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 enlarge | Author: Mark Levine
Publisher: Sher Music
Category: Book
List Price: $42.00
Buy New: $28.90
You Save: $13.10 (31%)
New (8) Used (10) Collectible (1) from $27.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  53 reviews
Sales Rank: 6582
Media: Spiral-bound
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 522
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.8
Dimensions (in): 11 x 8.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 1883217040
UPC: 073999783162
EAN: 9781883217044
ASIN: 1883217040
Publication Date: June 1, 1995
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 Awesome May 12, 2008
There is not much more that I could say that has not been already written, but I want to do whatever I can to promote Mr. Levine's book. Truely Brilliant. Even non-jazz players will appreciate the huge amount of thought and work that must have gone into the creation of this book.
Buy It
 Eventually, you do have to ask, "What is jazz?" May 3, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Louis Armstrong said, "If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know." And while I agree that jazz is something that comes from within, I think eventually, it does require some analysis and thought. In my jazz education (piano), occasionally, like all musicians, I hit a wall where I can't progress very far or very fast. It's then that I like to turn to this book and try to gain some insight. Levine's strength is that he really knows jazz well, so he can call on a vast number of real jazz examples: riffs, tunes, progressions, chord substitutions, whatever, from actual jazz songs by famous jazz musicians. This is an invaluable resource in that respect. The spiral binding allows the reader/musician to put the book right on the music stand, and play right out of it while reading (though I like to read first and go to the piano later). The reason I didn't give this five stars is because I already purchased The Jazz Piano Book and a lot of the material in Jazz Theory overlaps. So, if you are a non-piano jazz musician, I recommend this book, but if you are a pianist, I think you can skip this book and stick with the Jazz Piano Book.
Not for beginners May 3, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is an excellent book but not for beginners. I've been playing bass for over 20 years and found useful information right on the first chapters. I had two years of piano lessons and I'm having a tough time trying to play some of the more complex examples. You must be able to read treble clef and play some piano to take advantage of the material. I found this is a University level course, not your "Learn to solo in 24h" kind of book. I had to get a teacher to help me through this book. Definitely recommend.
Excellent April 13, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is the best book of its type that I have come across. It is written in a very accessible style with lots of examples to help you grasp the concepts. It makes apparently esoteric jazz concepts understandable, and complies them in one volume. It provides lots of tips and advice, and the friendly tone of the book is encouraging for the burgeoning musician.
 Overrated & Not for Beginners December 26, 2007
6 out of 11 found this review helpful
I bought this book thinking that it would help me understand jazz theory. It only got me confused and frustrated.
1.There's lots of blah-blah & unnecessary name-dropping. An instructional book should be concise and to-the-point.
2.About a quarter of this book was wasted with a list of artists & tunes. (Publisher's way of bulking up the book)
3.There are too many short pieces of examples with no context. And when are they going to learn that a CD is worth a thousand pages of blah-blah?
Soon after, I found a number of learning materials from USC website. They were so concise, easy to understand & fun to play without pages of useless blabber. Then I found out the author, Bert Ligon, has written several books on jazz theory & improvisation. After studying with Bert Ligon's materials, it was easier for me to skim through Mark Levine's book and pick out the necessary info. But frankly, I'd rather sell this book and stick with Bert Ligon's.
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