The May and June issues of the Card Corner in the Linking Ring featured a routine of mine called Jazz it Up. It is a version of Jazz Aces where all the aces remain face up on the table throughout the routine and the handling sets you up for a kick-back O Henry surprise finish. The routine has some good points in favor of it which Mike discusses in the first collumn. Both Mike and I, however, played a lot with the ending of the routine. We ended up sending many emails and videos back and forth and came up with several different ideas some of which you can read about in the Card Corner. I'm curious whether anybody had the chance to read the routine and/or play with it. If you are like me and like to solve card problems then I think you'll love these collumns. I've still been playing around a lot with the routine. Below is a link to my latest and (so far) my favorite ending to the routine.

http://youtu.be/ZEhDDIKEIo4

I would love to hear what you guys think of the routine and/or any ideas you have for it.

Thanks,
John

Very nice!

John,

Great routine with a nice ending.

Very good!

Thanks guys. If you have access to the past two issues of the Linking Ring you'll have to check out the routine in the Card Corner, if you haven't already.

Took a minute to place it, but you sound a lot like Bill Malone.

Interesting routine. How do people react to the first ace?

John,

Excellent routine. I'll have to check out the column.

Tim

It's good. Thanks for posting!

I sound like Bill Malone? Hmmm, I'll have to go back and listen to see for myself.

The question about the first ace is a good one. I wish more than anything that I could show the arrival of the first ace right away. I like what Darwin Ortiz says that the routine becomes a miricle when each phase seems completely independent of the one before it. This is accomplished when the ace has been shown to arrive and there is a pause before going into the next ace. This is unfortunately not possible with my routine.

It does goes over quite well with lay people though who don't know about Elmsley counts. The fact that you draw attention to the second black card you lay down is the saving grace because when the second ace vanishes it is a pretty strong transposition and all of a sudden the two red aces are with the leader ace. At this point you are all set up for the ending which is very strong. You'll have to give it a try and see what you think. Please feel free to play around with the routine yourself and see what you come up with. I'm looking forward to seeing what others come up with.

John

Thanks Tim! Give me a call sometime. We need to get together before the summer is over!

John

Nice!!!

John and I had a blast messing around with this routine. If you receive The Linking Ring, check out both columns to see the starting point and where it went from there.

Whichever handling you use, you must be sure that your presentation constantly reinforces that the aces are always with the leader ace. When you perform the trick, you know what's going on and you know that the piles magically transpose at the end. What I found in showing it to a few magic buddies is that it's easy to feel confused at the end. It was hard for me to feel that confusion after going through the handling a million times. It was clear in my mind what was going on. But, nonetheless, there can be confusion at the end.

I think presentation is critical to making the big moment strong. I like to create the premise that the aces always want to be with the ace of spades (leader). Then, at the end, you can say, "Now all the aces are together with the ace of spades." The trick seems to be over but you then place the ace of spades in the spot card packet emphasizing that the other aces are lonely over there (or something like that). This creates the image of aces over there just before the big moment when they jump over here.

I think John's use of face up aces is very cool. All the other routines put the aces face down since they're not all aces after some switching move. Sophisticated people are suspicious of cards that are shown face up then flipped face down and dealt face down. Everyone knows of the infamous "bottom deal." This means that everyone knows that a card expert can deal cards that seem to come from the top but don't. Even though that's not the method in these routines, it can easily come into a layperson's mind when they see you flip face up cards face down and deal them out.

I think that the issue of the first ace not being show right away is worth thinking about but will not likely be solved in a good way. If you're going to have a weak moment, get it out of the way at the beginning. Sometimes it's good that there's a little suspicion that something may not be as it should when very quickly something happens to show that that suspicion was wrong. Those moments help to keep suspicion from happening later. The brain subconsciously thinks "no - it's OK. I thought something was wrong earlier and I was wrong...."

Great work John!!

BTW John has given me two or three more of his creations for the Card Corner so stay tuned! There's more on the way.

Mike

Thanks Mike! John Neely is a great thinker in card magic.

