USC School of Music

available from Houston Publishing, distributed by Hal Leonard.
# HL 841077
ISBN: 0793561930
UPC: 73999729020

Recent Reviews from AMAZON.COM

This isn't going to sound like a very intelligent and well thought out review, but if you're a professional musician and have had this experience you'll appreciate it: I don't remember too much about this book, other than that after I worked through most of it I went from not really being able to solo to being able to solo... The specific text from the book is gone from my mind... but the concepts became part of my playing.

Connecting Chords with Linear Harmony is a great study of how to create coherent solos and well-structured melodies by playing the changes and connecting the tones. As a swing based player who had to deal with being overdosed with modal theory this was the first book I ever read that really helped me play in the swing/bop/hard bop based tradition that I love.

As mentioned, the book has become part of my playing, but I left my copy back in the States ages ago... however, the all I remember is that I found every page to be practical and enlightening and it opened up a world of ideas. Along with Amadea's Harmonic Foundations for Jazz and Pop, I'd definitely rank it as one of the most important Jazz improv texts I've ever got (and one of the few useful ones.) - - Thank heaven its FINALLY up on Amazon - - I'm definitely getting it AGAIN!

I truly wish this was the first book on jazz I had read. The presentation is so logical and clear that I read in a half an hour what took a year to learn through other sources. I give this book my highest recommendation to anyone interested in learning jazz. If you know basic music theory and what a ii-V7-I progression is, this book will take you the rest of the way. A tremendous book.

I've spent the last several months building up my jazz chops for a new gig. After getting through the song list fluidly, I set about supplying missing ingredients in my playing. Neil Olmstead's Solo Piano book supplies some. Mark Levine's Jazz Piano and Jazz Encyclopedia books supply many. This book goes where those books do not: it shows how to create ii-v-i runs that do not sound like scales and arpeggios stitched together like a crude Frankenstein's monster. It describes three very simple outlines, spends a short chapter discussing embellishments, and then takes the reader through more and more complex examples of where these outlines appear in the work of giants. My ii-v-i runs are improving as I integrate these outlines into my playing. My active listening is also improving as I learn to identify the outlines and embellishments in recordings, and practice transcribing them. You can learn this stuff the hard way, or you can use this book and start using this important secret ingredient almost immediately.

The other reviews for this book convinced me to purchase it and they were right. Great book to understanding harmony and chords. Jackie McLean the great alto sax player said you could only do so much playing by ear. You had to learn the structure of music to really be great and this book has all the information to help move you in this direction.

The first two chapters cover Linear Harmony and Embellishing Devices. Armed with these you are now well equipped to explore `Outlines'. These are three basic melodic structures that turn up over and over again in jazz improvisation. The rest of the book is devoted to exploring how great players use these in practice in real solos. There are hundreds of examples of their creative use.

In my view, if you only improvise using these structures you will be an outstanding player! They are extremely powerful tools.

Connecting Chords With Linear Harmony is a must buy: it is a fresh approach to the skill of jazz improvisation.

Bert Ligon has truly written a very useful and insightful work. He helps aspiring and established jazz players to understand why jazz lines (melodies) work. He gives us a window into a complex art form and helps us get a real handle on jazz's conventional wisdom that might have gone undetected. The book is well researched and the examples and exercises are quickly applicable. You can learn more in the first 10 pages of this book then in all the "jazz licks" books. Reading music is necessary.

OTHER REVIEWS:

All I can say to Bert is "Thanks!!!!!". Finally a jazz educational book that explains how bebop lines work. In particular, how chromatic approach notes work. This seems to be the mystery to many jazz players, even many name players.

The analytic tools necessary for understanding what is going on in a bebop solo are very articulately explained.

The techniques used in Jazz starting in the bebop era, are nothing new to music. Classical music has used them for hundreds of years. Composers like Chopin were masters of these techniques. In the early days of jazz before Charlie Parker, they are basically absent.

All theory is supported by examples from jazz solos.

This is a must book for any jazz musician. Any jazz musician that reads this book and uses the techniques to analyze the solos they transcribe, will find themselves on their way to a new level.

