by Doc Dosco
http://www.docdosco.com

This week we feature jazz guitarist Corey Christiansen.

This past week I rounded up 15 new jazz guitar books to give those who
follow this column my take on some of them. Last week I mentioned Jody
Fisher’s Chord and Scale Finder. This week I want to pass along a book
by Corey Christiansen called ‘Essential Jazz Lines in the Style of
Charlie Parker’. This is a wonderful little book full of useful phrases
and soloing ideas that can very easily be incorporated into one’s
playing style. This book is very well thought out. What I like most about
it is that it is fairly simple to go through the examples (and there are
lots of them) to quickly pick up new phrases.

G. B. Asta from Baysidepress.com says in a review:

“You can’t figure out the music of Charlie Parker in thirty-two pages but
you can make a good start. It is said that even Parker himself could not
play transcriptions of his solos. Corey Christiansen presents many of
Bird’s ideas in one or two bar patterns you can practice with the CD
that comes as part of your investment. These include the various II-V-I
progressions and turnarounds seen before from other authors, but
Christiansen goes a step further and shows how the old yardbird was able
to “target” chord tones with various chromatic scale patterns.
Christiansen also talks about secondary arpeggios and the idea of using
III flat-9 over V7 chords. The rhythm section on the CD is solid – a joy
to hear. It is a sobering thought that our dear friend W.A. Mozart and
Charles Christopher Parker each were on this earth for only some three
decades. I have every reason to think that 250 years hence we will still
be talking about Parker with as much reverence as we are today.”

Corey Christiansen Online Bio

Since he joined the Mel Bay Publications, Inc. team as Senior Music
Editor and advisor to Product Development in 2001, Corey Christiansen
has over forty publications with Mel Bay and has conducted countless
guitar clinics and concerts across the country and beyond. This highly
productive output may sound extraordinary, but it is no accident that he
plays and writes with such facility. Corey began playing the guitar at
the age of five and has been perfecting his technique ever since.

After growing up in a musically driven family with excellent instruction
from his father, Mel Bay author and Utah State University professor Mike
Christiansen, Corey continued his passion for playing the guitar at Utah
State University were he received his Bachelor’s Degree and many honors
and awards including the Outstanding Music Student Award and Outstanding
Guitarist Award. Seeking a Master’s Degree in Jazz Performance, Corey
sought out renowned jazz guitar educator Jack Petersen and began his
studies as a graduate teaching assistant at the University of South
Florida. After receiving his Master’s Degree in 1999, Corey took the
place of retired Jack Petersen and became the adjunct guitar instructor
at USF. In this position Corey became well versed in the abilities and
needs of jazz guitar students and ensembles.

Recently Corey had the opportunity to visit Australia for a two-week
tour of stores and conservatories. He has also performed at many notable
festivals and venues including John Pisano’s Guitar Night in Los
Angeles, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., the Umbria
Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy, the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, the
Clearwater Jazz Festival, the Daytona Beach Jazz Festival, the Classic
American Guitar Show, and the St. Louis Jazz Festival. He has also
performed and/or recorded with many outstanding jazz artists including
Jimmy Bruno, John Pisano, Joe Negri, Willie Akins, Chuck Redd, Rob
McConnel, Sid Jacobs, Jack Wilkins, and Danny Gottlieb.

Corey’s Mel Bay Publications, Inc. Products include the increasingly
popular Essential Jazz Lines series were he and his co-authors examine
the techniques of many of his greatest influences such as Grant Green,
Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Cannonball
Adderley. He continues to create new product series and ventures for Mel
Bay. Corey gets his appreciation for books from what his father always
taught himŠ “My Dad always used to tell me to buy less gear and more
books. He said if I dumped my time and money into my head, people might
want me to play their gear in the future. He was right. Anyone with
money can buy more guitars; all of us only get one brain so I think it’s
a great thing to invest in.”

Corey Christiansen’s homepage:
http://www.coreychristiansen.com/

Doc Dosco is a jazz guitarist, composer and audio consultant living in
Los Angeles, CA. His website is located at http://www.docdosco.com,
where you can find more information on the ‘What’s Hot with Jazz Guitar’
columns, audio clips of Doc’s playing, and many additional features. Doc
endorses Heritage Guitars and is a featured artist on their website. He
also endorses the new Pignose Valve Tube Amps — great for jazz (and anything else!)