Jazz Piano Concepts & Techniques Paperback – August 1, 1998

I have been a fan of classical keyboard most of my life.When I attempt to improvise or compose, I can hear the classical influence.I'm trying to break this narrow musical approach , and get some other influences.This is a terrific book for trying to do that .

The exercises and songs in this book sound good! It has a wealth of chord voicings presented in cycle of 5ths, II V I and chromatic progressions... the way they are actually used in standard jazz songs. I had previously learned music theory and how to read music, but needed a book of exercises to train my ear and hands to play from fake books and lead sheets. Some days I want to practice but don't feel like reading a lot of music theory as presented in many jazz piano books. John Valerio's book has just enough theory, in little bits, to explain the purpose of the exercises. I'm an intermediate level pianist and find the exercises and songs easy to play, however; they are NOT dumb-downed for beginners and still have a professional sound. I think it accomplishes it's purpose, as stated in the preface, "This book offers a straightforward step-by-step approach to learning how to play basic piano realizations of jazz and pop tunes from lead sheets." It also covers melody and styles. I use it often and recommend it to others.

After many years of playing stride and swing piano this book helps me to learn open voicing styles, including rootless and fragmented. There is no doubt that I have improved immeasurably. John's teaching style is very clear, consistent and logical. The voicing create professional sounding tones. They also help one to play with logical voice leading between tonal properties while being efficient with hand and finger movements. I liked the use of nine set pieces that are played at different stages in different ways through the book from basic to advanced. There is a need for self discipline to complete the 24 lessons with 'practice to near perfection' in order to get the best out of this. It is worth the effort. I spread the lessons over about six months. I have other John Valerio books and they are all well prepared, though don't expect to find things easy. There no pretense that playing well is achieved easily like "instant coffee", the "hard yards" have to put in!

This is exactly what I was looking for! I’m a professional musician, but classically trained, and needed something to help me solidify playing with jazz voicings and style. This book does exactly that! You will get the most out of this book if you already have a solid knowledge of music theory, but this is definitely a great intro to realizing lead sheets in a variety of styles, with many voicing options. Just as an FYI for experienced jazzers, this book doesn’t delve much into rootless voicings, most of the studies focus on keeping the root at the bottom of the chord.

This is a book that I highly recommend especially for beginners and intermediate jazz piano students. It shows you how to voice leadsheet chords in different jazz styles (Swing, Waltz, Latin jazz (mainly bossa)) using 4 main voicing styles (2 close positions and 2 open positions). 2, 3 4, and 5 note voicings are presented. Not to forget rootless voicings. Get to the end and you are an advance jazz keyboardist provided you learn how to improvise.

Just started it. May be a little advanced for me, a beginning jazz piano student, but I believe it will be useful.

Best resource I've found for musicians that have some theory knowledge and some technique already. Very practical and John spends lots of time hammering out the basics before it steps up. Great first jazz book for pianists looking to start into jazz or build a better foundation. Also a strong book for learning jazz harmony.

Well organized practice plan for playing with a lead sheet. Do the work and you will get good results.

Good stuff to work on.

Good book

Das amerikanische Buch hat 152 DIN-A-4 Seiten mit Notenmaterial. Es handelt sich mehr oder weniger um eine Jazzpiano-Harmonielehre. Das Buch betrachtet den Jazz sehr stark aus dem Blickwinkel der Akkordstrukturen. Der Leser sollte sich auf seitenlange Akkordfolgen gefasst machen. Die Akkorde werden gedreht und gewendet und unterschiedlich auf die Hände des Pianisten verteilt.Das ist alles lehrreich, kenntnisreich und hilft dem Jazzpianisten im Leben weiter.Leider gibt es keine Medien (CD,DVD,Download) zur Erläuterung oder als Übungsmittel.Der Autor setzt Klavierspiel vom Blatt und Kenntnisse der Jazz-Harmonik voraus. Mir fehlt das spielerische Element, der Spass am Musizieren. Nichts für Anfänger. Man muss sehr motiviert sein, um alle Seiten durchzuarbeiten.