Sax on the Web Forum banner

10 essential books

20K views 44 replies 28 participants last post by  Lone Wolf 
#1 ·
I'm a 51-year old trumpet player/school music teacher with a master's degree in music history who has seriously decided to learn, really learn, the tenor sax. I'm not messing around. Next summer when school lets out I could easily devote four hours a day to it for two months. Meanwhile, even with a totally full plate, I'm putting in one a day.

What should my first ten sax books be? I need exercise books of all kinds, how-to type books for altissimo, growling, sub-tone, etc., books of basic technique, books with jazz scales and licks, transcribed solos, standards, and on and on.

Let's get started with the essential library.
 
#38 ·
Jerry Coker Patterns for Jazz
Mark Levine Jazz Piano book
Charlie Parker Omnibook
Real Book I 6th edition
Band In Box 2008.5

5 CDs of your favorite jazz musicians:

Dexter Gordon -- Ballads
Miles Davis -- Kind of Blue
Oscar Peterson -- Night Train
Erroll Garner -- Concert by the Sea
Jimmy Smith Wes Montgomery -- Dynamic Duo

Digest this material fully and you'll be there.



This should be enough to get you there. Get a keyboard/piano if you don't already have one.
 
#41 ·
all the serious method books are great, however it helps to have some fun and in s.d. there may not be many places to play. i would certainly suggest a few particular favorite aebersold play-a-longs; sugar w/hank marr at the hammond b3, lots of fun and not too difficult, either of the ellington cd's and many of the standards cd's as well. you need to remember why you it is you want to learn to play the tenor and these can help.
 
#43 ·
Update:

"The Serious Jazz Practice Book" by Barry Finnerty.

and...

"Building a Jazz Vocabulary" by Mike Steinel.
 
#44 ·
How about Bergonzi´s books for improvisation, specially Volume 6 deals with lot of concepts and exercises, from basics to more advanced. I remember it included scales, chord tones, chromatic approaches, scalar patterns...
I also like Crook´s How to Improvise a lot.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top