Exploring Jazz Piano 1 (Schott Pop Styles) Paperback – 1 Jun. 2005

This book provides a comprehensive course in jazz piano. Harmony, improvisation and technique are examined. Just as stated on the cover. And effective use is made of the 256 pages and the CD. Making it well worth the price.Chords, voicings, progressions and scales are investigated for a variety of jazz styles. As are harmonic and modal improvisation. And the topics are addressed with clarity. The author presenting his considerable, accumulated knowledge in a manner which can be easily understood and employed by others.A couple of warnings:1. The book requires the reader to be reasonably comfortable with music notation. And to have already developed some ability to play the piano. I think it would be difficult for anyone otherwise to use the book.2. The book is not simply a presentation of jazz piano theory. It is a considered mix of theory, exercises, studies, analysis and some context.This is the most comprehensive jazz piano tutor I have seen. And I do not hesitate to recommend it. I had to buy a second copy because I wore the first one out.

This is an excellent book about jazz and an excellent method. I was trained as a classical pianist as a teenager and have only played on and off for about 25 years. About 18 months ago I decided to go back to piano seriously but this time from a jazz point of view. After a few months updating my skills I bought Tim Richards book and started this step by step approach. Not skipping lessons before I understood the key technique taught in each piece. I have been now through all the pieces after 11 months, practicing 15-30 minutes per day and more on the week end (I have a non musical day job and demanding young kids at home). I am not able to improvise like a pro obviously but I can fill gaps and change the chords based on the principles presented. I can also read leadsheets and develop my own work. This book is really enjoyable and effective. The pieces are beautiful. Unlike one of of the reviewer below I really like the pieces from Tim Richards. I much prefer playing pieces not heard before and the range of difficulties are widespread. You can apply different layer of complexity to the same piece, and that really takes your piano skills to a different level. I have now a repertoire that I will polish this summer before starting the volume 2.

Thank you to Tim Richards for writing such a brilliant, rich and approachable book on jazz piano. It approaches learning the vocabulary of jazz in a logical and easily understandable way.There are other great books which will help more advanced learners but Tim Richards’ book is the best I know for anyone starting off. It's clarity and user-friendly nature is very persuasive. The CD and YouTube clips mean you will never be alone whilst learning. There are also in-depth written explanations which reinforce what you have learned.I think some reviewers have been a bit churlish. I like the material and the content. It will be very helpful in opening up the mystery of jazz improvisation for many pianists. I thoroughly recommend this book.

As a beginning jazz musician, I've found this book to be a superb tutorial and practical guide. The step-by-step approach is very comprehensive, with each new concept being introduced in a structured way.By far the best practical jazz guide I've found (and I've bought a lot of them). The book's layout and editing is also excellent.The only criticism I would have is that many of the pieces he uses as practice material are quite boring (often his own studies). I think it would have been better to have used more jazz standards to maintain interest.

Excellent introdution to jazz piano improvisation. A lot of detail which can seem overwhelming at first, but stick to the authors' advice and you will get a lot from this book: skip bits, move on, and go back to them after you've got to the end and everything will slowly start making sense.

I've worked through the blues book in the series and am a few weeks into this one and I'm grateful for having these learning tools, they are probably the best introductory books for learning piano in just about any popular style. I am however coming to realise their limits.I find personally that, although some of the tunes are great, the example songs chosen are too genre specific at times and many of them are in modern styles that I find a a bit cheesy and uninspiring. I would rather see more emphasis on more traditional jazz standards earlier on. For this reason I've decided to try out the mark levine book 'The Jazz Piano Book' which has a completely different, perhaps drier teaching approach but more historically informed maybe.If however I'd gone straight to the mark levine book I don't think I could have followed it as a complete begginer because the format is so dense: for instance the modes and all manner of chords are introduced in the first chapter. The different approach to playing is very refreshing though, for instance the first example pieces use mainly two hand voicings which is the kind of playing I apreciate over whizzing right hand scales over static left hand chords..I will keep plugging away with these great and indespensable books by Tim Richards though which if you haven't got access to a great jazz teacher which is rare in a small city or town not to mention expensive, are possibly the next best thing, better that than a mediocre teacher in my opinion.

Excellent course for existing grade 3 upwards, also knowledge of some basic theory helpful. It is very good on getting the fundamentals correct on the chord structures with plenty of practise material. Well worth it.

This is the book I've been waiting for! I've been trying to move from classical piano into jazz piano for a while. Teachers and YouTube tutorials have introduced some basic concepts but this book brings it all together in a structured way - with a great CD too for practice. Well worth buying. Thank you Tim Richards :-)