Customer Reviews

Jazz Improvisation, Revised

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I have tremendous respect for what David Baker has done for jazz education and at one point in my improvising life I thought his approach was the be-all/end-all. It still has much to offer the early student, particularly the emphasis on training the ear and developing instrumental dexterity based on extracted patterns taken from the vernacular of actual playing.

Looking back, however, the attempt to systematize an approach to learning tunes has a tendency to produce players (quite a few of whom I've met over the years) who relate to jazz as a collection of charts rather than appreciating the many subtle differences in rhythm, melodic phrasing, and use of harmony that characterize various tunes and different players' approaches across jazz eras. Baker's patterns also tend to be very "one-oriented" which robs many of them of a genuine swinging quality and favors playing within bar lines rather than across. Players who've evolved rhythmically can edit or rearrange a lot of this material to express more forward motion and suit their taste. But unfortunately it's the less-experienced players who are more likely to be using books such as this and they may find themselves years later with a feeling they're lacking something.

In some ways I feel other writers such as Bert Ligon, Hal Crook, Jimmy Amadie, and Hal Galper have built upon and moved beyond Baker's approach, particularly regarding expressing rhythmic and harmonic flow.

All right, everyone. If you have ever wondered if there were a self-instruction manual for Jazz Improvisation, look no further. This is the most comprehensive, instructional, accessible book on the subject, written by the greatest jazz educator of all time: David N. Baker. If your proficiency ranges from amateur to professional, this book will have SOMETHING in it that you didn't know. I hope you all will get as much out of this book as I did.

This is a great book. I have to admit that I left this one sitting on my shelf for months, read chapter one and put it back down again for months. But, after picking this up again, reading it with greater intent, and scanning the entire book (which I did not do before) I've concluded that this is an excellent wide-ranging resource: it covers a variety of topics - theoretical basics (like approaches to improv) and practical - how to play jazz bass lines. I will say this as a caveat, David writes in a sparse style, which I think is great: everything he says has weight with little or no fluff. In this sense, it could read as too 'analytical' or 'cold' by some, but I prefer a teacher who explains things succinctly and doesn't cushion his/her words. I would disagree with previous reviews that say this book is too systematic. I think that any approach to learning involves a 'system' and that, simply, every system needs to be taken with a grain of salt and recognized as a system and not religious dogma. Every teacher gives a slice of his or her understanding and David serves up a great slice. This would be a great book after getting through Aebersold's How to Play Jazz - some of it would be review, but MOST of it would be a new and challenging supplement.