Christopher Norton's world famous Microjazz series first came out in 1983. Within a few years, midi accompaniments were created by the composer, initially for Roland Quick Disk (used in the DR 100) then in GM format (for MT100 and other products) and finally in GM. The early versions of Microjazz solo and duet books were available in all these formats, but gradually the Quick Disk format was discontinued and eventually only GM files were done.
Midi files became very popular during the 1980s – their malleable nature made them ideal for music teaching as well as for “fun” playing and even for professional use. Tempos could be altered, parts could be listened to individually, sounds could be re-assigned. Many music publishers enthusiastically embraced midi as a medium, including Boosey & Hawkes, who issued many midi accompaniments to the best-selling books of Christopher Norton.But over time, music publishers have moved away from midi as a medium and gone down the mp3 route instead. This doesn’t mean teachers in particular don’t still want to use midi and their midi players!
To this end, this site is collecting all of the GM (General midi) files done for Christopher Norton products, including Microjazz, Microstyles, Concert Collections and Preludes. None of these midi files are available commercially, so this is the place to get them! These files are still regarded as among the best ever done for the medium and we feel that they will continue to be extremely useful for both teachers and students.
christophernortonmidi.com is based on an idea by Christopher Norton. It was developed with the help of Andrew Jones and is an e-music interactive ltd company.
