Modern Jazz Voicings: Arranging for Small and Medium Ensembles (Paperback)

by Ted Pease (Author), Ken Pullig (Author) "How do you get that modern jazz sound?..." (more)
Key Phrases: correct chord scale, appropriate chord scale, upper structure triad, String Quartet, Berklee College of Music, Professor Pease (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A no-nonsense, meat and potatoes source of basic and not-so-basic information about everything relating to jazz writing." -- Kenny Werner, Pianist, Composer, Author of Effortless Mastery

"Ted is a legend at Berklee for his musicality, knowledge, and generosity in passing his wisdom on to students." -- Abraham Laboriel

"The long-famous 'Berklee voicings secrets' have finally been assembled into a beautifully-organized reference resource." -- Alf Clausen, Emmy and Annie winning composer, The Simpsons, Bette, Moonlighting, ALF

Product Description
The definitive text used for the time-honored Chord Scales course at Berklee College of Music, this book concentrates on scoring for every possible ensemble combination and teaches performers and arrangers how to add color, character and sophistication to chord voicings. Topics covered include: selecting appropriate harmonic tensions, understanding jazz harmony, overcoming harmonic ambiguity, experimenting with unusual combinations and non-traditional alignments, and many more. The accompanying CD includes performance examples of several different arranging techniques."A no-nonsense, meat and potatoes source of basic and not-so-basic information about everything relating to jazz writing - covers several courses worth of information."- Kenny WernerPianist, Composer and Author of Effortless Mastery

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Product Details

• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: Berklee Press (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0634014439
• ISBN-13: 978-0634014437
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #209,334 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for anyone interested in arranging., December 24, 2006

By	M. Sweetz "Pop-a-holic" (Denton, TX) - See all my reviews

This book is absolutely excellent. Like other Berklee Press books, it is easy-to-understand, and it offers exercises after each exercise to ensure that the lessons are etched in your brain through hands-on application. This book demystifies alot concerning voicings and chord scale theory, and I dare say that this and "Reharmonization Techniques" by Randy Felts should be the first books one reads before they read other fine arranging books by Sebesky, Riddle, Mancini and Grove. Many of those books focus more on style, with little if any explaination of jazz/chord theory. Once you get the essentials from this book, you'll gain way more from the other books.

This book starts with a lesson on chord theory, then simple 4 and 5 part voicings, as well as non-chord tone reharmonization. It then proceeds to tell you exactly how to write voicings in fourths, clusters, and upper-structure triads. In addition, it comes with a CD with recorded examples from each chapter of the book, so you can hear the subtle differences between the various voicings and effects.

This book is amazing!

One word of advice (speaking from my own initial misunderstanding): when reading the early chapter detailing "avoid notes", be sure to absorb and understand it as much as possible - it is the foundation upon which the later chapters on specialized voicings are built upon. This is the only part of the book where a decent grasp of jazz chord construction and tensions MAY be needed. In a nutshell, a note is avoided because: a.) It creates an nasty, dissonant interval with an essential chord tone, or b.) It creates an inteval with an essential chord tone that is uncharacteristic of that chord type (ie. a tritone in a Major 7th chord, etc.)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Resource, February 1, 2005

By	Dan Primack - See all my reviews

"Modern Jazz Voicing" answers the fundamental question: How do you get that modern jazz sound? Divided into 2 separate sections, Part I provides the foundation for understanding basic techniques, voicings, and chord scales. Part II discusses the use of fourths, clusters, triads, and six-parts. At the end of each chapter are a series of exercises used to reinforce and demonstrate the techniques of that chapter. The felxibility I have found in being able to apply these techniques in different situations has greatly improved my capabilities. I strongly recommed this book to anyone seeking to increase their arranging capabilities.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Modern Jazz Sound, May 12, 2005

By	Daniel Maudonnet (Sao Paulo, Brazil) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Modern Jazz Voicings teaches how to write in fourths, clusters and uppers structure triads in an easy way. The best feature in this book is the recording examples. Any book that claims to be a great arranging book needs to have decent recording examples. The readers can easily digest the techniques since they are available to their ears. Also, the recordings not only include horn section, but they use different orchestration to illustrate the voicings explained. Berklee teaches this course called as Chord Scale Theory. I strongly recommend this book.