Re: guide tones/analysis

Ian M. Dilley ( (no email) )
Thu, 12 Dec 1996 09:24:47 +0000 (GMT)

Yes. I've read it. Great book. I've been meaning to reread it but
havn't got round to it yet. My only complaint is that it's hard to
read. All the examples, even the small ones are collected together at
the back of the book rather than close to the text refering to them.
I found it really annoying having to search back and forth to see
stuff. Also he sometimes refers to musicians by their names and
sometimes by 2 letter abbreviations that you have to look up at the
back of the book. I'm familiar with most of the musicians he talks
about but half the time I didn't realise who he was refering to!

really though these are minor problems. there's a lot of interesting information in there.

Ian.

>
> Not to take anything away from Bert Ligon's book and the discussion
> on solo analysis, I wanted to mention another book: Thinking in
> Jazz-The Infinite Art of Improvisation by Paul F. Berliner
>
> I may be straying from the discussion a bit but this book was an eye
> opener for me, a beginning improvisor. It discusses the process and
> thinking behind improvisation and ensemble playing as told to the
> author by various known and lesser known players. Now, that kind
> of anecdotal description of a nonverbal process may be suspect in
> light of possible misinformation from some players, but he backs up
> his points with numerous transcriptions. What was inspiring to me
> were the stories of some great players when they were starting out
> (like Tommy Flanagan). By their own descriptions they were not
> great. But by practice, learning and transcribing they gradually
> became great. Anybody else read this book?
>
> Bob Murray
> Kalamazoo, MI
>
>