-Reed Kotler, justjazz.com

Jazz educator Bert Ligon's book takes a different approach to teaching improvisation. Ligon studies 3 outlines over changes and in composition through their application in many great examples from throughout jazz history. An excellent practical way to get your changes playing in gear and to gain appreciation for the use of the outlines in the playing of such musicians as Mike Stern, Clifford Brown and Tom Harrell. Recommended.

-Dave Dorkin, fusemag.com

My copy of Bert's first book is well thumbed. I go back to it from time to time and enjoy it a lot every time.

I especially want to say: Bert, You Da Man!!

Bert, many times you find such a simple yet elegant way to put into words the essence of what many of us are struggling to understand and say ourselves. I recognize this as a rare gift based on deep understanding and communication ability. You have enriched my music life tremendously and for that I am most grateful.

-Frank Curran

CONNECTING CHORDS with LINEAR HARMONY

available from Houston Publishing, distributed by Hal Leonard.
# HL 841077
ISBN: 0793561930
UPC: 73999729020

JAZZ IMPROVISATION BOOKS

JAZZ IMPROVISATION BOOKS

COMPREHENSIVETECHNIQUE for JAZZ MUSICIANS

available from Houston Publishing, distributed by Hal Leonard.
# HL 30455
ISBN: 0634001760
UPC: 73999304550

Recent Review from AMAZON.COM

A common theme across all of Bert Ligon's books is that they are comprehensive and rooted in the reality of jazz. What do I mean by that? They are comprehensive in that their coverage of the subject area is full: you have an excellent single source of information. Rooted in reality? Whilst they cover the theory of jazz they do it in a practical way: a lot of analysis of actual improvisations has been done, and is used to illustrate the ideas. There are many exercises and the examples can be used as exercises. Any of the books could easily double as a source of jazz vocabulary.

You can see the contents pages elsewhere in Amazon. Each chapter explains things clearly.

It is not a mistake to buy any of his books. I have four. Years ago a departing friend said to me `I'm glad I met you.' That's how I feel about these books: they are a Jazz-send.

Whereas `thin' jazz tutors mention particular techniques such as Chromatic Embellishment or Neighbor Tones, and cover them in at most two pages this book covers all of its subjects in great depth, and with many exercises and examples.

It is an excellent book of musical jazz technique.

The chapter on Outline Exercises covers what Bert Ligon refers to as Outlines. These are three basic structures that recur with a mind-blowing frequency in actual improvisations by great jazz players. Think of them as some of the dots in a dot-to-dot drawing: the great players find ways to vary joining the dots (using the techniques covered elsewhere in the book). Again there are hundreds of examples taken form real solos. The reason I mention this is that `Outlines' also appears in the Volume I of Jazz Theory Resources and are the majority of the Connecting Chords With Linear Harmony. However, they are not `cut and paste' of a Chapter. Instead you learn a whole lot more of the power of Outlines with each book. The Outlines are only a small part of this book.

If I lost this book I'd buy it again instantly.

(From the IAJE Journal)
Once a decade, a theory treatise is written for jazz educators, the Comprehensive Technique for Jazz Musicians is such a text as it contains an anthology of technical, compositional and theoretic exercises as well as an anthology wealth of musical examples. What makes this treatise so interesting is that it is written expressively for the performer. There are no magical solutions or shortcuts offered, but rather in-depth ways to learn from. It is not another scale or patterns book. The exercises begin at the source from the improvisations of great jazz artists. The musical ideas are extracted from these excerpts and developed into exercises designed to prepare the improviser to play passages using the extracted idea. No single improvisation necessarily adheres strictly to any single structural or theoretical designation. This text offers multiple ways to developing improvising through paraphrasing a melody, improvising on the harmony as well as motivic development. For 300+ pages, this book is awesome giving more creative, varied musical examples than I have ever reviewed before.

The table of contents is comprehensive moving from basic exercises to 7th and 9th chord arpeggios, triads, melodic minor scale exercises, diminished scale exercises, motivic and pentatonic patterns, 1-2-3-5 patterns, triadic superimposition, linear implications of harmony, extensions and connections, augmented scale exercises, quartal exercises, dominant chord cycles, developing jazz exercises, outline exercises and many, many applications and etudes.

Each chapter offers essential exercises to take the content and synthesize it into your playing. Recommended for advanced levels improvisers.

This book is masterfully done.

