After Hours Jazz2 is afurthercollection of original pieces and arrangements of your favourite jazz standards by Pam Wedgwood for the Grade4-6 pianist. Relax with the lush harmonies and laid-back melodies of many well-known pieces, as well as some great original repertoire.
Wedgwoods own three compositions are so convincing in their jazz styles that I kept wondering where I had heard them before. I would recommend this book as light relief for between grades and also for the growing number of adults who are returning to or taking up the piano. Wedgwood can always be relied on to choose, arrange and compose superbly and has done it yet again.
Music Teacher Magazine, July 2009
On the face of it, these books merely augment an already ample and flourishing supply of arrangements that come to us from both sides of the pond, but actually, I do think there is merit in their compilation here. For a start, as all piano teachers are aware, there are arrangements, and then there are arrangements. There is more to transcribing a well know tune than shoving a few snazzy triads under a naked lead-line. The choice of key, for example, needs to take account of the inbuilt chromaticism, but also the hand-stretches these imply (not to mention any notational complications that night arise). I would contend that rendering My Funny Valentine accessible to a grade 4 pianist takes a fair bit more ingenuity and sensitivity than making one fit for a grade 8
player precis is the art here, not amplification. Any means by which the student whos flagging interest in conventional repertoire can be deterred from giving up altogether, earns its keep.
Piano Professional Magazine, Spring 2009