Progressive Rock Keyboard: Hal Leonard Keyboard Style Series [Paperback] Review

I don't why anyone has'nt written a review for this book yet. Its perfect, and the accompanying CD is so helpful to help learn the rhythms of progressive rock keyboard. I would greatly recommend this book if you are sick of playing yankee doodle or any other book with boring sheet music. Contained in the book is an adequate description of the genre and presents perfect examples that you can learn. I found this book very satisfying and not too hard. I also have the rock keyboard and find that one great as well. So do buy these books.

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Product Description:
From the classic sounds of the '70s to modern progressive stylings, this book/CD provides you with the theory and technique to play and compose in a multitude of prog rock styles. You'll learn how soloing techniques, form, rhythmic and metrical devices, harmony, and counterpoint all come together to make this style of rock the unique and exciting genre it is. Also included is an introduction to classic and contemporary keyboard instruments and sounds, and how they can be used in different combinations to produce authentic-sounding keyboard parts. The accompanying CD features many of the examples covered in the book, as well as six complete progressive rock songs recorded by a real band.

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In the Course of Performance: Studies in the World of Musical Improvisation (Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology) [Paperback] Review

An excellent set of articles on improvisation, with one on the psychology of improv, and articles on Gamelan, Arabic music, jazz, Cantonese opera, Latin dance, Hindustani music, children's games.
Improvisation is not the same everywhere.And there are differences from culture to culture, and performer to performer, in just how much of a performance is improvised.These essays address these and other issues.

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Product Description:
In the Course of Performance is the first book in decades to illustrate and explain the practices and processes of musical improvisation. Improvisation, by its very nature, seems to resist interpretation or elucidation. This difficulty may account for the very few attempts scholars have made to provide a general guide to this elusive subject. With contributions by seventeen scholars and improvisers, In the Course of Performance offers a history of research on improvisation and an overview of the different approaches to the topic that can be used, ranging from cognitive study to detailed musical analysis. Such diverse genres as Italian lyrical singing, modal jazz, Indian classical music, Javanese gamelan, and African-American girls' singing games are examined. The most comprehensive guide to the understanding of musical improvisation available, In the Course of Performance will be indispensable to anyone attracted to this fascinating art.

Contributors are Stephen Blum, Sau Y. Chan, Jody Cormack, Valerie Woodring Goertzen, Lawrence Gushee, Eve Harwood, Tullia Magrini, Peter Manuel, Ingrid Monson, Bruno Nettl, Jeff Pressing, Ali Jihad Racy, Ronald Riddle, Stephen Slawek, Chris Smith, R. Anderson Sutton, and T. Viswanathan.

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Metaphors for the Musician [Spiral-bound] Review

This book makes you think.But it also fills your practice sessions with "Aha!" moments.While the format is simple, the author does put you through your paces and you will emerge a much better pianist with a deeper understanding of pop piano, blues, gospel, funk and country.The riffs and cliche sounds of each are showcased in a way that sets them apart and distinguishes your playing style.This is a rare book.You ought to have it whether you're still struggling with faking or already working the music circuit.

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Product Description:
This book is a gold mine of insights into almost every aspect of jazz musicianship, including scale/chord theory, practice strategies, composing techniques, performance psychology and how to create the states of mind that produce the best improvisations. Designed for any level of player, on any instrument, the book provides numerous exercises throughout to help the reader turn these concepts into musical reality. Endorsed by Jessica Williams, Jerry Bergonzi and others.

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FASTFORWARD: 12-BAR BLUES PIANO (Fast Forward (Music Sales)) [Audiobook] [Paperback] Review

This book provides a painless introduction to playing blues piano in six styles: Basic Shuffle, Boogie Woogie, Walking Bass, Stride, Jazz,and Rock. It presents the left and right hand parts separately, then throws them together. Each example has two tracks on the CD, with and without the piano part. The left hand parts are quite complete, but the right hand parts are a little thin, leaving out slides, crushed notes and tremelos. However, the backing tracks on the CD are outstanding. Once you master the material in the book, you can reuse the CD backing tracks with licks from other books like David Bennet Cohen's Blues Piano or Mark Harrison's Blues Piano. Had the author included more material, this could be a 5 satr book.

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Product Description:
Learn to play the 12-bar blues using authentic techniques to get the real blues sound.

