Complete Jazz Almanac

If beginning players learn the twelve major scales, twelve jazz melodic minor scales, two whole tone scales and three diminished scales, they will be able to negotiate more than 95% of the chords that will be coming their way. Many corresponding scales that fit chords are simply modes of one the above scales.

A major scale gives seven modes that fit seven different chords. Times that by twelve and 84 chords can be covered by simply knowing the twelve major scales. It can sound overwhelming, not to worry, after all music is about what you have to say not how many musical nick-knacks you collect.

Jazz players of all eras have looked for new devices to experiment with. Students are no different. Once I have given the foundation of the above scales I let students choose a sound or device that they like. This book is a result of that teaching perspective. It is also a result of me being tired of writing out the same information year after year and serves as a compilation of many jazz improvisation and compositional techniques.

Learning them all is not the goal. The book is simply a collection and includes brief explanations and drills to help utilize a new sound into a player’s vocabulary. This text can be used individually or in a group of any instrument combination. A good number of the chapters are organized specifically for this.