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Review of “Bebop Scales” by Joe Riposo

April 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Bebop Scales was written by Joe Riposo. Joe Riposo is the Director of Jazz Studies at Syracuse University.

What is a bebop scale? The bebop scale is an 8 tone scale.  A chromatic half step is added to the basic 7 tone scales to cause the chord tones to fall on the downbeats. The bebop scale tends to provide a musical phrase with “forward motion”. An example descending bebop scale for C7 would include C,B,Bb,A,G,F,E,D.

The author provides bebop scales in all keys for the following scales:

  • major
  • dorian
  • mixolydian
  • locrian

The author provides exercises that move in minor seconds, fourths, ascending and descending major thirds and ascending and descending minor thirds.

The book also includes an application section that provides examples using the bebop scales.

If you are looking for a book that will give you a good workout on the bebop scale – you should consider this one.

Buy:
Bebop Scales Jazz Scales and Patterns in All 12 Keys

Filed Under: Jazz Book and Method Reviews Tagged With: , ,

Review of “Elements Of The Jazz Language For The Developing Improvisor

April 13, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Elements Of The Jazz Language For The Developing Improvisor was written by Jerry Coker.  Jerry published his first book “Improvising Jazz” in 1964 and has authored many jazz books. In my opinion he is an outstanding author with a great deal of practical information.

Jerry has analyzed many jazz greats and observed 18 common devices that comprise the jazz language.

A few of the devices include

  • Change-Running
  • Digital Patterns
  • 7-3 Resolution
  • 3-b9

The book has a CD which illustrates the examples and the author provides exercises to practice and ingrain the devices.

I highly recommend this book and you can purchase it from the following link.

Buy

Elements of the Jazz Language for the Developing Improvisor

Filed Under: Jazz Book and Method Reviews Tagged With: ,

Digital Patterns in Jazz Improvisation

April 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Dr. David Baker is credited with originating the phrase “Digital Patterns” .  Many great jazz improvisors use digital patterns in their solo’s.

Digital patterns are groups of notes usually numbering four to eight notes.  A digital pattern is constructed  by assigning a number to each note of a scale.

A good digital pattern to begin with is a 1235 pattern.

The 1235 pattern for a C major chord would be:

CDEFGAB

1234567

The first note is C, the second note is D, the third note is E and the fifth note is G so the 1235 pattern for a C major chord would be C-D-E-G

The 1235 pattern for a C minor chord would be C-D-Eb-G.

Here are some additional patterns you can work on:

5-3-2-1

3-5-2-1

5-6-7-9

1-3-5-3

You should also create your own digital patterns.  As always practice the digital patterns in all 12 keys. You can use my jazz standard workout in 12 keys post to practice your digital patterns. In the future I will post a bebop tune for you to practice over that will be a much faster tempo and shorter chord durations.

John Coltrane’s Giant Steps and Countdown songs are full of digital patterns.

Giant Steps (LP Version)

Countdown (LP Version)

Have fun with “Digital Patterns”!

Filed Under: Jazz Aids Tagged With: , ,

Jazz Standard Workout in all 12 Keys with Charts and Backing Music

April 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I have written a contrafact of the great jazz standard “All Of Me” named “All Of PAULMAINE.COM”. I have omitted the melody of the song to provide a convenient means to practice jazz improvization of a jazz standard chord progression. It is critical to be proficient in all 12 keys.

Jazz standards are usually characterized by a harmonic rhythm that averages about one to two measures per chord. The intervals used between the roots of adjacent chords frequently are II-V-I, cycle movement and chromatic movement.

I am providing pdf files and mp3 files for all 12 keys. This should readily facilitate practicing in all 12 keys.  Be sure to checkout my post on 250 Jazz Patterns by Evan Tate.  Evans’s 250 Jazz Patterns book has patterns in all 12 keys and will be extremely useful with these jazz standard backing tracks in all 12 keys. You can also use my Harmonic Minor Pattern 1 post on these standards.

