i was ordering some books for students last week
so i randomly ordered a few for myself that i thought
i might find interesting.  a lot of people seemed to think the mark levine  drop 2 book was good so i ordered it and thought i would check it out.  i have not checked out much of it but so far it seems pretty dang shakepearean... "much ado about nothing"  can anybody point out what i am missing?
There are 34 comments, leave a comment.
on the other hand i just recieved another book i ordered ... jerry bergonzi's "melodic structures"  the book is a winner from the first sentence.  his clarity of purpose wins me right away as is his teaching ability immediatly obvious;
the first sentence (of the first chapter):

"the first order of business is to find melodies to play on chord changes that "fit" or sound "good" on changes.

that is poetry to my ears.  the man is a poet ... i can not wait to dig into this one.  you know i already have several methods of acomplishing his said "order of business" but i can not wait to explre his method if for no other reason if just because he wrote a book and stated his purpose and intent so clearly and poetically.  when i think of it i have spent the better part of my life trying to find melodies that fit or sound good on changes."  i many even stop saying i am a piano player when people ask me what i do.  when people ask me what i do for a living from now on i am going to say;

   i try to find melodies to play on chord changes that "fit" or sound good" on changes.
please keep us posted on the bergonzi book. i am slowly going thru "connecting chords with linear harmony" by bert ligon. it's the sort of book that takes time to absorb. recommended.
i suspect the levine "wokshop" drop 2 book is an attempot to generate some additional revenue. it's basicaly a re-write of his chapter on "block chords" in his first book "the jazz piano book"
yeah mike, let us know more as you dig into it. maybe start a new thread...
jazz+, is there a thread/group email where i can discuss "connecting chords with linear harmony" with some of you guys ?
i've hit a couple of sticking points on this book - despite having spent the last couple of months working through it and it would be great to discuss what seems to be a very popular book.
happy to start up a dedicated thread here if there isn't one already.
shaun
let's start a thread.
it's a great book, i've it 2 years ago. but too bad it is being downloadable from some sharing severs google it & you'll catch what i say.
which book are you talking about nor? the one that i started this thread about,  or one of the ones that the thread becaome about?
mike, i meant mark levine drop 2 book, it is downloadable for free from google....somebody shared it with al its mp3 play-a-longs.
what did you find to be great about it nor.  i have not been able to find anything in it worth getting into.  what did you like about it?
folks

what exactly is being "dropped" in these "drop 2" chords?

chris
hello all, mark levine here.  #45112: the drop2 book was not created to "generate more income!"  that's not very respectifull, and is false.  and it is not a srewrite of the block chord chapter in my piano book.  i can only assume that you haven't seen it.
chris: "drop2" means taking a four-note chord in four-way close position and dropping the
2nd note from the top an octave.
and nor (nor eddine from morocco?), could you please let me know the url where my
book can be downloaded for free at "google?"  you can't download free books at google!
howdy mark. good to see you in here, and hopefully as well in the future. all the best to you.
mark, i am forever indebted to your writing in the jazz piano book. in high school i was continuously frustrated that most jazz books like the mehegan never showed you the cool stuff that the masters actually played -- your book showed me musical examples of voicings played by real players that captured my imagination. it was exactly what i needed, and your writing about the language and poetry of jazz was always truly inspiring. everything was always written concisely and elegantly. your writing really helped me get into jazz and begin to get a handle on playing it, and i will always be grateful to you for that.

i have never seen the drop 2 book, but would love to check it out. i recommend your book to every pianist i meet, and i use it with every one of my students. i will never be able to thank you enough for your book, as it fostered a love of learning, playing, and appreciating jazz that will never leave me, and gave me invaluable guidance in playing. thank you so much, and looking forward to all your future efforts!

best,
zach lapidus
sorry guys i just come to read the post again.

mike, you need to buy the book, even i can tell all its secrets but having the book with you, and understand it yourself would be so better! i candiscuss it here if you like, but get it 1st read it hen practice it! it's a jewel.

markpiano: dear mr mark levine, i'm really delightedto se you here i'd love to see you here since my joining date going back to 2000 i think. yes! "nor eddine bahha/jazzology" i was afraid to post the link here but since you asked here it goes, it's a torrent file and dicovered the link just 2 weeks ago or so:
in google type: mark levine drop 2 book pdf

here is what you get!

https://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:f6fzlvwkleuj:www.mediafire.com/download.php%3flezdydunchz+mark+levine+drop+2+book+pdf&cd=1&hl=fr&ct=clnk&gl=fr

dear mark, you know my book jazzology is also being shared intorrent as pdf?!!! too bad...whay people share illegaly? i'd prefer if somebody asked me a copy i'd order one for him if -i can of course-

now i prepared 2 other booklets talking about bebop soloing and jazz keyboard harmony...but till now, i still struggle to find a jazz publisher who may be interested, can you help mr mark?  

thanks.

nor eddine bahha/morocco
chris: "drop2" means taking a four-note chord in four-way close position and dropping the
2nd note from the top an octave.

mark: thank you.

i would like to echo hepcatmonk's sentiments. i am beginning the "voicings voicings voicings" section of your jazz piano book. it has taken me a while to get to this point because the journey can not be rushed but your book is my route map!

best wishes

chris (bristol, uk)
nor i did buy it.  why can't you just read the post that i started this thread with.
i wish i had not bought it.  i wish i had known there was a way to download it for free on google so i would not have wasted my money.
i don't know anything about the drop 2 book, but i gained a lot of insights that helped my playing when i took the journey through mark's jazz piano book.
If I'm not back in 24 hours, call the president.

