PREPAID CELLULAR TIME

Prepaid Cellular Are A Smart Choice!

There are huge demands for prepaid services all over the world, somewhere in the neighborhood of 120 million prepaid cellular and long distance users in North America along. The growth of the pre-paid wireless industry has been truly astonishing, and there is no end in site. In Europe, over 75% of all cellular phones are pre-paid. With the high deposit costs required to get a non pre-paid cellular phone, many people simply have not been able to afford to get one and penalties for the people who can afford cellular phones, if service is canceled. Pre-paid is the answer.

Your Customers Prepay and Never Get Overcharged.

Wireless with no contracts or monthly fee, your customers take control of there cell phone usage with Prepaid Cellular Service.

Budget minded cell phone users

Emergency users

Parents who want their kids to stay in touch without the worry of running up a bill

People with some damaged or no credit history

Prepaid cellular services are getting very popular these days. Many people now prefer prepaid services since they offer a variety of advantages related to lifestyle and cost control that simply are not available through post-paid contract based services.

Prepaid cell phones have a distinct advantage over regular subscriptions. They offer cost control with a fixed price per minute, control over costs with cell phones distributed by parents, no credit check and increased anonymity.

Increasing Consumer Demand For Prepaid Cellular

Prepaid cellular services are currently the fastest-growing segment of the wireless phone market, perhaps because wireless service can be started up with no subscription fee for well under $100. More and more people are using this service to control spending than to get around credit problems.

In Europe, already more than 60% of subscribers are on a prepaid wireless plan, while in the United States, only 8 to 10 percent of users have chosen that system. But it’s growing fast: In Canada, for example, some providers see their prepaid subscribers base increase 50% faster than those of an ordinary monthly billed service.

Prepaid Cellular Phones Are Ideal In The Following Situations:

If your customers want to budget their cell phone use or

If want a phone for occasional use but don’t want to pay a monthly service fee or enter a long-term agreement, or

If have no credit history or past credit problems, or

If usage varies from month to month, or

If want to buy children a phone for emergency use but restrict the amount of calls they make, or

If are looking for a gift. or

If don’t feeling comfortable providing information for a carrier credit check, or

If want to learn about their usage patterns befor committing to a long-term monthly billing wireless contract.

Prepaid Deals Let Your Customers Budget Their Spending In Advance. Customers Will Never Spend More Than Had Originally Planned With Prepaid:

Customers that need control cost of their cellular services use only their prepaid minutes and keep on track with budges. The ability to pay for the exact number of miutes used - and no more - appeals to everyone.

up-front cost control

no long-term contrac

life-saver for emergencies - accidents, breaking down on the road

Advantages Of Prepaid Cellular Service:

Provides lifestyle advantages: The abilites to limit calling expenditures as well as service duration are especially attractive to students, parents, young professionals, and businesses with contract employees.
Young subscribers and their parents benefit because the possibility of receiving an unexpected large bill in the mail is eliminated.
Allows people who may not have established credit histories to enjoy the wireless communication.

Prepaid Cellular Service offers customers more flexibility, and the ability to pay up front for their cellular service - with no contracts, no credit checks and no monthly bills.

Prepaid cell phone service allows your customer to control their costs by giving them the freedom to purchase and redeem airtime on an as-needed basis without contracts and commitments.

For someone who doesn’t want to talk a lot - able to limit themselves to less than one hour a month -prepaid cellular are more affordable than monthly contracts, with fewer hasssles in starting or stopping service.

With prepaid cell phones, customers pay for what they expect to use upfront giving them total control of their cellular costs. Every time your customers use their cell phones, they buy some airtime. Just remember your customers will be repeat customers coming to your place of business to top-up their account before they run out.

Users enjoy the ability to control costs and retain privacy. They get the freedom and convenience of cell phone service with no deposit, credit check, contract or activation fee. Prepaid minutes can be spread over several months, usually two or three, so if use only phone occasionally, it can be less expensive than paying every month for airtime for airtime that they won’t use.

