Cat No. JM48854
Price £6.95
Composer: James Rae
Category: Books

Study book in Bass Clef.

Contains :
1 Aspects of jazz rhythm
2 Melodic jazz studies
3 Improvisation and blues

Introduction
Comparing the interpretation of jazz music to that of ‘classical’ can be likened to the comparison between spoken ‘American’ and spoken ‘English’. They are both written in more or less the same way but sound totally different. The best way to acquire a strong American accent is to live there for a while — the sound of the language is absorbed and it becomes natural to adopt the same dialect. With jazz, it is also essential to listen carefully to players of the idiom in order to develop a ‘feel’ for jazz in your own playing.

This book is designed to assist ‘classically’ trained musicians with the interpretation of jazz music at the most elementary level.

Using the book
The aim in Part I is for the student to absorb the essential rhythmic devices of jazz music. It begins with the concept of swing rhythm, and then works through various types of anticipated beat and syncopation.

Part 2 contains twenty melodious jazz studies, arranged progressively. These incorporate, in various combinations, the rhythms established in Part 1. Carefully selected exercises from Part 1 may be used as preliminary material
for the studies in Part 2.

Part 3 introduces the student to the concept of jazz improvisation. While working through the exercises in this section, the student should be encouraged to incorporate into his/her playing both rhythmic and melodic ideas absorbed in Parts I and 2. The student may then return to the studies in Part 2, using the chord symbols as a basis for further improvisation.
Notes by James Rae