Jazz Keyboard Harmony: Keyboard/Piano Book

The book reads like a conversation with someone who understands both the theory and the practical reality of playing jazz. Each voicing type feels purposeful rather than academic; you grasp not just what to play but why you'd choose one voicing over another in a real performance context. Working through the 12-key system creates a satisfying sense of expansion as concepts become intuitive.

Jazz pianists and keyboardists serious about understanding the harmonic language they play in, from intermediate students building solid foundations to gigging musicians refining their command of substitution and reharmonization. Teachers developing jazz harmony curriculum will find this book's structured approach particularly useful for sequencing lessons across a semester or year.

• Work through each concept in one key completely before moving to the next. Jumping keys too early interrupts the muscle memory you're building in your hands.
• Isolate voicing types at the keyboard. Play a rootless voicing, then its shell voicing equivalent, then spread it. Hearing the relationship between them matters more than speed.
• Apply the dominant chord cycle and Rhythm Changes patterns to standards you already know. Recognition in real repertoire cements what the book teaches.
• Record yourself playing progressions with minimal comping and listen back. You'll hear voice leading problems and voice spacing issues that your eyes might miss on the page.

Assign this as the core text for a jazz harmony elective or as supplementary material in a jazz ensemble course where students need deeper harmonic literacy. You might structure a semester around the major topic clusters, voicing types in the first unit, progressions and substitutions in the second, modal and non-diatonic thinking in the third, assigning related chapters between rehearsals.

• Rootless voicing construction and application across all 12 keys
• Shell voicing and spread voicing techniques
• ii-V-I progression mastery in multiple keys and contexts
• Dominant chord cycle navigation and reharmonization
• Giant Steps substitution recognition and execution
• Modal thinking and mode selection within jazz contexts
• Non-diatonic chord progression analysis and voice leading
• Voicing selection based on harmonic function and stylistic context