Now from a single POSA Terminal, a retail merchant can
offer his customers multiple Pre-Paid services.

This method is superior to merchants having to use “LIVE” pre-paid
cards that are expensive to purchase and are plagued by theft.
A merchant must make as many as 10 Pre-Paid card sales
to makeup for the theft of one live card!

But now, with the P.O.S. Activation System, these problems are a thing of the past.

Merchants receive an inventory and marketing materials, at no cost to them.

These Inventory have no value unless they are activated at the P.O.S. Terminal.

This has several advantages:

Eliminates Theft -
The display have no value.

Reduces Display Space -
There is no need for cards with multiple dollar denominations.

Encourages Repeat Business -

Benefits to Merchants

Generate high income on each high-speed transaction-no upfront costs

Choice of prepaid programs to meet merchant needs

Aggressive commission programs

Pay only for what you sell

Eliminate stock shortages for specific scratch cards

Encourage routine consumer visits

Attract new customers with the added convenience

Promote other consumer purchases at the ATM and in the store.

If you’re a merchant retail business owner, and would like to receive the most knowledgable beneficial benefits on how bill payment & cellular services benefits your business and customers…then this is a must read on.

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Henry Orenstein, most notably recognized as the creator of Transformers action figures, will be honored by the poker community for his contribution to the industry regarding televised events. What exactly did Mr. Orenstein do to gain such recognition? The now ubiquitous hole card camera, that’s what. The hole card camera is considered one of the most important factors in drawing audiences to the televised events. Not only does it give the viewer a sense of drama as he or she knows the cards at the table, but it also helps them more easily follow the flow of the game and understand why the players make the moves they make. While not useful in online poker play, it’s been a great tool for TV commentators during live televised games, as it allows them to offer more in-depth analysis of the tournament play. For his contribution, Orenstein will be commended and inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame on November 9th during the final table main event of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. As a side note, Orenstein is no stranger to the game, as he holds a bracelet for winning the WSOP in seven card stud in 1996, and is know to have played in some of the biggest cash games in his hay day. Orenstein is also the owner of Poker PROductions, one of the leading poker show producers in the world.

Nominated for three Golden Globes, Good Times premiered in mid-season 1974 to widespread critical acclaim and audience popularity. A spin-off of the Bea Arthur (of Golden Girls fame) sitcom Maude (1972), Good Times became the fourth of five highly successful sitcoms brought into being during the 1970’s decade by Norman Lear. In addition to Maude, those sitcoms were All In The Family (1971), Sanford & Son (1972), and The Jeffersons (1975). The second of three to focus exclusively on African-American family life, Good Times became a source for groundbreaking social commentary in compliment to its penchant for hilarious family comedy…

The Good Times (Season 4) DVD features a number of hilarious episodes including the two-part season premiere “The Big Move” in which the entire Evans family is prepared to move to Mississippi where James has landed a high-paying job. Together with Willona, they plan an elaborate going away party. But the party is interrupted by the news of James’ death in a tragic car accident. As the funeral proceeds, the grief stricken children wonder why Florida has yet cry… Other notable episodes from Season 4 include “Michael’s Great Romance” in which Michael falls in love with a girl who has the hots for J.J., and “Florida’s Night Out” in which the family is worried about Florida spending so much time alone, that is until Willona takes her out on the town for a night at an exciting night club…

Below is a list of episodes included on the Good Times (Season 4) DVD:

Episode 62 (The Big Move: Part 1) Air Date: 09-22-1976
Episode 63 (The Big Move: Part 2) Air Date: 09-29-1976
Episode 64 (J.J. and the Older Woman) Air Date: 10-06-1976
Episode 65 (Michael and the Warlord) Air Date: 10-13-1976
Episode 66 (Michael’s Great Romance) Air Date: 10-20-1976
Episode 67 (Evans Versus Davis) Air Date: 10-27-1976
Episode 68 (J.J.’s New Career: Part 1) Air Date: 11-10-1976
Episode 69 (J.J.’s New Career: Part 2) Air Date: 11-17-1976
Episode 70 (Grandpa’s Visit) Air Date: 11-24-1976
Episode 71 (Rich is Better Than Poor… Maybe) Air Date: 12-08-1976
Episode 72 (Florida’s Night Out) Air Date: 12-15-1976
Episode 73 (The Judy Cohen Story) Air Date: 12-22-1976
Episode 74 (The Comedian and the Loan Sharks) Air Date: 01-05-1977
Episode 75 (The Hustle) Air Date: 01-12-1977
Episode 76 (Thelma’s African Romance: Part 1) Air Date: 01-19-1977
Episode 77 (Thelma’s African Romance: Part 2) Air Date: 01-19-1977
Episode 78 (Willona’s Surprise) Air Date: 01-26-1977
Episode 79 (A Friend in Need) Air Date: 02-02-1977
Episode 80 (A Stormy Relationship) Air Date: 02-09-1977
Episode 81 (Florida and Carl) Air Date: 02-23-1977
Episode 82 (My Son, the Father) Air Date: 03-02-1977
Episode 83 (J.J. in Business) Air Date: 03-09-1977
Episode 84 (Love Has a Spot on His Lung: Part 1) Air Date: 03-23-1977
Episode 85 (Love Has a Spot on His Lung: Part 2) Air Date: 03-30-1977

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of the Good Times (Season 4) DVD.

Anybody can argue about who’s the best at any particular occupation. The all time “best” lists are in no way either right or wrong. But they sure are a lot of fun to come up with. People love lists. They love to see what other people think so that they can send in letters and emails arguing with those lists.

Well, according to almost every list ever made, from TV Guide, to Entertainment Weekly, to you name it, the most popular, if not the greatest singer of all time, was Bing Crosby. Crosby had no less that 383 songs in the top 30 during his lifetime, including 41 number 1 hits. Crosby had a one of a kind voice that simply dominated the music scene from 1931 to 1954. His biggest hit of all time was “White Christmas”, which radio stations still play today when Christmas time comes around. Not only was it Crosby’s biggest hit but it was the biggest selling single of all time. It was number one on the charts for an amazing 14 weeks. There is no artist that has come even close to Crosby’s popularity, not even the man most lists have at number 2.

That would be the great Elvis Presley, who was the most popular singer of the last half of the 20th century. Presley is given credit for almost single handedly starting the rock and roll revolution. His style completely changed the look and feel of popular music. His popularity ran from 1956 to 1981. He had 85 songs in the top 30 and a total of 18 number 1 hits. His biggest hit of all was “All Shook Up” which was number 1 on the charts for a solid 9 weeks.

Surprisingly, at least as far as popularity goes, no other stars even come close to the popularity of Crosby and Presley. However, there have been other great singers during the 20th century and certainly somebody, even if he or she is far from the front runners, has to come in at number 3. Unfortunately, this is where most lists usually go off in their different directions. Many are split between pre 1950s singers and post 1950s singers and the top 10 in many lists is so varied that it is hard to get a sense of who the majority of the people feel should be in that top 10.

For example. Many lists have Al Jolson at number 3 because of his 91 charted hits and 23 number 1 hits. But other lists don’t even have Jolson listed, probably because he was in an era that has long been forgotten. Certainly Jolson had one of the most unique voices of all time. Some lists have Elton John coming in at the third position because of his 47 top 30 hits and 8 number 1 hits. Much of John’s appeal must be credited to his ties to many other people as well as his tributes to Marilyn Monroe and Princess Diana. And yet, there are lists that don’t even have Elton John in the top 30.

Much of the problem probably can be attributed to who you ask. Younger people will lean more towards the post 1950s era while older folks will go for the old time standards. That’s why to find Crosby and Presley at the top of most lists is truly a tribute to these two great singers.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Celebrities

Music is changing. In fact, the music industry is changing; it is changing even faster than it realises. Major record labels are often up to speed on latest developments, but it is indie music that leads the way in the music world - and everyone else seems to follow. Indeed, with the online music revolution taking place right now, being signed to a major record label is less and less important. However, having your own record label can be more and more beneficial.

