Thanks so much. I studied jazz saxophone in the 90’s. The Charlie Parker Omni Book in Eb and Bb were the first books I bought too. I barely used them. They just weren’t doing anything for me. I also had to buy Patterns in Jazz for a course and barely used that either. My teacher gave me patterns that he thought would help me and I still have those hand written in his pen in the same binder that I have all my jazz improv class material. I haven’t played much but over the years just because, well, LIFE. Now at 53, I’m closing in on retiring from public education and looking at, well….LIFE… a new life. I’m finding that I want jazz saxophone back in my life. The tens of thousands of dollars that I spent on my music degree is still chronicled in that binder of staff paper. That’s valuable. This video reminds me to do the work and get back to transcribing, but transcribing according to my mature ear and taste. I may purchase these books you’ve recommended. And I’ll definitely buy the legitimate version!. Cheers.
Interesting my professor loves those books, I still learn to play and move through the pattern book but for the omnibooks it's really not something i can memorize for reading the sheet music. Before starting undergrad I wouldn't even open the book i would just transcribe them and they stayed longer than they do with him assigning one every week. I rather learn to practice jazz rather than get better at reading fast lines.
Totally agree. I was challenged by a friend that we would learn to paint in oils and then see who could sell a painting for the most at a charity art auction 3months later. I just got some paints etc and set to. He spent time reading one “how to” after another. He really understood the theory and got better colour mixes but his brushwork was poor & lacked freedom. I beat him by £5, we both raised a handy bit of cash for the charity and had a lot of fun. We agreed that time at the canvas is of greater value early on, the book work then helps move the standard upwards. Music seems very similar.
just wanted to thank you for those free youtube content, many of us from developping countries can t even afford for a book or a course, your free course on youtube help us a lot, 🙏🥰
17:11 Thank you for encouraging people not to steal the contents of these books. Theft is theft. If somebody has written and published a book, that writer deserves to be paid. Buy the books! Don’t steal them!
Jamie Aebersold deserves mention. His many explainations and lessons on how to learn to improvise is invaluable. Plus all the tools like tracks to practice to.
I always felt that the Coker book had the value of having you being able to move an idea around in the different keys in different orders. I never looked at it as licks to memorize and use. I actually discourage students from doing that. It gives you a head start on creating your own phrases and moving them through 12 keys but in different progressions. I really like the book for that.
«Improvising Jazz» bei Jerry Coker is also my favourite for now. It should be definitely in every improvisers bookshelf. Coker explains the basics of chords and chord progressions very well. He also advices on keeping a journal where one should write down musical ideas and thus come up with a collection of licks and melodies over the months and years.
@@Atlantpunktch absolutely! otherwise you forget them as there are many , and with written down list of ideas,motifs,shapes,colours you can come back to them again and again to refresh your muscle memory..I am 62 and easily to forget.Will check out the other Coker book..Thanx all
I play guitar (just started learning the sax) and it drives me nuts when people say "I don't want to sound like Brian May/Jimmy Page/insert name". That's how you learn to play! What are going to do? Publish a song book of your own solos and then use it as an educational resource? Anyone can play the same sequence of notes as the past masters, but you are never really going to sound like them. "Your sound" is something that you are going to wake up one day and realize that you have.
People say “I don’t want to sound like jimmy page” because they want to sound like someone else. I also play guitar, and I don’t want to sound like jimmy page, I want to sound like tosin abasi, misha mansoor or Tim Henson. Nothing against page, but his sound isn’t what I like
Since watching this video awhile back, I added 3 of those books to my library. It wasn't until the Patterns For Jazz book that I realized my saxophone teacher was basically feeding me all of these exercises. I sucked at scales and found them extremely boring but exercise number 33 finally got all 12 keys of scales to finally click in my brain and fingers to pass my Jury 2 a decade and change ago.
The Hal Crook book is a lifetime reference book. I have left this book for years and come back to it with new perspectives. Great book. The Omnibook is a great book if you do not have time or have issues transcribing. Listen to the solos, read the notation, memorize and assimilate.
Some books that I’ve found useful: Yusef Lateef’s “Repository of Scales and Melodic Patterns,” David Liebman’s “A Chromatic Approach to Jazz Harmony and Melody” and Greg Fishman’s “Jazz Saxophone Etudes.”
I have Yusef’s book, and while an admirable and exhaustive effort, I find it, like just about all books of scales, useless. Personally (and I emphasize personally) I’ve found Barry Harris’s approach of building scales from arpeggios (in his case from the union of 6th arpeggios and substitutions) with their leading tone diminished arpeggios the simplest and most controllable way of making the direct connection between scales (and the color tones they provide) and the moods/emotions you want to convey. Its almost like having a knob you can just turn at will. But thats just me. The journey is finding what clicks with you.
Ya, that Patterns In Jazz book does have a bit "too much". I'm happy you mentioned a few lines that your teacher highlighted from this book (98 and 132). Would it be too much to ask for some of the other numbered lines that they highlighted?
Thanks Jay, I wrote a long comment on my favourite jazz Ed books from 45 years ago. I still like Coker’s books, probably still available and deserve a mention.. But thanks for letting me know about some great new books with a similar philosophy. I need to check out Jerry Bergonzi’s Pentatonics (I met him when he toured Australia with Dave Brubeck), and the David Berkman “The Jazz Musicians Guide to Creative Practising”. I’m 73 and have been a professional from age 16, still learning!
I was a saxophonist 1st and got placed in what was essentially a pretty advanced high school Stage Band while in the 8th grade. This was in the 70s. I started going to the piano to try to begin to figure out music theory. I kept pestering everyone who knew anything to show me chords and progressions on the piano so eventually I just switched to the piano. The piano just felt like the bridge/control room of the ship to me. There's a reason why all the great composers except Maria Schneider and Richard Strauss played piano. I should say I was also using the piano to begin composing.
As a saxophonist with no formal music education, I found Mark Levine’s “The Jazz Theory Book” quite helpful though some parts of it were a bit over my head. Thanks for sharing
Jay, thanks a lot for the video. One of my first teachers told me the two most important things to become a good musician are to play in bands and write tunes. 15 years later I think he wasn't totally wrong...
thanks man, really. I'm a bassist and I was reading books and make notatins. I got shapes, ideias, but nothing melodic or usual (good for exercises at last). I got to the point I was playing scales, arpegios, but not the "notes". so when you said 10 pages and/or somes licks can be better to digest and learn than the whole book, you opened my mind for a more minimal approach, not to absorve everything, but what is important and can be aplicated! ps: this pentatonic book is reealy great!
Greetings from Manchester. I am picking up my sax where I left it from at least 20 years ago. You mentioned a date 1997. I've started practicing at around 1999. Bought a 2nd hand alto (which I have it to this day) for 400£ back then. Whilst I was looking for my Monica (lol). Am starting it once again where I left it from something like 30 years ago
After a 18 year hiatus, two books I picked up that have helped are Joe Viola’s Saxophone Scale Studies, and Sigurd Rachers Top Tones. Jerry Bergonzi’s Pentatonics book sounds interesting. Added to my cart.
