Book Review: Modern Jazz Guitar Styles by Andre Bush

This is an interesting book from the late Andre Bush (1969-2014), a Fresno, California guitarist. Andre was active in the San Francisco Bay Area early 90s guitar scene alongside musicians such Charlie Hunter, Will Bernard, Adam Levy and many others.

This book was published back in 2005 and documents Andre’s thoughts on Modern Jazz Guitar Styles. It’s divided into seven chapters:

• Introduction
• Scales/Single Note Playing
• Chords
• Rhythm
• Effects
• Analysis of “Odd Culture, This…” and “Past and Future Warriors”
• Listenin/ Reading/ Viewing/ Bibliography/ Study Materials

Alongside the text and musical examples notated in both standard notation and tablature, you also get to hear Andre demonstrate many of the examples on the accompanying audio CD (or download, depending on whether you purchase a physical or digital copy of the book).

The main attraction to me about the book is that it’s a very personal take and interpretation of the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic language that is required to play this style. The audio examples add a lot of context to what Andre is teaching & I recommend closely listening to it while studying this book.

There are “text book” kind of things – what kind of scales you need to know, the kind of voicings etc., but you also get Andre’s recommendations on what to listen out for, WHO to listen to and WHAT other books that you can check out.

For me, the book is a curated guide to learning this style, more than a one-stop guide to everything you need to know about it.

In a way, Andre has left us with kind of virtual treasure map for approaching the style.

Personally I wish I managed to catch Andre when I was still living in the San Francisco Bay Area back in 2007-2011, but unfortunately our paths did not cross then. It’s also sad that not a lot of video footage of Andre is available for study and as far as I know, he did not release any other educational video material.

Still, I feel fortunate to be able to study with Andre’s book!

In conclusion, if you’re into modern jazz styles, I recommend getting this book as an addition to your jazz guitar book library. There’s a bunch of cool ideas and Andre’s listening & book suggestions provide a good starting point for further study.

Pros: Good ideas, lots of practice advice and suggestions for practice & development.
Cons: Not a method book or step by step book, more of a collection of ideas from an experienced guitar player.
TLDR: A good book for intermediate/advanced jazz guitarists who are interested for different ideas & concepts to play more confidently in modern jazz guitar styles.

You can purchase this book (both digital & physical copies) from Mel Bay here:
https://www.melbay.com/Products/99917BCDEB/modern-jazz-guitar-styles.aspx

Or Amazon here:
https://www.amazon.com/Mel-Modern-Jazz-Guitar-Styles/dp/0786658657

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