Starting out

First of all, you really have to think about the image you want to convey. Every record label has an image, mostly created by the selection of bands on the label. So start off by grouping together with some bands you know that are similar to yours. Make sure that these bands are serious, and that they believe in the record label. You will be doing a lot of band promotion together, and sharing a lot of resources, so you need to trust these musicians, and you need to maintain your brand identity. Because yes; a record label is a ‘brand’. Think of certain record labels you know, and you immediately associate them with a certain ethos - a certain type of music. For example, 4AD built its reputation by signing bands like The Throwing Muses, Dead Can Dance, This Mortal Coil, The Cocteau Twins, and of course, The Pixies. It has always been known as an off-the-wall combination of ethereal and edgy rock bands.

First steps - sharing resources

Sharing your resources as a young record label is very important. It is essential that every band on the label helps in the creation by joining in fully. Finding a rehearsal studio is a good first step - find a location that you can all share, and use your own equipment. You will cut down on costs, and you will find that you have more time available for rehearsing. Secondly, if you have some money behind you, try to assemble your own studio. You can maybe contact other studios to see if they have old equipment that they want to sell second-hand, or you can scour the internet for offers. If you have the equipment to record, then you won’t have to pay for studio time, and you can take as long as you want to record your music.

This initial investment may hurt you, but a record label is a long-term investment, and if you are serious about producing good quality music, you are taking the right steps.

First steps - Responsibilities

Everyone involved in the record label should know their responsibilities. First of all, you should be looking at getting a distribution deal. This means that someone has to contact the distributors and cut a deal with them, and maintain friendly relations. Distributors will often ask record labels for approximately 40% of the cover price of a CD, which may seem like a lot, but it will get your CDs into the record shops.

Naturally, not everyone buys CDs nowadays. Music is changing, don’t forget, and the online revolution means that people are downloading music online more and more. Inclusion on i-Tunes, therefore, is absolutely essential, as is your own page on myspace.com. You should have your own page for the record label, as well as pages for each band - make sure that as many people as possible can hear your music and can see that your label exists.

Someone should be regularly contacting radio stations, both internet radio stations and traditional radio stations. Once you have targeted the radio stations you want to work with, you can cut a deal with them, maintain good relations with them, and carry out your band promotion.

Next steps - Creating The Product

So, once you have set up your organisation, you have to create a product to promote. Make sure that you only release one CD at a time, so that you can focus your promotion - try to have all the groups working to a schedule that is set well in advance. That way, you can organise the band promotion so that everyone benefits from it.

You need to consider copyright as well. Each band has to copyright its own music before putting it out on the net, or distributing it in record shops, and you have to copyright your own brand as well. This is part of the regular paperwork involved in running your own record label, so make sure that you know your country’s administration backwards!

When promoting gigs, make sure that your flyers all carry the same identity, i.e. your record label logo, and the same layout. This gives people the idea that something important is happening, and creating a buzz around your groups is very important. When people see a record label at the bottom of a flyer, they are immediately impressed, so in effect, you are creating your own buzz!

Keeping it going

So you have your rehearsal studio, you are producing your own music yourself, and your bands are playing concerts, and doing well. So keep it up - keep coming up with new promotional ideas, and keep the buzz alive. Create a small festival, make sure that your label is recognised by the owners of the local venues and make sure that you have a good reputation. You have a lot of organising to do if you are going to run your own record label, but it’s worth the time and the effort.

It is also important that you look for independent musicians who might want to join your record label. You will probably receive a lot of demos from various bands, but the best way to add indie bands to your label is to go out and find them yourself. Don’t forget, a record label is really just a name - but it is the driving force behind your band, and if you want to make it work, people have to know you, so that means going to music events, festivals, concerts, etc., and making band promotion your mantra.

