Creative Jazz Improvisation

Features + Benefits

• NEW - "Whom To Listen To" chapter-Lists major innovators, important contributors, and women in jazz.

  • Offers students a good historical overview, and a chance to develop the foremost skill of listening. Ex.___

• NEW - Inspirational quotes from jazz masters.

  • Reinforces instructors' teachings with words from students' heroes. Inspires students to persist in their studies and provides insight into how the masters perceive the art and creativity. Ex.___

• NEW - Expanded chapter on "Rhythm."

  • Presents students with new information and exercises, as well as a transcription of Max Roach's "Blue Seven" solo. Ex.___

• NEW - More readily playable examples.

  • Enables students to read musical pieces with greater ease. Ex.___

• NEW - Expanded list of compositions in each chapter.

  • Reflects the ever-increasing number of play-along recordings by Jamey Aebersold. Ex.___

• NEW - Both technical and intellectual aspects of jazz.

  • Allows students to explore ways to bridge the gap between these two aspects with the creative and intuitive state of mind. Ex.___

• Transcriptions of solos by jazz masters-Reinforces theoretical discussions in each chapter.

  • Provides instructors with pieces transposed and edited for all instrumentation, so that a mixed classroom can work simultaneously from the text. Helps students assimilate the jazz vocabulary and phrasing. Ex.___

• Chapter-by-chapter examinations-Covers all facets of jazz theory.

  • Promotes an understanding of chord structure, form, and chord-scale relationships. Ex.___

• Exercises drawn from the jazz vocabulary-Can be practiced in all keys over a specific chord progression.

  • Assists students in making the transition between what they know or hear to what they actually play. Ex.___

• Ear-training exercises and concepts for creative soloing-Arranged in order of relative difficulty.

  • Familiarizes students with basic scales and arpeggios, as well as melodic ideas taken directly from cited recordings by master improvisers. Ex.___

• Song lists-Utilizes the theories studied in each chapter.

  • Offers instructors the convenience of finding the right songs to use. Enables students to apply the practice materials to the standard jazz repertoire. Ex.___

• Detailed discussions on how to practice, creatively improvise, and teach improvisation.

  • Gives instructors helpful advice on how to teach and use the text through the layout of practice procedures for the students. Shows students how to get started. Ex.___

• Insights on the creative process.

  • Encourages instructors to go beyond merely the theoretical aspects of the music. Helps keep students from sounding mechanical and predictable. Ex.___

Backcover

Designed for professionals and students alike, the material contained in this comprehensive volume can be applied to any instrument as well as classes or ensembles of varied instrumentation. In Creative Jazz Improvisation, readers will find:

• Detailed information on how to practice, how to improvise in a creative way, and how to teach jazz improvisation
• A complete explanation of all aspects of jazz theory and forms
• Practice materials designed to help the reader gain facility with the jazz vocabulary and develop his or her ear
• Keyboard, ear-training, and theory exercises
• Lists of important jazz compositions, indexed to the popular Aebersold play-along recordings
• Eighteen transcriptions of solos by master jazz artists-analyzed, transposed, and edited for all instruments

The third edition expands on previous editions by adding:

• A new chapter, "Whom to Listen To," which lists major innovators, important contributors, and women in jazz
• Considerable expansion of the chapter on "Rhythm" and the section on "Creative Jazz Improvisation"
• New transcriptions of solos by Max Roach, Miles Davis, and Bill Evans
• Inspirational quotations by jazz masters, designed to motivate the student and give insight into the workings of the creative mind

Author/trombonist/composer Scott Reeves draws on over twenty-one years of experience teaching at institutions such as the City College of New York, the University of Southern Maine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Memphis State University, and Western Washington University to create a book that covers all aspects of jazz improvisation without superfluous information. Students and teachers alike will appreciate its accessible, well-organized approach to a complex subject.