Another possible ending that might clear up the confusion would be an in-the-spectators-hands transposition ending. The effect is that you hand the spectator the 4 indiscriminate cards and you take the four aces. You hand the spectator the leader Ace and he hands you one of the indiscriminate cards. Snap your fingers and now he is holding all four aces for nice finish.

This is a quick effect I call YAFT (Yet Another Fast Trick) that I've used as a stand-alone effect for a few years. (I'm sure I didn't invent this). It is based on the Biddyro Count or Vesser Concept. Lets say you are using four clubs as the indiscriminate cards. Pick up the 8 cards at the end of the Jazz Aces routine. Place the 4 clubs face up on top of the packet and the 4 aces on the bottom with the leader ace on top of the ace packet, 4th from the bottom. So from the bottom of the face up packet A, A, A, Leader Ace, C, C, C, C. Fan the packet to display the cards and catch a break under the Leader Ace. Now you appear to peel off the four clubs from Biddle Grip into the left hand, then turn the clubs packet face down and hand the four clubs to the spectator.

Take the packet in Biddle Grip maintaining the break under the Leader Ace. Into the left hand, peel off the top club along with the three aces under the break on the first count. As you peel off the first club and three aces, catch a left pinky break above the three aces as the first club snaps down. Take care to keep the four cards aligned as one to maintain the illusion. Continue to peel off the next two clubs. As you peel off the last club, take the packet that is in the left hand, above the pinky break back into the right hand.

Position check - the left hand appears to have the 4 clubs but it really has 3 aces with a single club on top - turn this packet face down and hand to the spectator. You appear to have retained the 4 aces in the right hand when in fact you have the leader ace on top and three clubs underneath - turn your packet face down.

Mention that the leader ace is on the bottom of your aces packet. Pull it off the bottom and display the leader ace. Ask the spectator to trade the leader ace with the bottom club of his packet. Snap your fingers and turn over your packet showing that all 4 clubs teleported into your hands. When the spectator turns over his cards, all four of the aces have traveled to his hand.

Tim,

Nice thoughts. Thanks for your ideas. They sound really good. I worked out the following details that I think would accomplish the ending you are thinking for the Jazz Ace Routine. After supposedly putting the two read aces on the face up ace of spaceds (which is the basic handling that is common to all versions of Jazz it Up in the Card Corner), flip the "black" packet face up in your hands and tell the spectator that you are going to keep the black cards for yourself. As you say this take the top face up black card with the right hand and gesture showing two black cards. When you replace the black card on the packet catch a break beneath it. Tell the spectator you want him to hold the aces. As you do this pick up the ace of clubs and rest it on top of the black packet for a moment and then pick up the double above the break and turn the packet face down and flip the double face down on top of the packet and take the top card supposedly the ace of clubs but really a black card and put it on the supposed ace packet on the table. Tell the spectator to put his hand on the aces. turn the bottom card of your packet, a black card, face up on the table and place the other three cards face down on top of it similar to the ace packet and put your hand on the supposed black cards. Now swith your face up black card with the spectators face up ace, snap your fingers or whatever, and then the rest of the cards change places.

It is interesting you mention the Vesser Concept since I actually read a manuscript about this move this summer. It is called Discourse on a Move and it is by Marlo. It originally appeared in MUM many years ago, but I found it on Jon Racherbaumer's webpage (which is one of the best resources out there for those who love card magic). You can do some neat stuff with this idea. In particular, there is a very clean ace assembly in the manuscript a version of which appears in the Hierophant with a title that refers to the routine being so goood it's as if you use trick cards and in my opinion the title is no exageration.

John

Mike,

Thanks for your comments. I appreciate all the time you spent with me on this routine. I really like the version you came up with and have still been playing around with that as well. I'm not sure if I will ever get the perfect ending for this routine but if I do I'll let you know. Until then I'll have fun playing around with it. = )

John

Now having seen the you tube version, I'm inspired to go back and read this. I particularly like the way your emphasis on the card that changes places with ace takes the heat off of the discrepancies in the Elmsley counts. Well done.

Nice observation. I even use the last card (the discrepant card) to point to the card I emphasized making it almost impossible for the audience to catch the discrepancy.