Before you begin your improvisational journey, take a moment to familiarize yourself with the wealth of resources* you’ll find on this website, organized by chapter, grouped into the following categories:
The play-along tracks are for practicing exercises and improvisation over individual chord qualities and short chord progressions in twelve keys. Some tracks include full rhythm section (piano, bass, and drums) and some are piano and metronome only. Use your imagination to find creative and beneficial ways to practice with these tracks!
The call-and-response tracks are provided for ear training and to introduce jazz vocabulary to developing improvisers. On the tracks for individual chord qualities, each chord lasts eight measures and the “call” is two measures long. On the tracks with short chord progressions (ii V I, Coltrane Changes, etc.), the “call” is four measures long. The level of difficulty varies from easy to difficult. The goal in call and response is to hear the call, retain it in your memory, and then play it back accurately. If this is too difficult, you can stop the track to take extra time to figure out the notes. If needed, you can go back and listen to the “call” again. Use a “sing and play” approach. Sing each of the examples and then play them on your instrument to develop the “ear to instrument connection,” in other words, the ability to “play what you hear in your head.”
For the most difficult examples, you may want to treat these as mini-transcription exercises where you listen to the call as many times as needed and write it down on staff paper. The goal here is not simply writing down these ideas but rather to learn the ideas—to figure out the notes, understand how they relate to the underlying chord or chords, and commit them to memory. Memory and understanding play a big role in improvisation.
If you find ideas you like, practice them in twelve keys with the play-along tracks and practice using them in your improvisations.
These ear-training tracks help you develop the skill of finding chords by ear and playing by ear. Most of the tracks feature a single chord quality where each chord lasts four measures (an exception is the “Major 9 Chords” track where each chord last eight measures). The root movement is random. Following are some recommended exercises:
The tunes included on the website are helpful for practicing the concepts in the textbook. Each tune includes a play-along track, lead sheets, and preliminary exercises in treble clef concert pitch, Bb, Eb, and bass clef.
Developing piano skills is a very important aid in the process of developing abilities as a jazz improvisor, as well as being a useful tool for composition and arranging. Playing the piano we can hear, see, and feel the chords and melodies we create, helping us understand these sounds in a multisensory way. Playing chords on piano is excellent ear training and using the piano keyboard to visualize how chords are constructed and to see voice leading between chords improves our theoretical understanding. Some non-pianists visualize the piano keyboard while improvising on their instrument!
Piano voicings are provided for each chord type presented in Creative Jazz Improvisation. For each chord type, the chord type is presented in twelve keys moving around they cycle of fourths in four permutations:
Practice the voicings in all keys in each of the forms presented here. Memorize the chords and voicings as quickly as possible. Play these in tempo with a metronome and work on increasing the tempo as you are able. Listen to the rhythms played by pianists and guitarists in their comping and apply those rhythms to these voicings. Use the voicings provided to play chord progressions for tunes you are practicing. Develop your ability to the level that you can accompany other players so you can practice together or use these skills to accompany students you are teaching.
Transcribed solos that appeared in earlier editions of Creative Jazz Improvisation and are not included in the Fifth Edition.