Creative Comping for Improvisation, Volume 1: Melody Instruments (C, B-flat, E-flat) & Percussion Book & CD (English/French/German Edition)

Crook gives students real tools for creative accompaniment rather than just showing them what changes sound good. The inclusion of reharmonizations and rhythmic displacements alongside the standard changes builds independence, and having three transpositions in one book means your section can work through the same material together without juggling multiple editions.

Playful and exploratory. The reharmonizations invite you to hear familiar standards in new light, while the rhythmic displacements keep you engaged and thinking about how chords can move through time. It's encouraging rather than prescriptive, giving you options to discover your own voice.

Intermediate to advanced jazz musicians on melody instruments looking to deepen their comping vocabulary and harmonic thinking. This works equally well for self-study and in small jazz ensembles, including percussion players developing their harmonic sensibility.

• Start by singing or playing the original chord voicings from the recorded tracks before attempting the reharmonizations. This anchors your ear to what you're departing from.
• Work with the MIDI files at a slower tempo first. Once the reharmonized changes sit in your fingers and ears, bring the tempo back to performance speed.
• Listen to how the acoustic piano voices each chord on the CD. Pay attention to the intervals and tensions being used, then try those same ideas on your own instrument.
• Trade between melody and comping roles with another musician. Playing the lead while someone else comps gives you perspective on how your voiced chords support the soloist.

Deploy this in jazz combos during the season when students have enough harmonic grounding to tackle substitutions meaningfully. It also works well as enrichment material for strong soloists who are ready to expand beyond playing the melody and basic changes, or as a rehearsal text when you want to raise the harmonic sophistication of an entire section.

• Voicing reharmonized chord progressions with clear voice leading
• Reading and executing rhythmic displacement of standard changes
• Listening to and transcribing comping approaches from the recorded accompaniment
• Improvising around non-diatonic harmonic substitutions
• Transposing fluently between C, B-flat, and E-flat concert keys