Classical musician here 🤗 We go to Lacour, Ferling, Klosé … I have the honor of having Tim Bogaert as my principal coach and Cedric Delvaux who makes time for a session whenever I’m stuck or need guidance. Blessed over here 🎉
Nicely done @Better Sax! You nailed it regarding the books I know (#1,3,4) and inspired me to check out the others. Concerning ‘Patterns For Jazz’ I always tried to get students through 1 or 2 patterns in each of the basic chord types. Interesting that the authors left out Minor 7 flat 5 chords. I like the Snidero books for phrasing, style and articulation, but still love my worn out copy of Dan Higgins’ ‘The Jazz Etude Book’. Unfortunately it’s been out of print for years. Bob Mintzer’s ‘14 Blues & Funk’ and ‘14 Jazz & Funk Etude’ books are also excellent. None of these books, however, show students the mechanics of jazz articulation so there’s still no substitute for the guidance of a good teacher/player. Thanks again!
Really interesting as always. In the UK, a conservatory is usually a mostly glass extension on the back of a house used as a sunroom. And conservatoire sounds classier!
Everyone has their favorites, and I'm no exception to that adage. Couple of things that always stuck with me. One, Oscar Peterson said one time that whatever you learn to play, learn it in both hands and in all twelve keys. The other was a quote from Charlie Parker was "I learned the blues, I Got Rhythm, and Cherokee in all 12 keys, and then I knew I was ready." I still work on these two things to this day. The basic idea is that those three tunes contain a majority of the harmonic and melodic material that you'll need to play any of the types of jazz written and played from 1920 to 1959. (After that, roughly, Free Jazz got going, and like atonal classical music, that another whole universe.) Favorite books? Coker's book on jazz, also his Jazz Keyboard for Pianists and Non-Pianists, the Levine books, and the Lydian Chromatic Concept. That's just a small sampling---there are many good books out there. And yes, the best way is to listen, listen, and listen. Thanks for posting this vlog. It's a great subject. Respectfully, PMH
Amen to actually buying your own physical copy! Not only is it the right thing to do as stated in the video, but it has been proven that a person retains more of what they read from a physical page versus a screen. Support these folks and help yourself at the same time.
I've owned several of those. I think you might define what you're trying to get out of these books. For example, Coker has another book called "hearin The changes" which was really useful for me as it defined many common progressions and the tunes that use them. As a guitar and piano player I am perhaps a bit more interested in harmonic approaches, although I really like motivic development.
I am a bass player who's best friend is a tenor player. He hipped me to your channel and I love it. Great content. Love the Hal Crook book. Used it a lot as a former trumpet player. I also enjoy "Ready Aim Improvise."
The "Patterns for Jazz" book by Jerry Coker actually puts the expectation on your being able to spell out the construction of licks THEN play them in all 12 keys within context. This book is a genuine asset and comes LATER on....
Surprised nobody is talking about Lenny Niehaus, this is the first step to sound jazz and the articulation needed (specially when coming from classical music)
Listen! Listen to the conversation; that's what music is. If it has words, make sure you listen to that version as well because people who love jazz do that.
I've done the Aebersold thing, including attending workshops two successive years -- one thing to note, which is very obvious, is that jazz in a communal effort, so books only take you so far. Finding a like-minded group to jam with is pretty important. One major point -- you really only need to buy one patterns book :-). Buying multiple pattern books is a waste of money, in my opinion. And -- as far as the bebop thing goes -- David Baker, before his passing, was a big part of the Aebersold workshops. His Bebop book series is very interesting. He lists 40 or so "contrafacts", basically bebop melodies, and he suggests learning those melodies and transpose them to new keys. It's "paying dues" for learning the bebop idiom. The Omnibook could be used in this context (learn a melody/solo by ear, transpose it, move onto another).
By the way, my first year at the workshop, Jim Snidero was my ensemble instructor, and then I moved to Denis DiBlasio's ensemble. I think Denis's Bop Shop book, is a great starter book.
Jay, I have two of these books in my library - the Charlie Parker Omnibook and Jerry Coker Patterns for Jazz. Your review of these two were spot on! They fed my ability to read music fairly well (omnibook) and to play through a pattern in all keys (patterns). What neither ever did was help to unlock any of the doors that separate my reading / theory brain and my creative brain so that I could use anything these books had to offer in real life scenarios. I am so thrilled to say that I have seen windows open and doors start to unlock within the last month thanks to me taking a chance on some of your courses, included the Better Sax Studio subscription for the coming year. I am putting the time in and getting great dividends back! Thanks for all the wonderful and inspiring content! Jenn - musicalgalnl
Jenn, great to hear this from you. It can be tough to unlock those doors and open those windows. It often takes a new perspective to get to the next level.
I’m totally agree with you, my best jazz improvisation book will be the collection of bettersax studio exercises, a book that cannot exists without the bettersax studio course. Thanks to Jay for all of this
The Jerry Bergonzi books are great for that; they are centred around tools for creativity. Also for what it's worth... the most useful books I've found to get the foundations together are 1. Joe Viola's 'Technique of the Saxophone (chord version), which essentially writes three basic approach note exercises on a variety of foundation chords; great for technique and teaches you so much about harmonic description. Also Mark Levine's Jazz Piano book, which shows all the fundamentals of voice leading and how progressions are put together. But there's no substitute (as Jay intimates) for transcription.
I was amazed to hear you studied with Chris Gumbley in the UK. I played in a big band with him when he was a student, and we did a few small group gigs as well. Small world!
Hey man! I wish you and the internet were around way back in the 80's when I was learning all these lessons by hook and crook when I was in college. I really enjoy your videos. Thanks!
Very interesting and informative - thank you. I will be looking at these titles now. I already have Jerry Coker's 'Patterns' which I like a lot. I have found it useful to select one or two patterns only, using a pack of cards to make a random choice, rather than try to choose from so many in any rational way. One or two guitar players have commented as well. They might find Mick Goodrick's 'The Advancing Guitarist' interesting. (Notation only though, no tab.)
My friend got me that jazz patterns book from a garage sale for like a buck. It's a first printing and someone has marked some useful stuff in it already. Would recommend.
My reaction to the Coker books is very much the same. Some of the patterns are much more valuable than others. In this video, #98 and #132 are identified. So, the question is, what are the other patterns that are particularly valuable?
My opinion: •Parker Omnibook: useless. Transcribe them by your own and/or Instead go buy some RealBooks •Hal Crook: everyone recommends it, nobody I know ever worked throught it. Hence useless too. •Patterns for Jazz: apart from that there aren't written "Jazz patterns" in this book, it's tremendously exhausting. instead of that study tunes and pick out the chords of the tune and study them in all ways you can. •Snidero: great player! Great solos! Great phrasing! Recommendable! •Bergonzi: I love it! For me it was the best approach to pentatonic I could imagine •David Berkman: didn't know about it yet. Sounds good... One book missing is Mark Levine's "Jazz Theory Book". IMHO a must have for every Jazz musician!
