Product Description

A study of three basic outlines used in jazz improv and composition, based on a study of hundreds of examples from great jazz artists.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #87488 in Books
• Published on: 1996-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Plastic Comb
• 146 pages

Customer Reviews

Very Good Book
I like this book. This book helps the aspiring jazz musician to be well on their way to creating good music on their instrument. Mr. Ligon uses three types of linear harmonic outlines that creates and can develop a jazz solo. I think this book is good for a beginner just starting out in learning how to improvise. It is very sound in its knowledge and presentation of it. Mr. Ligon cites many excerpts from improvised solos of very great jazz musicians to support his outlines. And there are exercises to go with it. This is important stuff for all jazz musicians to know and, I believe, it is a book that should be in any college or university teaching jazz music.
Books like this and many others prove that jazz music is NOT a mystery. Jazz is music that anyone can enjoy!

Missing Ingredient Found
I've spent the last several months building up my jazz chops for a new gig. After getting through the song list fluidly, I set about supplying missing ingredients in my playing. Neil Olmstead's Solo Piano book supplies some. Mark Levine's Jazz Piano and Jazz Encyclopedia books supply many. This book goes where those books do not: it shows how to create ii-v-i runs that do not sound like scales and arpeggios stitched together like a crude Frankenstein's monster. It describes three very simple outlines, spends a short chapter discussing embellishments, and then takes the reader through more and more complex examples of where these outlines appear in the work of giants. My ii-v-i runs are improving as I integrate these outlines into my playing. My active listening is also improving as I learn to identify the outlines and embellishments in recordings, and practice transcribing them. You can learn this stuff the hard way, or you can use this book and start using this important secret ingredient almost immediately.

Connecting Chords with Linear Harmony
The other reviews for this book convinced me to purchase it and they were right. Great book to understanding harmony and chords. Jackie McLean the great alto sax player said you could only do so much playing by ear. You had to learn the structure of music to really be great and this book has all the information to help move you in this direction.