Have fun practicing in all 12 keys!

All Of PAULMAINE.COM - Key C pdf file (753)

 All Of PAULMAINE.COM - Key Db pdf file (290)

All Of PAULMAINE.COM - Key D pdf file (282)

 All Of PAULMAINE.COM - Key Eb pdf file (276)

 All Of PAULMAINE.COM - Key E pdf file (281)

 All Of PAULMAINE.COM - Key F pdf file (272)

 All Of PAULMAINE.COM - Key F# pdf file (263)

 All Of PAULMAINE.COM - Key G pdf file (295)

 All Of PAULMAINE.COM - Key Ab pdf file (294)

 All Of PAULMAINE.COM - Key A pdf file (333)

 All Of PAULMAINE.COM - Key Bb pdf file (299)

 All Of PAULMAINE.COM - Key B pdf file (279)

I am including a player for all of the backing music. The backing tracks are all in Concert key. For example, if you play the tenor saxophone and select a backing track in the key of C – you will use a pdf chart in the key of D.

ALL OF PAULMAINE.COM in the Key of C follows:

  

ALL OF PAULMAINE.COM in the Key of Db follows:

  

ALL OF PAULMAINE.COM in the Key of D follows:

  

ALL OF PAULMAINE.COM in the Key of Eb follows:

  

ALL OF PAULMAINE.COM in the Key of E follows:

  

ALL OF PAULMAINE.COM in the Key of F follows:

  

ALL OF PAULMAINE.COM in the Key of F# follows:

  

ALL OF PAULMAINE.COM in the Key of G follows:

  

ALL OF PAULMAINE.COM in the Key of Ab follows:

  

ALL OF PAULMAINE.COM in the Key of A follows:

  

ALL OF PAULMAINE.COM in the Key of Bb follows:

  

ALL OF PAULMAINE.COM in the Key of B follows:

  

Filed Under: Standards Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Review of Connecting Chords With Linear Harmony by Bert Ligon

April 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The playing always comes first and then someone takes the time to analyze what the great jazz artists are doing.  This is exactly the case with Bert Ligon and his 146 page book “Connecting Chords With Linear Harmony”.

Bert is a Professor of Jazz at the University of South Carolina School of Music.

Bert has studied hundreds of examples from the jazz greats and extracted three basic outlines from their solos that appear very often. The three basic outlines  are covered very quickly in the first part of the book.  The outlines are demonstrated in major and minor. The remainder of the book covers how to use embellishing devices to make the outlines sound more interesting.  Numerous examples of jazz greats are provided as examples that incorporate the three outlines.  An etude section is also included to demonstrate using the outlines over a few jazz standards.  This method shows how an improviser can provide harmonic clarity in their solos.

I highly recommend this book . You can purchase the book from the following link.

Buy

Connecting Chords with Linear Harmony – Jazz Book

Filed Under: Jazz Book and Method Reviews Tagged With: ,

Minor II-V-I Pattern 1 Based Upon Harmonic Minor Scale

April 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment

There are numerous jazz resources that provide some nice patterns for II-V progressions that have a one measure duration. Many standards have II-V-I progressions that occur over 4 measures. Once such song is “All Of Me”.  Measures 5 and six are a B7 ( if you are playing tenor or soprano ) and 7 and 8 are an E-.  We can take the two measures of B7 and substitute F#m7(b5) and then B7(b9) . The harmonic minor scale lends itself to this type of progression.  Be sure to download the pattern and try it out on “All Of Me”. You can also use another harmonic minor pattern from the download beginning on measures 9-12.