Great list. Had the honor and pleasure of studying with Jerry Coker in the late 80’s (early 90’s). Patterns for Jazz remains an essential staple in my studio, it always bridges well into applied harms. Another good one is Joe Viola’s The Technique of the Saxophone Vol. 2 (chord studies). Excellent approach/passing tone applications over basic diatonic harmonies disguised as full range mini etudes. Great channel, you’re helping so many and in so many ways! 🙏🏼👍🏼
I wonder which music shop in Birmingham you bought it from. There was a good one near the railway station but that closed a longtime ago. I agree with you entirely about the patterns books - for someone trying to teach themselves it is too much information as you can’t sort out what to focus on and I have never managed to make a pattern sound authentic just by reading it. Over the years I’ve bought tons of books and got nowhere and obviously’ I have all the ones you mention. I can’t thank you enough for this review as I can now focus. I just watched a Chad LB video where he talks about using transcriptions and recommends memorising them along with the recording a few bars at a time until you can play the whole solo from memory. Finally I feel I have a route to follow.
Coker et. al. is on my music stand as I write, and I've gone about halfway through it. I think you make valid points. Do I really need ALL of this, like, this year? Probably not.
I really enjoy your content, Jay. What are your thoughts on the Lennie Neihaus Jazz Conception series? I often use Lennie's stuff. I really enjoy his writing.
I stopped reaching out of those books a long time ago. They are missing the element of a recording which I think is essential especially for beginners.
Those are some great additions to my birthday list 👍. 6:52 That's good - those "all the riffs in all the keys" books do more harm than good IMO because they encourage dependency on "the dots". 10:23 So true - we all have our own intrinsic sound. Even if we can't hear it ourselves, everyone else can.
Wow you went to the conservatoire! It's now the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, there's still excellent musicians coming out of there every year, I'm sure it still has it's flaws but there's a great student led scene among the "jazzers" here still.
I got the "Patterns for Jazz" book right when I started playing saxophone (1973). I had already played Hammond Organ for 4 years at that time. I almost immediately realized that said book was NOT the way to go and stopped using it immediately. I credit that wise decision, in part, as the reason that I don't sound like all the saxsheeple out there.....
About the Bird Omnibook: my use for it (so far) is to pick a tune I recognize and memorize the head (mostly by ear, using the book for help) -- but don't memorize the key. Then, leave it alone. Work on other stuff. A week or two later come back to the tune I've memorized, but start it on some random note. A lot of the head just emerges from the horn. Feels good.
Hi Jay, very informative and straight forward material as usual. Could you please give us a few of the patterns that were circled in your copy of "patterns for jazz"?
You've listed my favorites! and as a teacher these are my go-to resources that I recommend students pick up. Have to say when I was a (classically trained adult) beginner the first one I picked up was Hal Crook's and it was a bit overwhelming when I was just trying to get notes out! And like you I still go back to that book and it always gives me something to work on (I teach students right away the play/rest idea and breaking down practice into sections. Worth its weight in gold! I do like the other Bergonzi books too. For piano players Mark Levine's Jazz Piano Book is a great resource, but I recommend sections of it... Mark was a friend and when I asked him about that book years ago (he initially recommended people go through in the order it was written and I think Chapter 4 was Sus flat9 chords and I put the book down for about a year! But his writing style was really clear in general) - He said if he could do it over he'd have changed the structure of the chapters. Another favorite is Inside the Brazilian Rhythm Section by Nelson Faria & Clif Korman, & Carlos Campos books on montunos.
I agree there is no substitute for playing along to the recording. I have most of the books you mentioned, my favorites are Elements of the Jazz Language for the Developing Improviser by Jerry Coker and Connecting Chords with Linear Harmony by Bert Ligon
👍🏻👍🏻 Excellent books and comments are very interesting ! Thank you very much . My favorite book about jazz impro is : A creative approach to practicing Jazz by David N. Baker . Great strategies . Small book of 70 pages but highly effective for life . Other books of Baker about Bebop are top too with excellent advices : How to play Bebop Vol1, vol2, vol 3.
Thank you for reviewing those books, and for you advice. I would add Bert Ligon's "Jazz Resources" it's quite similar to Mark Levine "Jazz Theory Book". Also from Bert Ligon "Connecting Chords with Linear Harmony". I Believe that intense Listening while Reading the Notes Really does help beginners get some confidence in being able to get the phrasing and transcribing by ear. Just Listen and slow it down if necessary, one note at a time.
Thanks for this Jay, really helpful. I've been using the "Patterns" book for a while now - would love to know which of the exercises your teacher circled to focus on?
@@bettersax I was going to mention Bergonzi's first book in this series, Melodic Structures. I just saw your video on Adam Larson's Chord Tone Zone, and the first Bergonzi (actually, his entire series), seems very similar to me, in that it's focused on using chord tones in small, digestible and progressive patterns to give the beginning improvisor a basic vocabulary for solos.
I love your insight, and articulation of said insight on all of these things! First of all - yes yes yes buy a copy of the books for all the reasons you said. It can't be understated the value of having a real paper copy of a book to live with. My Omnibook is also torn to shreds and I love that (and yes I agree there is more value in transcribing one chorus of one solo rather than playing out of the Omnibook - I did that too) I can remember where I was with it - on a plane to Interlochen for the summer or at my grandfather's house. I suppose the "kids" these days aren't used to carrying so much stuff around! ugh old man talk here.... As a junior (size on youtube as I believe I am older than you) RUclipsr, I love the content, delivery, and production of what you do. Very thoughtful on all fronts!
I know the issues with the Charlie Parker Omnibook, but I still love it. I think it's great because it's fun to play and not that hard if you don't worry about playing at full speed. It really helped keep me engaged when I returned to sax after a 20-year pause. The other book that helped with that was the Real Book. When I switched to tenor it got the Coltrane Omnibook, and that's a different story... The Dan Haerle Scales for Jazz Improvisation book helped me to understand modes, but it took a lot of work to fill in the blanks before everything finally clicked. Modes are really simple to understand on a basic level, but you need a clear explanation. It's one of those books that takes some understanding for granted, even when teaching some basic concepts. More recently I bought Yusef Lateef's Repository of Scales and Melodic Patterns, which is insane but very interesting and I think useful for the strange intervals and different scales, though not at all practical.
I went to music school and acquired many theory and improv books. If I had to do it over I would allocate most of my practice time to repertoire. Learning tunes. That’s where the real instruction and ear training happens.
10:08 I would also like to point out that transcribing & learning licks that YOU like - MAY NOT be the same licks as those someone else likes. This leads to your own individual "voice." Also, learning from various players will also help in developing a personal style, since you will probably not be listening to ALL of the SAME people others listen to & learn from.
My all-time favorite book is Jazz Theory by Mark Levine. It's the size of a phonebook, and I'm not sure it reaches your goal of teaching improvisation, but what a book for musicians!
Interesting books and reviews. The great, late, west coast jazz pianist Dick Hindman always said the best way to get better as a jazz pianist is to learn to play classical music! And then, the best way to get better at classical piano is to study jazz piano! Why? Because Classical music allows the jazz pianist to work on the sound in the sound while playing the classical manuscripts. After all, the notes are written. And to make those notes sound good you need to work on your sound. Reverse, the BEST thing for a classical pianist is to learn how to improvise, which really is closely realted to learning how to write music. Classical pianists are deathly afraid of writing or improvising for some reason. In the day of the great classical composers, they all wrote, of course, and even improvised. Learning to improvise and write music will give the classical performer the insight as to what they are actually playing compositionally and will give them the effect that they themselves wrote what they are playing even when the notes were written by say Chopin. Another Hindman quote is, "You really can't play the classical piece until you are so familiar with ith that you could have wrote it!! Although hard to believe, this is true. Once you know the structure of the piece, where the melody is, what the harmony is (You should be able to transpose at least your favorite classical bars of your piece) then you can play it almost as the composer of the music did themselves.
