5 comments about Chasing the Devil's Tail: A Mystery of Storyville, New Orleans.

1. This is the first of David Fulmer's books I have read. I probably should have started with Rampart Street, but will read it eventually. I liked Chasing the Devil's Tail a lot, and particularly liked the protagonist Valentin St. Cyr and hope to read other books about him. Interesting how he changed his name from Valentino Saracena. The descriptions of Storyville were great, although the names of the madames of all the Houses became somewhat confusing. But all in all I liked it, and look forward to reading Jass also by David Fulmer.



2. It's dawn in New Orleans. The red sun cuts through the lingering mists of infamous Storyville, doing its best to clear the reeking air of the stench of the long, raucous night. It's the dawn of jass, the bud which is rapidly and noisily blooming into what the world soon will call jazz. The Negro kid Louis is there. Jelly Role Morton is there, and King Bolden, God rest his soul.
   It is the dawn of the automobile, but the cobbles still rattle with wagons and hooves. The banquets along Basin St., Bourbon and Rampart are crowded with everyone from the white swell, to the rounder, the exotic latte colored black eyed octoroon, the quadroon with a dime tied around her ankle, and street urchins like Beansoup. There are the crib girls, the doves, there is hoodoo and voodoo. Gold and silver coins run through the streets faster than the stinking gutters can empty the cigar butts and horse urine into the Mississippi. And all through Storyville, where the wild, screaming, dirty music flows as fast as Rye whisky and opium smoke, wanders Valentin St. Cyr, the private detective chasing the trails left by the corpses of the unfortunates caught in the madness of life on the edge. Only occasionally can he coax information from the madams who are locked into their weekly payments in cash to the powers that be. Mostly, St. Cyr is on his own, except for one person - you.
   You'll be hooked, but don't dispair, there is also David Fulmer's Jass, and Rampart Street.



3. This book was truly a good read. Then I also found out this author has a series that follows the main character. I enjoyed it.



4. Couldn't put this down, it transformed me to old New Orleans. I wait impatiently for the next one!



5. The superb, well thought out page turner features Creole private detective Valentin St. Cyr's investigation of the murders of various prostitutes and madams in the old red light district. We are drawn to expect that perhaps cornet star Buddy Bolden was involved. But it turns out he has had a mental breakdown and was innocent. The Church was behind some of the killings. But, after much frustration, St. Cyr finds the true criminal who commits suicide. The author has done so well with the scenes and characters the reader feels almost as though he's been in a time machine back to 1907.

5 comments about Harmonic Foundation for Jazz and Popular Music.

1. Jimmy Amadie's Harmonic Foundation for Jazz and Popular Music fills some bars that should have been written some time ago-and in the right key!



2. Philadelphia had (until his recent passing) been home to the quintesential Jazz Sensei/Guru, Dennis Sandole. Yet, in the shadows of Dennis's studio down town, this here city has another great sensei to offer the world...

   It is impossible to play Jazz without learning how to use your tones... You need them to make chords, you need them to form solos, and until you have mastered them, entire world's of ideas will be beyond your reach. The irony of it all is, over any chord, there really aren't but 7 tones you can use.

   This incredible book will take you step by step through that process of finding and putting them together. I have used it with myself, I use it with my students. Work through this book and never again will any voicing or chord seem too challenging to make, play or even solo over on the spot. It will improve your ability to use fake books, to make chord notations, and ultimately your hearing.

   Jimmy Amadia may have re-invented the wheel, but he's done so brilliantly... and in a manner that leads to a brilliant economy of style, both in terms of learning and performance.




3. Of all the how-to-play jazz books I've gone over, this one stands out for being just "plain English". About the most exotic musical terms you will find here are "Augmented 11th". But Amadie manages with only this to show you his unique method to construct chord voicings that are simple, straightforward, yet surprisingly varied and creative.

   I appreciate the plain and deliberate pace of the text instructions, like someone is talking to you, but still precise and definitely not sloppy like some other books.

   There are many different paths to building the foundation for jazz playing, and this is one of the most accessible. It is my favorite (contrast this with, e.g., Modern Jazz Piano by Brian Waite). Even if you are already an accomplished player, you might be pleasantly surprised by Amadie's method (he calls it the Amadiean Creed).

   What you will learn:
   1. How to quickly and flexibly voice a variety of chords (major, minor, m7, dom7, dim) with various embellishments (6, 7, 9, 10, ...), all using the same technique.
   2. How to harmonize these with a melody.

