5 comments about Solo Jazz Piano: The Linear Approach.

1. This is a good book for someone with basic Jazz theory knowledge. You still need have some foundation of Music Theory. It's a good book to be taken with supplemental teaching! Great recording eventhough does not follow the book(mostly his own voice leading).
   Thanks for creating effort and teaching for those of us that involve with music and love of it!



2. I bought several books recently to help me class up my fake book renditions (I'm a old rocker. I can read music with effort, but I'm much better at playing fake books), including this and Mark Levine's Jazz Piano. I'm still working through them, so some of this review may evolve over time. Random observations:
   
   * I find the CD only marginally useful.
   * The real strength in this book for me is the pacing. It slows me down, forcing me to spend time on fundamentals that I get tempted to skip over to get to the "fun part". It's a lot like having a real piano instructor saying, "Let's learn this first, and we'll get to that other stuff in good time when you're ready." Olmstead's teaching experience really shines through here.
   * The slight differences in left hand voicings between Olmstead and Levine (Levine uses VII and III for bottom notes almost exclusively; Olmstead does not) were a little disorienting.
   * Olmstead is kind enough to provide complete example songs with the same chord progressions as popular standards. He gives completely scored versions, and fake book renditions, depending on the lesson being taught. Very user-friendly, and no need to go find a fake book that tracks this volume.
   * The traditional book binding is very inconvenient - it is hard to keep the book opened for practice and the book gets very beat up over time.
   * This book gives a LOT of attention to walking bass lines, with very good explanations. It could be beneficial to beginning bass players despite the "solo piano" title. Even though I did not feel like I lacked in this area, I found this section worthwhile, and helpful to give me a vocabulary to communicate better with bass players.
   * Due to the attention paid to the fundamentals, constructing strong improvised melody lines and interesting chord voicings don't get much attention.
   * At a certain point the book jumps from basics to creating multi-part basslines and gets pretty advanced in parts. Even so, the author remains true to his promise and lays out the concepts clearly before throwing the student in the deep end of the pool.
   
   This book and Levine's give you two perspectives on the same elephant. Both are valuable, and neither is really complete on its own (nor are they complete when combined). There is less overlap between the two books than one might expect. This book would be particularly gratifying to proficient music readers, because so much is written out, while Levine's is more gratifying to me because I take what he gives me and apply it to my fake books. We should all work on our weaknesses, so it is good that this book forces me to read music. This book and some hard work will do a fine job at creating the foundation of skills and knowledge that the author sets out to build.



3. I was looking for some ideas to improve my solo jazz piano playing, but found that if you are in any way a performing jazz pianist, you will find most of the exercises in this book are already familiar to you. It focuses a lot on walking bass lines. I was hoping for a little more in the way of ideas for intros reharm and such. A good book if you are not all too familiar with jazz piano playing, but not for anyone who is at more than intermediate level.



4. This book has a wealth of information for people who want to develop their left hand in order to play solo jazz piano. The problem is, the author expects the reader to laboriously plow through tons of non-intuitive etudes with strange right-hand melodic lines in order to practice his techniques. It would be much more helpful, and much less confusing, if the author just provided left-hand etudes, or less unorthodox melody lines for the right hand. I was excited to approach this book, but I was really looking for a much more straightforward approach. (If I wanted to learn to play like Tristano, I would transcribe a difficult Tristano solo.)



5. The book is very well organized. There is no deception on the part of the author or the publisher to sell this book. The details of the book clearly let you know what the book covers. As a student of jazz piano, intermediate, I find this book very helpful. I really like the way the author introduces the concepts and then gives examples and etudes to practice. It is one of the best jazz piano books I've bought. But it is not the only book I use to learn how to play jazz piano. You should have an open mind and study all you can from different books in order to progress musically. You'll find similarities in jazz beginner/intermediate piano books, but the good books, like this one, provide you with the proper guidance you need. In my opinion, Neil Olmstead "poured his heart out" in this book. As a music educator myself, I really appreciate the great effort Professor Olmstead put into writing this outstanding book.
   In order to get another great insight on jazz piano improvisation, I also highly recommend the following book:
   Mel Bay's Essential Jazz Lines: Piano Style of Bill Evans One of the authors of this book, Per Danielsson, offers a lot of great free guidance on jazz piano on the internet. Check out his web site.
   
   I'm currently studying both books and I'm highly motivated to practice. Good luck with your jazz piano learning journey.

