Over seventy original progressive studies in a variety of jazz styles, by James Rae. A systematic, methodical approach that helps you to play stylish Jazz right from the beginning. The book is divided into three sections: Part One introduces the beginner to jazz rhythms, including swing quavers, syncopation and displaced accents. Part Two contains twenty carefully graded melodic jazz studies to assist in the formulation of physical techniques and skills. Part Three Improvisation and Blues encourages the budding Jazz flautist to use these studies as the basis for further creative jazz improvisation.
In jazz circles, players and listeners with “big ears” hear and engage complexity in the moment, as it unfolds. Taking gender as part of the intricate, unpredictable action in jazz culture, this interdisciplinary collection explores the terrain opened up by listening, with big ears, for gender in jazz. Essays range from a reflection on the female boogie-woogie pianists who played at Café Society in New York during the 1930s and 1940s to interpretations of how the jazzman is represented in Dorothy Baker’s novel Young Man with a Horn (1938) and Michael Curtiz’s film adaptation (1950). Taken together, the essays enrich the field of jazz studies by showing how gender dynamics have shaped the production, reception, and criticism of jazz culture. Scholars of music, ethnomusicology, American studies, literature, anthropology, and cultural studies approach the question of gender in jazz from multiple perspectives. One contributor scrutinizes the tendency of jazz historiography to treat singing as subordinate to the predominantly male domain of instrumental music, while another reflects on her doubly inappropriate position as a female trumpet player and a white jazz musician and scholar. Other essays explore the composer George Russell’s Lydian Chromatic Concept as a critique of mid-twentieth-century discourses of embodiment, madness, and black masculinity; performances of “female hysteria” by Les Diaboliques, a feminist improvising trio; and the BBC radio broadcasts of Ivy Benson and Her Ladies’ Dance Orchestra during the Second World War. By incorporating gender analysis into jazz studies, Big Ears transforms ideas of who counts as a subject of study and even of what counts as jazz. Contributors: Christina Baade, Jayna Brown, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Monica Hairston, Kristin McGee, Tracy McMullen, Ingrid Monson, Lara Pellegrinelli, Eric Porter, Nichole T. Rustin, Ursel Schlicht, Julie Dawn Smith, Jeffrey Taylor, Sherrie Tucker, João H. Costa Vargas
Many woodwind players come from a classical background which may not have taught you how to play by ear. While this can provide an excellent grounding in music, it doesn't teach you how to improvise, and often it's difficult for classically trained musicians to learn Jazz soloing. Beginner Jazz Soloing For Saxophone & Clarinet is the perfect guide to bridge the gap. Devised by Buster Birch (visiting jazz professor at Trinity Conservatoire), this book teaches a creative method for improvisation that's been road-tested at hundreds of workshops.
A complete book of jazz technique studies and exercises for all instrumentalists. This text deals with many technique issues jazz musicians encounter in the real world, including chord scale exercises, motif exercises, finger busters, extended motif exercises, and ideas for improvisation.
The clarinet has a long and rich history as a solo, orchestral, and chamber musical instrument. In this broad-ranging account Eric Hoeprich, a performer, teacher, and expert on historical clarinets, explores its development, repertoire, and performance history. Looking at the antecedents of the clarinet, as well as such related instruments as the chalumeau, basset horn, alto clarinet, and bass clarinet, Hoeprich explains the use and development of the instrument in the Baroque age. The period from the late 1700s to Beethoven's early years is shown to have fostered ever wider distribution and use of the instrument, and a repertoire of increasing richness. The first half of the nineteenth century, a golden age for the clarinet, brought innovation in construction and great virtuosity in performance, while the following century and a half produced a surge in new works from many composers. The author also devotes a chapter to the role of the clarinet in bands, folk music, and jazz.
Keith Stein was already a phenomenal clarinetist when he attended the very first session of the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan. Stein was then accepted into the Chicago Symphony, and became one of its youngest members. He earned a master of music degree at the University of Michigan, and his teaching career began at Michigan State University and Interlochen, where he remained for the next 41 years until he retired. Within this book, the author makes the player aware of all the many faulty habits he may have acquired, then offers constructive suggestions for remedying each one.
These etudes build on the elements introduced in Artie Shaw's Jazz Technic, Book One and provide exercises for tongue and fingers, with an additional emphasis on phrasing. They are written in various styles and changes of key and tempo to assist the player in developing a smooth, melodic style of improvising.
James Rae's highly successful method Progressive Jazz Studies has given countless aspiring jazz players the confidence to play with real style. Now with Jazz Trumpet Studies, 78 of Rae's studies are brought together into a single great-value book, from Grade 1 to 5 (elementary to late intermediate). Part 1 introduces the beginner to jazz rhythms including swing quavers, syncopation and anticipation; Part 2 contains fully graded melodic jazz studies; and Part 3 develops confidence within common jazz tonalities: whole-tone, diminished and blues scales, modes and the II-V-I chord sequence.
James Rae's highly successful method Progressive Jazz Studies has given countless aspiring jazz players the confidence to play with real style. Now with Jazz Saxophone Studies, 78 of Rae's studies are brought together into a single great-value book, from Grade 1 to 5 (elementary to late intermediate). Part 1 introduces the beginner to jazz rhythms including swing quavers, syncopation and anticipation; Part 2 contains fully graded melodic jazz studies; and Part 3 develops confidence within common jazz tonalities: whole-tone, diminished and blues scales, modes and the II-V-I chord sequence.