Hey Jay this is an excellent review and summery. Thank you. You very much comforted me about Patterns for Jazz. I got discouraged at some point. Would you be willing to share with us the pattern numbers your teacher at the time and yourself recommend in this book ? That would be amazing 🤩
I just dug out my Parker OmniBook to revisit. Just working on Parker’s Mood. Playing along with the recording, and just enjoying being critical of myself to get it right. The tips I have learned from you, Scott Paddock,Dr Wally and Jamie Anderson over the Covid years has really improved my playing. Thanks.
The Bergonzi book is great! Another perennial. Accompanied by some Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter and later Coltrane solos it opens up your modern playing. And the Berkman book is great as well. I've taught out it as well. May I also offer the Oliver Nelson book Patterns for Improvisation
The beginning of the solo from "Now is the time" is just like a piece of Wardell Gray's "Twisted blues" (or it may be the other way round). Check it out, it is a really well thought out short tune that very few play, filled with gems...
A LOT OF GREAT POINTS 👏🏽 I also think the Omni book is an excellent resource, like the REAL BOOK and others.. As an adult violinist who was learning his instrument at 23 …listening was great for singing . But I needed a Map of the fingerboard and a logic for how to connect and finger ideas. Not to mention bowings 🤯 So I had to continuously go back and forth between Hearing and Fingering ..Reading. I think everything helps you learn Geography and maybe some phrasing logic… Listening for a beginner ..is motivating but you have to know where the related sounds are on your instrument. It all works 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
Jay, thank you very much for this video. This is the first one I came across that analyzes this very important topic. I would like to know your opinion of older books, widely used like: Patterns of Jazz by Oliver Nelson, Jazz Concption for Saxophone by Lennie Niehaus, How to play bebop by David Baker and also the books by Joseph Viola. The analysis of these books perhaps deserves a new one of your excellent videos. Greetings from Paraguay
It is not learning over one another. Always want to learn the actual tunes. But Etudes are essentially exercises with a specific focus. So some will emphasize different techniques that can be used on a tune you’re learning, even if it is not the same exact tune.
I found it helps to internalise the harmony, especially if you start playing them WITHOUT backing tracks first. You'll hear the chord changes (with enough repetition) in your head and from there make better decisions when actually improvising. When you employ the backing tracks with the etudes, then it turns more into an exercise for time-feel and phrasing over the track. This is just what I discovered after practicing etudes over tunes for a while.
Haha, I have all those books… gathering dust on the shelf. Back in the day, I was always looking for the one book that was going to take me to the next level. But I wasn’t into putting the time in. You’ve inspired me to pull out that last book you talked about and give it a chance. So many misguided souls out there wondering in the abyss with no direction in place. What it comes down to is putting the time in and the work. Your efforts will payoff in the end.
Hey Jay! First time viewer, long time amateur jazz pianist and trombonist. Great to see your video coming up in my RUclips feed! I am the son of two amateur musician, so you pretty much know how my childhood was spent ;-) Anyhow, I am still playing...not so much in public anymore, so I tell people I am practicing for my 80th Birthday Recital. I came to Jazz by way of Classical music and that is about the only thing Keith Jarratt and I have in common. You on the other hand have a similarly derived last name and just wanted to let you know that we share a common heritage written about in a book by The Metcalfe Society...just in case you are also into Geneology. I was also drawn to your List of Books them for this video. I am also an avid reader of a lot of things including music. The ironic thing being as soon as I was comfortable reading music, my father insisted I throw out the sheet music and start learning to play by ear. So I was doing things like playing scales in a darkened bathroom at home which on a fretless instrument like a trombone, is no easy feat. Anyhow, I just wanted to introduce myself and have subscribed to your channel. Perhaps I will take up the Saxaphone as my fourth instrument as I am also learning to play my mother's violin which I would rather play classical music on (apologies to Stepan Grappelli). Cheers from Down Under!
Duke Ellington mentions Jerry coker's book on Jazz improvisation in his autobiography, music is my mistress. You might want to check that book out cuz it is really great
What about Yusef Lateef's 'Repository of Scales and Melodic Patterns?' Supposedly Coltrane and Dolphy swore by it? I bought a copy. Didn't get very far. Seems like it was missing something. Like some instructions or recommendations on how to practice from it, because as it is, it's pretty dull and dry.
Those Snidero books were my bread and butter before and during college. They also got me hip to the great NYC guitarist, Joe Cohn (I play guitar). Another author ya'll should check out is Greg Fishman. His etude books sound hipper, and his lines are packed with bebop. He also has a "Hip Licks" series where he arranges all of the licks in a sort of etude, and teaches you melodic development as a result. Plus, Greg is BAD saxophonist himself--so check his stuff out as well if you are book hunting :)
This is really interesting and a good steer - thank you! I have a lot of music and some etude studies - some from your courses (eg 21 Major key explorations) which I find quite challenging to work through.
You should check out It's About Music: The Art and Heart of Improvisation by Jean-Michel Pilc. My teacher, Bennie Maupin, told me to get it years ago. And it's very very good.
Thanks so much. I studied jazz saxophone in the 90’s. The Charlie Parker Omni Book in Eb and Bb were the first books I bought too. I barely used them. They just weren’t doing anything for me. I also had to buy Patterns in Jazz for a course and barely used that either. My teacher gave me patterns that he thought would help me and I still have those hand written in his pen in the same binder that I have all my jazz improv class material. I haven’t played much but over the years just because, well, LIFE. Now at 53, I’m closing in on retiring from public education and looking at, well….LIFE… a new life. I’m finding that I want jazz saxophone back in my life. The tens of thousands of dollars that I spent on my music degree is still chronicled in that binder of staff paper. That’s valuable. This video reminds me to do the work and get back to transcribing, but transcribing according to my mature ear and taste. I may purchase these books you’ve recommended. And I’ll definitely buy the legitimate version!. Cheers.
Interesting my professor loves those books, I still learn to play and move through the pattern book but for the omnibooks it's really not something i can memorize for reading the sheet music. Before starting undergrad I wouldn't even open the book i would just transcribe them and they stayed longer than they do with him assigning one every week. I rather learn to practice jazz rather than get better at reading fast lines.
‘’ Stop making excuses and go do the work” is probably the best advice in the whole video.
Yeah come to think of it I should write that on my wall 😅
@@bettersax
I just did !!!
Totally agree. I was challenged by a friend that we would learn to paint in oils and then see who could sell a painting for the most at a charity art auction 3months later. I just got some paints etc and set to. He spent time reading one “how to” after another. He really understood the theory and got better colour mixes but his brushwork was poor & lacked freedom. I beat him by £5, we both raised a handy bit of cash for the charity and had a lot of fun. We agreed that time at the canvas is of greater value early on, the book work then helps move the standard upwards. Music seems very similar.
just wanted to thank you for those free youtube content, many of us from developping countries can t even afford for a book or a course, your free course on youtube help us a lot, 🙏🥰
My great pleasure. Thank you for watching and supporting the channel.
it s an honour and a pleasure,
17:11 Thank you for encouraging people not to steal the contents of these books. Theft is theft. If somebody has written and published a book, that writer deserves to be paid. Buy the books! Don’t steal them!