-John Kuzmich, IAJE Jazz Educators Journal

An incredible presentation of the most practical exercises an aspiring jazz student could want. All are solidly based in theory interwoven with "real world" examples. This book is an anthology of technical, compositional, and theoretical exercises.

-ELDERLY INSTRUMENTAL BOOKS

JAZZ IMPROVISATION BOOKS

I just bought a copy of Bert Ligon's new book, "Comprehensive Technique for Jazz Musicians" (Houston Publishing, dist. by Hal Leonard. I just wanted to post and tell everybody how wonderful this book is. IMHO Mr. Ligon is perhaps the premier author of jazz instructional materials for line playing. He's material is organized, lucid, and most of all effective. Thanks, Mr. Ligon.

-George Bullock

I have built up an extensive library of materials and am continually searching for interested and , more importantly, well organized materials and methods. Your book is an excellent organization of the crux of knowledge necessary to play good bop (read: Jazz). I am very impressed by your method because:

It allows students to build up a collection of real licks, patterns, etc.
It categorizes these licks in a fundamental and valid way.
It provides numerous creative approaches for getting the sounds under the fingers.
The linear approach is so important to what a good bop line is about.

Thank you again for your vital contribution to jazz education. Please keep me informed about future books, projects, etc.

-George Bullock

JAZZ IMPROVISATION BOOKS

What a kick ass book! It has everything. Congrats.

-Buffi

I've been recommending the book to everyone who wants something to do for the next 100 years.

-Aletha

I am very impressed with your book Comprehensive Techniques for Jazz Musicians.

-Sylvie Fefer

Just purchased your book "Comprehensive Technique for Jazz Musicians". I see its loaded with great stuff and I can't wait to get started.

-Richie Marcellus

JAZZ IMPROVISATION BOOKS

I just want to express my appreciation over your book.

I am happy to say it really is the best book I have come across regarding improvisation. Congratulations and thank You!

My band-mates commented on improvements in my piano playing after only two monthes of exercises and studies.

I recommend it to several of my friends, and today I found you and USC on the internet. I just discovered, and immediately placed my order, for your other book on "comprehensive technique". If it is on target the same way as the first one, I will be busy a long time.

-Lars Aukrust

JAZZ THEORY RESOURCES

available from Houston Publishing, distributed by Hal Leonard.
VOLUME 1
# HL 00030458
ISBN: 0634038613
UPC: 73999676440
316 pages

VOLUME 2
# HL 00030459
ISBN: 0634038621
UPC: 73999320428
208 pages

Recent Reviews from AMAZON.COM

This book is by far the best resource I have ever come across on jazz theory. I am something of a connoisseur of the jazz educational book market, since I am a voracious autodidact and aspiring jazz pianist. Mr. Ligon's work stands out as a labor of love from a man who obviously knows what he's talking about.

For one thing, there is an appropriate amount of text to accompany the musical examples. Some authors are so laconic as to be frustrating; they assume too much on the part of the reader, in terms of making mental connections and applications. They might give a musical example without enough accompanying text to help the reader generalize the principle being illustrated, or put the example into a context that helps the reader understand WHY the example is being given. Mr. Ligon, by contrast, gives many examples which are actual improvisations by known artists, and he comments, sometimes note by note or phrase by phrase, on what's going on in a way that I can only call illuminating.

Another of Ligon's strengths is that he is knowledgeable of the classical tradition, and gives examples and commentary which show that the principles of good melody are universal, from Bach to Bird. Moreover, he understands that, in the final analysis, melodic considerations take precedence over harmonic ones, which is a theoretical principle I fully agree with. In other words, voice leading and horizontal, temporal considerations give rise to vertical, harmonic associations. He is a master analyst of the melodic line. I have learned so much from reading him, and my soloing has taken off since I have encountered his books, because he gives me an understanding of broad principles which, once I understand them, are generative; they allow me to create new things on their basis.

One of the things he has helped me understand is the idea of harmonic generalization, that is, that one can choose to improvise over the general key area (usually the tonic triad with embellishments), ignoring the specific chords. The more usual approach of jazz educators, that of thinking about the specifics of each chord and improvising using the appropriate guide tones, Ligon calls "harmonic specificity", and he points out that an improvisor can choose either approach at a given moment, according to his artistic taste.

