Jazz Piano: Piano: Reference

Learn the timeless techniques of jazz harmony and improvisation. This book is based on the author?s experiences of teaching jazz workshops and has been produced to fill a gap in the jazz education market by providing an explanation of the principles of the art form. The appeal in the first instance is to the aspiring jazz pianist seeking an explanation of the principles of the music. This book is intended to serve as an aid to developing potential. Non-keyboard jazz musicians will also benefit from this book, for it encourages them to play harmonies en-bloc at the keyboard as they would be played by the jazz pianist. Finally, it is useful in the classroom as an educational reference for teachers wishing to include jazz as part of the music curriculum, relating the music to conventional music training.

This informative volume provides a chord reference for any pianist wanting to learn to play jazz. Starting with the most basic intervals the text explains how chords are built and how they are used in different performancesettings. After covering the basics advanced chord types such as 9ths 11ths 13ths drop voicings and the blues chord are presented and explained. The functions of chords are described as are substitutions clusters andpolytonal clusters. Numerous charts are provided which can be helpful for practicing and for quick and easy reference as to which can be used with given bass notes. The Melody Harmonization Charts show chords based on fourths.Learning to use these chords will help the pianist play with more harmonic variety color and interest.

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 endswith 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.

This book of jazz scales will develop the skills required in playing jazz. It introduces patterns characteristic of the idiom such as modes the blues scale and the minor pentatonic and explores these on roots and in key centres commonly found in jazz.

Jazz Hands is a series of original jazz pieces for Piano by Mark Tanner which covers all standards from grade one through to red hot. Although the player may feel free to indulge in a spot of improvisation in response to the printed music there is no expectation to do so in any of the books. Nor are there any chord symbols or other bespoke abbreviations the like of which presuppose a degree of familiarity with the genre which may not actually be the case. Rather the idea is that the player will become gradually more confident and adept at playing in a jazz style as he/she works through the books. It may well be that a classically-trainedpianist has reached say grade 5 but feels currently at a more modest stage when tackling jazz. This is absolutely not a problem and indeed is all the more reason for the 'straight' player to extend their jazz skills to match.The title of this series 'Jazz Hands' derives from the familiar exuberant gesturing seen in music theatre fingers spread and extended with palms facing upwards an effect frequently amplified by a convulsive shivering of the hands. Cheerleaders have tended to make widespread use of jazz hands while the concept has also found its way into revues Broadway shows and films as well as contemporary dance. In the current context I am of course referring to the jazz pianist's hands which in only the most ambitiously spaced Art Tatum chord would require the player to stretch the digits to such an extent as in the aforementioned theatrical sense. The term 'jazz' has been adopted and adapted in a multiplicity of ways (not unlike 'classical' indeed) so that it no longer tells us very much about the music itself. Aficionados immediately recognise the better-known subgenres such as 'bebop' or 'New Orleans' styles and may even be able to distinguish 'smooth' from 'groove' or 'fusion/crossover' from 'postmodern'. And yet these are just labels not music. In an understandable bid to define all that we hear

The Player's Guide to Authentic Stylings. The Hal Leonard Jazz Piano Method Book 2 is a detailed, easy-to-use guide for anyone interested in furthering their jazz piano skills. There are many harmonic concepts, useful licks, and comping techniques for you to absorb. The accompanying audio includes demonstrations of all the examples in the book. Includes: harmonic exercises, melodic vocabulary, chord progressions and substitutions: melodic minor scale theory, locked-hands style, drop-two voicings, stride, walking bass lines, Latin styles, modern sounds, and much more! This is a powerhouse of a book - a real 'owner's manual' for the jazz piano mind. Mark Davis presents the essential material in easily digestible packets, each buidling on the last, and as a whole building on the concepts from the first book. I'll be referring both beginning and intermediate students to this course. - Geoffrey Keezer, multiple Grammy«-nominated pianist.