5 comments about Mel Bay Guitar Arpeggio Studies on Jazz Standards.

1. this book doesnt contain the amount of information that you might expect.If you have no idea about apreggios then you will learn somthing from it however if you already have a basic knowledge of arpeggios this book wont be very helpful.it does howveer have a few nice superimposing ideas but nothing spectacular.overall i was dissapointed with the book and could of obtained the information from the web . chord arpeggio shapes arnt hard to come across.the book includes a cd but there are no backing tracks to practice your arpeggios



2. You get 40 pages of arpeggios in this book. I thought I was getting at least 180 pages of text, but I was wrong. Not to worry. You get a short workout while following each note in each arpeggio. After a while, you end up learning how to solo over each chord in a standard -- similar to John Coltrane. John Coltrane was known for soloing using a unique scale pattern per chord. This book helps you learn how to form each scale pattern per chord. Of course, you could also solo over the key of the song. I find soloing over each chord more melodic. It's up to you.
   
   So, get this book if you're looking to learn how to improve on your melodic solos, but remember, there are only 40 pages in this book --- 4 stars!!!!!



3. Mimi Fox created a unique yet practical approach to the basics of improvisation. She provides lots of examples that in and of themselves are nice lines to play. Using arrpeggios is a solid basis for lines that have a nice quality. She even goes as far as to provide examples of superimposed arrpeggios which offer a whole new approach to the development of a solid technique as well as a strong basis for improvisation. An invaluable work by someone who understands what's important. Well worth the investment.



4. This is a real "food for thought" book for the fledgling intermediate player, with a solid footing in chord theory, and who is serious about learning how to improvise over jazz changes. The signature sound of jazz is typically built around chord tone arpeggios coupled with the deft use of chromaticism (passing notes). This book introduces you to that concept. There are no "licks" in this book. With the exception of Mimi's sample solo over Summertime, this is pretty much straight ahead instruction on using arpeggios to outline the chord changes of a jazz standard. As Mimi writes, this is an excellent starting place when developing soloing concepts for a new song. The book shows you common jazz chord arpeggio patterns, then gives you examples (in tab and standard notation) of how you might go about using the arpeggios to solo over a jazz standard. Since these exercises are chord tone based, you really don't need a backing track to hear the tonality because you are continuously outlining the chords as you play. For example, Mimi's Summertime sample solo stands on it's own without any need for accompanying rhythm to define it's musicality. Don't spend six months learning every exercise in this book. Rather, read the narrative carefully, listen to what Mimi is telling you, listen to her playing, play a few things yourself to get the idea, then start using these concepts in your own soloing. This book really helped advance me as a player. If you are really putting the time into studying the theory and focusing on improvising, it will advance your playing as well.
   
   
   
   
   



5. For players like myself who started out playing rock and blues this book is a great way to begin playing jazz. Starts you out right away playing over chord changes and progresses to some popular jazz tunes. Real practicle application. Great stuff!

5 comments about Jazzology: The Encyclopedia of Jazz Theory for All Musicians.

1. The book's approach is so intuitive, it almost leads you by the hand into the world of jazz. Certainly jazz is freedom of expression but you have to know what you're doing and this book is the tool for that. Combine it with some tunes and mix in some listening, and the world of jazz is open to you. This should be a standard in every high school with a jazz program and every college lab band.



2. This excellent book is useful and relevant both as a reference work
   and as a coursebook.
   
   In addition to being the definitive compendium of music theory as it
   relates to Jazz usage, it also contains exercises for the student
   that can be used in the classroom as a supplementary teaching tool or
   even as a full blown course of study in itself.
   
   There are hundreds of musical examples to flesh out the prinicples
   and topics covered in the text.
   
   The material is well paced and in a logical order. The uncrowded look
   of the page layouts aids considerably in making this vast amount of
   technical material easily digestible for learners of any level.
   
   This extremely deep book is certainly poised to become the standard
   Jazz Theory text of the 21st century.



3. Although it is only one of many jazz theory books on my shelf, I find that this book sticks out for its breadth and applicability to performing and arranging in the jazz idiom. This is accomplished through the sections on piano playing for all jazz instrumentalists where the topics include both voicing and comping rhythms. The latter is usually left out from theory books. There is also a chapter devoted to solo styles where the student can read through analysis of solos with the musical example provided in the book. There is a chapter on arranging for various ensembles as well as a chapter that deals with "Early and Traditional Jazz" a much overlooked area in our jazz history studies. The book even ends with a chapter on practicing that deals not only with what one should practice, but why we practice particular aspects of the music.
   
