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Thanks for all the input Guy, Ive found a seller in the UK who can offer each book for £12.95 with free P&P.

I'm going to get start on volume 1 and 54.... Volume 1 mainly to learn the basics of how to swing and jazz etc - and 54 for some solid tunes/pieces to build on.

Thanks again,
Amnesia

You're quite welcome. Even though I appear as if I'm a shill for (Jamey) Aebersold, I have no connection other than as a satisfied customer.

He has a great summer workshop, and he also has a connection to a workshop run in London every summer. My mentor, who teaches at his workshops, goes over every summer to teach there...I can't recall who actually runs the London gig.

Also -- check out his website, www.jazzbooks.com

There is a link called "Free Jazz", and under that menu, a link called "Jazz Workbook". He has PDFs of pages from his summer jazz workshop handbook, and there are several of those pages I keep around as a reference. They are tremendously useful pages !

This guy seems to know what he is talking about when it comes to Jazz, and I think there is nothing better than (as you have said) a recomendation from a 'Satisfied Customer'. Having a Brass Jazz background yourself, you are obviously impressed.

So i'm more than happy to spend the money. Now I have a mixer, I can pan the tracks between left and right and actually start learning to play in a "group" so-to-speak, this should develop my musicianship greatly!

Thanks again!

sorry to say I would advise against aebersold vol 1 and go on to the others. There is a lot of redundancy in the various volumes. Gettin It Together and Major/Minor would be better and almost all of the info in Vol 1 is there as well.

I agree -- and my original post on this, sort of implied the same thing...I said it is an "okay place to start" meaning, "just okay" by implication.

I've worked with several of Aebersold's volumes, and honestly the three I find most useful (for a novice) are 54, 21 and 24. There are some later volumes that I think fill a good niche (for example, "Learning Tunes" provides an excellent method for learning new material).

I also like the companion books that go with volume 54 (they provide transcriptions of the comping actually used on the recording). I also bought the bass line book so I could see how bass lines are constructed.

An afterthought -- in his own workshops, Jamey talks about the order. The original volume was done in the mid-60s, as I recall (and volume 54 came out almost 30 years later!), hence the emphasis on the modal jazz that was popular at the time (Miles Davis' album "Kind of Blue", for example).

He talked about getting calls from luminaries like Quincy Jones and Doc Severinson, who were working their way through all volumes, sometimes in order. Jamey went on to say that he'd never intended for volumes to be worked on in order, and probably would have admitted at the time that Vol 1 was maybe not the best place to start.

Since then, he's revised Volume 1 several times, and as far as I know, added more beginner/novice exercises to his volume 1 booklet.

My own jazz mentor, who also teaches a school jazz program (and teaches for Jamey at his summer clinics) uses play-alongs heavily. He used to require vol 54 for his first-year class, and as far as I know still does. He also has a pile of easier-to-play "teaching tunes" that they cycle through at the beginning of the course.

An example (and this was covered in an article in Bass Player Magazine): on the first day of their class, his first-year kids enter his classroom seeing a sign that says "enter silently, and get your instrument ready". He then, without saying a word, starts playing a recording of "Sonnymoon for Two" for them, and proceeds to teach it to them without saying a word. By the end of the class period, they've learned their first jazz tune, without hearing him say anything. (for those that don't know the tune, it is a blues, where the melody comes out of the descending minor pentatonic -- also called the "blues scale"). It's a pretty effective class, and he's repeated the exercise many years in a row by now.

Aaargh! Another afterthougt (sorry!):

http://aebersold.com/Merchant2/merc...duct_Code=V24DS&Category_Code=AEBALL

I found the above volume (24) particularly useful when trying to become comfortable in all keys...it offers a play-along track in every key, major and minor, so you get a couple of minutes to get centered. On ones I found pretty tough, I would just repeat over and over, for quite awhile.

Say you're trying to learn major scales...these tracks are a great diversion (after getting bored a minute after starting to play scales up and down, you can start to expand your creativity and play scales -- play the key -- in different ways).

