Creative Jazz Improvisation

Features + Benefits

Would you like a comprehensive and user-friendly text for your jazz improvisation course?

• A philosophy that encourages creativity.  The philosophy of this text is that there are several paths to the same goal and that each student learns in his or her own unique way.
  • Encourages instructors to go beyond merely the theoretical aspects of the music. Helps keep students from sounding mechanical and predictable.
• A logical organization.  The majority of chapters are divided into sections devoted to jazz theory; exercises over a specified chord progression; a list of relevant compositions; and a transcribed solo (transposed and edited for concert pitch treble clef, B flat, E flat, and bass clef instruments).
  • Every solo can be played in unison in a classroom setting or with the original recording.
• A thorough discussion of all facets of jazz theory. includes major scale modes, forms and chord substitutions, melodic minor modes, diminished and whole-tone scales, pentatonic scales, intervallic and "free" improvisation.
  • Provides students with the tools they need for successful improvisation.
• Chord progressions keyed to either the widespread Jamey Aebersold series or the compact disc accompanying Creative Beginnings.
• Exercises that include not only basic scales and arpeggios but also melodic ideas taken directly from cited recordings by master improvisers, arranged in order of difficulty.
• Indexing of the compositions to legal fake-books, particularly the New Real Books and the Jamey Aebersold play-along series.
• The correlation of half of the transcribed solos with The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz.   Many libraries and schools retain copies of this collection, so it remains one the most comprehensive sources of stylistic diverse recordings.
• Allows a classroom of mixed instrumentation to work simultaneously from the text.
  • Convenient for students and instructors.
• Covers both technical and intellectual aspects of jazz.
  • Allows students to explore ways to bridge the gap between these two aspects of their creative work.
• Transcriptions of solos by jazz masters reinforce 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.
• Chapter-by-chapter examinations covering all facets of jazz theory.
  • Promotes an understanding of chord structure, form, and chord-scale relationships.
• Exercises drawn from the jazz vocabulary that can be practiced in all keys over a specific chord progression.
  • Assists students in making the transition between theory and material they can hear and play.
• 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.
• Song lists.
  • Offers instructors the convenience of finding the right songs to use. Enables students to apply the practice materials to the standard jazz repertoire.
• 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.

NEW TO THIS EDITION

• Chapter one has been greatly expanded. Includes new information on how to practice, constructing solos, playing with other musicians, Kenny Werner's Creative Mastery concepts, performance anxiety, and information for teachers.
• A greatly expanded analysis of each transcribed solo, along with a historical overview of each artist and recording.
• The transposition of each exercise or musical quote, so that each transposing instrument begins in the same concert pitch key. Although the exercise must be played by ear in the remaining eleven keys, this greatly facilitates usage in a classroom of mixed instruments.
• An expansion of the list of compositions in each chapter to reflect the ever-increasing number of play-along recordings by Jamey Aebersold. The fourth edition is now keyed to the first 104 volumes in his series, A New Approach to Jazz Improvisation.
• The addition of a transcription of Ornette Coleman's improvised solo on "Congeniality" in the chapter on Free Forms.
• The expansion of the chapter on "Whom to Listen To."
• A reappraisal of all exercises, with selected replacements and additions.