Volume 1 - How To Play Jazz & Improvise

This is an old-school style of music book which has been written by an expert and proficient jazz musician, Jamey Aebersold. This book is packed with information, useful advice and practical tips for learning to play jazz. It is written in a relaxed and friendly style. For example, he gives the following advice on the first page- "... be spontaneous, creative, surprising, imaginative and take chances ...." and on the next page "I have never met a person who couldn't improvise!" which I found helpful and reassuring.I'm not a proficient saxophone player, but am keen to learn about jazz and improvisation. This book has grabbed my attention, and I have found something new and interesting to read about on most pages. There are loads of suggestions for practice exercises, and also plenty of references to music and jazz musicians so that you can check out relevant music examples..... "listening carefully to recordings can be your best teacher."There's a couple of accompanying CDs which contain backing tracks for playing along too, as well as examples of scales and other exercises.It's not an easy book for the novice. The first scales to learn are Dorian mode, which I found surprising as other books have always started with the Major (Ionian mode) scales. But it is an easy book to follow, and I think there's something for everyoneThis book will keep me busy, for a long time!

From a teachers point of view, there is a varied selection of challengers in this version. As we will always be working to improve our intonation, accuracy of playing every single note, and the speed of which we can speed read. This book has a very interesting approach th getting you there.

Packed full of information but assumes a basic knowledge of music theory and reasonable ability with your chosen instrument which is fair enough if you want to learn Jazz improvisation!Great accompanying cd and another at slower tempo. Perfect for learning.

In terms of the content, this book is okay, but it (in my opinion) is very badly laid out in that it tries to put as much text on one page as possible, making the thought of reading through it very daunting and uninviting.

This was a gift for my Dad who thought it okay

excellent

The 'flagship' book of Aebersold. Great improvisation book. Lots of theory blended with practical stuff

Excellent book and, as always, good service from Amazon