Bob Berg S Unique Improvisational Approach To Jazz Standards

Tenor saxophonist Bob Berg, influenced primarily by John Coltrane, posessed the improvisational tools to perform comfortably in all styles of the jazz canon. The six B♭ analyzed transcriptions contained in this thesis are representative of Berg's performing career.

A sequential, musically-based method for teaching jazz standards and improvisational ideas to jazz drummers.

"There are two groups of standards that help form the basic repertory used in jazz improvisation. The first group was created by jazz musicians directly from improvisation, experimentation and the analysis of musical forms, ideas and practices that were developed through study and the natural gifts of some of the greatest musicians of the twentieth century. This group codified jazz into chronological styles and provides concrete examples of its styles and concepts. The second group of standards is comprised of compositions written as popular songs during the first half of the twentieth century ... Every improviser is a composer who makes up melodies spontaneously. The model choruses give examples that can be studied, learned, broken into independent phrases and used to create other melodies that reflect more clearly what the improviser wants to say musically ..."--Preface

Marc Sabatella presents the full text of his book entitled "A Jazz Improvisation Primer."The book focuses on jazz improvisation and covers such topics as jazz history, music theory, and playing in a jazz group. Ordering details for the book are available.

This book is a summary of both exercises and improvisation lines designed to enhance contemporary jazz style techniques. The book covers scales, arpeggios, chromatic exercises and jazz line phrases from transcribed solos. These exercises should be transposed to all twelve (12) tones in order to achieve perfect coordination.Major, minor and dominant chords, extended to their highest level, scale wise, arpeggios and chromatic passages.There are none signature centers, therefore, all these exercises will be written accidental way.

Jazz players tend to be good sharers and good listeners--the qualities are virtually obligatory in often spontaneously conceived ensemble music. And the respect that the best players command can frequently be measured by the behavior of their fellow professionals in the audience. Bob Berg, the lean, flint-featured American saxophonist, often received that kind of attention. Berg's particular skill was the kind of high-energy, tenor-sax style that became ubiquitous after the 1960s, an avalanche of hard-edged sounds, dissonant high-register brays and a dense, accumulative melodic approach. Berg's technique, though not the equal of his contemporary Michael Brecker, was good enough to avoid emphasizing the idea that any of this was an effort (thereby relieving it of grandstanding effects) But, like Sonny Rollins (whom he often resembled), Bob Berg's unaccompanied soliloquies and intros could be among his most remarkable achievements--a little drier and less inclined to quotation and irony than Rollins, but almost as full of heart and surprise. Berg had developed a saxophone style ideally suited to a groove-based but melodically freewheeling music, Through it all, Berg's solos combine clear virtuosity with vivid thematic construction. Eminently accessible without sacrificing integrity, Remembering Bob Berg serves as a bittersweet reminder of a loss that, sadly, is greater than many truly realize. This book covers new concepts regarding post-bop and cut-ting edge jazz improvisation in a practical way. It is aimed at intermediate to advanced students. It provides new tools for performance in contemporary jazz improvisation. It covers all of my previously published books and adds brand new exercises and line phrases form transcriptions. Chromatic, linear, intervalic, arpeggios, extensions and passing tones in accordance to the chord and scale at any given time are included. Each exercise is transported to be played in all 12 keys. Always remember, JAZZ IS ALIVE.

This is a programmed text for a 2-4 semester course in jazz improvisation. Emphasis is placed on the structural pitches, functional harmony, & resolution tendencies inherent in the idiom. A thorough discourse of jazz melodic formulae is woven throughout the text. Idiomatic harmonic progressions are likewise explained. The styles addressed by this book range from be-bop principles through extended harmony, polytonal & modal jazz, as well as the avant-garde. There are twenty songs (based on standard chord progressions) included in the text for study & practice. Appendices include: transpositions of the songs, sample solos, turnaround melody lines, a formula recap, & a glossary. A compact disc is included for play-along purposes.

This manual contains complementary information for that included in my previous texts regarding contemporary jazz improvisation techniques. As we all know John Coltrane revolutionized the harmonic concept of modern jazz sax improvisation. Other performers such as Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordons, Wayne Shorter, Cannonball Adderley, Michael Brecker and Bob Berg also made incredible contributions to Modern sax performance. We must also include trumpet performers such as Freddy Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Clifford Brown, Chet Baker, Kenny Dorham, Wallace Roney, Tom Harrel, Randy Brecker and Roy Hargrove among others who also added new sounds and scales to this harmonic concept shift. From a technical perspective the book contains exercises for scale inversions, phrase lines from transcriptions, arpeggios, chromatisms and passing tones (lineal and intervallic structures) applied to: Major Scales +11 Lydian +5 +8 Dominant 7 Altered Symmetric diminished Whole tone scale +11 Lydian flat 7 Minor Scales Minor Dorian mode Minor Major 7 The objective is to play the exercises in all twelve tones starting each phrase from any scale note according to the corresponding chord at any given point. These exercises and line phrases are presented as 8th and 16th notes as rhythmic notations. Arpeggios as well as ascendant and descendant scales will be played in both lineal and intervallic modes. The transcriptions include emblematic line phrases by Keith Jarret, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordons, Freddy Hubbard, Tom Harrel and Wallace Roney. This project is an extension of a ten chapter collection on improvisation by the same author: •Improvise Now •240 Chromatic Exercises + 1165 Jazz Lines Phrases •Herbie Hancock. The Blue Note Years •John Coltrane & Michael Brecker Legacy •Chris Potter Jazz Styles •Bidirectional Contemporary Jazz Improvisation •New Conception for Linear & Intervalic Jazz Improvisation •Stage of the Art: Postbop Intervalic Jazz Improvisation Exercises and Line Phrases. •Common Tone Sequences for Contemporary Jazz Improvisation •Inventions and Dimensions Michael Brecker Jazz Style