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Saying Something: Jazz Improvisation and Interaction (Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology) [Paperback] Review

Ingrid Monson's volume, "Saying Something: Jazz Improvisation and Interaction" is a somewhat lesser known work following in the shadow of Paul Berliner, whom Monson pays ample tribute to. Her volume is intended to say something to all of its overlapping audiences, and it succeeds well, using interviews and close musical readings of very important pieces. There is much to say about the musical analyses, but I choose here to concentrate on the less formalistic aspects. That job will remain for another reviewer.

Monson claims that when "a musician successfully reaches a discerning audience, moves it members to applaud or shout praises, raises the energy to dramatic proportions, and leaves a sonorous memory that lingers long after, he or she has moved beyond technical experiences....and into the realm of 'saying something.'" But what does this mean? For Monson, this means to make discourse, and multivalently, to make community.

Monson moves towards thinking of music making as a community-building function, rather than communities organized by race, class, geography, or gender. In fact, those categories are attended to in terms of music, rather than the other way around. Music performance, and well as repetoire, promotion, and booking agents, create imagined communities between performers. Her approach to community-building is based in Anthony Giddens (1984) rather than Benedict Anderson (1991).

In outlining the special contributions of the rhythmic and accompaniment sections of the jazz ensemble, Monson draws special attention not only to the specifics of drum, piano, and bass, but also to the word "listening." For her, listening means "being able to respond to musical opportunities or to correct mistakes." It is an active term. Musicians must pay attention to what is going on if they "expect to say things that make sense to the other participants." Moreover, since improvisation is key to jazz performance, listening is a prerequisite for playing to the moment within a musical narrative. In the free play of conversation/improvisation, the discursive conditions may change spontaenously and unexpectedly from moment to moment, since no one person authors the narrative alone. In addition, to be told that one "doesn't listen" is a paramount challenge and insult in jazz performance. It means the performer isn't communicating with other performers, but ineptly (at best) or arrogantly (at worst) attempting to control the entire parameters of the discourse. Sociability and interaction is at the core of collective improvisation, and if it is denied, the conversation is foreclosed.

But what of the statements themselves? How do jazz phrases and sentences work in what we might call improvisation/conversation? Monson takes a page from Bakhtin (1981), discussing the notion of internal dialogism, in two aspects: 1) multiple semantic meanings that change and are changed according to the shifting demands of the relationship between the meanings and the cultural context that makes meaning sensible. 2) the "temporal context" in which things are expressed in relation to the history of other discourses.Statements are caught between two different forces of language (centripetal and centrifugal forces) Utterances are caught signifying towards the unitary center (centripetal) and away from it in their particularity (centrifugal). Thus each statement is a torn contradiction inside, and also most meaningful at the same time. A "tension-filled unity." Others have race-d and extended this concept, such as African-American poet Elizabeth Alexander, who contend for a space that moves away from bifucated division and towards an space of "myriad particulars of identity."(1992) Notice how compatible this dualistic tension formula is with W.E.B Dubois's notion of the African-American "double consciousness." These racial aspects of hegemony in both in the history of jazz reception and in the interactions of jazz musicians with others who talk about jazz and "music" are highlighted in Monson's work.

When jazz musicians talk about music departments, they recognize that the words "music department" means "Western Classical Music department." Western Classical form has been anointed at the recognized highest status, and therefore stands for (and crowding out) the space in which the term music has institutional meaning. So when jazz musicians request not to be pigeonholed by the term "jazz," we must recognize that they are speaking to the cultural politics of labeling, or naming..of telling, and of listening. Musicians recognize Foucault's truth that 'discourses construct the objects of which they speak', rather than represent them in some naive, simplistic way. At the same time, Monson is careful not to overstate the case of cultural theory in explaining or explicating the 'meaning of music.' If we leave the realm of the musician too often or too long, we are no longer listening--no longer able to respond in the free play of conversation/improvisation.

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Product Description:
This fresh look at the neglected rhythm section in jazz ensembles shows that the improvisational interplay among drums, bass, and piano is just as innovative, complex, and spontaneous as the solo. Ingrid Monson juxtaposes musicians' talk and musical examples to ask how musicians go about "saying something" through music in a way that articulates identity, politics, and race. Through interviews with Jaki Byard, Richard Davis, Sir Roland Hanna, Billy Higgins, Cecil McBee, and others, she develops a perspective on jazz improvisation that has "interactiveness" at its core, in the creation of music through improvisational interaction, in the shaping of social communities and networks through music, and in the development of cultural meanings and ideologies that inform the interpretation of jazz in twentieth-century American cultural life.

