Jazz Piano Fundamentals is master-teacher Jeremy Siskind’s welcoming, clear, and detailed guide to the first stages of jazz piano study. This two-book set contains enough material to study for more than a year. Each book contains twelve units that each present lessons, exercises, licks, activities, listening guides, and practice plans to keep studies organized, productive, and creative.
Book 1 presents improvisation, chord symbols, leadsheet reading, voicings, swing rhythm and articulation, comping, playing basslines, personalizing a melody, the blues, bossa nova, and more. Book 2 presents shout-chorus voicings, transcription projects, closed-position voicings, drop two voicings, altered scales, coordination exercises, minor ii-V-i's, rhythm changes, and more.
Praise for Jazz Piano Fundamentals, Book 1
"Jeremy's book is a reflection on who he is as a pianist - a true artist who has done his homework. Behind the meticulous attention to detail is a respect for jazz tradition and a desire to help pianists explore their own creativity."
- Aimee Nolte, jazz pianist/vocalist and YouTube Star
"I love this book - and plan on using it in at my own school. A must for any beginning jazz piano student!"
- Martin Bejerano, jazz pianist/composer and professor, Frost School of Music, University of Miami
"Jazz Piano Fundamentals creates a methodology and answers questions in a way that I have almost never seen done in a jazz educational tome. Jeremy breaks down the practice of improvisation to its smallest building blocks, and is careful to relate each lesson to real-life examples from the jazz canon....This book will be excellent for jazz beginners, players of other instruments who wish to bone up on their piano skills, and advanced improvisers may find ways to fill in gaps in their skill sets."
- Mark Shilansky, pianist/composer, professor, Berklee College of Music
"Jeremy's book is not only perfect to start this wonderful journey called Jazz Piano, but also one to come back to... Thank you!!"
Otmaro Ruiz, Grammy-nominated jazz pianist and professor, UCLA