Jazz and Improvisation
Welcome to the Jazz and Improvisation Library guide! This guide aims to provide selected repertoire, methods and research resources. Refer also to Jazz Performance and Jazz History. See also the Music Library Guide.
Australian Jazz Real Book
The Australian Jazz Real Book is online. Click the link below and see all the lead sheets.
Jazz & Improvisation Resources
Use the subject headings of the following books to find more on the same topic. For example,
Piano music (Jazz) -- Instruction and study
or
Piano -- Methods (Jazz)
Substitute your instrument for piano.
See also ATS2060 Teaching Music Performance: Jazz and Improvisation
Recent Additions to online resources
Phrasing and Freedom with Brushes (2020)
Further Online Resources
Lead Lines and Chord Changes by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 1988An extremely useful volume for pianists who wish to expand their skills at playing chords or reading melody lines and adding their own accompaniment. Major and minor triads, dominant 7th chords, diminished triads, augmented triads and more are all clearly explained and diagrammed.
Pentatonic Scales for Jazz Improvisation by Call Number: Online and SF781.65136 R539PPublication Date: 1983More than a pattern book, this 80-page spiral-bound book lays out the theory behind the use of pentatonic scales in jazz, and follows with 12 pages of transcribed solos and 40 pages of exercises.
Jazz piano masterclass: the drop 2 book by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2006The most comprehensive book ever written on how to create the 4-note, block-chord approach to jazz piano playing used by masters like McCoy Tyner, Bill Evans, Barry Harris, Cedar Walton, etc. In this book, world-renowned pianist and educator Mark Levine provides a step-by-step, beginning to advanced, masterclass on how to create, practice and extend this most useful appraoch to jazz chord voicings.
The Jazz Piano Book by Call Number: Online and SF781.65136 C665JPublication Date: 1989"This book comes closer than any other book I have yet come across to giving the student an insight into the art, and needs, of playing modern jazz piano. With the comprehensive exploration of all the basic techniques in common use that this book offers, along with the inclusion of chapters on such important and often overlooked areas as comping and Latin Jazz, I think this book deserves a place on every modern jazz teacher's bookshelf." Quotation from Mike Nock
Metaphors for the Musician: Perspectives from a Jazz Musician by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2005This book is a gold mine of insights into almost every aspect of jazz musicianship, including scale/chord theory, practice strategies, composing techniques, performance psychology and how to create the states of mind that produce the best improvisations. Designed for any level of player, on any instrument, there are numerous exercises to help the reader turn concepts into musical reality.
The Jazz Theory Book by Call Number: Online and SF781.65136 L665JPublication Date: 1995PART I: Theory: chords and scales. Basic theory -- The major scale and the II-V-I progression -- Chord / scale theory -- How to practice scales -- Slash chords -- -- PART II: Improvisation: playin' the changes. From scales to music -- The bebop scales -- Playing "outside" -- Pentatonic scales -- The blues -- "Rhythm" changes -- Practice, practice, practice -- -- PART III: Reharmonization. Basic reharmonization -- Advanced reharmonization -- Coltrane changes -- Three reharmonizations -- -- PART IV: The tunes. Song form and composition -- Reading a lead sheet -- Memorizing a tune -- Heads -- The repertoire -- -- PART V: The rest of it. Salsa and Latin jazz -- Loose ends -- Listen.
The serious jazz practice book 1 : melodic materials for the modern jazz soloist by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2006The building blocks of jazz, on any instrument that takes all the diatonic, pentatonic, chromatic, whole-tone and diminished scales and gives step-by-step exercises that dissect them into hundreds of useable patterns.
The same is also done for all the chord types and intervals inherent in each scale. Many of the exercises are embellished with chromatic notes, giving them a jazz flavour. This is a method book that will lead the reader to a deep, internalized understanding of the fundamentals of jazz.
Barry Finnerty's book is the best book of intervallic studies I've ever seen. Great exercises for any instrument.”
