How to Play Jazz and Improvise (Portuguese Edition): Book & 2 CDs

This book delivers what too many jazz resources promise but rarely provide: a logical, playable progression from foundational concepts to functional improvisation. The rhythm section recordings (featuring Rufus Reid on bass and Jonathan Higgins on drums) sound professional yet approachable, and having Aebersold himself model the exercises on the CDs eliminates guesswork about phrasing and time feel.

Playing over these rhythm section recordings feels like sitting in with working musicians who actually want you to succeed. The tempo is steady, the pocket is secure, and the changes move logically enough that you can think ahead without panic.

This resource serves beginning and intermediate improvisers across all instruments who want a structured entry into jazz vocabulary and real-time decision-making. Spanish-speaking students and musicians in Portuguese-language communities will find the translated edition particularly valuable for bridging language gaps while learning jazz fundamentals.

• Sing or play the exercises without the CD first so you own the intervallic relationships and harmonic logic before soloing over them.
• Loop the blues and Dorian tracks until your soloing feels conversational, not mechanical. Three choruses of playing followed by one of listening builds retention quickly.
• Transpose the songs into other keys using the book's transposed parts rather than immediately jumping to all twelve keys. Mastery in one or two keys beats surface-level comfort everywhere.
• Record yourself soloing over the CD tracks and listen back without judgment. You'll hear phrasing habits and harmonic awareness that ear training alone won't reveal.

Assign this as a summer practice regimen for jazz ensemble members preparing for the next season, or anchor a jazz elective or after-school improvisation workshop with these tracks as the core curriculum. The breadth of harmonic situations (blues, Dorian, ii-V, cycle of fifths) ensures every student finds something to focus on, regardless of where they're starting from.

• Blues vocabulary and phrasing in B-flat and F
• Dorian minor improvisation and modal awareness
• ii-V-I progression recognition and soloing in all twelve keys
• Cycle of dominants navigation
• Listening and responding to rhythm section comping in real time
• Transposition across different instruments
• Harmonic form comprehension (four-measure and full-song structures)