melody, so .... a minor mystery... or error...
986720
The arrangements were excellent, the band sure could play.  There is an interesting introduction to Long John Silver which is a good demonstration why Jimmy Dorsey let his music speak for him.  Unfortunately, there is only  so much that can be done to clean old recordings, but there are no major  defects and the disk is definitely listenable or danceable.
4875123
This is a great compilation of songs that actually are fun.  There is a short description giving history and/or instructions for each tune and nice artwork as well.  The credentials of the three contributors to this book are impressive, and it is well-crafted in every regard.  I would highly recommend it.
2625564
It's better than most say. Sure, some of it's confused, but there are 6 good songs on it. Speedy delivery and a good seller on Amazon.
1737172
The arrangements almost always include a very nice introduction before the main melody. The arrangements are also very straightforward without complications, yet the music is not over-simplified. It would be really great if it had a CD attached.
1201269
This CD has a nice collection of Mantovani's work. The combination of older standards with "newer" (such as Stevie Wonder's "For Once In My Life")is great. This is the stuff that is usually mocked as "elevator music" but also considered by many good romancing background music. Many of these arrangements were heard  on a local Beautiful Music FM station where I live before the format change. The only negative I have is for a "box set" there is no write-up on the Orchestra. It would have been nice to read about Mantovani and what inspired his arrangements, and the orchestra personnell. My copy was made in Canada by Madacy. Maybe someone who has contact with that company could recommend a booklet for any future copies made.
105149
This album is one of the best introductions to the arrangements that made Ray Conniff a household name from the 60s' onwards. It is a well organized album which goes off chronologically and thus exposes some of Conniff's most famous musical periods, beginning with the jazzy period of the late 50's, going through the classics of his prolific mid 60s' and finalizing with some arrangements of recognizable hits of the 70s'. This allows the material to flow gently and makes the songs more memorable instead of schmaltzy, which is a quality that many orchestral pop arrangers fell into. The singers are present in most of the songs and the album as a whole evokes a nostalgia for that unique moment in time.

 However, for an artist who recorded as many albums as Conniff, 16 songs is not enough for a full career retrospective; many of his greatest moments in albums such as Somebody Loves Me, Love Affair and S' Marvelous, among other top quality records, are sadly missing. Contrary to popular belief Conniff was an excellent studio album mogul, whose quality remains far and away from overplayed hits. My recommendation is to pick up some of the studio albums after this one, but for those looking for a single Conniff overview, 16 most requested songs works just fine.