Alfred's Easy Piano Songs -- Standards & Jazz: 50 Classics from the Great American Songbook

I took piano lessons for several years as a kid, and I'm trying to get back into playing after many years of letting my skills get rusty. I'm probably at a low intermediate level. I was able to learn Ain't Misbehavin' in a few hours, and frankly I am blown away by how nice the arrangement is. It sounds better than it should for it being such an easy arrangement. It's the equivalent of a dress that takes off 20 pounds! It sounds good enough to be played by a professional pianist in a jazz bar. I hope the rest of the songs are this enjoyable, as I plan on working my way through the whole book! If you like this kind of music, this is the book to get. You won't regret it.

My wife is a decent sight-reader and we've been through a bunch of these tunes so far. A few of them are harmonically a little bit thin and will be getting some fuller chords penciled in for our son to learn, but most of our favorite tunes sound beautiful as written. There are a lot of really nice intros, sweet endings with a tag rolling into some great harmonic motion and tasty choices of upper extensions--really fun arrangements! If you were hired to play for a cocktail party and played down this whole book as-is, I think it would go over just fine. Very pretty music!Note: this book WILL NOT sit flat on your music stand no matter what you do. Right off I took it to a print shop and had the spine cut off and replaced with a spiral binding. Totally worth the extra $8.50 or so.

I came back to the piano after quitting at age 13 and spending the next few decades as a singer (much of it cabaret) so I was anxious to try playing the music I love so much. I'm currently in a Level 3 lesson book and have found these arrangements both enormously satisfying (beautiful and complex) and also very challenging, in places. As another reviewer stated, "easy" is a completely relative term and this is perhaps easy for someone who is an intermediate or advanced player. For me, in lesson book 3, this is "challenging but worth it." If you love the music, you'll put in the work and enjoy the satisfaction when you learn a whole piece.

Advanced beginner or early intermediate

After taking piano for about four years, I'm hardly an expert and as such, "easy" is a relative term. However, this book was the right choice. I wanted a selection of jazz favorites that would "stretch" me but not so hard to totally discourage me. This book found the right balance. Moreover, the price for such a wide selection of tunes was by far better than paying for individual sheets.

FROM MY LIMITED EXPERENCE, I made the pieces more complex to include 7thchords. SUPRISINGLY, IT DIDNT SOUND MUCH BETTER. That goes to show they were well arranged.

Nice arrangements. There are no finger markings which would make the songs more approachable.

This book is one of my favorites. I'm working on hand independence and these arrangements are a nice level for me. Plus the pieces are familiar standards.

Macht Spass, daraus zu singen und zu spielen, einziger Nachteil: das Umblättern, schade, dass man die Seiten nicht ausklappbar gestaltet hat. Ich habe die Einzelseiten kopiert und an die entsprechende Seite angeklebt und mir so meine eigenen Klappnoten gebastelt.