— Mark Levine
This is an exhaustive, yet compact guide to the fundamentals of scale vocabulary, written by an accomplished musician. The section on diminished scales is outstanding.”
— Dave Liebman
The serious jazz book. II : harmonic possibilities of the improvised line Author by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2008Following on from his Serious Jazz Practice Book left off, guitar legend Barry Finnerty has created "another woodshed classic for all jazz soloists". Recording artist with Miles Davis, the Brecker Bros., the Crusaders, Barry shows how to become a better improviser by melodically mastering the individual chords used in jazz, how they connect with each other, and how they are used in various song forms.
Print Books
The Jazz Theory Workbook by Call Number: S781.6514 B687JPublication Date: 1993The Jazz Theory Workbook is a primer in jazz theory, intended to prepare the student for the serious study of jazz improvisation, arrangement, and composition. The focus is on the harmonic language of jazz, especially the harmonic practices which coalesced in the bebop and post-bop periods of the 1940s and 1950s when bebop and standard tunes formed the core of the mainstream repertoire. The harmonic language of that period is still the framework on which contemporary jazz musicians build. Included are many musical examples and written assignments for practice in the theoretical skills. Appropriate exercises are provided to reinforce theoretical concepts by immediate application to the instrument.
A Lyrical Approach to Jazz Improvising: For Trumpet and All Instruments by Call Number: S788.92193 V836LPublication Date: 2010This is a definitive book on ""How to Improvise"" explained clearly and succinctly by trumpeter Richie Vitale. Richie has taught Master Classes and Clinics at the Eastman School of Music and is currently teaching at New Jersey City University (NJCU). This book, though written by a trumpet player, applies to all instruments and all people looking for a comprehensive book on the theory and thought process behind jazz improvisation.
Ready, Aim, Improvise! by Call Number: S781.65136 C948RPublication Date: 2015As taught at Berklee College of Music Ready, Aim, Improvise! explores the critical areas involved in learning how to improvise, including: music theory, jazz harmony, ear training, jazz execution, jazz vocabulary, practicing, self-critiquing, career planning, and much more. There are a wealth of musical examples, exercises, and practice routines that help make the learning process easy and enjoyable. Two enclosed play-along CDs feature modal, key-area, and modulating chord progressions performed at a slow, manageable tempo.
Jazz Musician's Guide to Creative Practicing: notes on the difficult, humorous, endless path of becoming a better improvising musician! by Call Number: SF781.65136 B513JPublication Date: 2007"This book is about the process of learning to be an improvising musician. It's mostly about how to learn and how to practice. It's a little bit about theory, a little bit about ear training and a little bit about composition."--Introduction.
Contents:
One pianist's jazz odyssey -- Theory review -- Problems in jazz practice -- Spelling chord changes -- "Body and soul" : a great yet in many ways typical, standard tune -- "Giant steps" : changing chords really fast -- Rhythm changes, a slippery form -- Rhythm, deep groove, metronomes and odd meter -- Fast playing -- Multi-line playing ("Just in time") -- Conclusions.
A number of 'songbooks' can be found online.
The Jazz Standards (full text online) by Call Number: Online and 016.78165 G495J 2012Publication Date: 2012
The Music of Antonio Carlos Jobim by Publication Date: 2000
A Fake Book is a collection of scores and a tool for learning which presents the music to standards and popular tunes. Important jazz fake books include The Ultimate Jazz Fakebook in editions for C .B♭, and E♭ instruments, the Charlie Parker Omnibook, and the Jamey Aebersold publications. The Story of Fake Books: Bootlegging songs to musicians tells the story,
Real Jazz Standards Fake Book by
(Fake Book). This second edition features a magnificent compilation of over 250 standards of jazz repertoire in new easy-to-read authentic hand-written jazz engravings, including: Ain't Misbehavin' * Angel Eyes * Bein' Green * Blue Skies * Brazil * Crazy He Calls Me * Desafinado (Off Key) * Fever * Good Morning Heartache * Here's That Rainy Day * How High the Moon * I Can't Give You Anything but Love * I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good * I'll Be Around * I'm Beginning to See the Light * I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face * Imagination * It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) * It's Only a Paper Moon * Just in Time * Lazy River * Midnight Sun * My Favorite Things * My Funny Valentine * Mood Indigo * Moonglow * Moon River * Old Devil Moon * People * Route 66 * Satin Doll * Sophisticated Lady * Speak Low * Star Dust * There Is No Greater Love * When Sunny Gets Blue * Witchcraft * and more.