Having your own record label, then, means that you improve your own band’s reputation by association. It also means that you create your own local music community with other independent musicians, and that you benefit from each other’s knowledge, know-how, and resources. Indie music has always been at the forefront of musical change - with bands often one step ahead of the crowd. Owning your own record label puts you two steps ahead of the crowd.

learn more about starting a record label or register on our site to get signed with a record label

Cleaning Persian rugs requires care and attention. However, the whole rug doesn’t get dirty simultaneously. Some portions require yearly cleaning, while you can leave other areas for years without cleaning. If the rug is small, you can clean it outside your house, preferably in your garage. You should wash the Persian rug on a bright sunny day so that it dries quickly. You can wash the rug with cool water or a rug shampoo. It’s advisable to use a soft, longhaired brush while cleaning Persian rugs.

A Persian rug is definitely one of your biggest investments. So you need to take care of your rugs so that they don’t lose their shine. Whenever you find a stain on your rug, you must promptly clean it up. You will be able to remove the stain easily if you take action immediately. You should always use a paper towel to remove the stain. As the rugs are gentle and soft, you shouldn’t use too much pressure, or scrub them forcefully. You need to clean the Persian rugs with running water. Also, don’t forget to squeeze out the additional water. Then you can lay the rugs outside your home to dry. Try to dry both sides of the rugs.

Also, you should be extremely cautious while applying spot remover. Some spot removers are so harsh that they can get rid of the color of your rugs altogether. So while cleaning Persian rugs you should try the spot remover on a very small area. If the result is satisfactory, you can go ahead and use the spot remover for the entire rug. After all, you can’t afford to damage your rugs. If you find cleaning Persian rugs too complicated, you can get help from the rug dealers. The dealers have professional rug-cleaning teams. They will take care of cleaning your Persian rugs.

Persian Rugs provides detailed information on Persian Rugs, Antique Persian Rugs, Discount Persian Rugs, Cleaning Persian Rugs and more. Persian Rugs is affiliated with Oriental Area Rugs.

Most students of a musical instrument hate playing scales, but too many of them only think they learn scales as some sort of finger exercise. How wrong! Instead, all music students should be informed that scales are the Building Blocks from which all music is created and that they can use these vital Blocks to create music for themselves. To do this we first have to understand what scales are and how they came about.

Musical instruments played a large part in the development of scales. The earliest musical instruments were devised having a limited number of playable notes. Maybe a pipe instrument was fashioned using a hollow tube and holes were made in it which could
be covered or uncovered when blowing through it to produce a certain number of pitch variations. If music was to be written down for this instrument it follows that only the exact notes playable should be written. Thus, the scale of notes would be only these, say 5, notes rising or falling in order of pitch.

As instruments developed further more notes could be achieved and in the Western world we gradually created instruments that could all play a minimum of 12 different pitches between notes an octave apart.

Hang on! I hear you say, “What is an octave?” An octave is the gap between two note pitches that are 12 semitones apart. If you listen to these two notes it almost seems as though they are the same note pitch. These notes are named with the same letter name such as C and C. If you pluck a string of a given length, it will vibrate at so many cycles per second (or Hertz) producing a sound at a given pitch, say 220Hz (an A). This note is called the fundamental. The string does funny things however, and it also vibrates at twice the number of Hz but at half the volume of the fundamental. This means that another note is also produced that is an octave above the first (in this case the A at 440Hz), but only half as loud. This explains the close relationship between notes an octave apart. Basically, double the frequency (Hz) and you will get a note that is one octave above.

There are, of course, instruments in the west that can produce note pitches between semitones, such as a stringed instrument like the violin or violoncello, but as they most often have to perform with other instruments of the 12 semitones variety, any note that they produce between these pitches is usually considered as just “out of tune!” In the East, scales are still used which make use of the instruments that can achieve the pitches that are less than a semitone apart, and vocalists are also more adept in singing pitch variations of so-called “quarter-tones.”