   Of course there are all of the requisite chapters on scale/chord theory and the ii-V-I progression that you will find in most books, but it is the added material that appleals to the player as much as the theorist. That is what makes this book a superior buy to many others.



4. This book is one of the very best I have seen,
   along with "hearing the changes" by Jerry Coker,
   and Jazz and Popular Harmony by Daniel Ricigliano,
   it has become a favorite.



5. This is a good look at a rehashing of what has been, for a long time. Some authors are better at portraying certain subjects in better context than others. These 2 gentleman seem above the average! I like it, very much.
   
   The biggest value of this book though, is the fact that the great Jeff Bent was such a huge part in the authentication process.... I personally am working on several learning methods for publication. It would be an honor to have Mr. Bernt give a look at my ciriculum also. ( I probably mispelled that, thats why I need Jerf!!)
   
   Anyway, good book. Nicely done!

1 comments about BERKLEE JAZZ GUITAR CHORD DICTIONARY.

1. No extra junk, just new interesting ways to voice chords. I love this book.

1 comments about Building a Jazz Chord Solo: A Guitarist's Guide to the Art of Chord Melody Playing.

1. I have bought 4 different books to help me learn and understand guitar chord soloing. This one for me has been the best. It really fits for where I am on the learning curve. As he goes through the 4 versions of each song he gives a few pages of theory explaining why and this has made the difference for me. The songs are cool and his ability to take the song to different levels of complexity is really a great way to learn. I would reccomend it to anyone.

5 comments about Duck Ellington Swings Through the Zoo: Baby Loves Jazz.

1. When my son hears this CD he calms down immediately. It is like magic. We had the CD in the car for a long trip and whenever he started getting fussy, we put it on. Within seconds he was bopping his head along to the music. I do not know what it is about it that he loves so much - but we are buying more in the series.



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. My 2 1/2 year old already knew - and liked - all the characters because we have "On the Road," another book in the series. The zoo theme is a popular one for toddlers and the pictures are great. The accompanying CD is good, too.



4. My three year old niece plays this every day and has a good time using the book with the program.



5. 
   My baby loved this CD from day one. He loves it from start to finish. He sings and dances along. I play this when he is grumpy and it seems to be very calming for him. He listens intently to the spoken words and the instrument sounds. He loves the book as well.
   
   The combination is excellent for his development and music appreciation.

5 comments about Jazz Guitar Technique.

1. When I started playing guitar, for a long time I was stuck in a pentatonic box. Using common four-finger box patterns, I was eventually able to break through to other areas of the fingerboard; however, for a long time I found that many sounds that I want to achieve are too difficult to play due to shortcomings of my micro-technique. As a result, I stayed away from patterns that were not convenient for the left hand, as well as those that created difficulties for the right hand.
   
   Andrew Green's Jazz Guitar Technique uses a gradual approach to building micro-technique. By micro-technique I mean variations within a pattern that involves moving fingers in a small span of frets/strings, with which so many people struggle.
   
   All of the material is presented in standard notation, with numbers indicating the string to be used. For my purposes, I wrote out tablature myself using notation software for the positions indicated in the book.
   
   The book is divided into several sections. In the first section, Green demonstrates how one pattern can be played in many areas of the fretboard, and encourages students to explore such variations.
   
   The second section presents exercise patterns on two, three, and four strings. Each exercise is designed to provide most of the common finger pattern variations. After each of the exercises, Green presents jazz lines using the patterns from the exercises. These exercises are indispensable for developing left hand finger independence, as well as cross-string mechanics for the pick hand. The jazz lines are more advanced, and require movement across positions besides cross-string movement.
   
   There is also a section that presents 5- and 6-string arpeggio patterns. I didn't find it nearly as useful as the exercises for 2, 3, 4 strings because the 5- and 6- string arpeggios are just broken-up chord shapes.
   
   Another section includes chord technique. This section presents some quartal chord structures harmonized to scales, for practicing chord changes. Again, this wasn't the most useful section of the book, but it opens up doors to both exotic chord sounds and closed chord voicings over the span of the fretboard.
   
   Finally, there's a rhythm training section. This was excellent, especially for someone as rhythmically-deficient as myself. First, each rhythmic pattern is presented on a single note. Then, a sample jazz line is presented using that rhythmic patterns. Recommended practice tempo ranges are given for each pattern also.
   