I've never recommended buying multiple pattern books (if you don't know what they are, then great!) because it is far better to just develop your own patterns and work on them (or better yet, extract patterns from recordings of actual jazz tunes). You can develop a virtual catalog of patterns, and work on those patterns, key by key, using this play-along.

Thanks all, after reading into Volume 1, I think you guys are right that I should chose between 21 or 24... but, my local music shop actually has a copy of Volume 54 instock... so I'm going to go and pick that up!

However, one thing I have noticed is that there are no bass cleff... it's all treble cleff?

Amnesia: I'm not entirely sure what you mean...

Aebersold books are centered around "lead sheets", or a basic page that shows the melody and chord changes associated with a piece.

Single-staff lead sheets are usually done in C/Treble clef. Aebersold's books also have Bb and Eb lead sheets too (Bb for trumpet, tenor sax, clarinet; Eb for alto and baritone saxes), so all the basics are covered.

It isn't that common to find lead sheets done as grand staff (piano)...that's usually done just for piano parts.

Hi Guy,

My apologies... I'm new to this Jazz thing (although I'm sure it's not the only genre that use them) and lead sheets etc.

The lady in the music shop was trying to telling me I needed the "Volume 54 - Piano Voices" as that will be the full Piano, but I remember reading on here that it is going to be the accompanyment that Aebersold is playing on the recordings!

I've had a tinkle through it, and i'm loving when I get to the part that says "Solo" as I just go crazy - admittedly, doesn't always sound too good, but it's fun.

Also, do you know where I can find recordings of these tunes being played?

The "Vol 54 Piano Voicings" is one of the companion books that I talked about...it is a note-for-note transcription of the piano comping (accompanying) on the recording, and yes, Jamey himself is doing the piano work.

As far as the original recordings go, there are a number of classic recordings of some of them. I have my full list at home, so I'll have to check it out later.

But in the meantime, Herbie Hancock recorded "Maiden Voyage" on an album of the same name. He also recorded "Watermelon Man" on both an album called "Taking Off" and another Mongo Santamaria recording. "Autumn Leaves" has been recorded probably thousands of times, but one of my favorites is on an album called "Something Else" by Cannonball Adderly.

"Impressions" was done by John Coltrane, but I can't remember on which album. Doxy was written by Sonny Rollins, and it was on an early Miles Davis album. "Cantaloupe Island" was recorded by Herbie Hancock on "Empyrean Isles".

Check allmusic.com or the iTunes Music Store for some of the others until I'm able to find my list.

Thanks...

Wondering if someone could help me with something, such as free online downloading of partitures...

Despina, you may want to start a new thread re those "partitures" - which in American usage is "sheet music."

Thanks all.

Do you tend to listen to the full piece (for instance, the Herbie Hancock version) before attempting to play the piece?

No, it's not really necessary.

I agree.

When I was in the middle of my big learning phase, I noticed that on some pieces I might need just to hear a little bit, while on others I might want to grab everything I could off of it (say, for example, transcribing a solo, note for note).

On most new material that I worked on, I put together what I called my "tune tapes". When working on "Autumn Leaves", for example, I made a tape of every recorded version I could find. I found my own interpretation might take a little bit from one recording, a little bit from another, especially if there was a particularly clever version (a good example -- J.J. Johnson had a really nice recording of Autumn Leaves where he paraphrased the melody without explicitly playing it).

Online services where you can buy individual recordings (for example, iTunes Music Store) are a boon to this method. You can search for every version of a particular piece in their library, and sample a snippet of it. I still do this frequently.

Okay, so this has been giving me lots of fun!! I even managed to put in a blues scale to Lyndyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama haha!

Only problem I am having is what to do with the left hand... should I focus on just block chords?

The reason I ask, is because once I take away the backing track, my piano playing sounds rather empty and very amateurish...?

I know they are called "Easy To Learn Jazz Pieces" - but are they really that easy? To be able to put the melody in time, with all the off beat and improv into practice?

Thanks again for the great recomendation!!

Rintincop, You made a post yesterday.... which has now been removed? Can I see your answer again lol.