Voicings for Jazz Keyboard [Spiral-bound]

Frank Mantooth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1986

A respected soloist, clinician and writer, Mantooth has written this book for any keyboard player interested in developing better jazz chord voicing. Written more as a 'how-to' book than a textbook, Voicings will make a valuable addition to the library of any performer, arranger, teacher or jazz theorist.

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 48 pages
• Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation (December 1, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0793534852
• ISBN-13: 978-0793534852
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9.1 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #44,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #11 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Theory, Composition & Performance > Sheet Music & Scores > Instrumentation > Keyboard

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gets right to the point--very informative, April 22, 2000

By 

Andy Thompson (Minneapolis) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Voicings for Jazz Keyboard (Spiral-bound)

This book explains away all the mysteries involved in quartal jazz harmony, as well as provides great insight into using triads over dominant sevenths and voice leading. Frank gets right to the heart of the matter and presents it in a straight-forward, easy to understand manner, which is the way it should be. Great for ANY instrumentalist and a great resource for jazz arrangers.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great learning tool, September 18, 2007

By 

G. McMillen - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Voicings for Jazz Keyboard (Spiral-bound)

Frank's book is an insightful approach to jazz voicings on the keyboard. His approach is straightforward and the book helps diagnose the best way to voice a chord for a contemporary and appropriate sound. I like this book so well that it is the primary text in the jazz keyboard class I teach.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the must-have book for jazz keyboard voicings., August 10, 2010

By 

Mr. N. Saunders (Dover, Kent, England, UK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Voicings for Jazz Keyboard (Spiral-bound)

If I had to recommend just one book about chord voicings to the aspiring jazz keyboard player, this would be it. It makes the perfect supplement to Mark Levine's "Jazz Piano Book".

But not only that: it is an excellent study in jazz harmony for other instrumentalists (as long as they read bass and treble clef and are prepared to acquire some keyboard skill). In particular, the quartal (or "fourthy") voicings presented here often adapt extremely well to guitar (because of that instrument's tuning). It is certainly well worth while for a guitarist to re-write some of the keyboard layouts in this book in treble clef alone (allowing, of course, for the fact that the guitar is written an octave higher than it sounds).

There are other good books about keyboard voicings - those of the late Bill Boyd are strangely overlooked gems; apart from Boyd, those by Jerry Coker, Dan Haerle and Phil De Greg come to mind. (Chuck Mahronic's "How To Create Jazz Chord Progressions", although, as its title suggests, it deals with progression rather than voicings, is a very useful supplement. It is also a scandal that Daniel A. Ricigliano's "Jazz And Popular Harmony" has never been reprinted (perhaps in a revised and expanded edition).) Also, there are the transcribed comping books from the Jamey Aebersold playalongs (especially those from Volumes 1, 54 ("Maiden Voyage") and 70 ("Killer Joe")), and the more advanced student will definitely want "Modern Jazz Voicings" by Ted Pease and Ken Pullig. But, believe me, Frank Mantooth's "Voicings" is your first port of call.