The Jazz Piano Book by Mark Levine Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Jazz Piano Book
Book Review: This is the jazz piano book
Summary: 5 Stars
No hands down this is the book to get if you want to further your jazz piano chops. This was the book my jazz piano professor told me to purchase and we used as one of the textbooks for my Functional Jazz piano course. All of my piano colleages own the book also. It is more for the intermediate to advance jazz piano player ready to work and labor hard and think. If your are a beginner it is good to use with a good Jazz piano teacher.Book Review: Thorough, understandable overview of jazz piano harmony, etc
Summary: 5 Stars
As an intermediate-level amateur jazz pianist, I find Mark Levine's "The Jazz Piano Book" very useful on a practical level, and inspiring on a personal level. It doesn't require a lot of heavy-duty sight reading skills, but the examples do make you think--which is what you need to be doing all the time if you want to be a real jazz piano player. I learn something really deep every time I open the book. I could spend many hours on each page and still not exhaust the possibilities. This is a lucid, engaging book that makes a complex subject--well, not easy, because that would be unrealistic--but approachable. The fabulous photos of many great jazz pianists make the book a treat for the jazz fan as well.Book Review: Thorough, well-thought-out and well-written.
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Book Review: Tough book
Summary: 5 Stars
Great book but tough. This is not a book for people who simply want to learn about jazz or how to play in a jazz style. This is a book for people who want to play jazz and are familiar with jazz. The book consistently uses references to famous recordings that jazz fans will be familiar with. This is great in that if you know your jazz that you will be able to know what the author is talking about when he explains II-V-I progressions or how a sus chord leaves a suspended feel. Don't get this book if you: don't know how to play piano; are not familiar with jazz; can not read music; don't know all major and minor keys. I am on chapter 8 in this book, and sus chords, phrygian chords, rootless chords, tritonation, and right hand modifications to rootless chords has already been covered. If you are a jazz fan and want to not just play by feel but know what you are doing, this book will suit you.Book Review: Valuable Learning Resource for the Aspiring Jazz Pianist ! !
Summary: 5 Stars
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.)