Gumshoes: Intermediate Piano Book

Playful and purposeful. The pieces invite experimentation without feeling unstructured; there's enough harmonic clarity and melodic shape that students know where they are while still having room to make choices about phrasing and interpretation.

Intermediate pianists who are ready to engage with jazz idiom beyond classical technique. These solos work equally well for students exploring improvisation for the first time or for those already comfortable with jazz vocabulary who need fresh material.

• Let the swing sections breathe. The lightness in "Stealing Away" comes from restraint, not rushing the eighth-note feel.
• Treat improvisation as composition from the start. Have students sketch their ideas on staff paper before sitting at the keyboard so they're making intentional choices.
• Listen to the rhythm section context Sifford has written. The walking bass and comping patterns aren't decoration; they're the engine that drives how the solo should sit rhythmically.

Scatter these solos across your year as standalone concert numbers or group them thematically for a jazz-focused recital segment. They transition naturally into student-led improvisation workshops where the piece becomes a springboard for creating variations together.

• Reading and executing swing eighth-note feel with accurate articulation
• Chord-scale relationships in jazz contexts (major, minor, and dominant seven harmonies)
• Improvisation strategies: motivic development, call-and-response phrasing, and harmonic navigation
• Listening to and responding to rhythm section accompaniment patterns
• Stylistic interpretation and expression within jazz vocabulary