I finally finished my first book on jazz improvisation.  After years of practice journals and outlines for the ultimate jazz tome, I finally realized that I'm not Mick Goodrick or Hal Crook (no matter how much I practice) and in general, I always liked a music book with a fairly narrow focus;  with "baroque counterpoint"  for example, you know what to expect.   After much deliberation, I decided to take one concept that inspires me constantly, that I really enjoy practicing, and write a book about that.  After digging through my practice logs, and organizing boxes of semi-legible manuscript, I found a lot of material about creating an original, non-cliched, modern vocabulary, as well as a lot of melodic examples  from the harmonic major scale (an Ionian scale with a b13).   So, I ended up writing a book on how to develop an original melodic vocabulary for improvisation using specifically the harmonic major scale.

The book outlines the various ways I've come up with to practice scales, melodies and harmonies while focusing on developing an original melodic vocabulary.  Included are not only a lot of lines, melodies and "licks" (if you will),  but the methodology I used to create them.  This workbook leaves a lot of space for musical exploration and creation, although there's plenty of written material if you just want to play through it and glean a few new ideas that speak to you.  The following table of contents will give you an idea of just how comprehensive this publication is. I've put a lot of time and thought into this book and I really believe my work can benefit other musicians.  At $11.95,  I think you'll find it a good investment!

To get a copy of the book click here or the picture below.

~Table of Contents~

Chapter 1:     Modes and Chords

Chapter 2:     Arpeggiated Voicings

Chapter 3:     Rhythmic Displacement

Chapter 4:    ii-7 - V7 - I (Major)

Chapter 5:    V7  - i (Minor)

Chapter 6:    Melodic Sequence

Chapter 7:    Random Intervals

Chapter 8:    Diatonic Cycles

Chapter 9:    Triad Pairs

Chapter 1o:    Combination