   What you will NOT learn:
   1. How to improvise. It's simply not covered. That's in the title: Harmonic Foundation (only).




4. Jimmy Amadie is one of the most brilliant people living. He is in that little group of people who figured out that you could communicate by talking, that clothing keeps you warm, and that the explosion of igniting gasoline can be controlled and used to propel automobiles. He is a Ray Kurzweil of music theory education. When Amadie came to music education he found insane chord notations, and statements showing little understanding, like "you can play a C chord over a D minor chord", and jazz education that produced dead comping, repeating the same voicings over and over and over. After much thought and 20 years of honing his educational strategy, Amadie came up with a blindingly simple conception of harmony and chord voicings, and then went on to develop an amazingly effective method of conveying the conception so that players were infinitely inventive and comping becomes as creative as a lead solo.
   
   Here are some of the core concepts: There are only four chords: major, minor, minor 7th, and 7th (dominant). All chords that you might create turn out to be harmonically in one group or another. If you want, you can freak out about your favorite notation, but often you're not freaking about the notes, the harmony, or the voicing. Often, you're just stuck in what you call the chord.
   
   Every voicing can be acheived with two notes in the left hand and three in the right. This system makes Amadie's approach work extremely well for players of other instruments who want to explore harmony on the piano or would like to be able to provide a little support on the piano. This is not a system that depends on piano chops.
   
   All the wild and weird notes that you can add are . . . wait for the suspense . . . embellishments. That's it. Nothing fancier and nothing less.
   
   As you work with the book, expect it to take you about a year or two. You can sit down and read all the words in a day, but you won't have followed Amadie's assignments and you won't have integrated the harmony and voicings into your playing. And, if you read it all in one day, the book may not make a lot of sense. You probably won't get it. You have to work your way through it.
   
   Along the way, you will find that your ear has changed. You will hear 6ths, 7ths, diminished 9ths, and so on. And you will find your improvising changes. This is not a book about improvising, but it necessarily changes what each note of a chord's mode means to you, and that will give you more power to create what you're aiming for in your solos.
   
   Every system produces a type of sound. Some systems, like Baroque and surfer, are very limitting, and everyone following the system sounds a lot alike. Once you have mastered Amadie's system, you may alter it to create a sound that is outside what Amadie sets the foundation for. But even if you stay inside his system, you can cover a range of music from Swing, through Bebop, Cool, Smooth, Modal, Fusion, to Free. Trad (Dixieland) requires that you hold back on the embellishments more than Amadie recommends, as does most of the pop tradition, including Rock and Roll.
   
   I studied this book in 1981. 25 years later, I am still overwhelmingly grateful to Mr. Amadie for the gift he provided by discovering this conception of harmony and this way to master the concept.



5. I am a mediocre piano player with some knowledge of chords, majors, minors, diminished, 10ths, 7ths, 9ths, etc..., but lack a real understanding of how to properly structure and use the chords when I play. I often struggle with creating the right harmony of notes.
   
   I just started reading and practicing the first chapter and analyzing how Jimmy Amadie's instruction fits my style of creating chords. So far I can say Jimmy's chord structure rules are excellent. Over the next year or two I hope to work through each page of the book and practice at my leisure using his guidance to fully enhance my sound.
   
   I am very pleased and look forward to what I will learn in each chapter right through to the very last page.

5 comments about All Blues for Jazz Guitar: Comping Styles, Chords & Grooves.

1. I've been looking for a book that does not teach a purely physical beginner-like approach to the blues. This one is pretty darn close. Its tough to find exactly such an animal, because the two basic book audiences seem to be a) beginner hobbyists or b) gigging pros who make a living playing guitar. What about us guys in the middle? Maybe there are not enough of us to warrent a market.

   This book assumes you are a decent player who can read charts and are already an intermediate-level jazz cat. In other words, you have put in a lot of hours on a music-based appraoch to the instrument and now want to learn blues.

   Since I am not quite at that level, I kind of have to come in "sideways" at the material and figure out how to make use of it.

   My guess is an accomplished jazz player might throw 5 starts at the book, but I rated it based on what I wanted it for.

   I do recommend the book to guys in the middle between hobbyist and pro, because there is plenty in there to get your money worth.

   Thanks.




