What an interesting title for a book!
By the sound of it, it appears to be a heavy academic textbook, but really this is a very personal and rich guide by master improvisor Vincent Herring. The book is thick at 311 pages and even if you choose to get the PDF version (available on the website), it will still feel like a thick book.
The book goes through a logical progression of teaching us how Vincent uses pentatonics, the diminished scale, then bebop scales and then idiomatic vocabulary. Moving on he guides us through guide tones (pun intended), voiceleading and finally closing with full transcription of his improvised solos (with analysis of the devices he uses).
In the pentatonic chapter, Vincent begins with the dominant chord and the first scale that we study which is a dominant pentatonic scale. He applies this a basic blues progression and a more reharmonized one. Both sound great. In addition to explaining how these sounds work, he also includes an etude for study and also exercises to get these sounds under your fingers.
Then, he goes into various pentatonics beyond the dominant pentatonic. There are SO MANY that he gives but everything is systematically introduced. You will have a lot of things to work on in this chapter alone!
The diminished scale chapter shares the various ways that Vincent breaks apart the diminished scale to get different kinds of lines. This is a valuable look at how to get out from conventional sounding (read: cliche) diminished pattern playing. I particularly love his take on triad pairs in this chapter.
Vincent introduces just the right amount of theory and balances it out with listening suggestions, an etude and more examples of how the concept from each chapter could be elaborated. We also get the context of when he learned these ideas and how they began to be a part of his playing. With this blend of storytelling (for context), music theory (for logic) and actual examples of how this all relates to actual music, this book is a unique and balanced blend.
Going into the bebop chapter, Vincent shares his take on both major and bebop scales. Most of it is centered around the II-V-I progression. It’s interesting to see how Vincent explains it as it is different than how I’ve learned it from the whole Barry Harris school and also how Jonathan Kreisberg uses it. Point is, all this is useful and it’s nice to play it the way Vincent does as well. Even though I only practiced it for awhile as I was writing this review, I got so much out of it.
To be honest… in a way, this book is really like having several different books in a single volume. The fact that they decided to put all this together in one volume is invaluable.
The Idiomatic Cells, Licks and Patterns chapter is kind of a lick vocabulary book by itself. The lines all sound amazing and are as described, IDIOMATIC. Although I’ve played many of these before, I definitely have not mastered all these ideas, so these give me plenty to practice on.
In conclusion, I’m glad Vincent Herring has generously shared his perspective on jazz improvisation. Unlike some books that give one aspect of a particular improvisation topic, this book really gives you a well rounded approach to learning, practicing and potentially mastering jazz improvisation. The fact that the listening examples have so much actual transcribed lines from released recordings prove that the stuff in this book works! This is not just abstract theory but is a roadmap to get these ideas under your finger.
For any aspiring jazz improvisor (or even seasoned one who want to refine their command of the language), this book is a welcomed addition to the world of jazz pedagogy. Get it now and spend hours in the woodshed. The book will help make those hours even more fruitful.
Get your copy of the book (both print and eBook versions) here: https://www.shermusic.com/9781883217495.php
Many thanks to Chuck Sher for sending me a copy of this amazing book for this review. I deeply appreciate it.
Pros: A unique method book from a master improvisor and educator!
Cons: None.
TLDR: Looking for a method to more systematically shed your jazz improvisation skills? Consider getting this book as your guide!
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