   The book includes a bibliography and a discography, which are pretty short but include a list of standards with melody lines requiring good technique.
   
   Overall, I've enjoyed this title tremendously. It's an excellent book to go back to and practice various patterns. While Mr. Green is rather succinct, he does provide needed guidance for fingerings to use and hints for practicing. If you're an intermediate guitarist looking for practice material, this will work great for you.



2. Very little in this book is easy or intuitive. Instead, it forces the reader again and again to confront his or her limitations as a guitarist. As such, it is one of the best tools in my library for forcing me to get outside of my head and really explore the possibilities.
   
   The book is organized around independent concepts, and there is no particular order in which they should be approached. My current nemesis is the section on punctuating single eighth-note lines with chord voicings. As Mr. Green suggests, take lots of breaks while doing this particular exercise.
   
   Incorporate this book into your regular warm-up routine. This is not a book of theory, and it's best to only use your brain until the lines become intuitive. Then just let the ideas buried in this book work their way by osmosis into your soloing vocabulary.



3. This book is just what I wanted and needed. The exercises are interesting and I am fairly painlessly learning to read music. The technical barriers are fewer than they were when I started. I am slowly beginning to think "music" a bit as one learns to speak and think in another language ie at first slowly and haltingly, putting individual bits and pieces together, moving on to the musical phrases of this book ie first sentences.
   
   When I get to the etudes in the back it is my hope that I will move on to the equivalent of musical paragraphs. So far it seems to be working.
   
   I believe that this is an excellent book of exercises which are well tailored those interested in improving their technique, their fund of musical ideas, and the overall smooth transition to thinking in terms of those ideas while also being able to play out those ideas more freely on a guitar



4. Take no shortcuts, study bits and pieces at a time and you will be amazed. Learning to read music opens doors to creativity and helps you understand the language. If you are a person who loves learning, these are the books for you. I'm finding that by studying Andrew Green's Jazz Guitar Series, my overall vocabulary in music is improving. I have all three books in the series and don't have the need to pay for lessons any more.



5. This is a wonderful book if you're trying to "remodel" your jazz guitar technique. I entered this book with the goal of 1. Upgrading my music reading ability. 2. Upgrading my Picking Technique. 3. Upgrading my left hand ability. I'm presently up to page 45 and my playing has changed remarkably since I started this book. I work seriously on all the "upgrades" while playing the exercises and continue until the exercise is "under my fingers". While I may not be the world's greatest guitarist (I call myself a Jazz Guitar Student), the use of this book has moved my playing definately "off the charts" from where I started. My tone is much better and I've learned hybrid picking while using the book. Working with the exercises has "opened" my left hand and improved my horizonal fingering. If you're dead serious about improving your playing, this is the book. All my "upgrade" areas have remarkably improved. And to think, this book sat on my bookself - unloved - for 2 years before I got into it. It's also useful to have a cheap keyboard that plays chords & rhythm to give your ear clues about the exercises, some of which have a nice "outside" quality to them. I started this book about 5 months ago 1-5 hours/day. Wonderful Book. No Tabs - Hardcore. Ed/California

2 comments about American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MTV Text & Audio CDs.

1. This book is designed to be an introductory college-level text for courses about Popular Music in America. It's good overall, but not great.
   
   The book begins with the initial "split" in America between "Classical" and "Popular" music in the nineteenth century, with minstrel shows and brass band music. The following chapters cover social dance and jazz, Tin Pan Alley, "race" records and "hillbilly" music, swing, postwar era music, Rock `n' Roll, the British Invasion, the 1960s, the 1970s, outside influences on 70s music (reggae, punk, funk, progressive country, etc.), the 1980s and MTV, and the rise of "alternative" music.
   
   There are some great aspects about this textbook. First the prose is well-written, informative, entertaining, and thorough from a social/cultural standpoint. The book does not make any significant omissions, which is not easy considering all the subject matter which must be covered. Also, with two CDs included with the book price, the textbook does provide a good value. This is a nice feature.
   
   I was able to find some serious drawbacks to the book, however. The book seems to focus more on the cultural aspects and less on the musical aspects of each section. The analyses of the musical tracks on the included CDs are too fluffy. It is likely that students will not get enough from the book to understand why the music is so special. Also, while 2 CDs may seem like a lot of music, it is really inadequate to chronicle the history of jazz, blues, musical theater, rock `n' roll, alternative rock, and so on.
   