Jamie Aebersold deserves mention. His many explainations and lessons on how to learn to improvise is invaluable. Plus all the tools like tracks to practice to.
I always felt that the Coker book had the value of having you being able to move an idea around in the different keys in different orders. I never looked at it as licks to memorize and use. I actually discourage students from doing that. It gives you a head start on creating your own phrases and moving them through 12 keys but in different progressions. I really like the book for that.
«Improvising Jazz» bei Jerry Coker is also my favourite for now. It should be definitely in every improvisers bookshelf. Coker explains the basics of chords and chord progressions very well. He also advices on keeping a journal where one should write down musical ideas and thus come up with a collection of licks and melodies over the months and years.
@@Atlantpunktch absolutely! otherwise you forget them as there are many , and with written down list of ideas,motifs,shapes,colours you can come back to them again and again to refresh your muscle memory..I am 62 and easily to forget.Will check out the other Coker book..Thanx all
I play guitar (just started learning the sax) and it drives me nuts when people say "I don't want to sound like Brian May/Jimmy Page/insert name". That's how you learn to play! What are going to do? Publish a song book of your own solos and then use it as an educational resource? Anyone can play the same sequence of notes as the past masters, but you are never really going to sound like them. "Your sound" is something that you are going to wake up one day and realize that you have.
"Copy and steal" said Ritchie Blackmore
"Your sound" is the sum of your limitations and what people recognize you for.
Don't be so eager to have it...
People say “I don’t want to sound like jimmy page” because they want to sound like someone else. I also play guitar, and I don’t want to sound like jimmy page, I want to sound like tosin abasi, misha mansoor or Tim Henson. Nothing against page, but his sound isn’t what I like
I don’t want to sound like Coltrane or Rollins, so I barely practice- that ensures I sound like none of the greats
Since watching this video awhile back, I added 3 of those books to my library. It wasn't until the Patterns For Jazz book that I realized my saxophone teacher was basically feeding me all of these exercises. I sucked at scales and found them extremely boring but exercise number 33 finally got all 12 keys of scales to finally click in my brain and fingers to pass my Jury 2 a decade and change ago.
The Hal Crook book is a lifetime reference book. I have left this book for years and come back to it with new perspectives. Great book. The Omnibook is a great book if you do not have time or have issues transcribing. Listen to the solos, read the notation, memorize and assimilate.
Some books that I’ve found useful: Yusef Lateef’s “Repository of Scales and Melodic Patterns,” David Liebman’s “A Chromatic Approach to Jazz Harmony and Melody” and Greg Fishman’s “Jazz Saxophone Etudes.”
I have Yusef’s book, and while an admirable and exhaustive effort, I find it, like just about all books of scales, useless.
Personally (and I emphasize personally) I’ve found Barry Harris’s approach of building scales from arpeggios (in his case from the union of 6th arpeggios and substitutions) with their leading tone diminished arpeggios the simplest and most controllable way of making the direct connection between scales (and the color tones they provide) and the moods/emotions you want to convey. Its almost like having a knob you can just turn at will.
But thats just me.
The journey is finding what clicks with you.
Greg Fishman Etudes are also awesome for me
Ya, that Patterns In Jazz book does have a bit "too much". I'm happy you mentioned a few lines that your teacher highlighted from this book (98 and 132). Would it be too much to ask for some of the other numbered lines that they highlighted?
Thanks Jay, I wrote a long comment on my favourite jazz Ed books from 45 years ago. I still like Coker’s books, probably still available and deserve a mention.. But thanks for letting me know about some great new books with a similar philosophy. I need to check out Jerry Bergonzi’s Pentatonics (I met him when he toured Australia with Dave Brubeck), and the David Berkman “The Jazz Musicians Guide to Creative Practising”. I’m 73 and have been a professional from age 16, still learning!
81, 11, ditto... 🙃
I was a saxophonist 1st and got placed in what was essentially a pretty advanced high school Stage Band while in the 8th grade. This was in the 70s. I started going to the piano to try to begin to figure out music theory. I kept pestering everyone who knew anything to show me chords and progressions on the piano so eventually I just switched to the piano. The piano just felt like the bridge/control room of the ship to me. There's a reason why all the great composers except Maria Schneider and Richard Strauss played piano. I should say I was also using the piano to begin composing.
As a saxophonist with no formal music education, I found Mark Levine’s “The Jazz Theory Book” quite helpful though some parts of it were a bit over my head.
Thanks for sharing
Yes, that's another great book.
I find I reference The Jazz Theory Book quite a bit in concert as I learn new skills! Excellent resource.
Ive been looking for books for a while thanks for giving some ideas
Jay, thanks a lot for the video. One of my first teachers told me the two most important things to become a good musician are to play in bands and write tunes. 15 years later I think he wasn't totally wrong...
As a pianist I agree with Snidero, I also recommend Berklee Book of Jazz Harmony
Great jazz method books and i used the Aebersold play alongs alot which was very helpful in my improvisations.
This video should also be a great resource for guitar and piano. Definitely gets a bookmark.
thanks man, really. I'm a bassist and I was reading books and make notatins. I got shapes, ideias, but nothing melodic or usual (good for exercises at last). I got to the point I was playing scales, arpegios, but not the "notes". so when you said 10 pages and/or somes licks can be better to digest and learn than the whole book, you opened my mind for a more minimal approach, not to absorve everything, but what is important and can be aplicated!
ps: this pentatonic book is reealy great!
Do you have a list of the "Circled" exercises in Patterns fo Jazz?
Wow! Proud to see 3 that I’ve perused! All worth a look through again!
Greetings from Manchester. I am picking up my sax where I left it from at least 20 years ago. You mentioned a date 1997. I've started practicing at around 1999. Bought a 2nd hand alto (which I have it to this day) for 400£ back then. Whilst I was looking for my Monica (lol). Am starting it once again where I left it from something like 30 years ago
After a 18 year hiatus, two books I picked up that have helped are Joe Viola’s Saxophone Scale Studies, and Sigurd Rachers Top Tones. Jerry Bergonzi’s Pentatonics book sounds interesting. Added to my cart.
Thanks
Classical musician here 🤗 We go to Lacour, Ferling, Klosé … I have the honor of having Tim Bogaert as my principal coach and Cedric Delvaux who makes time for a session whenever I’m stuck or need guidance. Blessed over here 🎉
Great advice through and through. Thanks Jay!
Nicely done @Better Sax!
You nailed it regarding the books I know (#1,3,4) and inspired me to check out the others. Concerning ‘Patterns For Jazz’ I always tried to get students through 1 or 2 patterns in each of the basic chord types. Interesting that the authors left out Minor 7 flat 5 chords.
I like the Snidero books for phrasing, style and articulation, but still love my worn out copy of Dan Higgins’ ‘The Jazz Etude Book’. Unfortunately it’s been out of print for years. Bob Mintzer’s ‘14 Blues & Funk’ and ‘14 Jazz & Funk Etude’ books are also excellent. None of these books, however, show students the mechanics of jazz articulation so there’s still no substitute for the guidance of a good teacher/player.