2. The book assumes a basic knowledge of chord structure, scales, and music theory but gives you some solid practice lines which just about anyone can do with some practice in easy to read tabs. I have played guitar (on and off) for years, but am a little rusty and bought this book as a "refresher" for soloing. And so far it has done the trick. It incorporates different scales (major, pentatonic, Dorian, Mixolydian) as the basis for soloing and gives you "classic" licks from various jazz artists as a basis. The book is a bit expensive due to the CD included. The only thing I wish it had was some longer audio clips (5 minutues or more)with more varied chord progressions that would allow you to improvise with the CD as background.



3. This book has good ideas for building out your chops with a bluesy feel as it will introduce segments in blues progression, "fat chords", swing and bepbob comping and riffs. It covers different styles of blues influenced jazz and has a glossary of terms in the back. I use it to add a walking bass feel to my chord style of playing. This gives a Joe Pass feel. Diligent use will help your lead voicing as well. My only gripe is how the first track is laid out on CD but I am still glad I purchased it.



4. Great little bassline with chords section, some stuff in the style of various greats like Lenny Breau. At the least you will cop a few cool lines and maybe catch on to a few concepts. That being said this is NOT heavy duty jazz theory. BTW I do not have the cd (I bought it used) so I can not comment on the playing.



5. An essential book if you want to learn to play Swing and Bebop.
   
   This book has four chapters:
   
   Chapter 1: Theory.
   I find this section only helpful as far as chord sequences go.
   Granted, this book is only about comping (Accompanying a band by playing chords), but what are chords if not scales? Also, why discuss chromatic scales in the following chapters if the reader does not have it explained in this chapter?
   
   Chapter 2: FAT chords
   I find that there is no incentive to practising this chapter due to the fact that these chords sound great when played in context inside a piece, but when played on their own they sound like mud.
   
   Chapter 3: BLOCK chords
   A beautiful chapter. The sequences and voices are fantastic, and the chords do not sound like those you find in a chord book. For example the 13th and 11th chords are super, because the notes, that cause dissonance, are left out.
   
   Chapter 4: Walking base lines
   Another great chapter. I have not seen this in any other jazz books. The bass lines are played in combination with chords. Lovely stuff.
   
   CD:
   Poor. It does not have any drums, or bass, and is not easy to play along with. The author has super timing, and this does make up for the lack of backing.
   Ignore the review stating that the base is too loud! There isn't any.
   The tracks that cover " Fat chords " from chapter 2 sound awful, ( as I have mentioned before ),due to the fact that they are not played without any backing or intervening block chords.
   
   There are four excellent tracks on the CD:
   
   Intro: Fantastic.
   Why wasn't this one covered in the book, mr. Ferguson?
   
   Turkey bacon: I have learnt a lot from playing this one. Octaves, diads etc.This is the only track with diads,(double stops), which is unfortunate.
   
   Totally blue: My next project, awesome sound.
   
   Outside groove: A ringing bepop progression. Once again, I'm glad that I have put in the effort to learn this one.
   
   
   CONCLUSION:
   This is a book that needs a revision to improve, but it is still essential, so I rate it at 5 stars.

4 comments about Mel Bay Presents Jazz Saxophone Licks, Phrases and Patterns.

1. The exercise in this book are commonly heard phrases that can be played over standard chord sequences. As practice material they are great and the explanations are simple and enlightening. This is a good book for developing dexterity and a feel for the keys and scales. Improvising is much more than repeated practiced licks but working through this book will give a player some chops to fall back on as well as a wider understaning of what is possible.



2. All of Arnie Berle's books present the info in a clear, concise and logical way. I recommend you get your hands on as many of them as you can, while you can, especially if you're learning on your own. Any aspiring jazz musician can't have too many pattern books, and this one is a gem. 'Improvisation For The Contemporary Musician' and 'Encyclopedia of Scales, Modes and Melodic Patterns' also by Arnie are also highly recommended.



3. This is a great book to get ideas for Jazz licks. Excellent, not just for the saxophone, but other instruments in the same register can benefit from the instruction in this book. For me, coming from a classical music background, I'm using it with my violin to learn Jazz Violin and improvisation skills. This is quite a challenge, to say the least! These licks are very easy to learn, and not ridiculously difficult, which is what beginners to Jazz music really need.
   
   I really like the book and always have it on my music stand.