   There was one minor aspect of the book which also cropped up repeatedly. The authors seemed a little too eager to inject race into every nook and cranny. Obviously, racism is a central issue American popular music and deserves a healthy focus. The book, however, includes racism related not just to singers and performers, but record companies, disc jockeys, and more. I found it extraneous in some parts.
   
   This textbook is very strong, but I would probably recommend And the Beat Goes On by Michael Campbell. With that series, one can order a 5-CD set, and the textbook, while shorter, has more in-depth musical analysis. This textbook is very close in quality overall, and is more up-to-date.



2. American Popular Music is a book that is easy to read and is very useful when wanting to learn more about Music History. I would recommend this book for people who would like to brush up on their music skills and who want to learn more about different music that has developed over the years.

5 comments about Jazzin' the Blues: A Complete Guide to Learning Jazz-Blues Guitar (Book & CD).

1. This book has it all, easy to understand, lots of different styles. I had never played jazz and I wanted to learn more about it. this book went way beyond my expectations.The book has the accompaniment and the solo part to all the tunes ( lot of them ) in the book. I think if you take this book one step at a time ,soon you'll be able to jam with anybody.



2. Jazzin' the Blues an excellent resource for taking the blues to the next level. Stuffed into 100 pages is an incredible amount of material that will keep you busy for a long, long time. I have a couple of other John Ganapes books and they are certainly good for the basics. However, this is my favorite because it covers more advanced topics: seventh chord structures, ii-V-I progressions, extended ii-V-I progressions, secondary dominant chords, flat-five substitution, minor blues harmony, major & minor chord substitutions, and a lot more. If you want to break out of the pentatonic box, this will propel you forward.



3. If you've soaked yourself in blues guitar and want to extend your knowledge and capability on the guitar then this book and CD combo will help you get there. It will help take you from Muddy, Freddie and John Lee ( though we still love them! ) toward the realm of Kenny Burrell, Wes Montgomery, Herb Ellis and Barney Kessell. Brilliantly conceived and organised with a fantastic CD. Add some Super Cool jazzbo blues to your axegrinding. Great fun!



4. A great book on jazz blues guitar. The examples in this book sound great and are fairly easy to play. The theory explanations are very good and show you how to break out of pentatonic patterns while still being easy to understand. The accompanying CD with the book is excellent.



5. Save your money and buy somthing descent .The book has no jazz lines in it watsoever and the songs are so easy and boring it made me cry
   :( complete waste of money ,It has alot of scales and theory >But you can get that stuff for free of the net it aint nothing special ,I have bouht alot of guitar books from amazon THIS IS BY FAR THE WORST .I really dont know what the other people who reviwed this book are on but i want some!!!

4 comments about Charlie Bird Count to the Beat: Baby Loves Jazz.

1. I had originally bought this and the Ella the Elephant for my almost 2 year old. It turns out that my almost 4 year old loves the accompanying CD and "reading" along with the book just as much. My husband and I are jazz lovers, and after seeing Baby Loves Jazz at the Monterey Jazz Festival 2006, knew this was an awsome way to introduce our sons to this wonderful music.



2. My husband and I absolutely love this series. It was made with adults in mind. It's not too kidish. We have the Miles the Crocodile, Charlie Bird, Ella Elephant, & Duck Ellington so far. We also have the Baby Loves Jazz CD (go baby go). It's great too. My 1 year old loves them all. We've been listening to them since he was about 8 months old. He listens to them every morning and night before bedtime. He's even started dancing to them. Now that he's a little older. He brings me the books and we read the little stories. I also dubbed these for my nieces who are 3 & 6. They really like them too. You can't go wrong with these books that come with the cd's. They are an excellent teaching tool as well as entertainment.



3. 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.



4. The "Baby Loves Jazz" series, and Charlie Bird Counts to the Beat in particular, is a wonderful entertaining fun set. It's not too clear in the product description, but this is a board book with cd. We play Charlie Bird and Miles Crocodile the most often, I think because they are so varied in musical style from one number to the next, one color to the next. It's hard to not sing along to these great cds. They don't seem to be very well known, so I wanted to write a review encouraging you to buy these books for your own kids, or for baby gifts.
   
   
   The pictures are great, the imagery in the songs is great, and I enjoy them as much as my son.