Paul Maine

Software Engineer, Musician and Life Long Learner

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Jazz Book and Method Reviews

Review of “Amazing Phrasing” by various authors

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I purchased my copy of Amazing Phrases by Dennis Taylor about a month ago and wanted to take time to write a review.

The book is published by Hal Leonard and includes a CD. I purchased the version for tenor sax but the book also exists for also sax, trumpet, keyboard and guitar.  The book includes 50 ways to improve your improvisation skills with a focus on phrasing. The contents of the books can apply to just about any instrument.

The author breaks phrasing down into three components: Harmony, Melody and Rhythm. Due to the wealth of material covered in the book – some of the topics are covered in a couple of pages whereas in other books entire chapters or even entire books have been written about the topic. For example the Bebop Mixolydian scale is introduced in a couple of pages and Steve Neff has written a book entitled “Mastering the Dominant Bebop Scale” that is 191 pages. David Baker has written an entire book series on “How To Play Bebop”. You may be thinking that I am slamming the author for his short treatment of many topics but I’m not. I really like how the author introduces the improvisor in a condensed form to so many fascinating and practical ways to approach improv.  Once you are exposed to the concepts and the good examples you can then dig deeper using some of the other jazz resources I have written about and or to use the backing tracks on this site.

I recommend that you purchase this book.

For Tenor Sax

For Alto Sax

For Guitar

For Trumpet

For Keyboard

Review of “Best Minor II-V-I Patterns” book by Steve Neff

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Steve Neff is a wonderful sax player and has written a number of eBooks and other instructional material.  “Best Minor II-V-I Patterns” consists of  80 Minor II-V-I patterns. Each pattern is four bars and includes the pattern in all 12 keys. The first measure is a ii7b5 chord. The second measure is a V7b9 followed by two measures of minor. I have finished playing through all of the patterns in one key. Learning all 80 patterns in all 12 keys will keep you busy for awhile. There are many nice patterns and I suggest that you add this book to your collection.

I have a post on this website entitled II-V-I Minor Long Sequence Backing Tracks that you can use with this book.

You can purchase the book at Neff Music

Review of “Approach Note Velocity Volume 2: Minor” by Steve Neff

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Are you interested in learning how to improve your ability to improvise  over static harmony such as grooves or modal songs? If you answered yes, read on.

I first learned about neighbor tones from Bert Ligon’s  “Jazz Theory Resources Volume One” book. Chapter 4 of this book contans a 6 page section entitled “Neighbor Tones”. According to Mr. Ligon most music from the Baroque period to the present is to use the diatonic upper neighbor tone and the chromatic lower neighbor tone.

Steve Neff”s “Approach Note Velocity Vol. 1 Minor” book starts off with a very basic but very nice sounding example that uses neighbor tones.

UNT = Upper Neighbor Tone

CT = Chord Tone

LNT = Lower Neighbor Tone

For a C minor triad (C-Eb-G), one pattern is UNT,LNT,CT – try this pattern with each chord tone in the C minor triad.

Steve’s book starts at this point and provides 99 pages of exercises for minor chords. Steve also includes a short section on the minor triads so that a beginner can brush up on their minor triads before proceeding through the book. Mr Neff also has a demo audio track of him using these techniques while he is improvising over a groove on his website.

I highly recommend “Approach Note Velocity Vol. 1 Minor” to anyone wanting to improve their improvising over static harmony.

I have a post entitled “Minor Chord Backing Tracks In All 12 Keys” that you can use with Steve’s book or you can purchase Jamey Abersolds Major and Minor Volume for your backing tracks.

You can purchase the book at the following URL:

Approach Note Velocity Vol1. Minor

Review of “Approach Note Velocity Vol. 1 Major” by Steve Neff

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Are you interested in learning how to improve your ability to improvise  over static harmony such as grooves or modal songs? If you answered yes, read on.

I first learned about neighbor tones from Bert Ligon’s  “Jazz Theory Resources Volume One” book. Chapter 4 of this book contans a 6 page section entitled “Neighbor Tones”. According to Mr. Ligon most music from the Baroque period to the present is to use the diatonic upper neighbor tone and the chromatic lower neighbor tone.

Steve Neff”s “Approach Note Velocity Vol. 1 Major” book starts off with a very basic but very nice sounding example that uses neighbor tones.

UNT = Upper Neighbor Tone

CT = Chord Tone

LNT = Lower Neighbor Tone

For a C major triad (C-E-G), one pattern is UNT,LNT,CT – try this pattern with each chord tone in the C major triad.

Steve’s book starts at this point and provides 98 pages of exercises for major chords. Steve also includes a short section on the major chords so that a beginner can brush up on their major chords before proceeding through the book. Mr Neff also has a demo audio track of him using these techniques while he is improvising over a groove on his website.

I highly recommend “Approach Note Velocity Vol. 1 Major” to anyone wanting to improve their improvising over static harmony.

I have a post entitled “Major Chord Backing Tracks In All 12 Keys” that you can use with Steve’s book or you can purchase Jamey Abersolds Major and Minor Volume for your backing tracks.

You can purchase the book at the following URL:

Approach Note Velocity Vol1. Major

Review of “Mastering The Dominant Bebop Scale” by Steve Neff

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I recently learned about the website of Steve Neff from Jacob Lampe. I visited his site and purchased a pdf book entitled “Mastering The Dominant Bebop Scale.

The book covers the bebop dominant scale in all 12 keys. After Steve provides you with a number of suggestions and exercises in a particular key – he introduces bebop scale links. These links are very powerful and cool sounding and really help you to use the bebop scale without sounding like a scale exercise. Steve also demonstrates the use of the bebop scale in the blues. Since the dominant chords prevail in the blues – the blues are an excellent way to practice the bebop scale and linking patterns.

This is a very good book that you should work through if you desire to play bebop.

Steve Neff webite