Stan Ayeroff's website

gypsyjazzer

Hi everyone,

Re: Stan Ayeroff

Does anyone out there know if Stan Ayeroff, the author of two excellent books of Django Reinhardt transcriptions, has a website and/or email address, and if so, what the internet addresses are? I'd like to ask him some questions about a couple of his transcriptions.

For anyone not already familiar with Stan Ayeroff's books, "Jazz Masters Django Reinhardt" (Amsco Publications) and "The Music of Django Reinhardt" (Mel Bay), I would just like to say how good I feel they are.

The second of these publications includes probably the best analysis of Django's playing and improvising style yet written. True, they are only written in musical notation, which does make them somewhat harder to work with if one's reading skills are not up to speed, but surely everyone can at least work out the notes in musical notation, even if they can't manage to master time values etc., like myself? And Stan does include some string and fingering suggestions as a guide. In the case of these books, the effort is well worthwhile.

I'm currently writing the Arpeggios section out showing the notes of each arpeggio (there's 22 different types of arpeggio - some with as many as 16 different fingerings each!) on a series of fingerboard 'maps'. This way I can also 'see' each arpeggio/chord shape that Django probably used to build his solos. I think it's an approach similar to the one used in Stephane Wrembel's book "Getting Into Gypsy Jazz Guitar".

Every single solo in Stan Ayeroff's second book on Django's solos is analysed bar by bar to identify Django's use of arpeggios, scales, ornaments, melodic ideas, chromatic runs etc., etc. I think the overall picture combines to create an invaluable grounding in understanding the gypsy jazz guitar style.

What never ceases to amaze me is how Django appears to have based so much of his improvisations around arpeggios, yet they rarely sound like a succession of arpeggios, but much more like structured, well thought out melodies. Just cast an 'ear' over one of his masterpieces like "I'll See You In My Dreams", to see what I'm trying to get at.

Stuart

Jack

I can't recall ever seeing a site of his own, but you should be able to get in touch through his publisher. In the meantime, a quick search digs up this nugget:

Many of the same tunes are to be found in Best of Gershwin by Stan Ayeroff (Warner #GF-0324). Ayeroff was once a guitarist with Danny Elfman's Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo (a magically gifted musical mime troupe which, to the despair of its fans, turned into a rock group in the '80s).

!
Best,
Jack.

MichaelHorowitz

Ther Ayeroff books are pretty well done. However, he tends to be way off on the fingerings. I can only assume he never consulted any Gypsy players on technique, so he was guessing. Sometimes he was right, most of the time not. Also, he tends to notate many of the idiomatic "tricks" incorrectly....he gets the fingering, picking, and often the notes themselves totally wrong and has them written in such a way that no one could ever possibly execute it correctly. For example, in his transcription of Django's 1950 version of Dark Eyes he totally missed one of Django's classic open string pivoting devices. If you tried to play it they way he wrote it, you'd never be successful. I've had many students come to me pulling their hair out trying to play one of the Ayeroff transcriptions only to find that the problem wasn't their technique, but rather the transcription itself.

Nice to have those books as a reference, but I'd consult more reliable sources for arpeggio fingerings and such.

'm

gypsyjazzer

Hi Michael,

Now you've thrown me - I've never had a very good ear for pitch, and have always found it very difficult to work a solo out from the recording. So when I'm working with a transcription, and come across a bit that doesn't quite sound right, I usually assume it's my mistake and not the transcription.

However, once you find someone has made an error in transcribing, or printing a piece, then you can never really have full confidence in them or their future publications - so I'll look at these transcriptions afresh after your observations.

By the way, I'm impressed you resisted the temptation to recommend your own book "Gypsy Picking" for studying arpeggios and their respective 'gypsy' fingerings, but it's prompted me to get my copy out again, and to do some more studying.

Many thanks again for your contributions to the genre. Incidentally, are you still working on publishing "Gypsy Jazz Intors and Endings" and "The Gypsy Jazz Pattern Book"?

Stuart
PS. I'm really looking forward to your new book on gypsy rhythm playing, I've had a look at the samples you posted on the website, and it's great to see someone has analysed the rhythm parts on the Grappelli/Reinhardt duo recordings. Excellent, well done - how come you haven't been awarded the Légion d'honneur yet for services to French jazz?

MichaelHorowitz

Hi Stuart,

The Angelo Debarre books and Daniel Givone's book are also good sources for fingerings. Ayeroff's stuff was pretty good considering he was an American who was totally isolated from the living tradition in Europe. But now that there are more accurate sources of information, it's best to stick with those. Again, Ayeroff's stuff is still good to have around as a reference.

Incidentally, are you still working on publishing "Gypsy Jazz Intors and Endings" and "The Gypsy Jazz Pattern Book"?

Those projects are still in the works....but I have to finish Gypsy Rhythm Vol,2 and 3 first!

Excellent, well done - how come you haven't been awarded the Légion d'honneur yet for services to French jazz?

That may be reserved for Alain Antionetto...but I'll gladly take one too!

Elliot

Michael Horowitz wrote:

Those projects are still in the works....but I have to finish Gypsy Rhythm Vol,2 and 3 first!

I wanna read

"At the Feet of Fapy: Diary of a Jewish Jazz Sadhu in the Land of the Gypsies".

Ken Bloom

I'd put that one right beside my copies of the Walter Starkie books (Raggle Taggle, In Sarah's Tent, etc.)

HCPhilly

I'd have to agree with Michael about Ayeroff's Django transcriptions.
There are a lot of mistakes, mainly as Michael said, Re. essential elements of Gypsy picking, fingerings, where things are played, etc.
Ayeroff has some solo guitar chord melody books, [easy], that have some nice arranging devices on standards.
I encourage everyone to try to do some of your own transcribing, little by little. It will help you quite a bit.