Jazz Piano Fundamentals: Explanations, Exercises, Listening Guides, and Practice Plans for the First Six Months of Study Paperback – November 29, 2021

I've played piano for many years. I taught myself how to read chord charts and analyze church hymns. I learned classical theory in an informal environment. I had difficulty sight reading music but could figure out the chord progression and "improvise" my way through utilizing chord charts and triads. I eventually attended college with a major in voice performance with a minor in piano. I've accompanied several gospel groups over the years but never thought of venturing into jazz, until very recently.Over the past year I have discovered there are many talented jazz musicians that provide YT courses and instruction. However, many seem to possess strength in ability to play but weak in instruction or vice versa. Then I discovered Dr. Siskind from an affiliate YT channel where he was discussing how to reharmonize a jazz standard. He clearly explained and demonstrated his exact thought process on how someone could walk through several steps (beginning to complex) to accomplish such a task. He then played the original line followed by the reharmonized line. This, to me, demonstrated that Dr. Siskind is gifted in both teaching and performing his craft.I located his YT channel and watched a few of his videos. I was hooked. He mentioned he had written several jazz piano instruction books, and I immediately bought Jazz Piano Fundamentals book one.The Jazz Piano Fundamentals book one is a highly structured, easy to read course with clear outlines of goals and assignments for each unit. The book assumes no prior jazz experience but a degree of prior musical knowledge and theory.For example, from unit 1, there are improv exercises, swing rhythm exercises, hand coordination exercises, jazz 7th chord symbol exercises (4 notes), written practice exercises, practice advice (learn the sample exercise in every key), listening assignments with accompanying written analysis. Each section of the unit also includes pertinent FAQs.I heard Dr. Siskind say in one of his videos that learning jazz is like learning a new language where you have to immerse yourself into the process and the culture. The Jazz Piano Fundamentals book one will definitely start a serious "jazzician" down that path.

I went through the first 2 units of Jazz Piano Fundamentals book 1 last night, took me several hours to do everything instructed. (Listening assignments, I still have to do a bit more.) I am shocked to see how well it is organized with such helpful overwhelming details, accompanied by unit videos! This is worth 100 times more than the price of the book.I must tell everyone here that this is the first time ever I was able to follow a tune (Miles Davis's Freddie Freeloader, in this case). I was able to play the chord progression along with the recording and also play the melody. I even accompanied the solos of other instruments, and surprised myself by doing a little bit of soloing as well! (In a minimal, beginner‘s style of course) This all happened in less than 30 minutes after carefully reading the instructions on the book!As a side information, I have purchased some web-based jazz piano course memberships during the past few months. They helped with obtaining basic “theoretical” knowledge, and I don’t necessarily mean just music theory here. I mean they show you what "swing feel" is, give you some etudes to practice, but I was left alone to figure out the next step, how to actually GET it. Or, they give you a list of tunes to listen to, and tell you to play along with the recordings, but don't tell you how. As a rookie jazz musician, it's pretty hard to find the down beats when listening to an unfamiliar jazz tune, (because off-beats are accented) where chord changes are subtle and very hard to follow as well. And what about the extra time taken by transitions between intros or solos??I feel that Jeremy's book is written in a way that'll help with this problem. It's honest, thoughtful and utterly practical.A couple of key points:1. The listening assignments come with very detailed information and instructions on what to do on your part. Jeremy doesn't just end with saying, "listen 20 times", but tells you what you need to know to be able to play along with the recording!2. Emphasis on rhythm: This is very valuable to me coming from classical music environment. Saying (or playing)"doo-Vah" rhythms correctly is a big challenge (I keep accentuating the “on beats”!!), especially when trying to play the comping suggested on the left hand along with the right hand "doo-Vah" rhythm. It's going to take a while but I love the fact that now I have a good chance of getting it right.3. The unit videos are priceless. If you're too busy to read the instructions on the book, you may be able to still get by with just the videos. Almost. Probably.Almost forgot to mention the answer keys that you can find along with the unit videos for written practice assignments. (I must've missed this information somewhere in the book because I accidentally found it after I watched some unit videos.) This is critical. When I did the "scat syllables and articulation writing practice" I realized that it pays to write them down on the paper rather than just convincing myself that reading it is enough, I got it, I don't need any writing practice. Oh I was so wrong about that!Overall, I am like a happy dog! Can't wait to go through it and get to book 2.My background: I've been playing classical piano for decades and it's been a few months since I started learning to play jazz piano. Keith Jarrett is my inspiration.I would recommend this book to anyone who’s seriously in love with jazz piano and willing to put some hard work. There’s no short cut! This is the right way! Good luck!