This book would be great for any aspiring improviser, on any instrument. I also have studied parts of Ligon's "Comprehensive Technique for the Jazz Musician," which I recommend equally with his "Jazz Theory Resources" book (Volumes 1 and 2). There is an amazing amount of material in all of these books, enough for years of self-study.

Ligon has a great theoretical mind. However, he is definitely thinking of the actual needs of an improviser; in other words, the information he gives is PRACTICAL and USEABLE. He is fond of the saying that there are only two rules in jazz theory: 1) Does it sound good? and 2) Does it sound good? This philosophy shows itself in his work. Every topic he goes into has made my playing "sound good", very quickly.

This book is for every thinking jazz musician's bookshelf. It has paid for itself many times over in musical pleasure (and gigs I might not otherwise have gotten).

You can see the contents pages elsewhere in Amazon. Each chapter explains things clearly.

It is not a mistake to buy any of his books. I have four. Years ago a departing friend said to me `I'm glad I met you.' That's how I feel about these books: they are a Jazz-send.

I recommend buying both Volume I and II. Essentially the tome was split into two rather than publish it in a single volume. The page numbering in Volume II continues from Volume I.

Volume I starts with a review of Basic Theory Material, Chapter 2 covers Rhythm, Chapter 3 Basic Tonal Materials and so on. The point is that `Basic' doesn't mean a superficial treatment: it means a comprehensive helpful analysis of things you must know.

Volume II carries on where Volume I left off: it is not `Part 2 Advanced': it is a continuation.

There is an immense amount theory and practical application in these two books. I came across them by accident when doing some research and bought them immediately. They are on my instant access bookshelf!

(From the IAJE Journal) Since the 1970's, jazz education publications have been abundantly available particularly in the area of improvisation . Jazz theory books, because of their historical premise of being after the fact, have been slow in codifying the jazz improvisation experience. Bert Ligon has made a great contribution to jazz education with several definitive and unique jazz theory publications by classifying performance and theoretical expectations together. This latest publication, Jazz Theory Resources, is an incredibly well-written, useful, two-volume theory treatise that offers a wealth of information for composers and improvisers at the college, graduate school, and professional levels. The 11 chapters in Volume I deal with the relationship of jazz improvisation to the traditional major/minor systems. Volume II examines additions to and extensions beyond the major/minor systems. In addition, there are five excellent appendices at the end of Volume II which provide valuable resources for student of jazz including Reference for Chord/Scale Relationships, Elaborations of Static Harmony, Endings, Composing Tips, and Theory Applications.

What helps make these books so pertinent is that they are based on the author's research and study of outstanding jazz artists and great classical musicians including among many others, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. Contents are treated in-depth with abundant musical examples that go along with the text. Chapter topics in Volume I include rhythm in jazz performance, basic tonal materials, triadic generalization, diatonic harmony, harmonic progressions, harmonic analysis, harmonic substitutions and turnarounds, harmonic specificity, common melodic outlines and harmony voicings. Volume II really gets into some "hot" topics that are essential for jazz performers includes modes and modal frameworks, quartal harmony, other scales and colors, extended tertian structures and triadic superimposition, pentatonic applications, coloring "outside" the lines and beyond, analyzing the big picture, expanding harmonic vocabulary, and more. The author makes a good point that "theory practices should describe how the music sounds so that there really shouldn't be difference between an ear player and a theory player." The extensive theory presentations in these volumes are both very realistic and teachable. You will fall in love with the books as they literally read themselves. Their oversized layout is marvelous as all text and music examples are visually very easy to concentrate on.

Each chapter is full of neat things that will quickly get your attention. In the "Basic Tonal Materials" Chapter, I particularly like the 161 beginning traditional tunes for ear training. Throughout the book, there are highlighted boxes with "heavy" quotes to focus on. For example, "it appears at this point that if you use these syncopated rhythms, you will be playing either 'The Charleston,' or 'It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got That Swing.'" The treatment of diminished chords and scales is a knockout. The analysis chapter, "The Big Picture," is well titled and deals with transcriptions and transcribing.

In summary, logic and clarity are two characteristics that help set these jazz theory books apart from others. They firmly dwell on the resourcefulness of theoretical concepts, and at the same time are both creative and musical without any compromises.

-John Kuzmich, IAJE Jazz Educators Journal, 2002