Michael J. Crutcher wrote:
>
> I seem to remember some talk about this book, either here or on
RMB. What's
> the consensus on this book? I like it, but I haven't put it to
practice as
> of yet.
>
> Mike "No, sir. I wasn't playing the guitar at 4 A.M." Crutcher
Coker's books were how I learned the basics of jazz theory back in
the
mid '70s. Where I think he goes astray is emphasizing patterns and
such,
but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't learn a lot of information from
him. I think that his next two books, "Listening to Jazz" and "The
Jazz
Idiom" are both good as well. "Practicing Jazz" and "The Jazz
Language"
I wouldn't recommend at all; that to me is where his pedantry
really
starts to come out.
Clay
Clay
I agree that the Cocker Patterns in Jazz works lots of that aspect
of playing, but by not writing all the patterns out and really
learning to spell the chords and use the patterns is of great help in
developing technique. I feel it has helped me over the years, and I
still pull it out and run through aspects of it for improving my
playing. I also think that as an educator Jerry Coker's book The
Teaching of Jazz is also very good. For those band directors (high
school, community college, university) with no experience in
putting together a jazz studies program, one would gain valuable
information from this text. I will also mention his How To Practice,
a thin but yet precise method on how to set up ones practice
sessions to become a better performer. I believe that too often we
spend too much time practicing what we know instead of what we
should be learning.
Musically,
Sparky Koerner