Replete with original musical transcriptions, this broad view of jazz improvisation and its emotional and cultural power will have a wide audience among jazz fans, ethnomusicologists, and anthropologists.

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Connecting Chords with Linear Harmony (Jazz Book) [Plastic Comb] Review

I truly wish this was the first book on jazz I had read.The presentation is so logical and clear that I read in a half an hour what took a year to learn through other sources.I give this book my highest recommendation to anyone interested in learning jazz.If you know basic music theory and what a ii-V7-I progression is, this book will take you the rest of the way.A tremendous book.

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Product Description:
A study of three basic outlines used in jazz improv and composition, based on a study of hundreds of examples from great jazz artists.

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Jazz Improvisation for Keyboard Players: Complete [Spiral-bound] Review

I was a student a Berklee when this first was published.
After I had bought it, I was talking to my piano teacher.He commented that this book encapsulates everything that they were trying to teach in the piano program.
Hyperbole?Perhaps, but it's still a ringing endorsement.

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Product Description:
Jazz Improvisation for Keyboard Players is a straightforward, no-nonsense improvisation series. It deals with creating melodies, using the left hand, pianistic approaches to soloing, scale choices for improvisation and much more.

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The Definitive Jazz Collection (Definitive Collections) [Paperback] Review

No "fake book", or "real book" this.You get full, well-thought-out harmonizations.This isn't how Jazz pianists acquire their numbers, but hey, this graduate of the weekly visit to the traditional read-the-music-and-play-it-exactly-as-written piano teacher likes it just fine this way.Having played through about 25% of the songs, I'll say there are no really bad arrangements, and quite a few very good ones.The technical difficulty is toward the higher end of the non-classical stuff you find in the music stores -- the average song is about as hard (if you want to play all the notes) as a Chopin Waltz or a Clementi Sonatina.

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Product Description:
A once-in-a-lifetime collection of 90 of the greatest jazz songs ever compiled into one volume. Includes: Ain't Misbehavin' * All the Things You Are * Birdland * Body and Soul * A Foggy Day * Girl From Ipanema * Here's That Rainy Day * The Lady Is a Tramp * Love for Sale * Mercy, Mercy, Mercy * Midnight Sun * Moonlight in Vermont * Night and Day * Skylark * Stormy Weather * Sweet Georgia Brown.

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Mel Bay Jazz Theory Handbook Book/CD Set [Perfect Paperback] Review

There are many jazz theory books out, but Peter Spitzer's new Jazz Theory Handbook (complete with CD) stands out as the most thorough, yet easiest to comprehend.It's a must-read BEFORE reading any of the others. Mr. Spitzer carefully defines all his terms, then leads the musician step-by-step to the kind of clear understanding that leads to hands-on playing.The layout and typography are inviting, not overloaded as some books are.As a piano teacher, performer, and jazz lover for some 30 years, I simply can't say enough good about it.

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Product Description:
Jazz Theory Handbook is a complete guide to all the essential topics of jazz theory, suitable for all treble instruments. Its approach is clear and concise, realistic and practical. This book will help you to understand how contemporary jazz players think, and to apply theory concepts in your own playing. Subjects are introduced progressively, with each new one based on those introduced before. Topics include chord building, harmonic movement, modes, II-V-I licks, polychords, blues, rhythm changes, how to learn tunes, practice techniques, playing outside, and more. All of the book's musical examples are performed on the accompanying CD, along with sample solos and 3 play-along tracks with a great rhythm section. Jazz Theory Handbook is designed for both self- study and classroom use.

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

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Jazz Theory and Practice [Paperback] Review

This is a great book, a comprehensive survey of many aspects of what I (not really being a jazz musician) would rather call "contemporary commercial music theory." This area of study is typically lacking in classical musicians' training, and any classical musician who would like to expand his or her musical horizons, in order to compete better in the "real world" of music and be able to work fluently from lead sheets, would do very well to buy this book and study it from cover to cover.