4. The books arrived earlier than expected (just in time for Christmas) and we're a big hit. Thanx!!!

2 comments about Arcana II: Musicians on Music.

1. Zorn's "Arcana" was a huge success that went out of print almost immediately. Fortunately, it's once again available and now there's a second volume. For those who enjoyed the first volume, I'm happy to report that volume two is more of the same. This time we get a new round of fascinating, unique articles from avant garde, experimental, or otherwise marginalized composers and performers.
   
   As with volume one, the writing style varies from essay to essay: some of the writers are quite well spoken, while others are clearly not "writers". Ultimately though, the articles are strong on content, so we can forgive some extremely poor grammar and usage.
   
   Unfortunately, Zorn restricts himself to a brief introduction. I'd love to see a book of essays by Zorn, but for now, it's great that he's putting these collections together. Again, if you enjoyed the first volume, you'll enjoy this. Highly recommended!



2. I' don know, this second is not as engaging as the first, it seems everyone is looking at their own navel too much, and if you are particularly into the subject matter and materials, as marginal film sources as O'Rourke,and otherson Dada and Surreal (that hasn't died yet) the writing is pretty useless. I like Jason Eckardt, for he was very straight-forward just describing to you a piece he had done, and giving its contours and outlines, Is this is what we got now?, everyone in the avant-garde scene is simply working at their own shibboleths, tribal agendas and self-indulgences without any cross-referential anything, as perhaps the Scratch Orchestra work had implied or collective improvisations, the improv scene seems to get smaller, contracting into itself, without any looking outwards, I guess that is a dirty word "collective" anything, it doesn't make for a free market, we need to privatize the avant-garde as Reagan and Thatcher Years taught us, that's were the dough is, we need people to pluck down their Bread to help Feed us Great Unwashed Improvisors. . . Zorn should be given some Stars here however for his work in trying, it seems he picks whomever he knows, how about spreading the wealth for these Crumbs more, I guess that is too extreme a view.I'd like more music examples, even if you can't write music properly, give me what you got anyways. . .
   
   Still I 'm happy with sheer technical insight now, if you can give me that, that's useful for writing music, or improvising, or making film wioth paint with improv, or dancing, or playing the french horn with a garden hose, or torturing an electric guitar with with multiple incisions of metal and wood rods, laying motors and cocktail mixers across the hardened body of the stratocaster Gibson.

1 comments about Exploring Jazz Piano - Volume 1 (The Schott Pop Styles Series).

1. This book assumes you're at least an intermediate pianist, but it also assumes you may have had only standard, sightreading classical music piano lessons. It initially goes over how to swing eighth notes, build chord triads, and so forth, but pretty quickly gets into playing music based on pentatonic scales, playing walking bass lines, using fake books, working with 7th and 9th chords, and much more. In other words, you aren't learning to sightread jazz music, you're learning to be a jazz musician. There are also some jazz standards in here to learn, but not just that--Tim Richards explains how they were created, how to solo over them, and how to improvise, and then on the CD he not only plays the music so you can hear what he's showing, but also you can get just the drum and bass part so you can sort of play with a jazz combo by yourself. Volume 2 builds on this volume, but also be aware of "Improvising Blues Piano," because this book (volume 1) builds on that book, and you might be best off starting with that book.
   
   My only complaint, but it's not enough to ding the book a star in this review, is that the binding came unglued on one side almost immediately.

4 comments about Philly Joe Giraffe's Jungle Jazz: Baby Loves Jazz.

1. My daughter loves this series of books and there aren't any other books out there to heighten her jazz appreciation. The books are very colorful, fun to read and include a fun CD. My daughter and I love these books and highly recommend them. This one in particular offers a look into many different animals that aren't represented in other books. Fun, little story to boot.



2. This series is wonderful! Our two-year-old absolutely loves the Baby Loves Jazz series. We bought a few to start out, then ended up buying the whole set. Two months after acquiring them, she is still enamored and requests to listen to them and read them every day. Her favorites? Well, these are the words we hear most often: "Mommy, read Duck and Miles?" or "Daddy, listen to Duck and Miles?" Philly Joe is also high on the list. I recommend them all. The books stand out on their own, but the music is what makes this series really shine. For example, on Duck Ellington's CD, he does a great Monk style on one track, then switches to great impression of Coltrane's classic quartet on the next track, with a very nice McCoy Tyner impression. Lots of variety and high quality make this series worthwhile (though I could have done without Louis Lion's potty tune). Don't forget the Go Baby Go CD as well (a stand-alone CD without a book), which is perhaps a notch above the music on the book CDs. The ABC tune is her favorite on that one.



