Best Selling Books by Brian Shaw

Improvisation is at the heart of jazz, but knowing how to play stylistically correct in a large jazz ensemble is also a necessity. How to Play Lead Trumpet in a Big Band offers tips, suggestions, examples and a play along CD to help you put it all together. The repertoire covers many jazz styles from Basie to Latin and African-influenced music to ECM and contemporary jazz (the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Bob Brookmeyer, etc.).

Joining a fraternity seems to be a right of passage for many young men and women entering into college. But in recent years the act of hazing has cost many young people their lives. Matt and Zach two best friends and roommates decide that they are going to pledge a fraternity. They already considered themselves brothers so to walk through this experience together they thought would be fun. It is not long into the process that these two young men realize that there is no price on brotherhood and that sometimes the best way to build a bond is to hold on tight to the people you already trust and consider to be family. In a performance that plays out like an episode a great courtroom drama we see the experience through the eyes of the boys that lived it. As one testifies the other watches as his friend, his brother, tells the world of the day that he took a stand against a room full of bullies and risked his life to save the one person who always had his back, always made him laugh and never left him alone to fail. That is the true definition of friendship and family. In A Haze presents the challenges of college life and the dangers of hazing while addressing the very real determination that young people have to belong, be accepted and participate in something that makes them relevant and important. By the time Zach leaves the witness stand he can hold his head hi, he told the truth and his best friend Matt, though only there in spirit would be very proud of him.