Executive Summary

This book is intended as a starting place for any instrumentalist looking grow their understanding and practice of jazz music, style, and improvisation.  There are many places where one may start to develop their jazz knowledge, experience, and practice – these pages offer one path to take and provides concepts to explore in group or private lessons.  These modules are intended to be sequential –approaches introduced in the first section should be applied in subsequent sections.  We encourage students to play exercises as slow as necessary to be in control of their instrument and to repeat activities until they become easy to recall and smoothly executed.  Velocity and automation are not end goals in themselves, but pathways to deeper understanding.

Recommended materials:

• An instrument in good working condition
• Staff paper/pencil
• A smart phone, tablet, or computer w/internet access
• Quality headphones
• Play-a-longs and/or apps such as iRealPro

We’ve chosen to organize the material into 4 modules :

Module 1: Building Blocks of a Jazz Improvisation Vocabulary

Module 2: Basic 12-bar Blues Form

Module 3: Expanding on The Blues – Approaches to “Solar”

Module 4: Introduction to 32-bar “Song Form” – Approaches to “What is This Thing Called Love?”

Final Product

A Guide to Exploring Jazz Improvisation – Book 1

Contact Information

Keith Kelly: keith.kelly@paradisevalley.edu

Eric Rasmussen: eric.rasmussen@scottsdalecc.edu