Call Number: S781.65 L581R.C1ISBN: 0634021559Publication Date: 2001
What It Is: The life of a jazz artist from the "Studies in Jazz" Series by
This book is one from a series "Studies in Jazz". This series includes works in biography, discography, musicology, historiography and documentation, by both academicians and independent scholars. Dave Liebman is one of the leading forces in contemporary jazz. Prominently known for performing with Miles Davis and Elvin Jones, he has exerted considerable influence as a saxophonist, bandleader, composer, author, and educator. In addition to his recent recognition as a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, he has received the Order of Arts and Letters from France and holds an honorary doctorate from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland. He has mentored many of today's most notable young jazz musicians worldwide and is a prolific writer on jazz. In What It Is: The Life of a Jazz Artist, friend, pianist, and noted jazz scholar Lewis Porter conducts a series of in-depth interviews with Liebman, who discusses his professional, personal, and musical relationships with Davis and Jones, as well as such notable musicians as Chick Corea, Richie Beirach, Michael and Randy Brecker, and many others. Through the interviews, Liebman discusses such personal matters as contracting polio as a child and the difficulties it caused as an adult during his rise as a jazz musician. He offers insights into the life of jazz performers of his generation, particularly the tumultuous period of the 1960s and 1970s. The book also features rare photos from Liebman's personal collection. A fascinating and witty storyteller, Liebman's stories in What It Is will appeal to jazz fans and scholars by providing a firsthand look into the creative life of one of America's leading jazz musicians.
Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2013
Billie Holiday - Original Keys for Singers by Call Number: SF783.242165 N598BISBN: 0634025872Publication Date: 2002
Forward Motion: From Bach to Bebop by
This deep, yet user-friendly book provides a unique view of how to learn to play jazz correctly. Hal, who was the pianist for Cannonball Adderley and Phil Woods, among others, dissects the problem of how the phrasing of many aspiring musicians prevents the music from swinging. Indispensible! Endorsed by Dave Liebman, Bobby Watson, Dr. John Kuzmich and others.
Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2005
The Latin Bass Book by
This is a practical, comprehensive approach to learning Afro-Cuban, Brazilian and South American styles of bass playing, featuring 3 CDs of Berklee professor Oscar Stagnaro playing with three different world-class rhythm sections. The book consists mostly of transcriptions of every note Oscar plays on the accompanying CDs. Some amazing music, and logically progressing from simple to complex examples of each style.
Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2005
The Salsa Guidebook for Piano and Ensemble by
As Tito Puente's pianist, Sonny Bravo, said, "This will be the salsa 'bible' for years to come." A complete method book on how all the various styles of Afro-Cuban music are played, plus sample charts showing what each instrument is responsible for, a complete history of the music, numerous classic photos, 50 pages just on piano montunos, and much more. Endorsed by Carlos Santana, among others.
Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 1993- Cancioneiro Jobim obras completas, arranjos para piano = complete works, piano arrangements byCall Number: Cancioneiro Jobim obras completas, arranjos para piano = complete works, piano arrangementsPublication Date: 2001Jobim's complete works aranged for piano with chod symbols .The preface is in Portuguese and English.
Contents:
1. 1947-1958.
2. 1959-1965
3. 1966-1970
4. 1971-1982
5. 1983-1994 
Choro vocabulary : studies & compositions by Call Number: SF781.640981 S497VPublication Date: 1999Studies and exercises for solo instruments based on characteristic patterns found in the choros of Pixinguinha and other composers. Parallel text in Portuguese and English.