I have to agree with fellow reviewer Stephen Apple that this is one of the most useful - and well-loved - books in my library. "Jazz Theory and Practice" was written as a college-level text, and assumes familiarity with music reading and some elementary music theory concepts. Nevertheless it begins with (for review purposes, assuming that some students may need brushups) the common material on intervals, scales, basic chord construction, etc. which are the nuts and bolts of "Music Theory 101". Then it goes on to cover the entire gamut of 20th century commercial music harmony, with great sections on melody construction, rules of chord substitution, the two great short forms of 20th c. song: 12 bar blues and 32 bar song form, modal jazz practices, etc. Pretty much all of the practical musical tricks and devices that a working musician should be aware of are covered.

For the reader, the important prerequisite is to be able to read the "grand staff", or piano notation with both treble and bass clef, as the examples are often in this form (most are in simple treble clef.)

This is not a book about improvisation per se, but it contains the necessary practical tools that a musician needs to develop an intelligent (rather than "intuitive") improvisation practice.

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Product Description:
Jazz Theory and Practice is the most modern introduction to jazz theory ever published. Rich with examples from the repertoire, it gives performers, arrangers and composers an in-depth and practical knowledge of the theoretical foundations of jazz. A CD-ROM is also available, providing supplemental exercises for ear-training and sight-reading practice, as well as tutorials that correspond to topics and examples in the text.

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Jazz Piano Voicings Skill [Paperback] Review

When my teacher recommended I buy this book, I found not too many people know about it. It was hard to find. That's too bad, this is really a great book.

This book is basically a collection of piano voicings for many different types of chords, in all keys. There's not too much explanation, just the guidelines so we can use the exercises properly and learn how to voice open chords. This is not a Chord Dictionary, it's about how to voice chords. You must know how to read music to benefit from this.

If you are a beginner at jazz piano, this is a great tool to learn open chords.

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Product Description:
Jazz Piano Voicing Skills by Dan Haerle. APPLICABLE FOR ALL INSTRUMENTS. A graded course on piano voicing skills, starting with simple block chords over Major and Minor and logically and methodically progressing into more exotic and advanced polychords and substitutions. Includes 123 skills in all twelve keys, designed to initiate a feel and understanding of piano voicings and how they work. Each new chapter includes a page of concise instructions for the teacher or the student. Works well for both classroom or individual study. The 156 spiral bound pages allow the book to open fully and easily on your keyboard music rack

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Jazz Piano Best of Bk/Cd (Signature Licks) [Paperback] Review

I don't remember exactly what I was thinking when I purchased this book, but it had something to do with learning licks and styles from accomplished jazz musicians. That is to say, I was looking for a shortcut. I'm finding out what I already suspected, however: there are no shortcuts. What this is then is a road map, with signposts giving a clear concise sampling of solos and riffs in differing styles from eleven great jazz pianists. There are some easy runs and some hard runs, and some slow songs and some fast songs, bits of fifteen different songs in all. There's no fingering marked in the text, so having an instructor to point things out will make this book more practical. The book is staple bound so it works well on the music stand. As near as I can tell, this contains only pieces of songs, so the serious musician will definitely have to have a songbook handy (but what jazz pianist doesn't already have The Real Book: Sixth Edition?). The highlight of this book is the CD that comes with it, which contains samples of the songs, usually both with a backing band and without, as well as examples of the solos at a slower pace and at speed. Fast forwarding through them and back to them is a bit of a chore (there are 94 sample tracks), but having that resource is really great, and the book includes markings for where each track is used, making the pair way more useful. There are also brief biographies of each of the musicians covered, which I think is a nice touch. In short, it is hard not to like this book and CD set. It is well thought out, well executed, interesting, and productive. No, it isn't a shortcut and you will still have to practice. (Sorry.) And though it might not fit every pianist's concept of a learning tool, it fits mine to a `T' and I will get a lot of use out of this book for quite some time.

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Product Description:
Learn the piano styles and techniques of Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Errol Garner, Nat "King" Cole, Ahmad Jamal, and more with this great book/CD pack. Rizzo teaches the styles using examples from actual songs, 15 in all. Includes: Caravan * Come Rain or Come Shine * How Deep Is the Ocean (How High Is the Sky) * I'll Remember April * In a Sentimental Mood * It's Only a Paper Moon * No Moon at All * On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever) * Satin Doll * Speak Low * St. Louis Blues * Stompin' at the Savoy * Take the "A" Train * There Is No Greater Love * Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams (And Dream Your Troubles Away). CD includes demonstrations of each.