Thanks again!
Really interesting as always. In the UK, a conservatory is usually a mostly glass extension on the back of a house used as a sunroom. And conservatoire sounds classier!
Aha that helps.
Everyone has their favorites, and I'm no exception to that adage. Couple of things that always stuck with me. One, Oscar Peterson said one time that whatever you learn to play, learn it in both hands and in all twelve keys. The other was a quote from Charlie Parker was "I learned the blues, I Got Rhythm, and Cherokee in all 12 keys, and then I knew I was ready." I still work on these two things to this day. The basic idea is that those three tunes contain a majority of the harmonic and melodic material that you'll need to play any of the types of jazz written and played from 1920 to 1959. (After that, roughly, Free Jazz got going, and like atonal classical music, that another whole universe.)
Favorite books? Coker's book on jazz, also his Jazz Keyboard for Pianists and Non-Pianists, the Levine books, and the Lydian Chromatic Concept. That's just a small sampling---there are many good books out there. And yes, the best way is to listen, listen, and listen.
Thanks for posting this vlog. It's a great subject.
Respectfully,
PMH
Another great one from you. Thank you!
My pleasure!
Amen to actually buying your own physical copy! Not only is it the right thing to do as stated in the video, but it has been proven that a person retains more of what they read from a physical page versus a screen. Support these folks and help yourself at the same time.
I've owned several of those. I think you might define what you're trying to get out of these books. For example, Coker has another book called "hearin The changes" which was really useful for me as it defined many common progressions and the tunes that use them. As a guitar and piano player I am perhaps a bit more interested in harmonic approaches, although I really like motivic development.
I am a bass player who's best friend is a tenor player. He hipped me to your channel and I love it. Great content. Love the Hal Crook book. Used it a lot as a former trumpet player. I also enjoy "Ready Aim Improvise."
The "Patterns for Jazz" book by Jerry Coker actually puts the expectation on your being able to spell out the construction of licks THEN play them in all 12 keys within context. This book is a genuine asset and comes LATER on....
Surprised nobody is talking about Lenny Niehaus, this is the first step to sound jazz and the articulation needed (specially when coming from classical music)
How funny that,I’ve asked him couple of lines above the same. Look his answer……. I’m a guitar player and I started with Niehaus’ books.
I just bought a ton of his cds on Contemporary. Good West Coast stuff and not easy to find!
Listen! Listen to the conversation; that's what music is. If it has words, make sure you listen to that version as well because people who love jazz do that.
I've done the Aebersold thing, including attending workshops two successive years -- one thing to note, which is very obvious, is that jazz in a communal effort, so books only take you so far. Finding a like-minded group to jam with is pretty important.
One major point -- you really only need to buy one patterns book :-). Buying multiple pattern books is a waste of money, in my opinion.
And -- as far as the bebop thing goes -- David Baker, before his passing, was a big part of the Aebersold workshops. His Bebop book series is very interesting. He lists 40 or so "contrafacts", basically bebop melodies, and he suggests learning those melodies and transpose them to new keys. It's "paying dues" for learning the bebop idiom. The Omnibook could be used in this context (learn a melody/solo by ear, transpose it, move onto another).
By the way, my first year at the workshop, Jim Snidero was my ensemble instructor, and then I moved to Denis DiBlasio's ensemble. I think Denis's Bop Shop book, is a great starter book.
Jay, I have two of these books in my library - the Charlie Parker Omnibook and Jerry Coker Patterns for Jazz. Your review of these two were spot on! They fed my ability to read music fairly well (omnibook) and to play through a pattern in all keys (patterns). What neither ever did was help to unlock any of the doors that separate my reading / theory brain and my creative brain so that I could use anything these books had to offer in real life scenarios.
I am so thrilled to say that I have seen windows open and doors start to unlock within the last month thanks to me taking a chance on some of your courses, included the Better Sax Studio subscription for the coming year. I am putting the time in and getting great dividends back!
Thanks for all the wonderful and inspiring content!
Jenn - musicalgalnl
Jenn, great to hear this from you. It can be tough to unlock those doors and open those windows. It often takes a new perspective to get to the next level.
I’m totally agree with you, my best jazz improvisation book will be the collection of bettersax studio exercises, a book that cannot exists without the bettersax studio course. Thanks to Jay for all of this
The Jerry Bergonzi books are great for that; they are centred around tools for creativity. Also for what it's worth... the most useful books I've found to get the foundations together are 1. Joe Viola's 'Technique of the Saxophone (chord version), which essentially writes three basic approach note exercises on a variety of foundation chords; great for technique and teaches you so much about harmonic description. Also Mark Levine's Jazz Piano book, which shows all the fundamentals of voice leading and how progressions are put together. But there's no substitute (as Jay intimates) for transcription.
I was amazed to hear you studied with Chris Gumbley in the UK. I played in a big band with him when he was a student, and we did a few small group gigs as well. Small world!
Hey man! I wish you and the internet were around way back in the 80's when I was learning all these lessons by hook and crook when I was in college. I really enjoy your videos. Thanks!
Excellent video, very helpful for me. Thank you.
Very interesting and informative - thank you. I will be looking at these titles now. I already have Jerry Coker's 'Patterns' which I like a lot. I have found it useful to select one or two patterns only, using a pack of cards to make a random choice, rather than try to choose from so many in any rational way.
One or two guitar players have commented as well. They might find Mick Goodrick's 'The Advancing Guitarist' interesting. (Notation only though, no tab.)
4:40....yes! In fact whole songs\performances should have a concept of "arrangement" and statement (s) to them!
My friend got me that jazz patterns book from a garage sale for like a buck. It's a first printing and someone has marked some useful stuff in it already. Would recommend.
Thank you Jay. Great information!!
Love the choices. I have a few of the ones mentioned. IMHO, there are NEVER enough music books!
My reaction to the Coker books is very much the same. Some of the patterns are much more valuable than others. In this video, #98 and #132 are identified. So, the question is, what are the other patterns that are particularly valuable?
My opinion:
•Parker Omnibook: useless. Transcribe them by your own and/or Instead go buy some RealBooks
•Hal Crook: everyone recommends it, nobody I know ever worked throught it. Hence useless too.
•Patterns for Jazz: apart from that there aren't written "Jazz patterns" in this book, it's tremendously exhausting. instead of that study tunes and pick out the chords of the tune and study them in all ways you can.
•Snidero: great player! Great solos! Great phrasing! Recommendable!
•Bergonzi: I love it! For me it was the best approach to pentatonic I could imagine
•David Berkman: didn't know about it yet. Sounds good...
One book missing is Mark Levine's "Jazz Theory Book". IMHO a must have for every Jazz musician!
Great list. Had the honor and pleasure of studying with Jerry Coker in the late 80’s (early 90’s). Patterns for Jazz remains an essential staple in my studio, it always bridges well into applied harms.
Another good one is Joe Viola’s The Technique of the Saxophone Vol. 2 (chord studies). Excellent approach/passing tone applications over basic diatonic harmonies disguised as full range mini etudes. Great channel, you’re helping so many and in so many ways! 🙏🏼👍🏼
Ricci! I really thought Jerry's "Elements of the Jazz Language" had the bonus of showing one how to apply the ideas over multiple chord types.
