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Author: paul abrahams
Building your Jazz Repertoire part 2: Latin
Jazz repertoire part 2:10 Latin tunes The world of Latin American music is vast and would take a lifetime of study. What we are looking at here when building jazz repertoire is a small collection of jazz repertoire tunes with a Latin feel; songs that are likely to come up when playing with other musicians. I’ve… Read more »
Building a Jazz Repertoire part 1: The Blues
Building a Jazz Repertoire part 1: 17 essential blues tunes. When building a jazz repertoire there’s no better place to start than with the blues. Notice that blues compositions are not confined to the jazz musicians that we associate with the genre. We have everyone here from Miles Davis and Charlie Parker to Mingus and Monk.… Read more »
Are you ready to start jazz piano lessons?
Starting jazz piano lessons I receive many enquiries from people who want to start jazz piano lessons but I take on only about 10% of them. So why do I turn away so many potential students? One of the first questions I ask is ‘Do you listen to jazz?’ and if the answer is ‘no’ then… Read more »
Great jazz albums part 4
Great jazz albums This is the final instalment of my list of great jazz albums. You can find the complete list in book 3 of my eBook Learn Jazz Piano. Click here for the link I begin with my favourite jazz musician of all time: John Coltrane, and to chose just one album is almost… Read more »
Recommended jazz albums
Recommended jazz albums – part 3 This is part 3 of my list of recommended jazz albums that I think you should be listening to. You can find the complete list in chapter 10 of Learn Jazz Piano book 3. I’m starting with another essential Bill Evans album and this time it’s live. I was fortunate enough to see him at… Read more »
Learn Jazz Piano by Listening
Learn Jazz Piano by Listening – part 2 This is part 2 of my list of essential recordings that I think you should be listening to. You can find the complete list in chapter 10 of Learn Jazz Piano book 3. Alongside playing and studying, listening to the masters of improvisation will improve your playing without… Read more »
Study jazz piano: Suggested listening part 1
Three ways to study jazz piano Three ways to study jazz piano are playing, studying and listening. Playing: I can only continue to encourage you to seek out other musicians. One of the best ways to study jazz piano is by playing with other people, whether with friends, with your teacher, at an evening class or summer… Read more »
Learn Bebop scales part 2
Here is Learn Bebop scales part 2. This is an extract from my book ‘How To Solo.’. It is the 4th in the series of my eBooks Learn Jazz Piano. You can purchase all books by clicking here. In my previous blog I illustrated the Bebop Dominant scale in C. Take another look before continuing. Fig… Read more »
bebop scales part 1
Using bebop scales in your jazz solos is easier than you think! Chapter 4: of Learn Jazz Piano book 4 I don’t believe that most of us can learn jazz piano by instinct alone and bebop scales should be a part of your vocabulary. The key is getting the right balance of instinct and theory. Here are… Read more »
Learning Jazz Piano lesson 22 now available
Learning Jazz Piano with Paul Abrahams ‘HOW TO SOLO, PART 2.’ The second video lesson in this learning jazz piano series is called ‘Chords and their scales.’ In lesson 22, I take the 4 chord types and pair them with all their scales and modes. The obvious pairings are as follows: Major chords: major scale Minor chords: dorian mode… Read more »