The Jazz Piano Book

I have purchased at least six jazz piano books before this one. I have wanted to study jazz for a long time and I just got bored with every single book that I have tried to study with. The thing is that most authors write endless pages of chord progressions without actual song applying method. I have fake books of course but I have no way of knowing how to voice the chords written in them. I got frustrated for the longest time. I tried to study with a few teachers who recommended me to practice more inversions and exercises without any musical reference, just drills. I got bored and stopped. Finally, this amazing book was recommended to me and I smiled again. Here's the thing: Levine talks about theory, as he should, and teaches you little by little how to apply that small portion of theory towards a chord progression. Then, he adds a nice standard and teaches you how to apply that voicing to the melody in two or three different ways. For instance, he'll show you the melody of "Infant Eyes" by Wayne Shorter with basic 7th chords in a lead sheet style. Then, he'll remove the melody and writes a three voice harmony. Next page he'll add that voicing to the melody and encourages you to come up with your own voicing. Next, the same melody with voicing that includes 13th, b9, #4, and suspensions. He notates where the 9th, 11th, and all 5th are so you know what is happening. This is very helpful when you read 7 different notes in an inverted chord. He explains why he is doubling the melody or how to substitute the 7th for the 9th or the 5th for the b13, how to play the same voicing in rootless position, etc. It's a complete study on how to approach a song from different angles. Then, he continues with more harmony and standards. This is the best approach because you are learning to voice along with actual songs and not just endless drills. You are forced to think how to add the 9th or whatever according to the inversion you are playing and what the melody is doing rather than just chord progressions without any musical context. This is the best way to learn anything, period. You don't learn a new language by memorizing every verb in that language. You learn a little bit and then try to write it, pronounce it, say it slowly and then fast, etc. You'll learn a lot from this book. Before studying from this book: you must have a very SOLID understanding of music theory. You must know how to read music. I hope you enjoy it as much as I am. EB

I wish I could give MORE than five stars, seriously. If you want a lifetime companion book for piano, this is IT. There's so MUCH here for a person to LEARN, really. There are other jazz piano books - I just bought "Voicings for Jazz Keyboard" and it's an excellent book - but "The Jazz Piano Book" is the most comprehensive, covering some of what the "Voicings" book covers (mostly fourth voicings), as well as everything else. Seriously, this is the most complete book you can get. The author is also an accomplished jazz pianist, having played with some of the greats and even losing a Grammy award, which is an accomplishment in itself. You start out in this book with a review of your basic triads in all intervals and in all keys. You next move on to the ii-V-I progression and a simple three-note voicing, which is followed in the next chapter by adding notes to the three-note voicing. The point is that you start basic and you progress. Levine also includes tunes in these lessons, so that you can apply what you're learning to actual tunes. There's no holding your hand in this book, either. You're simply told to practice in all 12 keys or given suggestions of tunes out of your Real Book that you might us to apply the concept to. If a person took their time with this book, I'm sure they'd wind up being a decent jazz pianist. I've never taken any lesson on piano but I've devoted much time to this book and I can say that even though I'm still into just the ii-V-I three-note voicing chapter I've learned a lot about the keyboard itself, learning it all in all 12 keys. When you get to the part of the chapter where you apply the voicings to actual music, you have a chance to play the melody on top of the chords - even if you have no pianistic skill, if you stick to it and play what's written, you can't go wrong, you WILL develop the hand independence. I often read ahead just out of intellectual curiosity, though, and I've read much of the book in advance - there's a LOT in here, easily enough to last a lifetime. This book is a must-have.

I've dabbled in jazz piano for many years to augment my rock chops. Treating this as a sideline (Until recently - I've started accompanying a standards singer), I haven't had a lot of spare money to spend on it. I've run into several frustrations with learning jazz piano that this book addresses with varying degrees of success: 1. Buying bad materials - mistakes are expensive. Buying this book is not a mistake. It is much more generally applicable than the "jazzy" major scales, arpeggios and marginally useful patterns that some books throw at you. 2. Finding good materials - Some of the best hard-to-find materials/tips I have compiled over the years have been the result of long searching and sheer luck - a great find at a used book sale, an excellent teacher (trumpet player!!!) at the community college giving non-credit continuing ed to adults, isolated useful jewels on the web, and occasional inspirations from the ether. Most of those building blocks are laid out nicely in this book, particularly in early chapters. To think where I'd be now if I had found this book 20 years earlier. . . 3. Self-contained books - No book, standing alone, can take you from newbie to virtuoso. There are printing costs, size limitations, royalities to pay for reproducing songs, etc. and it gets expensive for publisher and consumer when a book tries to do too much. However, after years of staring at my almost unused Meheegan books, that are useless without expensive and (until recently) hard-to-find fake books, I am quite sensitive to jazz piano books like this one that say, "Go look in your fake book." Jumping between books is a distraction, and perfect matches between fake books and instruction books is unlikely unless the author draws from a specific book (On the bright side, the book recommends two popular fake books). Copyright laws need to be respected, but I prefer the approach of Solo Jazz Piano: The Linear Approach (Olmstead ISBN: 0634007610) to this issue - borrow chord progressions from a song like "Laura", and write a new tune ("Flora") to use for exercises/examples. As a bonus, the new tunes are useful resources for embellishing old tunes. Another minor frustration is when the book provides a pattern and merely says, "OK, do this in all 12 keys." I own Finale, and other books do the job for you, but it would be nice to have at least some of these exercises written out completely. I do like that the book provides a recommended list of recordings for supplemental study, so you know where to go for inspiration when you're not working through the book. 4. Density - I love to fly through books that give instant gratification. Who doesn't? However, such books do not stand up to repeated and extended study, so there is limited bang for the buck. This book is not that way. Some paragraphs can take a week or more to work through completely (The sentence, "Now go master this in all 12 keys," is contained in many such paragraphs). This appeals to my cheapskate side - for the price of one or two piano lessons, this book is packed material that will keep students busy and will reward repeated viewing. With this book, you're getting high quality and much content for a good price, but save up for fake books and a library of CD's in order to reap the full benefit of this book.