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Quartal Jazz Piano Voicings (keyboard instruction) [Paperback] Review

This book exhaustively catalogs quartal and "So What" chords used in jazz.For a thin volume, it crams a dizzying amount of material into relatively few pages that will keep the diligent student busy for many months.The author has taken extreme pains to make everything digestible with thoughtful organization, and detailed annotations.It starts with the most common ii-V-I voicings, given in the key of C.This gives the user a taste of what is to come.The next section gives common voicings in all major and minor keys.The final section gives an exhaustive list of voicings in all major and minor keys.Finally, the book discusses theory and practical applications.

The world needs a book like this.It requires much time and effort to absorb, but the results will be a "mature" sound that separates the jazz artists from the hacks.If that is where you want to take your playing, and you are willing to put in the time, get this book and keep it handy for future reference.

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Product Description:
This book is a complete guide to the captivating and complex chord voicings prevalent in modern jazz. It includes: quickest voicings - a guide to the first and best quartal voicings one should know; selected voicings - good voicings in all keys; all voicings - every possible quartal voicing followed by traditional jazz theory; quartal voicings applied to a standard jazz chord progression; the theory behind deriving quartal voicings; and more.

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The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Piano Chords (Pocket Idiot's Guides) [Paperback] Review

I am one of those who used to play (classical) piano.I had lessons for 8 years in my youth, and continued to play for pleasure for about 15 years as I reared my children.Then.... the decades passed and I quit.Recently, at a friend's house, I discovered an old edition of Charles Cooke's "Playing the Piano for Pleasure."I read it on the train home and it has provided the motivation I needed in my retirement to bring piano pleasure back into my life.[That book, originally published in 1940 is still the best thing around for such as me who want to start practicing and playing again, building on what was learned previously.]

Soon after, I began browsing the music sections of bookstores, and found this little pocket gem.All my life (or at least my piano-playing life) I had wanted to be able to play the piano to accompany tunes at sing alongs but never knew how to do it.I (mistakenly) thought you had to be able to "play by ear", a gift I (mistakenly) thought was restricted to a few.

This little book takes the mystery out of how to accompany thousands of songs by knowing a few simple things about chords and how to pick and mix them. With not much practice and a good fake book, and following the advice in this little book, you will soon be able to switch back and forth from classical to pop. If you learned classical piano and want to be able to play along at family sing togethers, run don't walk and buy this little gem.

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Product Description:
Tired of playing Chopsticks?

The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Piano Chords takes the intimidation out of learning to play the piano with a quick and easy method for playing the songs everyone loves-without having to read complex musical notation. This non-classical method of piano playing will teach readers the basics of keyboard geography, chords, scales, pattern progressions, and reading lead sheets.

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Jazz Piano Masterclass with Mark Levine - The Drop 2 Book [Spiral-bound] Review

This book is a welcome follow-up to Mark Levine's Jazz Piano Book. The only frustration I had with the Jazz Piano Book is that it could not tell me EVERYTHING. The Jazz Piano book only introduced Drop 2 techniques, leaving the voracious student wondering where to find more information. The Drop 2 Book fills that void with the same clarity and pace that made the Jazz Piano Book so useful and popular. The book explains major, minor and dominant progressions, tweaks to make chords sound "modern", applications, problems and work-arounds, soloing, comping, the Altered Bebop Minor Scale, and suggested practice routines. Jazz Piano Masterclass with Mark Levine(With CD) can also be purchased with recorded examples. Most students at this level could hammer out the examples, but the relative volumes of the left and right hands are important to this technique. Such nuances cannot be expressed clearly with standard music notation, so the CD is more than just a nice afterthought. If you have worked through the Jazz Piano Book and feel ready to explore Drop 2 voicings in greater depth, this book will take you there. Buy it and recommend it to all your friends so that we can see more Masterclass books by Mark Levine.

