Blues improvisation book for jazz students
Know Before You Blow (Blues) by Santorella Publications focuses on learning to improvise over the blues, a foundation that appears in jazz, rock, swing, shuffle, country and popular music. The book uses a call and response approach: a studio professional plays first, and you answer by playing the same phrase. This helps you practise licks you can use in real playing situations.
The Blues Edition covers three styles: Swing, Jazz/Rock and Shuffle. Each style is explained on articulation pages, while scales, exercises, licks and jazz heads are written out in common keys. That makes this improvisation book a strong starting point for any student building jazz improvisation from the blues.
Santorella Publications for study and ensemble use
Written by T. Tedesco, this edition is intended for private study or use with an ensemble. The method is available for clarinet, trumpet, flute, trombone, clarinet, alto and tenor sax, rhythm section and conductor’s score, giving it broad use in lessons and group playing.
This blues volume includes 2 CDs. They support the response-based method directly in practice, so you can study at home with clear examples and play along straight away, much like the practical guidance musicians often appreciate in a shop such as Magna Music.
The core of the Know Before You Blow series
Within the Santorella series, this blues volume forms the starting point of the full method. Its content covers the basics of improvising over a I-IV-V chord progression while also showing how that simple structure allows more complex substitutions.
Because many jazz styles grow out of the blues, Know Before You Blow (Blues) suits players taking their first serious steps in jazz improvisation. You work on scales, exercises, chord studies and jazz heads in several popular keys, with a clear focus on material you can apply directly in playing.