3. I purchased this as a "center time" activity for my music room. I teach music in public school, Kindergarten only. The drum "lessons" are well done and some of the children have attempted them. The music tracks, to play along with, are excellent. It's great for building music skills.
   
   My only wish is that one of the tracks on the CD would simply read-aloud the cardboard book. THis would help our emerging readers. The children are trying to read and they could use the help of a page-by-page reading. With the way it's done, an adult needs to be near-by to either read or explain that sometimes there's a music track after a sentence. If we were just listening together away from the book, it's a fun album.



4. This is a great childrens book. It quickly became the favorite book of my two year old son. The CD is also great. He loves to drum along with the music. Like another review said, the only down side is that the CD does not contain a track of someone reading the book. Regardless, it's great.

5 comments about Improvisation: Its Nature And Practice In Music.

1. The low ranking of the previous reviewer, who was apparently expecting this to be a introductory how-to manual, should be disregarded, as he's missed the point and direction of this classic work. Rather than being a instructional primer, it is instead a larger examination and explanation of improvisational music from the unique perspective of an extremely talented and thoughtful insider. The topics covered are diverse and wide-ranging, touching on the myriad of styles and genres listed above. Bailey addresses issues of composition, "anti-instrument" approaches, recording issues and more in the form of essays and excerpts of conversations with Steve Lacy, Earl Brown, Viram Jasani, John Zorn and many others.

   I'd like to give this item 4.5 stars, as it's not perfectly written - the flow from topic to topic is abrupt at times, and I think it could have been a stronger work had Bailey explored some of the tangents touched upon in greater depth. I'll err on the positive side, however, and go with 5 stars.. It's just that important of a work for anyone interested in listening to or making improvised music. I'm not even much of a fan of Bailey's recorded work (though I wouldn't argue about his role historically), but will recommend this book without hesitation.




2. I'm a great lover of outside music, but
   not a musician, and I found this book
   very accessible and sharply written.
   Helps one find things to say about
   music that so often 'scares' people
   you know!



3. Let's get the caveat out of the way first. This is NOT a How to book on Improvising! In fact...I'm not sure there can be a How To book on improvising...there are no tricks and written examples really defeat the purpose. The only way to learn to improvise, at least in a contemporary setting, or a free setting, is to do it and do it and do it. At first it won't sound good...that's where so many people get lost. They think that if their improvisation isn't brilliant off the bat, then somehow they haven't got the "trick" yet. But perserverence is what leads to mastery. (For example, when I was 16, I got sick of my jazz harmony in my piano's left hand. I spent an entire weekend at the piano, practicing chords that I'd discovered on Bill Evans albums. Changed my jazz playing forever!) So if you are looking for a How To book...give it up. Reading won't help, only playing will. (Like the Nike commercial says, just do it!)

   Now on to the book at hand...Derek Bailey's book on Improvisation is really a classic. Bailey's interest here is wide ranging. Using a combination of interviews and essay, he looks at improvisation, or the lack of it, in Indian, Flamenco, Baroque, contemporary concert, rock, jazz and freely improvised music with the purpose of exploring improvisation in all it's forms from the inside. The act of improvisation is basically conceptual. How you think about your material has a deep effect on the material itself. So the book examines mostly the attitudes of improvising musicians toward improvisational issues: structure, composition/improvisation, rules and stylistic issues, recording, the relationship to the audience, and even the attitude toward innovation. It is interesting that there is such diversity, even in the improvising community, in outlook. Indian music is based on rather limiting sets of rules, and innovation doesn't even come into play. It's how you express the raga, not how innovative you are that determines your artistry...at the other end of the spectrum, in freely improvised music, the players are at great pains to always remain sponteneous...not to reuse tricks over and over again. In both cases, I think the stated positions are ideals...invariably there is innovation in Indian music and there are "licks" in free improvisation, but the differences in basic stance are fascinating.

