A Guide to Jazz Composition & Arranging: Book

This book stands apart because it treats jazz composition and arranging as interconnected skills, not separate subjects. Coker moves deliberately from foundational exercises through professional practices, always showing how choices in melody, harmony, and orchestration serve the music itself rather than following arbitrary rules. Directors and arrangers return to this book repeatedly because it answers the question "why would I make that choice?" not just "what are the rules?"

This book feels like sitting across from someone who actually knows how jazz works. Coker writes with the confidence of someone who has done the work he's teaching, and that confidence is reassuring rather than intimidating. The text balances intellectual rigor with genuine encouragement, never making you feel like you need permission to try new ideas.

This serves jazz studies students, arrangers working with small and large ensembles, and composers wanting to deepen their understanding of jazz language and form. It works equally well for self-study and classroom use. Teachers of jazz theory and composition will find it both a primary text and a resource they can reference alongside their own curriculum.

• Study the listening lists and tune suggestions alongside the compositional concepts. Coker connects theory directly to recorded examples so you hear how these principles work in practice.
• Work through the preparatory activities before jumping to the arranging chapters. These exercises build ear and intuition, making everything that follows more concrete.
• Pay special attention to the rhythm section chapters. Most arrangers neglect this, yet the rhythm section defines the feel and energy of everything else.
• Use this book as a reference, not just a read-through. Return to specific chapters as you work on real arrangements; the practical wisdom deepens each time you apply it.

Assign sections of this book alongside your jazz ensemble's performance repertoire. When your students are learning a particular arrangement, they can read Coker's chapter on that compositional or arranging technique and understand the thinking behind it. It transforms listening and performing into deeper study. The book also works as a semester-long text for jazz composition courses, building from solo melody writing toward full ensemble arrangements.

• Composing original melodies with harmonic logic and jazz vocabulary
• Writing chord progressions that balance function, sound, and jazz idiom
• Orchestrating for both small ensembles (trio, quartet) and big band
• Recognizing and applying appropriate instrumental ranges and textures
• Designing rhythmic vitality and groove through section writing
• Understanding form and structure as expressive tools, not constraints
• Listening analytically to transcribed arrangements and professional recordings
• Developing a compositional voice grounded in jazz tradition