Harmonic Minor Pattern 1 Free Download (515)
Filed Under: Jazz Aids Tagged With: ,

D Major Scale Exercise

April 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment

In order to improve our musicianship it is critical to improve our technique on the saxophone. Today I am providing you  with a D major scale exercise that you can download.  As you work through the scale exercise be sure to use a metronome. Record your progress as you increase the speed of the metronome. Do not increase the speed of the metronome until until you can play the exercise completely without error. It is also good to practice your jazz articulation ( please see my jazz articulation post ) on this exercise. This exercise includes an altissimo G. If you cant play the altissimo note just insert a rest for that note.

D Major Scale Exercise Download (256)
Filed Under: Jazz Aids Tagged With: , , ,

Review of Beginning Improvisation: Motivic Development by Ed Tomassi

April 6, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Today I am reviewing a 33 minute DVD entitled “Beginning Improvisation: Motivic Development” by Ed Tomassi. Ed Tomassi is a professor at Berklee College of Music.

In the video Tomassi shows you how to use 2,3 or 4 note motives ( riffs ) to create compelling solos. He shows you how to add variety and depth by stringing several different motives together. Ed also tells you about “Through Composing” which along with motives provide for a “call and answer” in your solo.

Tomassi provides demonstrations while playing over the chord changes to “Blue Bossa”.

The DVD is an excellent addition to your improv library and get you to thinking in a very different way.

Buy

Beginning Improvisation: Motivic Development

Filed Under: Instructional CD/DVD Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

250 Jazz Patterns by Evan Tate

April 6, 2009 By Leave a Comment

After many years of study and reading many jazz improvisation books, I have reached a conclusion that one of the best ways to learn to improvise is to use motives. Motives are short melodic ideas usually consisting of 2-4 notes.  Riff is a slang term for a motive. The basic idea is to pick a motive and move it through the chord changes while you are improvising.

It is necessary too keep in good physical shape in addition to practicing the saxophone. I like to think that it is necessary to “spend time in the gym” on both activities. When I go to the gym I usually download vidcasts or podcasts to my iPhone to listen to while I am working out. During a vidcast search on iTunes I came across a series of vidcasts named the “The 250 Jazz Patterns Vidcast” by Evan Tate.

Evan is a professional saxophonist and instructor with more than 20 years experience. He is currently on the jazz faculity of the University of Music and the Performing Arts in Munich Germany.

Evan has written a book entitled “250 Jazz Patterns”.  The book starts out with simple patterns or motives that are appropriate for a beginner and then moves on to more advanced patterns. Once such pattern is the 1,2,3,5 pattern. If you are improvising over a C major chord the 1,2,3,5 notes would be C,D,E and G. This pattern is built from notes of the C major scale. Evans book is full of excellent useful patterns.

I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to improve their improvisation skills. You can learn more about the book and purchase it from the following link:

250 Jazz Patterns by Evan Tate

Eventually you will proceed to a “Pay using PayPal by clicking here” link. Once you click on this page you will be redirected to a  PayPal screen that is in German but don’t fret. You just need to change the “Land” field from Deutschland to USA ( if you are English speaking ) and all fields on the form will change to english. The price of the book is 35 Euros. At the time of this writting that’s about $47.24. This book is a real bargain at that price.

Filed Under: Jazz Book and Method Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Review of “The Saxophone Survival Kit” by Eric Daniel

April 6, 2009 By 1 Comment

I recently began following Eric Daniel on Twitter. Eric is seasoned professional musician currently based in Rome, Italy.

In addition to being a wonderful musician, Eric is very forward thinking and is learning and using the new internet technologies to their fullest. A very important part of a professional musicians toolkit will be their ability to promote themselves on the internet.

Eric has written a book entitled “The Saxophone Survival Kit”. The 64 page book  is full of sage advice for any saxophonist and also has many bits of wisdom that anyone can benefit from reading. I read the book and would recommend it to anyone. For a limited time, you can cet a FREE copy from the following link:

The Saxophone Survival Kit by Eric Daniel

While you are at it check out Eric’s CD:

Old Sax New Soul by Eric Daniel and Friends

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: , ,
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