I started from page 1 and worried about the ambiguity of the chord notation. Being a pop-, rock-, folk-,classical-type player, I feared not being able to navigate the book because of this. What is G7 to a jazz person? It is not explained, it seems. Does it use the B natural or the B flat? Can one of the four notes, even the root, be eliminated and it is still called a G7 in jazz? Why does Levine say 'voicings' are the same as 'chords' in jazz? To me, they are entirely different concepts. But I did not get discouraged. I went on to play the different two-chord combinations created from various of the masters of jazz and taken from their songs wherein halfsteps down and halfsteps up were being illustrated. I went into ecstasy! My Baldwin Acrosonic became a supersized jazz vehicle immediately. For each combination, I wrote down the "basic" chords that they were related to as I knew it. For example, the first such two halfstep-melodied chords, in my 'pop-rock-folk-classical' way of thinking, were simply 'jacked up' (or 'jazzed-up') versions of G7 (by which I mean a chord with G, B, D and F in it in any position) moving to C major. Or perhaps D diminished moving to C major. In the end, the chord combination, by Bob Haggart from his "What's New?", is first an F diminished with the note "E" added, followed by a C6-9, without the root note C (!) both carefully 'voiced' (in my words) using two hands.I guess the bass player plays the note "C" here, right? So far , this approach has worked for me. I am NOT playing the exercises rote! I am understanding the 'simpler' versions of chords from which they are 'derived', the chord of my 'old' world of music. I write this down. Then I write down what the given sheet music is chords (without burdening myself by also writing the voicings down, since they are already in the 'sheet' music given by Levine). Then I notice how perturbing and voicing the 'simpler' chords yields the 'jazzed-up' chords! THIS WAY IT ALL MAKES SENSE!! I am thrilled to tie my 'new' world of jazz, at least so far, to my 'old' world, of shall we say, more 'standard' music. I have a teacher, but he's like us all.........eccentric. In this case, hard to nail down for lessons. I'm listening to jazz. I'll see how far I can go. But I won't drop my pop, country, Beatles, rock, ballads, boobie-woogie and other styles at all. I'll try to simply (hah...not simple!) ADD jazz to my list. So far, then, I am grateful for this stairway to jazz, and I thank Mark. The lingo seems loose and variable. After all, the jazz pros probably grunt anything they can to one another about where, in general to go next, and somehow those grunts are seen as formal terms? Or they may write down fake sheets in any notation that makes sense to the four or five guys with them. Not sure about that. But this journey is heaven! Thank you again Mark! Jazz is cool, hot, and beautiful!

I do not recommend this book to beginners... or even "beginner-intermediates". This book covers some very deep, "hair splitting" analysis. The author is definitely a master at theory. He really exhausts some analyses. Jazz can be very very complicated. I consider myself an intermediate when it comes to music theory. A lot of the material in this book was just so analytical that i didn't bother to jot it to memory or really let it soak in because I knew i would never be able to use this kind of analysis when it came time for my own compositions. Nevertheless, I did learn some stuff from this book. And there certainly is a lot to be learned from this book.... but unless you are ready for it, it will be too much for you. Kind of humorously, this book has really made me like classical piano. lol. Bottom line: this book is very complex and analytical. It is very well written. This book has a lot to offer... it just depends if the student is ready for it.

So far, so good. Loving this book. It’s straight forward and simple. Very digestible format compared to other Jazz theory books. It has quite a bit of information, truly a text book. The spiral binding is great, since it can lay flat super easily. The book I received arrived in perfect condition. I have added tabs to different sections so it’s easy to see where I left off. I started learning piano (keyboard) about 9 months ago, so am not a true beginner. But even so, a lot of this is new to me and the way that the concepts are explained are super, super helpful.