I wonder which music shop in Birmingham you bought it from. There was a good one near the railway station but that closed a longtime ago. I agree with you entirely about the patterns books - for someone trying to teach themselves it is too much information as you can’t sort out what to focus on and I have never managed to make a pattern sound authentic just by reading it. Over the years I’ve bought tons of books and got nowhere and obviously’ I have all the ones you mention. I can’t thank you enough for this review as I can now focus. I just watched a Chad LB video where he talks about using transcriptions and recommends memorising them along with the recording a few bars at a time until you can play the whole solo from memory. Finally I feel I have a route to follow.
Coker et. al. is on my music stand as I write, and I've gone about halfway through it. I think you make valid points. Do I really need ALL of this, like, this year? Probably not.
I really enjoy your content, Jay. What are your thoughts on the Lennie Neihaus Jazz Conception series? I often use Lennie's stuff. I really enjoy his writing.
I stopped reaching out of those books a long time ago. They are missing the element of a recording which I think is essential especially for beginners.
Those are some great additions to my birthday list 👍.
6:52 That's good - those "all the riffs in all the keys" books do more harm than good IMO because they encourage dependency on "the dots".
10:23 So true - we all have our own intrinsic sound. Even if we can't hear it ourselves, everyone else can.
Excellent video. Thank you.
Wow you went to the conservatoire! It's now the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, there's still excellent musicians coming out of there every year, I'm sure it still has it's flaws but there's a great student led scene among the "jazzers" here still.
I got the "Patterns for Jazz" book right when I started playing saxophone (1973). I had already played Hammond Organ for 4 years at that time. I almost immediately realized that said book was NOT the way to go and stopped using it immediately. I credit that wise decision, in part, as the reason that I don't sound like all the saxsheeple out there.....
About the Bird Omnibook: my use for it (so far) is to pick a tune I recognize and memorize the head (mostly by ear, using the book for help) -- but don't memorize the key. Then, leave it alone. Work on other stuff. A week or two later come back to the tune I've memorized, but start it on some random note. A lot of the head just emerges from the horn. Feels good.
That’s a good way to use it.
Hi Jay, very informative and straight forward material as usual. Could you please give us a few of the patterns that were circled in your copy of "patterns for jazz"?
You've listed my favorites! and as a teacher these are my go-to resources that I recommend students pick up. Have to say when I was a (classically trained adult) beginner the first one I picked up was Hal Crook's and it was a bit overwhelming when I was just trying to get notes out! And like you I still go back to that book and it always gives me something to work on (I teach students right away the play/rest idea and breaking down practice into sections. Worth its weight in gold! I do like the other Bergonzi books too. For piano players Mark Levine's Jazz Piano Book is a great resource, but I recommend sections of it... Mark was a friend and when I asked him about that book years ago (he initially recommended people go through in the order it was written and I think Chapter 4 was Sus flat9 chords and I put the book down for about a year! But his writing style was really clear in general) - He said if he could do it over he'd have changed the structure of the chapters. Another favorite is Inside the Brazilian Rhythm Section by Nelson Faria & Clif Korman, & Carlos Campos books on montunos.
I agree there is no substitute for playing along to the recording. I have most of the books you mentioned, my favorites are
Elements of the Jazz Language for the Developing Improviser by Jerry Coker
and
Connecting Chords with Linear Harmony by Bert Ligon
So which patterns did your teacher in the UK circle in the Coker book?
All great books, thanks for the list. I really love David Berkman's and Hal Crook's, which have helped me the most.
👍🏻👍🏻 Excellent books and comments are very interesting ! Thank you very much . My favorite book about jazz impro is : A creative approach to practicing Jazz by David N. Baker . Great strategies . Small book of 70 pages but highly effective for life . Other books of Baker about Bebop are top too with excellent advices : How to play Bebop Vol1, vol2, vol 3.
Wow. That really makes a difference for me. Thx!
Thank you for reviewing those books, and for you advice.
I would add Bert Ligon's "Jazz Resources" it's quite similar to Mark Levine "Jazz Theory Book".
Also from Bert Ligon "Connecting Chords with Linear Harmony".
I Believe that intense Listening while Reading the Notes Really does help beginners get some confidence in being able to get the phrasing and transcribing by ear. Just Listen and slow it down if necessary, one note at a time.
Bert Ligon's books are tremendously insightful - lots of information but useful stuff I feel.
Yes yes yes! Bert Ligon's "Connecting Chords with Linear Harmony" is amazing!
Thanks for this Jay, really helpful. I've been using the "Patterns" book for a while now - would love to know which of the exercises your teacher circled to focus on?
What do you think of Bergonzi’s first book in the series? Is it worth getting in addition to the pentatonic one or is it redundant to do so?
They are all worth studying.
@@bettersax I was going to mention Bergonzi's first book in this series, Melodic Structures. I just saw your video on Adam Larson's Chord Tone Zone, and the first Bergonzi (actually, his entire series), seems very similar to me, in that it's focused on using chord tones in small, digestible and progressive patterns to give the beginning improvisor a basic vocabulary for solos.
I love your insight, and articulation of said insight on all of these things! First of all - yes yes yes buy a copy of the books for all the reasons you said. It can't be understated the value of having a real paper copy of a book to live with. My Omnibook is also torn to shreds and I love that (and yes I agree there is more value in transcribing one chorus of one solo rather than playing out of the Omnibook - I did that too) I can remember where I was with it - on a plane to Interlochen for the summer or at my grandfather's house. I suppose the "kids" these days aren't used to carrying so much stuff around! ugh old man talk here....
As a junior (size on youtube as I believe I am older than you) RUclipsr, I love the content, delivery, and production of what you do. Very thoughtful on all fronts!
Thanks, good luck with the RUclips channel, looks good.
Great video, Jay, thank you so much! I actually own 3 of them and I totally agree with you..
Thanks for watching!
I know the issues with the Charlie Parker Omnibook, but I still love it. I think it's great because it's fun to play and not that hard if you don't worry about playing at full speed. It really helped keep me engaged when I returned to sax after a 20-year pause. The other book that helped with that was the Real Book. When I switched to tenor it got the Coltrane Omnibook, and that's a different story...
The Dan Haerle Scales for Jazz Improvisation book helped me to understand modes, but it took a lot of work to fill in the blanks before everything finally clicked. Modes are really simple to understand on a basic level, but you need a clear explanation. It's one of those books that takes some understanding for granted, even when teaching some basic concepts.
More recently I bought Yusef Lateef's Repository of Scales and Melodic Patterns, which is insane but very interesting and I think useful for the strange intervals and different scales, though not at all practical.
I went to music school and acquired many theory and improv books. If I had to do it over I would allocate most of my practice time to repertoire. Learning tunes. That’s where the real instruction and ear training happens.
Fantastic musician
I love how you spend so much time trashing these books but you still recommend them!Awesome
10:08 I would also like to point out that transcribing & learning licks that YOU like - MAY NOT be the same licks as those someone else likes. This leads to your own individual "voice." Also, learning from various players will also help in developing a personal style, since you will probably not be listening to ALL of the SAME people others listen to & learn from.
