Jazz in Autumn and CD (Nikki Iles Jazz)

This is the fourth of the Nikki Iles series of books I have bought. I love them. I started with the Jazz on a Winter's Night and - because I loved its so much - bought Volume 2. Nikki's interpretations of carols and Christmas songs are lovely to play - if somewhat challenging. Are her own compositions are a delight. I followed these with Jazz on a Summer's Day. I think this is a better book than Jazz in Autumn - in which Nikki's own compositions are not so memorable. But listening to her play each piece on the accompanying CDs is superb - and very helpful. Jazz in Autumn covers a range of styles and arrangements of well-known standards suitable for Grades 5 - 8. So, as in all her books, some arrangements are seriously challenging. But with practice, the beautiful chord sequences she uses are immensely pleasurable to play. Her books have been a wonderful find for me. I hope she publishes some more.

As an"Intermediate player " I rate this book and was able to sight read the pieces pretty well, which was satisfying, as I couldn't wait to begin exploring this Nikki Iles Autumn selection, having bought the Christmas selection last year. I have enjoyed practising the pieces and trying to bring them up to speed with accuracy, as getting into the jazz experience is a relatively new experience for me, sometimes checking `I am indeed playing the correct notes in the jazz chords, foreign to my ears, but with increasing practice it all comes together and sounds great! As before, the benefit of the CD is inspirational.

For me this is the best book in the 'Season series'. It has the usual mixture of about 70% standards and the rest Nikki Iles' own compositions. The difficulty standard is probably equivalent to Grade 7 but maybe easier if you are used to playing jazz standards where the rhythm is often more of a challenge than most classical music.All of her own compositions are really enjoyable to play and quite catchy and of the standards, four are arranged particularly well and are so enjoyable to play. There is a goose pimple arrangement of 'Over the Rainbow' which is the best arrangement of that song I have played for solo piano (I have four other arrangements of it) this one is possibly better than an incredible version by George Shearing. She even manages to make the middle section sound interesting! Then 'Here's that Rainy Day' is a great arrangement too and 'Witch craft'. But my favourite piece in the book is a beautiful arrangement of 'Danny Boy' in a slow introspective jazz style. It sounds so lovely and people comment on what a good arrangement it is! 'September in the Rain' is arranged in a more familiar jazz standard way, it falls under your hands easily, is fairly straight forward, has 16 bars and then there comes a written improvised section.My favourite piece by Iles is, 'Maple Red' which is in waltz time and slightly contemporary because of the harmonies. It is fairly easy to play once I had worked out the feel of it (of course there is the C.D.) as the rhythm is more of a challenge with the rhythmic changes - the cross rhythms and triplet bars in the right hand etc. It is a catchy, interesting and fun piece to play. It is unusual to find a piece in a book that is this style, upbeat and more modern - it sounds like you could hear it in a jazz bar or played by a jazz trio.There seems to be all good arrangements in this book and I am enjoying playing them more than any other book at the moment - what a talent she is!

Love these arrangements.Unfortunately, mine came with the incorrect CD (label was correct but recordings were the violin 'Jazz in Autumn' book), as did the replacement Amazon sent.This being Amazon, they don't have any real customer service to resolve the issue so I had to return both and re-purchase the book from elsewhere. I'm guessing this will affect a whole batch/print-run so do check your CD.

I bought this book for the lovely piece "September in the Rain" which was included in the grade 8 practical piano syllabus in 2015. I am hoping to play this piece as part of an ABRSM grade 8 performance exam, which was my main reason for purchasing it. However, I strongly recommend this reasonably priced score to any intermediate to advanced pianist who is interested in developing their skills as a jazz / blues pianist. "September in the Rain" is a very interesting and quite challenging arrangement, with an interesting use of syncopated rhythms and accents. However, the book contains other very expressive and beautiful pieces, including "Autumn in New York". All in all, a great purchase.