Of all the fake books out there (including a well known set of under-the-counter ones owned by all jazz musicians), this is the *only* one that has all, or even most, of the tune found here. You've got tunes by Jackie McClean, Hal Galper, Dexter Gordon, Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson... you get the idea. If you know who these players are... you need this book.

This book is the jazz musicians dream, nice tunes presented in easy to look at format. None of that junk you get with those other fakebooks, this is the best ever. Anybody who includes Hank Mobley in a fakebook gets my vote.

Hard Bop Piano is a unique and extremely valuable collection of rarely played and largely under-appreciated tunes by some of the finest jazz pianists of the 50s and 60s. The authors present a number of pieces by the likes of Randy Weston, Herbie Nichols and Andrew Hill, each of whom carved out an utterly distinctive and instantly recognizable style for himself during the heyday of hard bop. Weston and Nichols, in particular, were extremely fine composers, each with a flair for off-kilter rhythms and unexpected, charming melodies; and the inclusion of their work alone would make this an essential addition to any jazz lover's library. The transcriptions are unusually good, and often include not only the basic melody and harmony of each tune, but also elements of their original recorded arrangements. This book would make a wonderful gift for any jazz pianist, regardless of their level of expertise.

As the first chapter suggests, we're all outsiders...Puerto Ricans playing Cuban rhythms, Cuban players playing jazz, white guys arranging Latin dance music and Latin Jazz...the book at times is hard to read, owing to my lack of proficiency in reading music; however, for anyone who is reasonably well versed in sight reading the excerpts are short...the chapters on percussion are extremely easy to read--even for the "non-reader"...and uncertainties are cleared up by listening to the accompanying CD, which has patterns that lend insight into the intricacies of Latin music. The book makes a convincing case that there is room for an academic approach in understanding salsa, while making it equally clear that there are shortcomings as well. Well done.

well first off you'll probably notice that there is no concrete description of the book's contents. and you'll probably think to yourself 'there's no way they'd make me spend that much for a book of measure numbers and (simplified) chord names without throwing in at least a few transcriptions of solos.'

ironically, you would be wrong, were that your thought. yes, this is a fake book. fine for improvising over, since it gives you pretty bland transcriptions of the melodies and the chord progressions. but don't expect to have any closer glimpse into the music of monk. this will not let you see what notes monk plays, won't let you see the true craft of the pianist.

i had hoped this would turn out to be something like 'the complete charlie parker,' which is to date the most helpful book of solo transcriptions i've found. this was not even close. it's pretty pathetic how few notes are on the few pages of this book. make sure you see a copy of the book before deciding whether it's worth your while or not.

Just for people who are as lost about this book as I am I researched the author and he is an editor for many jazz fake books so that would lead one to believe that this is a fake book of Monk tunes. I own a Monk fake book, but it's a copy of a copy. But I'm pretty sure this is the one my copy came from.