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Title: Improvising Jazz by Jerry Coker ISBN: 0-671-62829-1 Publisher: Fireside Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1986 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.8 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Classic
Comment: I had the first edition of this book when I was learning to play jazz piano in the early 1960s. It's a classic that every jazz musician should own, even if it has been superseded by more comprehensive works. It's a little short on piano voicings, and the language is definitely aimed at beginners. But it's a fun read for musicians at any level.
And in the back of the book ...
To avoid paying royalties, Coker prints scores of standard tunes with only the chord changes -- no titles or melodies. It's great fun figuring out what the tunes are. Some of them still have me stumped ...
Rating: 4
Summary: Good for depth and perspective, not for practical learning
Comment: If you're starting to learn playing jazz, this is *not* the book. There are plenty of others like Amadie's and Ferrara's that are more immediately helpful in this regard.
With that out of the way: "Improvising Jazz" is an excellent source of unique perspective, advice, and experience from a noted jazz educator, Jerry Coker. Coker focuses not only on how to play but, on another level, how to learn and how to develop further. You will want this book in your collection to gain further depth and pespective on the subject.
There is advice on how to approach your first jam session, developing the ear, combining intellect with spontaneity. The later chapters on analysis of melody and functional harmony, first written in 1964, were probably the one of the first systematic attempts to "organize" jazz theory. You definitely get the sense that this is a major source material for reference books such as "Modern Jazz Piano" by Brian Waite.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Strunk & White of jazz improvisation
Comment: I started improvising Jazz back in the early 70's. Back then every serious player I knew owned a copy of Jerry Coker's "Patterns for Jazz". Somehow, I missed owning a copy of "Improvising Jazz" until just a week ago. This book, published in 1964, is awesome. It's packed with insight and applicable techniques regarding improvisation that are as fresh today as they were nearly 40 years ago.
If you already own Pattern's for Jazz, this book is totally different. "Patterns" is a 99% music whereas "Improvising" is 90% discussion and application with the music used to illustrate the discussion.
My favorite passage is an excerpt the author takes from Richmond Browne on what makes a solo interesting to various listeners. Find this on page 15!
It's a small book to be sure. However, this just means that it can be read over and over and physically kept in your case. Think of it as a "Strunk & White" for jazz.
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Title: Patterns for Jazz: Treble Clef by Jerry Coker ISBN: 0898987032 Publisher: Warner Brothers Publications Pub. Date: 01 April, 1982 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Building a Jazz Vocabulary: A Resource for Learning Jazz Improvisation by Mike Steinel ISBN: 0793521610 Publisher: Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation Pub. Date: 01 January, 1995 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Thinking in Jazz : The Infinite Art of Improvisation (Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology Series) by Paul F. Berliner ISBN: 0226043819 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: 01 August, 1994 List Price(USD): $32.00 |
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Title: How to Play from a Fake Book: Faking Your Own Arrangements from Melodies and Chords by Blake Neely ISBN: 0634002066 Publisher: Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation Pub. Date: 01 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Harmonic Foundation for Jazz and Popular Music by Jimmy Amadie ISBN: 0961303506 Publisher: Thornton Publishing Pub. Date: 01 January, 1981 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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