Jazz-Blues Piano: The Complete Guide with CD! Hal Leonard Keyboard Style Series [Paperback]

Mark Harrison (Author)

Book Description

Series: Hal Leonard Keyboard Style | Publication Date: June 1, 2006

This comprehensive book/CD pack will teach you the basic skills needed to play jazz-blues piano. From comping to soloing, you'll learn the theory, the tools, and the tricks used by the pros. The accompanying CD features many of the examples in the book performed either solo, or with a full band, including a full chapter of complete songs. Topics covered include: scales and chords * harmony and voicings * progressions and comping * melodies and soloing * characteristic stylings.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation (June 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0634062247
• ISBN-13: 978-0634062247
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 8.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #334,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mark Harrison is a professional keyboardist, composer/arranger, and music educator/author based in Los Angeles. He has worked with top musicians such as Jay Graydon (Steely Dan), John Molo (Bruce Hornsby band), Jimmy Haslip (Yellowjackets), and numerous others. Mark currently performs with his own contemporary jazz band (the Mark Harrison Quintet) as well as with the Steely Dan tribute band Doctor Wu. His TV music credits include Saturday Night Live, The Montel Williams Show, American Justice, Celebrity Profiles, America's Most Wanted, True Hollywood Stories, the British documentary program Panorama, and many others.

Mark taught at the renowned Grove School of Music for six years, instructing hundreds of musicians from all around the world. He currently runs a busy private teaching studio, catering to the needs of professional and aspiring musicians alike. His students include Grammy-winners, hit songwriters, members of the Boston Pops and L.A. Philharmonic orchestras, and first-call touring musicians with major acts.

Mark's music instruction books are used by thousands of musicians in over twenty countries, and are recommended by the Berklee College of Music for all their new students. He has also written Master Class articles for Keyboard and How To Jam magazines, covering a variety of different keyboard styles and topics. For further information on Mark's musical activities, education products, and on-line lessons, please visit www.harrisonmusic.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You're just two hours from sounding "bluesy", April 21, 2009

By 

Eric C. Sedensky "late-to-jazz musician" (Madison, AL, US) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Jazz-Blues Piano: The Complete Guide with CD! Hal Leonard Keyboard Style Series (Paperback)

I've been playing jazz piano for about two years now, and have had great success with The Jazz Piano Book (as one might imagine). The next book that has served me well is Post-Bop Jazz Piano - The Complete Guide with CD!: Hal Leonard Keyboard Style Series, which is from the same series as the Jazz Blues Piano book under review. So, when I began looking for a book to help me sound bluesy, something noticeably lacking from my skill set, I gravitated toward this book for that reason and because my piano instructor didn't have this book (although he had many others in the same series). I have to say, that overnight, this became my favorite book to work from. There are a lot of reasons for that. First is that this book contains a good dose of easy-to-digest jazz music theory and explanation. The student can choose to skip over this and concentrate on playing the exercises, but I chose to read everything carefully and to try and understand and apply it, and I found it very useful. I was also quite pleasantly surprised when I found myself playing a ii-V-I progression (the backbone of jazz music) in a fashion I had never been shown before (with a moving bass note changing the mode of the chord). I was fascinated, and it made it easy for me to work on doing it in all twelve keys (which is normally drudgery), and to quickly press on in the book. As I played through the exercises, read through the material, then reached the exercises that are on the CD, I kept working on the suggested chords. Because I'm not a raw beginner, the first twenty pages went very quickly, and all of a sudden I found myself at about twenty pages in on exercise 9 practicing a straight up blues lick. That's right: two hours and I was playing blues. Very, very exciting. Like all piano books, including a number I have reviewed, this still requires practice and stick-to-itive-ness, but this book provides some small rewards on every page, which I find quite motivational and desirable. I can easily picture myself working through this entire book in a relatively short period of time. Beginning piano students will still need to work on some of this material with an instructor, but anybody with a good technical foundation in piano and at least a small amount of jazz knowledge should be able to work through most of this by themselves, thanks to the useful and well executed CD. Although there are many options and levels available, if you want to sound jazzy or bluesy, without a lot of fuss and without spending a lot of money or time, I really think this book is the best and simplest place to start.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Jazz Blues-Piano, January 20, 2008

By 

Kirtland E. Hobler (Milford, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Jazz-Blues Piano: The Complete Guide with CD! Hal Leonard Keyboard Style Series (Paperback)

I'm having a lot of fun with this book/CD, especially the piano, bass and drums pieces with accompanying written music for the chords. One can improvise along with the CD music with the right hand, and learn how to comp with the left in due time.

The book conatins a little music theory, a little of which is good. But some of it is,in my view, unnecessary to enjoy jazz blues.

The combo book/cd is well worth the price!

26 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars styles that I've needed help with...and now I've got it, November 1, 2006

By 

LBWheels457 (Milwaukee, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jazz-Blues Piano: The Complete Guide with CD! Hal Leonard Keyboard Style Series (Paperback)

This is a great book that I picked up! It goes through what few other books do...the Jazz-Blues styles of the twentieth century without "dumbing" it down. This book includes important information about scales and modes, inversions, voicing, harmony, progressions and patters, left-hand vs right-hand, styles, comping, and even soloing...anything that is used in any type of jazz-blues. It goes through Swing/Big band, Jump blues, Bop, Hard Bop, Cool Jazz, Soul Jazz, Jazz/Rock Fusion. The book moves quickly but provides the information that is important for those of us looking to play. It comes with a very handy CD which allows to hear what it's supposed to sound like. Mark Harrison is a wonderful teacher in this book and I highly recommend it.