Customer Reviews

Voicings for Jazz Keyboard

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
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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.

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.

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.

This is an excellent study/resource book for piano comping!
Mantooth teaches chord shapes based on easy to remember intervallic relationships. This book has helped me more than any other!

I studied this book back in the 90's and it made an enormous difference in my confidence and creativity in comping, and I was delighted to get so many compliments along the lines of "Whoa, that's some neat voicings... where did you learn that?!"

The book is straightforward and unpretentious. Highly recommended!

Fantastic!
Everyone has heard those open, lush chords, but few know the theory behind building them. This is where Mantooth's genius is on display--he not only presents solid theory upon which the quartal system is rooted, he includes multiple practice sessions and applied theory drills; moreover, his practical variations for keyboard reinforce chapter lesson goals.
Secondary benefits have been an increased confidence to melodically handle any keyboard role; great arranging ideas, as the quartal system closely parallels ensemble voicings; and, understandable Theory and Harmony instruction.
This book is a must-have for any Functional Piano class, and anybody playing the piano.

It's a great book, with a comprehensive aproach to the voicings of jazz. It is great for all of the jazz players that are starting with the style.

After the first 3 Chapters, my reaction was: "Wow! Why isn't this method the standard way to teach Jazz keyboards?"
Very well written with easy to understand and remember concepts. This will make you a better player in no time. Definitely 5 stars!

As a jazz saxophone player, I knew that having a vocabulary and proficiency on piano was essential to my success as a performer, educator, and arranger. However, the piano is a very intimidating instrument, and it isn't easy to start learning jazz on it. This book was recommended to me by a local studio trumpet player, so I bought it right away. Even after a week or two of studying it, I can now work through lead sheets and comp fairly well. The great thing about this book is that its short and sweet. There is no fluff. Mr. Mantooth explains how the voicings are constructed, why they are constructed, and when you should use them. It couldn't be easier. I thought I would never get to quartal harmony, because tertian harmony is pretty much the only thing taught in jazz education, but it was so easy to learn how it all works. Thanks Frank!