BOOKS
Bebop Vocabulary Building, Vol. 1
To speak the language of your jazz trumpet heroes, you must know the notes they play, copy what they do, and use this material in your own playing. As you begin to imitate and synthesize this language, it doesn’t take long before you come to an important realization:
Everyone uses the same vocabulary.
What sets one player apart from another is how they use it.
“Building Bebop Vocabulary, Vol. 1” takes the most foundational, idiomatic major and minor vocabulary used across the jazz trumpet tradition and creates 150 new exercises designed to help players internalize the bebop language and improvise fluently in all keys.
The goal is to develop an intuitive understanding of the idiom so that you can sound like the masters while simultaneously cultivating your own artistic voice.
Fundamentals for the
Creative Improviser
One of the most common experiences among trumpet players is that playing with sound fundamentals and being a creative improviser often feel mutually exclusive. This book rethinks how to go about practicing and approaching fundamentals from the perspective of a jazz trumpet player.
It includes variations on time-tested exercises that are designed for players of all ages and ability levels, as well as for those who have any amount of experience in jazz or improvisation. It also outlines a framework for how to approach them in a way that mirrors the improvisation process, as well as how to develop and organize a fundamentals routine of your own.
“Fundamentals for the Creative Improviser” includes private streaming access to call-and-response style play-along recordings for ALL 175+ exercises, allowing players to hear an example of the exercise and then imitate it themselves. This reinforces the main theme of the book: to develop a vivid imagination of how something should sound and then to play what you hear. The result for the player will inevitably be more intuitive, creative and effortless trumpet playing than ever before.