This uniquely authentic and professional set of jazz studies (or blues études) sets out, in the words of the composer Jim Snidero, to ‘expand both the user's historic perspective and music techniques on the blues’. It certainly delivers this and much more.
There is a book for each of the main big band instruments; trumpet, trombone, alto and tenor saxophones and an additional two books for flute and clarinet. Each book contains the same ten solo studies, in various blues styles. The studies are linked to classic jazz tunes and Snidero is honest in admitting that they are derivations. He links each one to its original so that these classics can be listened to for reference, something he urges performers to do to get a grasp of the musical genius of the original players. These are all referenced in suggested listening lists at the back of the books.
The book provides a CD accompaniment of piano or organ, bass and drums played by world-class professionals with seriously impressive biographies – Snidero describes their individual styles in the accompanying notes. For each jazz étude, there are two tracks on the CD. One demonstrates the soloist's part and the other the accompaniment. Snidero suggests that students should listen carefully to the soloist tracks to get the feeling for phrasing, articulation and musical interpretation before tackling the Études themselves. The aim is for students to be able to build towards competently performing the studies along with this very impressive rhythm section on the CD. Not only is the CD of a high standard but the manuscript notation is of similar quality with articulation, bends, drops and accents clearly indicated in fine detail. It might have been good to provide some dynamic variation markings.
The first piece, ‘Duke's Jam’, is actually a reworked ‘C Jam Blues’. It consists of six blues choruses, starting with a simple head tune which becomes more complex each time round. The player becomes better at improvising by being encouraged to memorise the structures contained within the riffs. Snidero has thought hard about the keys for each piece and as a result they are well chosen for each instrument. Players need to be of at least Grade 5 standard for the starting track and the final piece, ‘Bird in Flight,’ is for Grade 7 players and above.
Within the remaining nine études, the structure is essentially the same, travelling through differing jazz styles. Examples are ‘Freeloader’, based on Miles Davis’ ‘Freddie Freeloader’; ‘Minor Trane’ uses ‘So What’ voicings with a Coltrane mood; and ‘Newkness’ is a reworked ‘Tenor Madness’ by Sonny Rollins. The broad variation of styles gives students experience ranging from straight, swing and cool to funk and bebop.
The accompanying notes help to tell the stories of each track and link them back to the original, written in authentic language. For example, where Snidero talks about ‘Bags’ (inspired by Milt Jackson's ‘Bag's Groove’), he talks about the tempo not being slow or fast but being ‘in the cracks’, requiring a more than usual commitment to where each note is placed. It is no coincidence that Mike LeDonne, who performs on the accompanying CD, was Milt Jackson's pianist.
It is suggested that these books be used for jazz ensemble tuition as well as for individual solo use. Because all of the parts are unison, they can then be divided into different sections of a big band and played by all – or with the saxophones playing the first head, trombones playing the second head and trumpets playing the first solo and so on, to give variation and copying practice. These players would need to use the CD as there are no rhythm section parts provided.
Perhaps, as an extension, the provision of simple blues sheets for piano, bass and drums would free the band up from the accompanying CD. However, there are chord symbols in the instrumental parts.
Snidero has some refreshing thoughts on improvisation in his introduction which made me think anew about some approaches for developing my own students. He says that the critical piece in the improvisation puzzle is to be as ‘in the moment’ as possible. In these books Snidero provides the pieces of the puzzle, then leaves it up to the players to memorise these foundation structures in order to put them together to create a great solo.
My only reservation about this set of excellent studies is that they rely heavily on a fairly advanced ability to already read and interpret written notation, which is a prerequisite to getting the best out of these books. With the CDs, the aural examples are there to be copied and the written notation gives both ‘by ear’ and ‘by sight’ players equal opportunity to enjoy these homages to the jazz greats.
This is a seriously professional publication which I will certainly use in both solo and ensemble situations. The methodology will now be added to my toolkit, to encourage developing players to take that brave step into the joy and freedom of discovering jazz interpretation.
