Jazz & Blues, Op. 37, Book 2: Intermediate Piano Book

This collection treats jazz as a legitimate piano curriculum rather than an afterthought. Schultz writes with genuine understanding of what intermediate pianists can handle musically and technically, and the variety across 13 pieces means you'll find exactly the right vehicle for different students and different moments in the school year.

You're in a small club on a Thursday night. The pieces swing with the offhand confidence of someone who knows the tradition and isn't trying to prove anything. Blue notes and chromaticism sit naturally in the harmony; rhythms feel lived-in rather than textbook.

Intermediate piano students ready to engage seriously with jazz idioms, whether in a private lesson setting or as part of a school jazz program. Professional pianists returning to the genre or building repertoire also benefit from Schultz's straightforward, idiomatic writing.

• Listen to recordings of the named styles (bebop, swing, slow blues) before diving into the page. Your ear needs the reference point as much as your fingers do.
• Treat syncopation as an architectural element, not a decoration. Lock the rhythmic placement of syncopated figures early in practice; rushing these passages is the most common pitfall.
• Jazz waltz pieces demand a different internal pulse than 4/4 swing. Count in three and feel the weight on beat one, or the bouncy triplet feel will collapse.
• Work the articulation and touch separate from tempo. Jazz piano requires quick, precise hand position changes, and speed without clarity is just noise.

Slot individual pieces into winter or spring concerts alongside classical or contemporary repertoire to show the range of what your pianists can do. The collection also works beautifully as the core text for a semester-long jazz piano course at the intermediate level, with each piece opening a door to a different style within the broader jazz tradition.

• Recognizing and executing swing rhythms and triplet feels
• Reading and improvising over 12-bar blues progressions
• Interpreting jazz articulation and touch (legato vs. staccato in jazz context)
• Understanding chord substitutions and extensions in jazz harmony
• Syncopation placement and flexibility with rhythmic displacement
• Translating written jazz notation into stylistically authentic sound