Archive for January, 2010

I purchased my copy of Amazing Phrases by Dennis Taylor about a month ago and wanted to take time to write a review.

The book is published by Hal Leonard and includes a CD. I purchased the version for tenor sax but the book also exists for also sax, trumpet, keyboard and guitar.  The book includes 50 ways to improve your improvisation skills with a focus on phrasing. The contents of the books can apply to just about any instrument.

The author breaks phrasing down into three components: Harmony, Melody and Rhythm. Due to the wealth of material covered in the book – some of the topics are covered in a couple of pages whereas in other books entire chapters or even entire books have been written about the topic. For example the Bebop Mixolydian scale is introduced in a couple of pages and Steve Neff has written a book entitled “Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale” that is 191 pages. David Baker has written an entire book series on “How To Play Bebop”. You may be thinking that I am slamming the author for his short treatment of many topics but I’m not. I really like how the author introduces the improvisor in a condensed form to so many fascinating and practical ways to approach improv.  Once you are exposed to the concepts and the good examples you can then dig deeper using some of the other jazz resources I have written about and or to use the backing tracks on this site.

I recommend that you purchase this book.

For Tenor Sax

For Alto Sax

For Guitar

For Trumpet

For Keyboard

Sorry for the slowdown in my posts for the last couple of months of last year. I would like to wish everyone a prosperous and happy new year!

My first post of the year is to share a really cool video of saxman Eric Daniel and Friends performing a song named “Jesus Said”

I meet Eric Daniel on Twitter last year and started following his tweets ( http://www.twitter.com/ericdanielsax ). Eric is a wonderful player who likes to “give back”. Last year I reviewed his book “The Saxophone Survival Kit”. This book contains a wealth of practical knowledge from the school of hard knocks!

The song “Jesus Said” is from Erics “Old Sax Nu Soul”. You can purchase at: Purchase Old Sax Nu Soul

Please visit the Eric Daniel website.

I hope you enjoy the following video as much as I have:

The trio performs from 6-9PM for the Austin Wedding Day open house. The open house is hosted by Villa St. Clair.