O melhor do choro brasileiro 60 peças com melodia e cifras. (3 vols.)Call Number: SF781.640981 I69C vol. 1-3Publication Date: 2002Published in São Paulo, each volume contains 60 choros. Melodies with chord symbols.
The "real easy" ear training book : a beginning/intermediate guide to hearing the chord changes by
Using musical examples that reflect all contemporary genres (pop, rock, Latin, fusion, jazz, etc.), emphasis is placed on making ear training real, as Prof. Radley shows how to apply the harmonic ear training studies in the book to your own musical needs. Step by step, you will learn how to: hear the bass line (the harmony's foundation) in the major key - gradually add major and minor diatonic triads - investigate how the melody provides harmonic clues for determining the chord changes - continue with seventh chord recognition - explore minor key harmony - and conclude with hearing some common non-diatonic chord patterns. You will immediately begin recognizing popular chord patterns by: using practice routines based on hundreds of dictation and transcription exercises - playing, singing, memorizing and transposing the chord progressions of songs - composing and arranging your own music based on familiar chord patterns given in the book. Additionally, more than 150 songs are referenced throughout the book for real practice! --
Call Number: Online and at SF781.424076 R129R 2008Publication Date: 2008
Aural Education: reconceptualising ear training in higher music learning by
Aural Education: Reconceptualising Ear Training in Higher Music Learning explores the practice of musical 'aural training' from historical, pedagogical, psychological, musicological, and cultural perspectives, and uses these to draw implications for its pedagogy, particularly within the context of higher music education. The multi-perspective approach adopted by the author affords a broader and deeper understanding of this branch of music education, and of how humans relate to music more generally. The book extracts and examines one by one different parameters that appear central to 'aural training', proceeding in a gradual and well-organised way, while at the same time constantly highlighting the multiple interconnections and organic unity of the many different operations that take place when we interact with music through any music-related activity. The resulting complex profile of the nature of our relationship with music, combined with an exploration of non-Western cultural perspectives, offer fresh insights on issues relating to musical 'aural training'. Emerging implications are proposed in the form of broad pedagogical principles, applicable in a variety of different music educational settings. Andrianopoulou propounds a holistic alternative to 'aural training', which acknowledges the richness of our relationship to music and is rooted in absorbed aural experience. The book is a key contribution to the existing literature on aural education, designed with researchers and educators in mind.
Call Number: OnlineISBN: 9780367257729Publication Date: 2019
Books & Audiovisual
Perspectives on Artistic Research in Music by Call Number: Online and Print: 780.72 B959P 2017Publication Date: 2017
School for Cool: the academic jazz program and the paradox of institutionalized creativity by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2014
Music Theory Through Improvisation by Call Number: Online and Print at 781 S243M 2010Publication Date: 2009
The Influence of John Coltrane's Music on Improvising Saxophonists by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2014
George Garzone and improvisation : a study of a jazz musician and his process by Call Number: S781.65136 C948RPublication Date: 2015
Extended Technique by Publication Date: 2010
Improvisation, Creativity, and Consciousness by Call Number: 783.043 R813V 2014Publication Date: 2013- The Influence of John Coltrane's Music on Improvising Saxophonists by A study that examines the magnitude of Jazz legend, John Coltrane's influence, from an analytical perspective, on subsequent Post-Coltrane saxophonists in the development of their respective improvisatory styles and creative approaches to this music genre.Publication Date: 2014
Lee Konitz: Conversations on the Improviser's Art by Call Number: Online and Print at 788.73165092 H217L 2007Publication Date: 2007
The Berimbau: Soul of Brazilian Music by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2010The Brazilian berimbau, a musical bow, is most commonly associated with the energetic martial art/dance/game of capoeira. This study explores the berimbau's stature from the 1950s to the present in diverse musical genres including bossa nova, samba-reggae, MPB (Popular Brazilian Music), electronic dance music and Brazilian art music. Berimbau music spans oral and recorded historical traditions and connects Latin America to Africa.
