Book for sax pieces on bass

[Aaron Saunders]

I remember my teacher mentioning a while ago (a long while -- at least a year or a year and a half ago) about this book that had sax pieces transcribed for bass, and I'm pretty sure he specified that they were Coltrane pieces at that. Well, in the last few months, I've really developed a taste for two things:

1. Sax players.
2. Doing things on bass that weren't written for bass -- Moonlight Sonata, Amazing Grace, Overjoyed (*barely* managing even the beginning parts, since I'm playing it on fretless) etc. etc.

I'd be playing these on my fretted four string and tuning it ADGC (since that's the range the transcriptions fall into).

What I'm asking of you...do ANY of you know what book he's talking about, or who it's written by? I'm totally stumped.

 

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Bump. I'd be interested to find this book as well. I'm trying to learn some Paul Desmond (my favorite) solos on bass, and transcribing them isn't the easiest for me.

 

[tim99]

The best I could find is the Charlie Parker Omnibook is available in bass clef:

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Some others I found:

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John Coltrane: Improvised Saxophone Solos

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[Scot]

Here's a good one:

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Jim Snidero Jazz Conception. It has the solos available in bass clef and a music minus one play along.

-Scot

 

[JimK]

I'm thinking it was the Bird Omnibook transcribed in Bass Clef.

I'm a huge Coltrane fan & I don't recall ever seeing a "Bass Book" of 'Trane tunes.

EDIT-
I will add that "Naima" would be a good tune to work up for bass; it's been done, though(Wooten?).

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

I'm thinking it was the Bird Omnibook transcribed in Bass Clef.

I'm a huge Coltrane fan & I don't recall ever seeing a "Bass Book" of 'Trane tunes.

EDIT-
I will add that "Naima" would be a good tune to work up for bass; it's been done, though(Wooten?).

"Mr PC", by Coltrane is pretty easy to play on bass and of course was written for Mr. Paul Chambers - one of the best Jazz bass players ever!! Dave Holland has doen a solo bass version as well!

Every Aebersold Play along book - there are hundreds - has several Jazz tunes and they are written out in Bass Clef at the end of the book. So - they are primarily aimed at Sax,Trumpet,Trombone etc. players - and each tune is in C,Bb, Eb and Bass Clef.

 

[Aaron]

I'm thinking it was the Bird Omnibook transcribed in Bass Clef.

I'm a huge Coltrane fan & I don't recall ever seeing a "Bass Book" of 'Trane tunes.

EDIT-
I will add that "Naima" would be a good tune to work up for bass; it's been done, though(Wooten?).

I did Naima something like a year and a half ago, I forget what I did, really. Doesn't Jaco do a version on the video?

 

[Muzique Fann]

EDIT-
I will add that "Naima" would be a good tune to work up for bass; it's been done, though(Wooten?).[/QUOTE]

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey covers that tune (keys, bass, drums) - Reed Mathis plays a ripping lead.

 

[smperry]

Two quick thoughts from a bassist who started on sax:

It's not too hard to change melodies written for Eb alto sax to bass. Basically, you can pretend there's a bass clef instead of a treble clef and change the key by taking away 3 sharps and/or adding flats. By that I mean, a alto sax plays a song in G (one sharp, F sharp). Let's say the first note is G. So first, pretend that it's bass clef (don't move any notes). Then, Take away the one sharp, and add to flats (in order, Bb and Eb). So you're in the key of Bb and your first note is Bb. You still have to deal with accidentals but it helps on the fly. I got through a bunch of musicals in high school by doing this in reverse (taking a bass/some other low C instrument part and playing it on sax). If this is unclear, let me know (I'm at work and typing fast)....

Second, there is a real (fake) book written in bass clef available (free) online. It's got melodies and changes. If anyone wants to send me an email, I'll get the URL when I get home.

Marshall