28 Modern Jazz Trumpet Solos, Book 1: Trumpet Book

This collection does the heavy lifting of transcription and presentation for you. Rather than asking students to hunt through recordings and piece together solos by ear, Slone has curated performances from the major voices in post-bebop trumpet and written them out cleanly, preserving the artistry while creating a structured learning path through modern jazz vocabulary.

This book opens a direct line to the sound and sensibility of post-bop and fusion trumpet. You're not learning about jazz; you're learning the way Brecker thinks about line, the way Miles navigates space, the way Woody Shaw builds intensity. The music swings with sophistication and demands precision alongside feel.

Jazz students ready to move beyond fakebook melodies and step into the actual language of modern trumpet masters. Band and jazz ensemble directors will find this useful for students pursuing improvisation or looking to deepen their jazz vocabulary through direct contact with canonical solos.

• Study the phrasing in the original recordings before playing through the notation; the written page captures rhythm and pitches but not the breath placement and dynamic shaping that makes these solos sing.
• Pay attention to the chromatic passing tones and approach notes that give each artist their characteristic sound; these details separate transcription study from mere note-reading.
• Use the accompaniement option that works best for your rehearsal context: backing tracks help you lock into tempo and time feel, while solo play lets you work on phrasing and dynamics without external pressure.
• Spend time on the blues and standard-based solos early; they establish the foundational concepts that appear across the more complex material.

Slot these solos into jazz band sectionals or individual lesson rotations as a counterpoint to improvisation workshops; students benefit from analyzing how masters handle standards and blues changes before they build their own solos. They also work well as listening and transcription assignments paired with the original recordings, turning homework into an apprenticeship.

• Chromatic approach note and passing tone vocabulary
• Phrasing and articulation patterns in modern jazz idiom
• Bebop and post-bebop melodic construction
• Interpreting jazz notation and articulation marks
• Building fluency with blues and jazz standard changes through written solo study
• Developing tone control across different register demands