João Gilberto and Stan Getz's Getz/Gilberto by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2018A study of the all who contributed to a great album. The leading figure of bossa nova João Gilberto, the Philadelphia-born and New York-raised cool jazz artist Stan Getz and the less-understood participants, Astrud Gilberto with unrehearsed, English-language vocals, Creed Taylor the producer and Olga Albizu who drew the arresting, abstract-expressionist cover art.
The Defence of Tradition in Brazilian Popular Music by Call Number: 781.640981 S925D 2008 (Ebook on order)
Antonio Carlos Jobim by Call Number: Online (Also Print at780.92 J62 JOB 2011)Publication Date: 2011
The Experimental Music of Hermeto Pascoal and Group, 1981-1993 by Call Number: Online (also Print at 780.92 C837E 2015)ISBN: 1576472248
The Music of Antonio Carlos Jobim by Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2019Antônio Carlos Jobim has been called the greatest of all contemporary Brazilian songwriters. He wrote both popular and serious music and was a gifted piano, guitar, and flute player. One of the key figures in the creation of the bossa nova style, Jobim's music made a lasting impression worldwide, and many of his songs are now standards of the popular music repertoire. In The Music of Antônio Carlos Jobim, one of the first extensive musicological analyses of the Brazilian composer, Peter Freeman examines the music, philosophy, and circumstances surrounding the creation of Jobim's popular songs, instrumental compositions, and symphonic works. Freeman attempts to elucidate not only the many musical influences that formed Jobim's musical output, but also the stylistic peculiarities that were as much the product of a gifted composer as the rich musical environment and heritage that surrounded him.
The big picture phrasing, improvisation, style, & technique
Credits: Keith Carlock, drums ; Wayne Krantz, guitar ; Tim Lefebvre, bass.
"Keith explains and demonstrates topics that include hand and foot fill combinations, phrasing over the bar line, hand and foot technique, how to develop musicality, understanding the eight-bar phrase, his unique setup, and more"--Container.
Call Number: 786.92165 C284B 2009ISBN: 9781423486664Publication Date: 2009
Improvisation
Expertise in Jazz Guitar Improvisation by
Expertise in Jazz Guitar Improvisationis an examination of musical interplay and the ways implicit (sub-conscious) and explicit (conscious) knowledge appear during improvisation. The practice-based research inquiry includes: interviews and interplay with five world-class jazz guitarists, Lage Lund, Jack Wilkins, Ben Monder, Rez Abbasi and Adam Rogers; a modal matrix for analyzing structure, time and form in jazz guitar improvisation, and musical analysis based on cognitive theories. By explaining the cognitive and musical foundations for expertise in jazz guitar improvisation, this book illuminates how jazz guitarists' strategies are crucially dependent on context, style and type of interplay. With accompanying video provided as an e-resource, this material will be of interest to anyone fascinated by Jazz and Psychology of Music.
Call Number: EbookPublication Date: 2020
Interaction, Improvisation, and Interplay in Jazz by Call Number: 781.651438 H692.I 2007
Experiencing 'Flow' in Jazz Performance by
Elina Hytönen draws on eighteen interviews conducted with professional jazz musicians from around the world and examines the fundamentals of the phenomenon of flow in jazz that has led to this genre's popularity. She also draws on how flow experiences are viewed and constructed by jazz musicians, "the meanings they attach to it, and the quality of music that it inspires."
Call Number: 781.6511 H999E 2013
Jazzology by
Contains instrumental and theoretical exercises, analyses of compositions, and explanations of various topics pertaining to jazz theory, composition, and performance.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 257-263).
Call Number: SF781.6507 R259E
Creative Jazz Improvisation by
Includes chapters on The Art of Improvisation,
Practicing Jazz, Constructing Solos, Playing with Other Musicians, Creative Improvisation, Performance Anxiety, and Teaching Jazz.
Call Number: 781.65136 R332C 2007
Jazz improvisation a personal approach with Joe Lovarno
Lovarno shows you how to: interpret the melodic, rhythmic and harmonic essence of a tune; create your own improvisational ideas; make the most of your solo practice time; interact with duets, trios and quartets.
