A new book from the man who has set the standard for jazz and improvisation learning materials. A compilation of 15 years of teaching jazz keyboard at several universities. The book also contains a Teacher's Supplement. Usable for classroom or individual study. If you are a pianist, or arrange, compose, accompany, play any instrument, read fake books, coach groups, teach or earn a living in the music field, you need this book.

"The first and most important task for the jazz pianist is to produce chords. Jazz is a harmonically-based music ... This book will not emphasize the art of improvisation ... Rhythm is important too, but it is best learned by imitation and transcriptions ... chord progressions of tunes used in jazz are nearly always given in chord symbols, which the keyboard player is expected to decipher and arrange into an attractive chord voicing. As a new symbol will appear about every two to eight beats ... the pianist has to develop quick responses in order to find and play each chord within its assigned duration ..."--Introduction

Chuck Marohnic gives the keyboard player a basic vocabulary of scales and chords, chord changes and voicings. Included is information about the cycle of fifths, the III-V-I progression, chord substitutions, blues, turn-arounds, relative majors/minors.

Pianists all know the benefits of playing the "Two-Part Inventions" of J. S. Bach. Now, world-respected jazz pianist and composer Bill Cunliffe has written his own "inventions" that will benefit every player's understanding and performance of jazz. These great-sounding etudes explore the specific harmonic, melodic, and technical challenges faced by jazz keyboardists, including the ii-V and ii-V-I progressions, outlining changes, chord-tone ornamentation, playing in octaves, tonic patterns, block chords, polytonality, stride piano, and left-hand walking bass. Pieces feature chord symbols, explanatory notes, and preparatory exercises, and each invention is performed on the CD by Bill Cunliffe. 123 pages. " . . . perfect for daily warm-up, explores the harmonic and melodic intricacies of jazz, each etude targets a specific technical skill and includes performance notes, inventions gradually become more challenging and the harmonic progressions are varied and very musical . . . a musical feast." -International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE)

A comprehensive book on jazz analysis and improvisation. Elements used in jazz improvisation are isolated for study: they are examined in recorded solos, suggestions are made for using each element in the jazz language, and specific exercises are provided for practicing the element.

Jazz Works is a beginning jazz piano method created for the classically trained pianist who plays and reads on the intermediate level. Concepts and skills are presented through example and explanation in each chapter. Practice exercises prepare the player to apply the new skills to the tunes included in each chapter. Pieces are presented in lead sheet format: melody lines with alphabet chord symbols. Accompaniment tracks for most exercises and all tunes are recorded on the 2 CDs included and are also available separately in General MIDI Disk format.