Yes, great books! 💪
But you forgot Jamey Aebersold's materials too... 😉
Hey Jay, another great video. I was just wondering if there will ever be a BetterSax Tenor Saxophone
It’s getting close!
@@bettersax Thanks!
My all-time favorite book is Jazz Theory by Mark Levine. It's the size of a phonebook, and I'm not sure it reaches your goal of teaching improvisation, but what a book for musicians!
his piano book is also excellent.
Interesting books and reviews. The great, late, west coast jazz pianist Dick Hindman always said the best way to get better as a jazz pianist is to learn to play classical music! And then, the best way to get better at classical piano is to study jazz piano! Why? Because Classical music allows the jazz pianist to work on the sound in the sound while playing the classical manuscripts. After all, the notes are written. And to make those notes sound good you need to work on your sound. Reverse, the BEST thing for a classical pianist is to learn how to improvise, which really is closely realted to learning how to write music. Classical pianists are deathly afraid of writing or improvising for some reason. In the day of the great classical composers, they all wrote, of course, and even improvised. Learning to improvise and write music will give the classical performer the insight as to what they are actually playing compositionally and will give them the effect that they themselves wrote what they are playing even when the notes were written by say Chopin. Another Hindman quote is, "You really can't play the classical piece until you are so familiar with ith that you could have wrote it!! Although hard to believe, this is true. Once you know the structure of the piece, where the melody is, what the harmony is (You should be able to transpose at least your favorite classical bars of your piece) then you can play it almost as the composer of the music did themselves.
Hey Jay this is an excellent review and summery. Thank you. You very much comforted me about Patterns for Jazz. I got discouraged at some point. Would you be willing to share with us the pattern numbers your teacher at the time and yourself recommend in
this book ? That would be amazing 🤩
I just dug out my Parker OmniBook to revisit. Just working on Parker’s Mood. Playing along with the recording, and just enjoying being critical of myself to get it right. The tips I have learned from you, Scott Paddock,Dr Wally and Jamie Anderson over the Covid years has really improved my playing. Thanks.
The Bergonzi book is great! Another perennial. Accompanied by some Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter and later Coltrane solos it opens up your modern playing. And the Berkman book is great as well. I've taught out it as well. May I also offer the Oliver Nelson book Patterns for Improvisation
Nice work! Omnibook was my first, even though I had no idea what was going on in there at the time.
Great content, Jay, very informative. I have the Hal Crook book. The Bergonzi and the Jerry Coker books are going on my wish list.
Thanks for the recommendations :)
Thank you,Maestro.⭐🌹⭐
The beginning of the solo from "Now is the time" is just like a piece of Wardell Gray's "Twisted blues" (or it may be the other way round). Check it out, it is a really well thought out short tune that very few play, filled with gems...
Good catch. That's from 4 years later, so it's definitely a Bird quote!
A LOT OF GREAT POINTS 👏🏽 I also think the Omni book is an excellent resource, like the REAL BOOK and others..
As an adult violinist who was learning his instrument at 23 …listening was great for singing . But I needed a Map of the fingerboard and a logic for how to connect and finger ideas. Not to mention bowings 🤯
So I had to continuously go back and forth between Hearing and Fingering ..Reading.
I think everything helps you learn Geography and maybe some phrasing logic…
Listening for a beginner ..is motivating but you have to know where the related sounds are on your instrument.
It all works 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
Jay, thank you very much for this video. This is the first one I came across that analyzes this very important topic. I would like to know your opinion of older books, widely used like: Patterns of Jazz by Oliver Nelson, Jazz Concption for Saxophone by Lennie Niehaus, How to play bebop by David Baker and also the books by Joseph Viola. The analysis of these books perhaps deserves a new one of your excellent videos. Greetings from Paraguay
Planning on another with more books since this video has been popular.
What's the point of learning etudes over actual tunes? Is it because it reinforces specific patterns or something?
It is not learning over one another. Always want to learn the actual tunes. But Etudes are essentially exercises with a specific focus. So some will emphasize different techniques that can be used on a tune you’re learning, even if it is not the same exact tune.
I found it helps to internalise the harmony, especially if you start playing them WITHOUT backing tracks first. You'll hear the chord changes (with enough repetition) in your head and from there make better decisions when actually improvising. When you employ the backing tracks with the etudes, then it turns more into an exercise for time-feel and phrasing over the track. This is just what I discovered after practicing etudes over tunes for a while.
learning language
@@ricardofryson91 That makes sense!
Haha, I have all those books… gathering dust on the shelf.
Back in the day, I was always looking for the one book that was going to take me to the next level. But I wasn’t into putting the time in. You’ve inspired me to pull out that last book you talked about and give it a chance.
So many misguided souls out there wondering in the abyss with no direction in place.
What it comes down to is putting the time in and the work. Your efforts will payoff in the end.
Hal crook… maybe the book I could study my entire life !
Hey Jay! First time viewer, long time amateur jazz pianist and trombonist. Great to see your video coming up in my RUclips feed! I am the son of two amateur musician, so you pretty much know how my childhood was spent ;-) Anyhow, I am still playing...not so much in public anymore, so I tell people I am practicing for my 80th Birthday Recital. I came to Jazz by way of Classical music and that is about the only thing Keith Jarratt and I have in common. You on the other hand have a similarly derived last name and just wanted to let you know that we share a common heritage written about in a book by The Metcalfe Society...just in case you are also into Geneology. I was also drawn to your List of Books them for this video. I am also an avid reader of a lot of things including music. The ironic thing being as soon as I was comfortable reading music, my father insisted I throw out the sheet music and start learning to play by ear. So I was doing things like playing scales in a darkened bathroom at home which on a fretless instrument like a trombone, is no easy feat. Anyhow, I just wanted to introduce myself and have subscribed to your channel. Perhaps I will take up the Saxaphone as my fourth instrument as I am also learning to play my mother's violin which I would rather play classical music on (apologies to Stepan Grappelli). Cheers from Down Under!
Duke Ellington mentions Jerry coker's book on Jazz improvisation in his autobiography, music is my mistress. You might want to check that book out cuz it is really great
What about Yusef Lateef's 'Repository of Scales and Melodic Patterns?' Supposedly Coltrane and Dolphy swore by it? I bought a copy. Didn't get very far. Seems like it was missing something. Like some instructions or recommendations on how to practice from it, because as it is, it's pretty dull and dry.
My go to book is by Yusuf Ali, that one is so mind expanding.
Those Snidero books were my bread and butter before and during college. They also got me hip to the great NYC guitarist, Joe Cohn (I play guitar). Another author ya'll should check out is Greg Fishman. His etude books sound hipper, and his lines are packed with bebop. He also has a "Hip Licks" series where he arranges all of the licks in a sort of etude, and teaches you melodic development as a result. Plus, Greg is BAD saxophonist himself--so check his stuff out as well if you are book hunting :)
This is really interesting and a good steer - thank you! I have a lot of music and some etude studies - some from your courses (eg 21 Major key explorations) which I find quite challenging to work through.
Great to hear!
You should check out It's About Music: The Art and Heart of Improvisation by Jean-Michel Pilc. My teacher, Bennie Maupin, told me to get it years ago. And it's very very good.