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I already posted this on the Vinyl forum, but thought it wouldn't hurt to ask here too!I've been looking about for a book that covers the musical theories of Jazz. I'm not particularly interested in a history book. I did stumble upon a review of a book at Amazon (which unfortunately I did not bookmark) which sounded just about right for my purposes. The reviewer was just purchaser giving his opinion, but he said a few things about the book that caught my interest. He mentioned that the book rather routinely compared the musical theory of Jazz to music of the western classical tradition. This is what I'm interested in. I hear the musical relationship between Parker, Ellington, Bill Evans, Coltrane, etc.....with Bartok, Stravinsky, Webern, and Schoenberg all the time ! I guess I should also mention that the reviewer thought that aspect of the book "was boring". Different strokes for different folks.
Does anybody out there know of a book like this?? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Tom B.
Follow Ups:
"The Bear Comes Home" by Rafi Zabor meets virtually none of your criteria but will answer many of your questions. I'll quote from the back cover: "The hero of this sensational first novel is an alto-sax virtuoso trying to evolve a personal style out of Coltrane and Rollins. He also happens to be a walking, talking, Blake -- and Shakespeare-quoting bear whose musical, spiritual, and romantic adventures add up to perhaps the best novel, ursine or human, ever written about jazz." And yes, it's that good.
By Henry Martin on Scarecrow Publishing. Great book by a beautiful guy.Henry's way of breaking down Bird's solos can be apllied (and he does this as well) to Brahms, Ravel, as well as Ornette Coleman (Harmolodic concept), Clifford Brown (Class system by Boise Lowrey - as learned by Brownie,Lee Morgan all the way to Ernie Watts, and taught to Sonny Rollins by Brownie), Bud Powell, Joe Lovano.....
This form of improvised voice leading is sometimes reffered to as "landmarks". But Henry's way of breakin it down is a good perspective to check out. Gives some methodology to those who don't have the instincts or natural ears.
An unbelievably good resource that I stumbled upon . Tons of theory, well organized, a conversational tone, and all of the examples are from actual jazz performances. If nothing else, it provides a great discography. Nothing boring in here, if you love music. This is primarily a book for musicians (or wannabe musicians such as myself), but anyone could learn a lot from it.
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Try to get ahold of a syllabus or book list for a jazz theory class taught at a university or college for music majors...email some professors if necessary...I'm sure they'll help. Maybe Berklee, North Texas State, Antioch, Michigan State, Michigan...probably any of the Big Ten Schools.
Go to Amazon.com and type in Jazz Theory. It's a pretty good resource for getting a listing of several books as well as a synopsis of each book. In most cases there will be several reviews of each book. The reviews can be from lay people, professionals, or academicians and can help identify the exact type or book you're looking for.
I see that you are a musician. I'm sure there are a few books on this subject for the musicians.
Going on a tangent here, I wonder and doubt similar book for non-musicians[like me] exists.
I read Ekkehard Jost's Free Jazz book. There's a good deal of what you're looking for in it, comparison-wise, but I think you've got to be at least able to read music to really grasp most of the explanations of the transcribed solos.Very interesting stuff, but if you don't read music, chances are you won't understand even 50% of what the book's about. If you really want a serious answer you've got to speak the language. And that's a bit of a problem for me.
You should ask your colleagues in the Musicians' Forum over on the Blue Note board. They are good people.
This is not a music theory book.It is a collection of articles, the editor was James Campbell.
But it is a seminal book IMO.
I'm a long time jazz lover, but pretty uninformed at all until quite recently, doing a lot of listening and reading.
First published 1995.
ISBN0-330-344445-5.
Timbo
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