In the West the limitation of most of our scales to seven different pitches within the octave came about mainly as a result of singers needing an easy chain of notes to pitch. So it was with our Major scale.

So that’s how we got our scales. Now, at least, the make-up of our most common modern-day scales should not seem so much of a mystery. We know that they are an easy-to-sing chain of 8 note-pitches over an octave, the 1st and 8th being two notes of the same letter-name. The distance between each of these note-pitches can be one, two or sometimes even three semitones. In future articles I will discuss why we have Major and Minor Scales and how you can use these Building Blocks of Music to form melodies and chords.

Brian Farley has been a worldwide professional Musical Director and pianist since 1974. His duet sheet music website “Easy Duets, Sheet Music for Schools, Musical Instrument Students” provides original musical duets and trios for early level students and some good free “reading musical notation” information.

I would like to present a few small tips on how to improvise on your guitar with a pentatonic scale in A-minor. We will use two chords and make the whole thing quite impressive. Grab your guitar and come on!

Guitar improvisation is not a completely uncomprehensible art that cannot be learned. You can practice the art of improvisation by learning scales, learning patterns to use in improvisation, by composing melodies on your guitar and by simply improvising a lot.

When you learn to play guitar I think it’s a good thing to use time to experiment with chords and scales. This will help you develop your creativity and your own style of playing.

The following exercises will show you a way to practice scales and chords together.

First I would like to give you two chords you can use. The first chord is A7 and you can play it in the open position like this:

1. –0—
2. –2—
3. –0—
4. –2—
5. –0—
6. ——

Now we will look at a small lick in the fift position on the guitar. This mean that you place your left hand on the neck with the first finger on the fifth fret. Here is the lick:

1. –5–8–5—–5–
2. ———–8—–

I suggest that you first play the A7 chord on your guitar by strumming once over the strings and after that playing the lick.

Now we will add the D7 chord. It looks like this in the open position:

1. –2—
2. –1—
3. –2—
4. –0—
5. ——
6. ——

With two guitar chords at your disposal you can play this:

A7 - lick - D7 - lick - A7

You will now learn another lick to make this piece of guitar improvisational music more interesting:

1. ——–5–8–5–
2. –5–8———–

With this lick we have introduced one more note in the A-minor pentatonic scale. With two licks and two chords we can play the guitar piece as follows:

A7 - lick 1 - D7 - lick 2 - A7

Of course you can learn to combine the notes in many ways. I will give you some more notes in the A-minor pentatonic scale if you want to improvise more freely. Here are seven notes in the A-minor pentatonic scale in the fifth position:

1. —————–5–8—-
2. ———–5–8———-
3. —–5–7—————-
4. –7———————-

Learn to play this guitar scale by heart. After that you can try to combine the notes in different ways. Create patterns or play the scale backwards or try to create interesting melodies. The last touch of guitar improvisation looks like this:

A7 - improvisation - D7 - improvisation - A7

You can of course use this guitar improvisation pattern with other chords and scales. The principle is to choose two chords that can be used with the same scale and improvise between them.

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play guitar resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com

Trying to find the right guitar lesson experience? In this world with all kinds of styles of music and bands, finding someone to teach you what you really dream of playing is kind of tough. One person may be more into jazz, one more into rock, one more into blues. It all depends on the individual.

Have you ever had a guitar lesson that just seemed to never end. Your teacher kept going on and on about stuff you never really wanted to learn anyways? A good guitar lesson should be about teaching you to develop what you are passionate about. If you’re not passionate about classical guitar styles, then why learn them?

Don’t get me wrong a good guitarist is well-versed. This means they can play a variety of styles. But let’s be real. The majority of us just want to just pick up a guitar and PLAY! We don’t want guitar lesson after guitar lesson of boring theory and stuff that doesn’t really help us PLAY!

