Jamey Aebersold's Jazz Ear Training: Book & 2 CDs

This resource cuts through the mystique around jazz ear training and delivers exactly what students need: structured, progressive exercises that build confidence. The dual approach of listening and playing along (with transpositions for all instruments) means your section can work through it together, turning ear training from a solitary slog into something collaborative.

Methodical and stripped down. There's no filler here, just focused listening exercises that start with the fundamentals and push gradually into the harmonic complexity that makes jazz challenging. Two hours of recorded material means you're hearing real musical examples, not synthesized tones.

Jazz students at any level who need their ears to catch up to their hands. This also works for traditional ensemble musicians building jazz literacy or developing more acute interval and harmonic recognition.

• Start with the recorded instruction before attempting each exercise; Aebersold's voice-over walks you through what to listen for, which makes the jump in difficulty feel intentional rather than sudden.
• Use the written answers as a learning tool, not a shortcut. Work through an exercise first, then check your work and note patterns you missed.
• Rotate through the transposed parts so all instruments in your jazz ensemble stay engaged; C instruments shouldn't get bored while waiting for the B-flat and E-flat versions.
• Spend multiple sessions on the same section before moving forward. The progression is designed to stick, but rushing through weakens retention.

Build this into your jazz curriculum as a weekly or twice-weekly station work. Students can cycle through it independently or in pairs over several months, creating a common language around chord quality and voice leading that strengthens small group improvisation and section playing.

• Interval identification by ear across octaves and registers
• Major, minor, dominant seventh, and extended chord recognition
• Chord progression and harmonic function hearing
• Transposition and transposed instrument coordination
• Harmonic vocabulary recall and real-time aural comprehension