Scot is available for skype jazz piano lessons (and google hangouts, phone call, etc...)
Use the contact link at the top of the page.
i thought the jazz piano book was well done.  the way it presented material was fresh and easier to take than how it had been done before in a lot of jazz books.  a ground breaking book really i think for jazz education.  that is part of the reason why the drop 2 book was so dissapointing coming from the same author.  i guess my expectations were high for a book coming from the author of the "jazz piano book" and hat made it all the easier to be very dissapointed when it turned out to be mediocre even for lessor author.  as i keep asking in this thread and getting no answer even from the author and nor who says he knows the author...   if i am wrong...... i did buy the book... i have it... but i have been way to bored by it to spend much time with it.... please point out what am i missing...  what is so exciting about a drop 2 voicing to write this whole book about.  i pracctice different voicings almost every day.  i can not count how many different types of voicings i prefer the sound to to drop 2.  
drop 2's are also a fairly old idea.     my question remains to proponents of this book and to the author if he still lurks...
what am i missing?
re reading there i realize i am a bit confusing.  what i am saying is the thread turned into the people who seem to have knowledge of the book answereing to a post about people getting the book for free.
i am trying to be clear that is not what this thread is about.  i paid good hard earned cash for the book.... expecting it to have something,
anything useful like the "jazz piano book" does.  my critique is...
it does not as far as i can see.  and i am asking to be shown where i am wrong.
what do you mean mike?

do you mean you need something good than the books you have? in this case i can help.
i mean you said, and i quote... "it's a great book".  
i am asking...  what is so great about it?
what is confusing about that question?
i bought the book looked it over and can not find anything good in it.
so if you think "it's a great book" surely you can tell me just even one thing that is good about it...   can't you?  so i can look in the book again and try to find this one good thing.
and  nor to furthur answer your question.. "do you mean you need something good than the books you have?" the answer is no... if you only read the intitial post.. what this thread is about.  you would have read that while i found the drop 2 book nearly worthless i was enjoying jerry bergonzi's "melodic structures" and getting a lot out of it.
well, mike try to re-harmonize some jazz standards like levine describe in his drop 2 book and let me know what you think: this is my answer.  

i'm pretty sure we all can play any jazz tune at our own way, but i am discussing drop2 book purpose....it helped me strengthen again my hands while practicing. whereas considering the book being great or not, depends just on the way you approach it...the drop2 book isn't written for reading and passing the through the pages, as its title mentions it's for master class, so one needs to apply its concepts in real practice.

actually it's mr levine who should tell us more about it. i do not agree that drop2 book is nearly worthless...everything has a reason behind it.  

whereas about wasting money...like you wast millions of $$$....you can re-sell the book through ebay and earn your wasted 19$.  

anybody can afford wasting 19$ only drinking few beers! but for a very nice book by levine for 19$ it's also a good deal.
it seems to me that although drop 2 voicings may not be the be all and end all of jazz piano playing, they are still an area of piano playing which are worth getting into if that is the direction one wants to take.  so a book that explores them in a bit more detail seems pretty good.  if that's something you want to put into your playing more then this book would help i would think.
thank you. that is what i was looking for.  someone to explain what they found attractive about the whole thing for it was elluding me.
i will try your suggestion nor about harmonizing a standard all the way thru with the voicing.
mike, i started re-harmonizing very simples tunes and sometimes i'm getting the sound of bill evans, corea, levine in my hand...just amazing!
i just re-read the block chords chapter in "the jazz piano book" and the drop 2 book. the drop 2 book presents the same material as the block chords chapter just with a little more detail added. so that is why i compare it to a re-write.
i think we should realize that levine's drop2 book is a kind of this proverb: "don't give me a fish, teach me how to fish"
i attended a jazz piano seminar with mark levine in london several years ago. during the course of the afternoon he mentioned that he was unhappy with his exposition of block chords in the jazz piano book, and that given the chance he would like to re-write that chapter.

i haven't seen the new book, but when i saw it was out i remembered that comment. looks like he did manage to rewrite the chapter...
heck, mark levine seems to only get respect for his jazz piano book and follow-ups. did you know he's a great musician as well? a master in latin jazz styles and straight ahead.

check out his recordings with cal tjader. really hip stuff.
his jamey abersold play-along volume on latin jazz is a great listening and learning course with the written transcripts also available for it.  
and, his lastest project with his own "mark levine & the latin tinge" cd's. awesome playing!
there is no doubt that mark is an immense talent. i think the issue was the value of his drop 2 book. for me it is like anything else if it helps it is beneficial. i had a difficult time with the concept as he originally had written it but explanations here have helped. i don't think anyone was attempting to deny mark's talent, just the value of that specific book (which i have never seen, probably the only book he has written that i don't own and i use and appreciate all of them).
yes to be clear..i was not questioning his talent. nor the value of his other books which i consider to be immence.. just this one book which i consider to be of questionalbe value and do not reccomend anyone buy as i did.
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