The Jazz Piano Book

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As the title suggests, this is very much about harmony, so don’t expect much information on linear jazz improvising here: this is probably of most use to chordal instruments. Mark Levine’s Jazz Piano Book is a great jazz piano classic. It is probably the best known jazz piano book of all time, a masterpiece for the study of jazz harmony and improvisation. Learning jazz piano can be a daunting task for any pianist, intermediate or otherwise. Jerald Simon’s book, “Essential Jazz Piano Exercises Every Piano Player Should Know” takes a more practical approach to learning the genre. Essential Jazz Piano Exercises Every Piano Player Should Know By Jerald Simon

Jazz Piano 1 - Schott Music Exploring Jazz Piano 1 - Schott Music

This clearly written, well-paced book contains challenging exercises to help the student soak up the language of bebop rhythm, and is accompanied by a play-along CD. Peter Erskine (who made our list of best jazz drummer of all time) calls it “the definitive book on bop drumming”. However, comping is often not given enough attention in most jazz piano books, which cover hundreds of other topics alongside it.If you’re looking for a thorough and well-structured approach to learning jazz piano, then Tim Richards’ Exploring Jazz Piano is the book for you. Exploring Jazz Piano By Tim Richards

The Jazz Piano Book - Sher Music The Jazz Piano Book - Sher Music

This jazz education classic was first published in 1995, and is now used in conservatory classrooms around the world. It covers the main jazz scales and how to deploy them, as well as more advanced concepts like ‘ Coltrane changes’ and reharmonisation, giving over 750 musical examples.Of the three, Levine's book is by far my least favorite, and it is the least useful for my purposes. It reads as schematic and not very well thought out, and feels like a reference work, or even more so, like a collection of notes. Some users have suggested that this book is not really suitable for players below an intermediate level, and students will need to have fairly good sight-reading skills to play the written exercises. An amazing reference for jazz piano that I continue to return to over the course of a decade (more so than the Bert Ligon series, which is also good). Mark was a legend and this book is part of his legacy.