Anyways, finding the right guitar lesson should be more about finding what YOU like. If you want to play rock music, find a rock guitarist to teach you. If you want to play jazz, find a jazz guitarist. If you want to play classical guitar, then get you some classical lessons.

Guitar is one of the easiest and best instruments to get started on. It’s a matter of learning a few chords and going from there. The problem is finding a teacher who’ll give you a good guitar lesson that doesn’t include all the stuff that really doesn’t matter when it comes down to just playing a song.

It may be hard to find free guitar lessons. Most teachers won’t offer free guitar lessons. If you can find one that’s great. I recommend finding an online alternative if you’re just itching to get started.

I’ve seen some good online sites come and go. If you can find a good online guitar lesson site that is inexpensive you’re doing well! Why? Because you can learn at your own pace and learn what you want to learn.

Information about these sites can be found at any search engine and most offer nice programs. Some are even membership based. My suggestion is to decide what it is exactly that you want to accomplish with your playing and then choose the program that’s good for you.

Many of these sites offer comprehensive chord lessons and finger-picking technique courses that will enhance your skills as you progress. They also offer chord sheets and finger placement charts as well. You should be able to download a small application or set of pdfs/docs that include all this info, if the site is set up well.

Free Guitar Lessons

Russ plays guitar, piano, drums, and trumpet. Traveled and toured for 4 years with an alternative rock band as the lead singer/writer. Participates in music ministry and church music. Guitar Lessons

Jazz is sometimes referred to as “America’s classical music”. It has become a diverse genre with its roots in native American and African music; in particular, the blues, spirituals and rag time. Jazz first became a defined music form in the early 1920 springing from the US cities of New Orleans and later Chicago. Early Jazz was characterized by traditional rhythms and melodies being taken and improvised upon, giving a combination of swing and syncopation. Early Jazz performers of note included Jelly Roll Morton, Fats Domino, Bix Beiderbecke and Louis Armstrong. A good taste of this period can be gained by listening to recordings of Louis Armstrong’s Hot Fives and Hot Seven ensembles.

By the 1930 Jazz had spread out of its local bases in South American and became more mainstream attracting white musicians as well. One development of Jazz was the big bands such as Ben Goodman and Glen Miller. Glen Millers big band became very successful and popular, but offering little scope for improvisation jazz aficionados saw it as more of swing rather than real jazz. However other big bands such as Duke Ellington and Count Basie provided some of the all time great Jazz recordings.

Whilst the Big Band led jazz in a more conventional direction. The late 1930s and 1940s also saw jazz develop in another direction through the creation of the new “Be Bop” craze. Be Bop is epitomized by the great musicians such as Charlie “Bird” Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Sonny Rollins. These musicians took Jazz to new heights of improvisation, loosening the adherence to harmony’s and rigid chord structures.

Unlike previous forms of jazz, Be bop was not designed for dancing but was seen more like an opportunity to showcase the musical expertise of the performers. Some of the great be bop recordings came about as the performers played off each other, each striving for greater excellence and improvisation. One of the greatest recordings of this period was “Jazz at Masey Hall” 1953 featuring Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker amongst others, it is a very good example of live jazz music. In the 1960s Be bop evolved into a form of “free jazz” with little if any adherence to conventional harmonies and chord structures. One of the best selling jazz recordings which characterized this new form was “A Kind of Blue” by Miles Davis.

Alas many of the great jazz performers led tragic lives, a seemingly very high percentage died prematurely, inevitably from drug and alcohol misuse. Unfortunately many young performers came to associate drugs with being a successful jazz performer so jazz developed a strong reputation for association with narcotics.

To play Jazz music successfully a classical background is definitely an advantage. To be a successful jazz player you need to be able to learn the chords and scales of the song. With this basic structure you can then improvise around these chords to give the improvised or jazz effect. However to be a great jazz musician a lot more is needed than formal training, successful improvisation is a difficult skill that appears to come easily to a rare few.

Richard is an economics teacher in Oxford and is a member of the Sri Chinmoy Centre Richard edits a site on the music of Sri Chinmoy