   On the whole, I think Bailey does an admirable job of discussing improv in the various fields. The one exception that I would make is in the classical field. Bailey is correct, classical instrumental education has totally banished improvisation, with the exception of liturgical organ music. It has created a dicotomy in which composers (usually dead) create music which performers lovingly try to recreate. However, this is a modern development. Improvisation was alive and well, deep into the 19th century. Most instrumentalists looked on pieces of music as a fairly detailed blueprint which they added to in the form of improvisation. And most composers were also instrumental soloists of note and improvisation was a key part of their repertoire. Chopin was notable for improvising the virtuoso figures of his piano pieces in the salons of Paris, and actually resisted writing down pieces, partly because he didn't want to commit any one version to paper. Beethoven and Mozart were of course known for their improvisation...Beethoven actually made his greatest showing as a young pianist in the improvisations he played. Many of Brahms late piano works started as improvisations, and some of the Intermezzi were carried around by Brahms in his head for 2 years before he finally wrote them down. Of course, cadenzas in concerti were supposed to be improvised by the performer, though, as the art was lost, more and more performers relied on prewritten cadenzas, either by the composer of the piece or by famous 19th century virtuosi. And there is a charming reocrding from an original Edison cylinder of Camille Saint-Saens improvising on the piano. (At the end of the disc you can hear Saint-Saens say in French, "are we done yet?") Bailey doesn't address any of this, and tends to make the classical tradition sound like the enemy of improvisation...seems actually to be a bit hostile to the entire notion of classical music. I find this a blemish on an otherwise excellent account of improvisation.

   If you are an improvising musician in any discipline, you should read this book. If you want to understand the thought processes of improvising musicians, read this book. If you want to expand your understanding of the creative possibilities in music, read this book.

   If you want a How to book, go somewhere else.




4. well, the fact that he has just passed away makes me even more thankful for this great study of improvisation. very complete and fascinating; this quite dark and unpopular, and yet universal and eternal path...



5. WEll well well----I bought this book on the advice from my little brother........he just left to play with jim black in brooklyn...nuff said......The first chapter on organ improv wouldn't end....i read it anyways-----do people improvise in white churches anymore in america anyways----a 25 minute sonata---where i live they would say "no ne here does drufs , so play amazing grace" been there-----
   
   steve howe -- why?? did yes jam? i guess phish does too right??? this is why i bought the book----tired of listening to people praise hippie bands {although the jerry garcia interview in the book may have been the "deepest" as far as answering derek's questions was concerned.........he talks about "training " your audience-----
   thankfully gavin byars talks about his approach, which led to giving up improvising {after seeing a bass player "jam" in england somewhere and receive praise........derek goes into solo improv and language-----re read i did----over and over--------this book is for people who want to explore themselves as players and learn about the great improvisers---------louis armstrong to derek bailey to tim berne {who was NOT mentioned} to coltrane to cage-----you name--they are discussed-----
   buy this and give it time to sink in thank you for LISTENING

5 comments about Contemporary Chord Khancepts (Jazz Masters).

1. This book gave me so mouch to chew on it will be years, if ever, before I put it down. I have played and performed on guitar for 30+ years and studied music in college and I still have discovered that the more I know, the less I know. I felt that I had hit a brick wall in playing and performing and this book gave me so many ideas and options that I had not considered. I emailed Steve Khan to thank him and got a personal response a day later. Not only does he have a lot to give in this book he is truly a nice guy. Buy the book, work at it everyday, utilize the things that work for you and become a better guitarist.



2. First of all, let me qualify my review by saying that I am 40 years old and have been playing since I was 11, mostly classic rock, blues, and rockabilly (with a bit of jazz). This book, in my opinion, is geared toward the intermediate to advanced jazz guitarist as the text references focus on upper 4 strings to be played over a bass guitar. Cool concepts and useful stuff if you're in a jazz band. Me, I play 99% of the time as solo (fingerpicking rythyms, chord-melody solos, etc), therefore I didn't gain a lot of insite out of this book. There is a nice discussion on triads, but I already knew this concept, plus the author never tied any of it the CAGED system.



3. If you already know your basic chord theory, know all your barre chords and jazz chords, play well from lead sheets, etc... then you are ready for this book. Kahn discusses the use of leading tones and the basic triad as tools for playing guitar in a combo setting. He does a good job of covering the no-man's land between rhythm guitar and lead guitar. The book is well written, in an easily accessible style, by someone who really knows what he is talking about. There are many gems sprinkled throughout these pages. If you are a beginner or weaker intermediate player, pass on this book for now and come back to it later.



4. this is a great practical theory primer, and the practice CDs are great!



