Jazz Improvisation, Revised [Paperback] Review

I have tremendous respect for what David Baker has done for jazz education and at one point in my improvising life I thought his approach was the be-all/end-all. It still has much to offer the early student, particularly the emphasis on training the ear and developing instrumental dexterity based on extracted patterns taken from the vernacular of actual playing.

Looking back, however, the attempt to systematize an approach to learning tunes has a tendency to produce players (quite a few of whom I've met over the years) who relate to jazz as a collection of charts rather than appreciating the many subtle differences in rhythm, melodic phrasing, and use of harmony that characterize various tunes and different players' approaches across jazz eras. Baker's patterns also tend to be very "one-oriented" which robs many of them of a genuine swinging quality and favors playing within bar lines rather than across. Players who've evolved rhythmically can edit or rearrange a lot of this material to express more forward motion and suit their taste. But unfortunately it's the less-experienced players who are more likely to be using books such as this and they may find themselves years later with a feeling they're lacking something.

In some ways I feel other writers such as Bert Ligon, Hal Crook, Jimmy Amadie, and Hal Galper have built upon and moved beyond Baker's approach, particularly regarding expressing rhythmic and harmonic flow.

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For over a decade, musicians everywhere have made this text their working bible.

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