The Jazz Piano Book

by Mark Levine

The most highly acclaimed jazz piano method ever published! Over 300 pages with complete chapters on Intervals and triads, The major modes and II-V-I, 3-note voicings, Sus. and phrygian Chords, Adding notes to 3-note voicings, Tritone substitution, Left-hand voicings, Altering notes in left-hand Stride and Bud Powell voicings, Block chords, Comping ...and much more! Endorsed by Kenny Barron, Down Beat, Jamey Aebersold, etc.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Jazz, Reference, Theory, Textbooks

306 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2005

Reviews

[R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good book... Gives an OK insight into some of the harmonic, rhythmic and melodic concepts that you will have to wrap your head around if you're entering the Jazz world. Don't get too caught up on some of the semantics and history because a lot of it isn't 100% accurate (for example, Mark constantly espouses major scale harmony as the best way to learn changes, claiming that the chord tone/non chord tone based approach that Dizzy and Bird used is inferior). The listening suggestions are exceptional.

The book fails to comment on any technical aspects of playing, so there is an assumption of proficiency.

And one last thing - the best thing that this book can't sell you w/r/t jazz is a set of ears. Honestly, investing in ear training through transcription and aural work will be worth the weight of this book in gold 100 times over... All the secrets are in the music (and the cynic would note that Mark Levine is hardly a world renowned jazz musician). But, if you need a solid reference tool, or some suggestions for improvisational concepts that you might not have encountered before, this book is unsurpassed.

[Mesoscope · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a novice student of jazz, I picked up three primers on theory and technique based on research and reputation - this book, Jazzology by Robert Rawlins and Nor Eddine Bahha, and Berklee Jazz Piano by Ray Santisi.

Of the three, Levine's book is by far my least favorite, and it is the least useful for my purposes. It reads as schematic and not very well thought out, and feels like a reference work, or even more so, like a collection of notes.

That is not a fault per se - Jazzology also reads like a reference, but that work is clearly organized and written specifically to serve as a support for study, while Levine's book is haphazard. I find it difficult to wring much use out of it, and would recommend the other two as an alternative.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good and very dense book dealing with the theory and practices that go into jazz piano. As a classical musician, I found it challenging but not overwhelming. That said, it is going to take some careful re-reading, along with applied practice. I do not recommend this book at all to anyone who is a beginning pianist. This is best for the pianist accomplished in general technique, who reads music, and wants to explore this genre.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

You need this if you're going to teach yourself jazz piano.

[Morris Nelms · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book of its kind.

[Carlos Martinez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Way too difficult for me, but I stuck with it for a few months and learned a lot.

[Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't worked through many music theory books on my own in the past. In this case, I left it on the piano and read/played through a a couple of pages every day. There's still a *ton* of practice needed, of course :)

I came to this book familiar with probably 75% of the topics it covered (though not always in quite as much detail), through various jazz piano lessons on and off over the years. Still, it was really nice to see so many concepts organized in one place. Sometimes a concept gently stretch my limits (e.g. a new voicing of the same chord) but other times they went too far over my head. I'd probably need to read the content more carefully again, practice it, and hear them in context before it would sink in (for me this included things like: drop 2 in minor, some variations on diminished scales, Phyrigian chords).

Anywho, overall a big hit. I'm glad I finally stepped my way through it! I'd be excited to put another similar book on the piano and slowly wind my way though it.

[Gavan Huang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this book up as a classically trained pianist looking to move into jazz. This is an extremely difficult book even though it's supposedly introductory. I was fortunate enough to have knowledge regarding music theory, however, I believe having extensive music knowledge will help significantly.
If you are learning to practice harmonization, chord progressions, cadences etc. Youtube will be more helpful as this is a theory heavy book. Although I believe learning from Youtube is better for practising, this is nonetheless a good resource to turn to for intermediates as it does include jazz exercises.

[Nate Bloch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is essential if you're looking to get deeply into jazz. It's definitely not for beginners, or even beginning jazz students. But if you've got a few years of jazz piano -- or jazz anything -- experience under your belt then this is a must read. It's got everything from II-V-Is to rootless voicings to upper structure chords to drop-two voicings. It's even got a few good licks I've added to my repertoire. Learn everything in this book and you'll be much farther along in your jazz career than you were when you started. This book came out in 1989 but it's just as relevant as ever.

[Nicolás Díaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential and thorough. Must be read and re-read.

[Joshua VanCleave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Play and/or teach jazz piano more than once a month? You need a copy of this book. The end.

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually this book has been around in 1989

i got my copy about 5 years after that in the early-mid 90s

[Cary · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can't learn jazz from a book.

But this one was definitely worthwhile. I'm not a pianist and not a jazz musician, and I couldn't read through every page of this one, but I learned a lot that will help my playing and my listening.

You definitely need some music theory background to make sense of this book: he starts with some review of scales and chord construction, but I think you would get lost very quickly if you don't have existing familiarty with basics of scales and keys and the ability to read music on bass and treble clefs. I don't think the book works as a step-by-step guide to learning jazz, but it's full of useful information and strong examples.

The two strongest points of the book, for me, are:
1. Practical explanations about how jazz musicians think and talk about performing. For example, I thought the chapter on "comping" (jazz term for accompanying a singer or soloist) gave a lot insight into how to *think about* doing it, how to listen, how to comp on an unfamiliar tune, etc.

2. The listening guides! The book has an exhaustive appendix of great records of pianists as leaders or sideman/sidewomen, sometimes with examples of particular tunes and what to listen for. Even better, throughout the book, after Levine discusses a style or technique, he'll include footnotes of particular recordings to listen to for examples. If you love jazz, even if you never plan to play jazz piano, this forms an amazing listening guide to the world of jazz.

There's definitely no way to learn to appreciate or play jazz without extensive *listening* but this book is a great way to guide your ears and your brain about what to listen for and how to make sense of what you're hearing.

[Michael Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing reference for jazz piano that I continue to return to over the course of a decade (more so than the Bert Ligon series, which is also good). Mark was a legend and this book is part of his legacy.

The notation used in this book, while well-explained in the introduction, just doesn't match nicely with what you'd see in any standard sheet or fake book. For example it uses "-II" to indicate b11 and uses "II" to indicate dorian. This drives me crazy, personally. Take the time to read the introduction and it may save you some frustration.

[Matt Wong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark Levine teaches Jazz theory in this book, but leaves out improvisation and performance to the reader to figure out of his or her own. Coming in as a Classical pianist, this book helped me greatly in understanding how music is composed, namely the chords and inversions used across all genres. Take good notes, it's very helpful to learn music this way!

[Garci · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only Jazz Piano book you need.

[Kevin Treacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This will always be a work in progress. A bit at a time . . .

[Tom Blurbgess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than any I've come across but still nothing outstanding. Shows a nice range of examples of the idiosyncrasies of various pianists, with a solid breakdown of theory for beginners and a few things for the more advanced, and gets into the heart of real jazz piano performance better than most books.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

i don't really play piano often, its a nice book for reference and framework of jazz harmony but applying it to my instrument can be a bit tricky. Also a good book for finding great jazz songs although not really its intended purpose ~;)

[Guido · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy buen libro para los que quieran adentrarse en la teoría del jazz. Requiere un cierto conocimiento previo, lógicamente, pero es bastante accesible. Es el mejor en su tipo.

[Leroy Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one to return to over and over!
What a great wealth of information on how and why the greats get "that sound"!

[Amanda]

One of the books used for jazz theory and jazz performance.