The Jazz Theory Book

This book is very in depth all about jazz theory and how the chordal progressions progress into different modes. It’s quite a thick book spiral bound Okay it makes it easier to use but unfortunately the spirals come apart. The content is concentrated and assumes quite advanced knowledge of theory not for beginners. If you’re like me you might need either a separate book on theory or a teacher who can explain. It’s not a book you can dip into. He goes through the different modes and explains the chordal progressions and scales.

A must have book for any jazz musician. Any musical theory book is an attempt to rationalise what people play or compose - it is a post hoc analysis. There is more than one way to explain and describe what goes on. I find with any subject that more than one author gets me to a quicker and better understanding than one author alone. I also use Bert Ligon's 'Comprehensive technique for Jazz Musicians and 'How to Play Bebop' by David Baker. When studying any particular aspect of the music, by comparing the three books one of them will come up with the goods and light will dawn. It is worth spending three times the cost of one book to save time and effort and get a grasp of what you need so much sooner. I would not be without this book, nor the others I mentioned. I don't just own one shirt, either... for rather different reasons, maybe....

This book is a true gem. It has a very pragmatic approach to the way it presents the theory behind the way the jazz greats expressed themselves and delivered their souls to us, in sequences of notes! Every point is supported by lots of examples from jazz tunes and even the most complicated and complex elements of jazz theory are made to look simple and easy. It is only after one has finished Chapter 3 that the bulk and weight of the material that has been covered becomes apparent along with the realisation that there are 21 more chapters to follow! I have several Theory Books, general, Classical and Jazz but none comes even close to this one. The absolute best. Easy to read too, thanks to the Spiral binding that allows it to stay flat. Pretty big and heavy but what can we expect, it's 522 pages after all. Every mucisian should have this book. Now if only it had one or more companion CDs with the numeruous examples compiled... 10 out of 10.

I use this as reference material while learning jazz guitar and find it suits my style of learning. Mark references many jazz standards when working through the theory so as you can get real practical examples of what he's putting over. I had this book from the library for a year before I purchased the kindle version and never stop dabbling into it when I need to understand what's going on in a song. It's probably the best music reference book I've ever come across.

I am sure it is a really good book. But it is not for beginners. Also I returned the book because I felt that it would fall apart. The spiral binding is useful, but the pages kept working free.

An incredibly comprehensive piece of work. Contains everything you need to know for Jazz Theory. Helpful to have a keyboard/piano to hand. It doesn't matter what style you play at minimum a basic appreciation of Jazz theory is a must. (I'm a bass player)

This book is indispensable to those wishing to understand the theory behind the language of jazz. Very well set out - it explains all the main rules and then gives you ideas to break them! Highly recommended.

This is just the best Jazz Theory book I've ever seen. It's well organised, with a logical flow of material, thorough but easily comprehensible explanations and lots of well-explained transcribed examples. I've got the book and Kindle versions so I can always refer to it. The music is primarily written for piano and I'm a guitarist but it will work just as well for any single note instrument. If you want to play better jazz and you haven't got this book, order it today.

The bible, for any student of jazz piano

For the cost, it was very disappointing to get a set of xeroxed pages spiral bound. Not only was i unaware that it is just a copy, but a very poor copy. At least the photos could have been colour xeroxed. Anyhows it would have been so much more trust inspiring if there had been a mention of the fact that its just a copy of the original book. The book of course if very good and is proving useful.

Sintesi teorica corposa e dettagliata della musica jazz

A escrita, a diagramação são extremamente claros e objetivos. Os exemplos musicais elucidativos. O livro, na forma de um compêndio tem sua estrutura muito bem distribuída. Pode ser lido como obra para consulta rápida aos profissionais já familiarizados com o tema, ou como um livro-guia para construção de um plano de ensino e/ou estudo sistemático. A encadernação em espiral é, sem sombra de dúvida, a opção perfeita para uma obra desta natureza. O papel e a encadernação, são robustos para suportarem o manuseio cotidiano. Indispensável para se montar uma biblioteca profissional de música popular ocidental.

I'm essentially still around the beginning of the book, but I've already learned so much from it. I'm really looking forward to going through the whole book. I read and practice a bit almost every night until my head starts hurting, but I'm still only about 30-40 pages in. There is an amazing amount of information already with references to famous jazz tunes that I love checking out as well. I'm very happy I've bought this book.