Feedback on Coker books (or similar)
Kurt
why all of the stuff I'm learning fits together). I saw Coker's books on
Aebersold catalog and they look they'd be helpful. Any thoughts on these
(or similar) books? TIA.
Kurt
Kurt
"Kurt" <klibe...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:Bo2dnblK0KS...@comcast.com...
Jim Kangas
although I would suggest not limiting yourself to one author or book.
If you're like me, sometimes you need to hear it from different
sources before you "get it".
The ones that I know about by Coker are:
1. I don't remember the title - something like "Fundamentals of Jazz",
this is a real skinny book that is a pretty good 10,000 foot view of
jazz.
2. "Hearin' The Changes" is a really excellent book for functional
harmony, and how that all works relative to the Great American
Songbook. (This ng's Marc Sabatella has a similar book out as well).
3. "Ready, Aim, Improvise" - I think there have been a few versions of
this, but it's sort of text/exercise book that goes through lots of
different improvising skills and ideas. If you wanted to work through
a book, this would be a good one.
Lots of people have found Mark Levine's "Jazz Theory Book" as a good
resource for basic theory. I think there may be a list of books in the
FAQ that you might want to check out. A lot of this depends on where
you are in your development and what is tugging at your sleeve right
now...
-Jim
"Kurt" <klibe...@comcast.net> wrote in message news:<Bo2dnblK0KS...@comcast.com>...
Dan Johnson
he did which I have to say I don't personally get on with too much. I
found a lot of the examples quite cold and horn based.
I can STRONGLY recommend Joe Diorios "Intervallic Designs" books as a
better example of this type of teaching and furthmore you NEED to get
Ted Greene's JAZZ GUITAR SINGLE NOTE SOLOING VOL II as it is an
utterly fantastic, logical and well thought out book with many
concepts to inspire and further your own learning experience. Ted also
deals with the specifics of how these musical examples fit under your
hands rather than a general jazz patterns book like the Coker.
BTW if you want my Coker book then let me know and I'll do a private
auction on EBAY for you.
:)
Dan
thomas
"Elements of the Jazz Language" is excellent. The others
are fine, but duplicated by many other books on the
market. But Elements has something important to say
that is not widely disseminated elsewhere.
JS Groot
Jim Kangas wrote:
[...]
> The ones that I know about by Coker are:
>
[...]
> 3. "Ready, Aim, Improvise" - I think there have been a few versions of
> this, but it's sort of text/exercise book that goes through lots of
> different improvising skills and ideas. If you wanted to work through
> a book, this would be a good one.
This one is by Hal Crook.
Jos Groot
Jurupari
>worderful man
I studied with him briefly long long ago and I agree. He really is a great guy
and all encouragement.
He was getting Patterns for Jazz into publication then but it wasn't in print
yet. He was very nice, even came out to listen to me on a gig before I took
lessons so he'd get an assessment of where I was.
Which leads me to the following: The last I heard anything of Jerry was nearly
20 years ago when I asked guitarist Stan Samole, a former colleague at Miami
about him during a clinic. He said then he was at U of Tenn, I think it was,
but that he was losing his hearing.
Anybody know how he's doing these days, even if he's still living? He's
getting on just like the rest of us. I remember his wife from then too, she was
just like him, a very affable and comfortable person to be around.
Regards,
Clif Kuplen
Jim Kangas
JS Groot <gr...@fel.tno.nl> wrote in message news:<419351DF...@fel.tno.nl>...
IL; axe jaro
retired. He is still (as of this summer) teaching at the Aebersold
Camps. he wears a hearing aid, and can still play very well.
juru...@aol.com (Jurupari) wrote in message news:<20041112134926...@mb-m02.aol.com>...
Jurupari
>retired. He is still (as of this summer) teaching at the Aebersold
>Camps. he wears a hearing aid, and can still play very well.
Thank you! It's good to know he's doing ok.
Clif Kuplen
Bob Agnew
really great guy and he was very patient with me and very helpful. He's
still teaching as far as I know.
"Jurupari" <juru...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20041112134926...@mb-m02.aol.com...
Clay Moore
Hi Kurt,
Coker's books were among the ones I used to teach myself some 30 years
ago (ouch!). I began with his 1st book, Improvising Jazz, which I
believe was his doctoral dissertation written sometime in the 1960s.
Soon after I studied from Patterns For Jazz, not "his" book exactly,
but a collective project written by several authors. BTW, I disagree
with the poster who said this was too horn based, or whatever he said.
It has a good deal of useful theory and is a good source for figuring
out how to create and use patterns derived from scales, arpeggios, and
intervals. The two other Coker books I've used are The Jazz Idiom and
Listening to Jazz, which seems to have been written as a college text
for non-jazz music majors who might be taking a jazz class. I read and
studied these books over and over again, and I think they're great
resources. That said, the book I recommend these days is Mark Levine's
the Jazz Theory Book. Mark's book includes theory, terms, suggested
listening, practice procedures, lists of tunes to learn, and more. IMO
it's the best single resource out there. Hope this helps.