5. Useful material here, with plenty to keep you going for a long time. Steve gives you lots of examples on how to use triads and extentions and not just a bunch of theory. The CD's are very helpful in hearing the applications. After all, it is music and having an opportunity to hear what the material should sound like was a great aid in helping me understand the ideas.

5 comments about Building a Jazz Vocabulary.

1. I'm a fretless electric bass player, and I've played in jazz/fusion bands with competent, formally trained musicians for a few years. I can improvise walking bass lines freely over fast-moving chord changes, and can do some modal improvisation. I also studied classical piano for 8 years. So, I approached this book with the intermediate knowledge the author says you need to understand it.
   
   I'm also a university teacher with about 12 years of experience teaching non-music courses.
   
   With this background, I think a good text has the theory explained in simple concepts, with many very clear examples. A good book also has a significant number of practice exercises after each theory section. These exercises should allow the student to master the individual concepts, integrating them later on. The practice exercises should also provide answers, where applicable, so you can check your work.
   
   Further, a good book presents material so the student sees an increase in their ability to improvise as quickly as possible -- this increases their motivation to persist with the remaining exercises in the book.
   
   Against these criteria, I find Building a Jazz Vocabulary to be a fair, but not excellent book.
   
   Its premise -- that there is a common jazz vocabulary that the students can use to "imitate, assimilate, and innovate" is interesting and sound. The author's explanations of the components of this common vocabulary are well explained, and he provides for simple and multiple examples often.
   
   On the other hand, I found the book to be sorely lacking in carefully crafted practice exercises that help the reader practice the concepts. The author provides Etudes (studies) but they are long and sometimes complicated. Further, there are times there are no chord changes over the staff, which makes it hard to understand how the notes fit in with the overall harmony of the song. The author repeatedly puts the onus on the reader to find their own practice exercises, with exercises like "find a jazz solo and analyze it for four-note cells". Also, there is no CD with the book, so you have to use your own play-along software like Band in a Box if you want to practice at home, which will cost you an extra $50-60 or more if you don't already have it.
   
   In terms of providing motivation, I also found the book wanting. Like many books on improvisation, the author insists that one must learn a concept in "all keys" immediately. This presents the reader with an instantly boring and daunting task, which has no immediate return on investment. I think the author would have done better to provide play-along exercises in concert keys C, Bb and Eb, throughout the entire book. This would help the reader see some results immediately, which would further his or her motivation to keep practicing with the book. At the end of the book, he could have then encouraged the student to extend the knowledge gained to all other keys.
   
   I think there could have been some theoretical, written practice exercises too, with answers provided.
   
   So, this is a book a good theoretical reference -- exposing the elements of basic jazz vocabulary in a fairly well-explained and simple fashion. But it doesn't put enough effort into providing you with practice exercises to help you get the concepts into your mind and hands.



2. Although an accomplished musician and with thorough knowledge of music theory, this book is too much theoretic for me. I can't get hold of the message...



3. Very well organized with a wide variety of presentations of the material. A finely structured presentation of several jazz basics with exteensive permutations of each.



4. The exercises are really helpful. Just bear in mind: You will need a looot of time to go over all of them



5. Man I hate to thrash somebody's book, but after dusting this thing off today to see whether I could get anything new out of it, I feel duty bound to save others from the frustration I experienced.
   
   I got a bachelor's degree for guitar performance, and I have played in rock, blues, country, dance, variety, etc band since I was a kid. I have always felt like I have the right kind of mind for improvisation - I improvise well in those other genres - but I never got bit hard to make a serious study of jazz about 2 years ago. This book was the only book I bought to supplement transcription as my tutor.
   
   So - yeah, first mistake right there. If you want to avoid my bad experience, be smart and buy a bookshelf's worth of books.
   
   Now that I am off the ground as a jazz improviser (tho I wouldn't say good by any broad set of criteria - give me a decade to work on good), I can say that this book seems mislabeled.
   
   I think the ideas in the book are novel and informative, especially for a composer who wanted to analyze jazz solos and make sense out of them - maybe develop a vocabulary of motives and develop them in a familiar classical composition process - but I don't see this a great tool for the woodshed in its current form.
   
   For a new edition, I would like to see less - none, in fact - of the totally abstract permutation stuff like intervals on p19, and much more of the cookbook type stuff starting on p139.
   
   I now understand where this book was coming from, but I simply didn't benefit much from it.