Call Number: 781.65136 J42 2003
Essential indexes to music journals
- Music periodicals database (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
- RILM abstracts of music literature (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
For further databases go to the Music Library Guide.
Selected Streamed Video
- Monk - Theolonious Monk in New York and Atlanta In 1968, Michael Blackwood and his production team had the opportunity to spend time with Thelonious Monk and his musicians, following him in New York and Atlanta. In New York Monk's quartet plays at the Village Vanguard and at recording sessions for Columbia Records; in Atlanta they appear at a Jazz Festival organized by George Wein. The members of the quartet were Charlie Rouse, Larry Gales, and Ben Riley.
- Monk in Europe - The Famous Jazz Musician's European Tour On his European tour his quartet was joined by Ray Copeland, Clark Terry, Phil Woods, and Johnny Griffin. They traveled as part of George Wein's Newport Jazz Festival road company to London, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Berlin, Mainz, and Rotterdam.
- Imagine the Sound - Jazz in the 60's Imagine the Sound brings together interviews and performances with the prime innovators of the once controversial free jazz movement of the 60s. The first feature documentary by Ron Mann is an eloquent tribute to a group of highly celebrated artists that helped forge the avant-garde jazz of the 1960s.
- The Girls in the Band Female Jazz Musicians The award-winning documentary film THE GIRLS IN THE BAND tells the poignant, untold stories of female jazz and big band instrumentalists and their fascinating, history-making journeys from the late 30s to the present day. The many first-hand accounts of the challenges faced by these talented women provide a glimpse into decades of racism and sexism that have existed in America.
- Black on White White on Black Legendary Blues Pianist Alex Moore A humorous look at the life and career of the legendary blues pianist Alex Moore, the first Black Texan to receive a National Heritage Fellowship. Moore taught himself to play the piano by watching others and practicing whenever he got a chance. Because he had no formal training Moore developed a distinctive improvisatory piano style that included elements of blues, ragtime, barrelhouse, stride and boogie-woogie. He combined steady left hand bass figures with fluid right hand melodies. His lyrics were both traditional and original and were a response to his playing of the piano and to the moment at hand.
Streamed Sound
Use databases to find journal articles, including peer-reviewed scholarly material. Use Sound databases to listen to streamed music.
The following databases relate specifically to music studies and can be found on the Library's A-Z Databases page.
- Naxos music library. Jazz This link opens in a new window
- Music online. Jazz music library This link opens in a new window
- Australian jazz real book This link opens in a new window
Journals and Databases
- Perfect Beat The name Perfect Beat is derived from Afrika Bambaata and the Soul Sonic Force's 12-inch, 1983 single Looking for the Perfect Beat. The journal's association with the popular cultural quest and mixed, eclectic references of the song are reflected in the articles that have appeared so far which have often concerned themselves with 'world beat' and/or 'world music' and the marketing of non-western musics in the western market and the analysis of local music production.
- Popular Music Popular Music is an international multi-disciplinary journal covering all aspects of the subject - from the formation of social group identities through popular music, to the workings of the global music industry, to how particular pieces of music are put together. The journal includes all kinds of popular music, whether rap or rai, jazz or rock, from any historical era and any geographical location.
- Down beat (online from 2008) Established in 1934, Down beat is a monthly American journal which originally published articles about only jazz music but in recent years it has expanded to include "blues and beyond".
Databases & Journals at Monash University Library
Monash University Library has tens of thousands of journals available online and in print.
Click the tabs above to see some of the best journals publishing new research for Jazz and Improvisation.
Monash University Library offers students access to databases of academic literature as well as sound and video collections.
Click the tabs above to access some of the databases collections.
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Analysis of arrangements
Conversations with Bill Holman by Call Number: 780.92 H747C 2017 (General Collection)Publication Date: 2017- Inside the score : a detailed analysis of 8 classic jazz ensemble charts by Sammy Nestico, Thad Jones, Bob Brookmeyer. byCall Number: SF781.371655 W952.IPublication Date: 1982