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Product Description:
The 'Drop 2 Book' is the first and only publication to explore the 4-note, block-chord approach to jazz piano playing---as used by piano masters like Kenny Barron, McCoy Tyner, Barry Harris, Cedar Walton and Bill Evans. In this book, world-renowned educator and pianist Mark Levine gives the reader a comprehensive, step-by-step, beginning to advanced Masterclass on this fascinating approach to voicing chords. Included in the book are complete chapters on: The basic Drop 2 approach More advanced Drop 2 techniques Soloing and 'comping in Drop 2 Techniques for practicing Drop 2 Plus a CD is included of Mark demonstrating each exercise! An invaluable insight into the harmonic minds of some of our greatest piano players, by the author of "The Jazz Piano Book".

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Jazz Standards [Paperback] Review

Ever start singing a show tune you'd just heard in a furniture store, and get stuck on a line?"Hide your heart from sight, lock your dreams at night, it could happen to you..."That's where this book comes in.It gives you words and melody line for 100 songs and these are strictly A-list of the Great American Songbook (plus some bossa nova, a nice touch), with no filler.Put together the 10 books you've been allowed to take on your Desert Island trip, then slip this one in your back pocket.

As others have pointed out, it's not really suited for instrumentalists.But that, along with the fact that you can probably find all this material on the Internet, is undoubtedly what allowed the publisher to offer this collection at such a low price.

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Product Description:
50 songs, including: All the Things You Are * But Beautiful * Come Rain or Come Shine * Honeysuckle Rose * I Could Write a Book * In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning * Misty * The Nearness of You * Stardust * What'll I Do? * and more.

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Contemporary Music Theory - Level Two: A Complete Harmony and Theory Method for the Pop and Jazz Musician (Piano) [Paperback] Review

Mark continues from Contemporary Music Theory Level 1 to take you through chapters on 'II-V-1' progressions, 5-part chords, substitutions, harmonic analysis, voiceleading, 'upper structure' chords, and pentatonic& blues scale applications in this Level 2 continuation. Again, likethe Level 1 book, Contemporary Music Theory Level 2 has very detailedexplanations and exercises to test what you've learnt. An excellent seriesof books by Mark Harrison.

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Product Description:
The Music Theory series is designed from the ground-up to explain the terminology and musical structures needed for modern applications. Level One is an introductory course which covers music notation, key signatures, basic scales, intervals, modes, diatonic relationships and 3-and 4-part chords. Level Two is an intermediate-level course covering larger chord forms, "definitive" chords in major and minor keys, substitutions, analysis of key centers in tunes, "upper structure" chords, voiceleading, and pentatonic and blues scale applications, a complete glossary of terms, and hundreds of written theory exercises with answers.

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Essential Elements For Jazz Piano Bk/2CDs (Instrumental Jazz) [Paperback] Review

This is a fabulous, simple and straightforward method for learning the elements of jazz.I was so impressed with it that when I found the seconc CD in the used book I originally bought was cracked, I went out and bought another copy (for clarinet and direct from the publisher).Very highly recommended.

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Product Description:
Specifically designed to teach jazz basics to students with 1 or 2 years playing experience, but with no prior experience playing jazz. Great for individual or classroom use. Teaches the basics of swing style in a step-by-step approach using well-known songs. Improvisation is made easy starting with simple 2-measure phrases. Scales and basic theory are introduced in a simple and easy to understand approach. 2 CDÃ-s are included with recordings of all exercises and arrangements. Other features: 7 full band arrangements, sample solos, jazz history and people.

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Mel Bay Jazz Piano Scales & Modes [Paperback] Review

What separates this scales book is that the author lays out each mode or type of scale by key. Not only does it contain all the "church scales" (Aolian, Dorian, Ionian, etc.,), it also has the major and minor pentatonic, the blues scales, Bebop, and many others including Neapolitan, Japanese, Hungarian Minor scales, again, all in notation form and in every key! I've been looking for this for a long time. My only wish is that it would be in spiral binding. Other than that, this is better than any of the other scales books I've purchased.

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Product Description:
Following the best-selling Jazz Piano Chords, this informative volume provides a scale reference and practice tool for any pianist wanting to learn to play jazz. Starting with diatonic, pentatonic, symmetrical and exotic scales, more advanced composer and jazz scales are introduced. The following discussion of polytonality, alternating scales, using scales with chords and scale chords represents the dominating concepts of contemporary jazz. The book ends with extensive 12-key libraries of scales, and scales arranged by chords. Learning to use these scales will help any pianist play with more tonal and modal variety, color, freedom and interest.

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