It seems by glancing through some of the reviews for Levine's book, one would get the impression that it's a rather cold and ultimately unrewarding travel through chord changes and extensions, but that is a rather perfunctory view on this interesting approach that Levine's taken. First of all, you've got to give the guy credit for presenting his opinion that jazz "theory" is a bit of an oxymoron, given the subjective nature of the music itself. He clearly tells you that experiencing the music itself is of utmost importance. This is simultaneously the most repeated and most ignored piece of advice that musicians, pedagogues and listeners seem to throw out there without really having the listener embrace this important idea. For instance, when one becomes interested in a certain form of blues, jazz, pop, European or Eastern music, there really is no substitute for digging through and gathering the tunes that drew you to the form in the first place. Levine's approach may accentuate the post Bud Powell form of jazz, but with the extremely unorthodox shape of the book you can use it as a template to be used over many different idioms. His grasp of this slippery subject is extremely solid and (more than anything else) prepares aspiring players for delving into different idioms without hitting some of the roadblocks one may find by simply getting into a more general "Learn to Play X"-style collection or CD/book combination that seems to be the preferred quick fix for many. For example, I have often recommended to students the Homespun series by Dr. John covering New Orleans Rhythm and Blues where they're able to really get the feel of the music, not just "licks" (a term I avoid at all costs) although the immediate satisfaction that one gets from reading through a transcription and then hearing themselves playing it at least keeps there interest intact. But just like Levine's book clearly states, there really is no substitute for the music itself. So, why not have a book about the subject that clearly provides the effect that a book can provide: text and theory about the music that also encourages the player to really immerse him/herself into the music, whichever style he or she prefers. Unconventional layout that, yes, requires patience but in what seems at first jumping ahead then back again only to make the subject notice that difficulties haven't reared their head later when trying to fit together the various ideas combined within. This is invaluable, you just can't beat that approach save sitting with a professional on a bench where practical ideas can be fleshed out for you. All students can't have their hands held constantly. Make sure your record collection is healthy or you have the means to do so, Levine doesn't pull any punches when emphasizing this and frankly, really shouldn't. It's a little trial by fire, but, just use your head and you'll benefit greatly from this.

Music theory can be a confusing subject, especially for improvising musicians. This book clears that confusion and is perhaps the most practical tome on the subject I have ever seen. Although it is primarily for pianists, the melodic examples apply to all instruments. As a guitarist, I benefited greatly from Ted Green's books; even more from personal lessons with him. Ted's works are wonderful, but are mostly "instrument specific" books. This book is really about "harmony" ( the useful part of "music theory") so it applies to ALL instruments. Even if you are a guitarist, or play any monophonic instrument, you will get MANY ideas from this book. Mark Levine ( the author) is obviously a person of experience and this work demonstrates his practical understanding of music theory as it is really used by professional musicians. He provides many examples from Jazz-Standards that illustrate each idea. He wastes no time justifying statements or elaborating esoteric BS. Every page uncovers a world of practice possibilities, yet, the organization of the book's chapters makes progress seem smooth; almost effortless. You must be able to read music ( at least a little ) to get the most from this volume. However, even some of my students who do not read at all have benefitted from reading it. Practice is the key. Knowledge is nothing without practice. If for no other reason than Mark's practical advice on HOW to practice, this book is worth the money. I recently purchased another copy of this book for a student who had to quit taking lessons because she had a baby. The service I got from Amazon was fast. The book arrived in perfect condition. After re-reading the book, I am almost shocked at how much of my theory-teaching style is borrowed from this book. Even after twenty years of using the information here, I still get something useful every time I open it. This is a truly GREAT work on the subject. This will be the fifth copy I have purchased and gifted to others. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

娘に購入しました。 とても、綺麗な状態で気に入った様子です。 ありがとうございました。

I came across this book from a jazz piano discussion group on facebook. I decided to get it and see how much mileage I could get out of it for jazz learning. Frankly, you'll need to have some intermediate level of music knowledge, or you won't be able to keep up with the contents. I basically play the examples and tune my ear to what the author is trying to describe and convey. You won't find solutions to copy and paste into your own improvisation or interpretations of jazz, though.

En complément de cours de piano bien sûr ! Il faut comprendre l'anglais et déjà avoir quelques bases. Il y a de la théorie et aussi des petites techniques à pratiquer. Le tout est bien accompagné avec de vrai morceaux de Jazz à travailler.

How much is a private lesson with one of the world’s top jazz players-tutors? What would it cost for twenty lessons, as this book has over twenty chapters and each one is a gold mine for nuggets of jazz-playing wisdom. Although this book teaches piano, I also use it to play other instruments. For example, instead of only playing piano chords, I also play arpeggios (broken chords) on the Caribbean steel pan drum. This book is simply invaluable for helping me to play and explore jazz on that instrument as well. When I saw the price of this book, I thought it was expensive. However, what does a school or university text book cost? This Jazz Piano Book is so much easier to read than other dry books on music theory. It’s a real pleasure to read and work through, as one discovers so much. One of the best investments a budding jazz musician or aficionado can make. It is without doubt my best book purchase on the subject and one that I refer to again and again as my skills improve. New insights gained every time.

Sent to me in used albeit new condition. Excellent resource for Jazz lovers.