- Spiral-bound: 307 pages
- Publisher: Sher Music; Spiral edition (1 Jan 1989)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0961470151
- ISBN-13: 978-0961470159
- Product Dimensions: 27.4 x 21.3 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 145,481 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Format:Spiral-bound
Along with the author's Jazz Theory Book, I'd consider this (which preceeded the Jazz Theory Book by a few years) absolutely essential reading. Especially so if you are a beginner/intermediate pianist who is struggling to do some self-taught learning. That's how I learnt - and this book helped me to find the answer to virtually everything I wanted to know.
Don't get me wrong though - this book isn't for beginners. Levine assumes you can read music and already possess a technique that is functional, if not amazing. The book covers beginning II-V-I's and basic shell voicings, then moves on to cover areas such as scale theory, block chords, advanced voicings (slash chords, upper-structures, quartals etc), latin jazz etc. What makes this book so special - like his Jazz Theory Book - is that the author brings the theory alive with fully referenced recommended listenings. It was clearly a labour of love for him.
Despite getting on for being 10 years old (and having a bizarre front cover) if you only bought one book to learn about playing jazz piano, this is undoubtedly it.
Don't get me wrong though - this book isn't for beginners. Levine assumes you can read music and already possess a technique that is functional, if not amazing. The book covers beginning II-V-I's and basic shell voicings, then moves on to cover areas such as scale theory, block chords, advanced voicings (slash chords, upper-structures, quartals etc), latin jazz etc. What makes this book so special - like his Jazz Theory Book - is that the author brings the theory alive with fully referenced recommended listenings. It was clearly a labour of love for him.
Despite getting on for being 10 years old (and having a bizarre front cover) if you only bought one book to learn about playing jazz piano, this is undoubtedly it.
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Spiral-bound
This book has some interesting approaches to learning jazz piano and should improve any pianists appreciation of jazz harmony.It is quite a heavy read as he builds jazz chords up around the dominant chord and all its attendant colours such as the upper partials of 9th, 11th, and 13th very early on.
He sounds as he is quite an accompomplished jazz pianist and for mere mortals like myself it is necessary to invent exercises that take on each new conception he puts forward.I have only managed to conquer the early stages of his introduction to jazz harmony and at present coming to terms with the use of modes and modal harmony.The book is no worse than any other book on jazz and the fact that I am still ploughing through it proves there is much to learn and it is worth the trawl.
It would probably be more informative to give an appreciation of the book in a year's time.
Jazz piano is not for the faint hearted, it is a long term study full of practical suggestions that have to be worked through to give an honest assessment of the manual.
He sounds as he is quite an accompomplished jazz pianist and for mere mortals like myself it is necessary to invent exercises that take on each new conception he puts forward.I have only managed to conquer the early stages of his introduction to jazz harmony and at present coming to terms with the use of modes and modal harmony.The book is no worse than any other book on jazz and the fact that I am still ploughing through it proves there is much to learn and it is worth the trawl.
It would probably be more informative to give an appreciation of the book in a year's time.
Jazz piano is not for the faint hearted, it is a long term study full of practical suggestions that have to be worked through to give an honest assessment of the manual.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
44 reviews
207 of 212 people found the following review helpful
Valuable Learning Resource for the Aspiring Jazz Pianist ! !
31 Oct 2000
Format:Spiral-bound
Before Mark Levine's Jazz Piano book came out, choosing a book on how to play piano was a lot like selecting a presidential candidate - - you may not have been crazy about the choices but... (blah blah blah) What makes this book different is that it walks a fine and brilliant line between theory, application and stylistics and it is never dry, and further it is contemporary. By chapter 10 and beyond he's getting into fourth chords, upper structures and "so what" chords. Most books sort of finish up just when Bud Powell is hitting the scene. This book however will take you up to McCoy Tyner and Kenny Barron. - - Unlike other books, his book also sites practical song examples and specific listening examples.
If you're entirely on your own, I think this book, along with a few Aebersold play-a-longs and Amadea's Harmonic Foundations for Jazz and Pop Music would really take you a long way. Your ultimate goal should be able to sit in at Jam sessions and with real players... that's where the real learning begins. Do what you have to do to get to the point that you can hang with a blues or Real Book standards.
(Regarding suitability for beginers vs. advanced players : This book is pretty good for players of all levels, though if you're starting from scratch another book to consider is Brain Waite's "Modern Jazz Piano : A Study in Harmony" or Amadea's book, then this.)
138 of 141 people found the following review helpful
This is THE piano book.
17 July 2001
Format:Spiral-bound
As a guitarist/percussionist who had piano lessons as a kid (and hated them) I have always been a little intimidated by the piano. Toward my goal of being able to comp and improvise over changes, I have purchased several jazz piano method books, including titles by Jerry Coker and Dan Haerle, and they have all been helpful.
Mark Levine's book, however, is exceptional. He introduces his concepts in perfect-sized chapters, with musical examples bracketed by coherent and engaging explanations. There are dozens of very musical exercises, and lists of suggested jazz standards for applying them. He conveys the essential elements of jazz theory in an easy-to-digest but highly intelligent anecdotal writing style.
The pacing of how material is presented in a method book is very important to the advancing musician. For example, I always knew that the melodic minor scale was important, but it only fully came together in my head when I worked through Mark's chapters on scale theory. Instead of being bombarded with chord voicing options, there are two or three. The emphasis is on getting you prepared enough to play music! Helpful hints seem to appear just as you need them, and Mark's enthusiasm for the piano provides subtle encouragement for the exhausting but rewarding process of learning jazz.
This is a book which stays on my music stand. It's large but spiral-bound. The font size is just right, and notes are professionally typeset (I hate books where you spend half your time deciphering notes from the author's scrawl). Bonus points for the great photos and the recommended discographies from all periods of jazz.
I would recommend this book to any intermediate to advanced player looking to expand and strengthen his or her abilities to comp and solo on piano. No one book can teach you everything, but this one is a hell of a start.
81 of 82 people found the following review helpful
Thorough, well-thought-out and well-written.
3 Feb 2000
Format:Spiral-bound
This is the best book on jazz theory I've encountered; would be one of my five desert-island music books. He's formatted the book like this: each chapter begins with a short transcribed passage that demonstrates, say, a particular type of voicing or scale in context. The musical concept behind the example is then explained and expanded on. Mark's brevity makes for a book that's dense with information, and the style is not so much prescriptive -- "play this and this and you're playing JAZZ!" as it is descriptive -- "Here's what you're hearing when you hear, e.g., this characteristic Bill Evans sound". The result is a book that covers everything, but still relies on the reader to listen to lots of jazz music, experiment, and practice.
Which is exactly how it should be. For the serious student, this is by leaps and bounds the best study guide to mastering the vocabulary of jazz piano as played by the musicians who've helped shape it over the last half-century-plus, and a great stepping stone toward developing one's own style.
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