Learn Jazz Piano

Enter the rich and exciting world of jazz harmony. This fascinating piano lesson from one of the greats in contemporary jazz is packed with musical insights, invaluable advice and detailed keyboard technique for players who are starting out in this idiom. All you need is a basic knowledge of the keyboard, and before long you’ll be comping evocative jazz chords and creating lush improvisations.

Explore six beautiful jazz standards and learn chord changes, voicings, embellishments and other essential tools to broaden your jazz vocabulary. Andy teaches both basic and complex versions of each song while recording it on the Yamaha Disklavier. As he replays the disk at half-speed, he gives a detailed explanation of the music. Andy's reharmonization (a different chordal structure under the melody) and contrafacts (a new melody composed over the original chord structure) for each tune complete this in-depth lesson from a master of improvisation.

A step-by-step approach to solo jazz improvisation for piano. Learn to improvise using the techniques pioneered by piano greats Lenny Tristano and Dave McKenna. This methodical approach to learning the art of solo jazz piano improvisation will free your creative sense of music. It begins with a review of chord symbol interpretation, walks through bass line development, and ends with how to play several melodic lines simultaneously in stimulating musical conversation. …

Near the beginning of his career, Michel Legrand was primarily known as a jazz pianist, so it shouldn't be surprising to learn that none of his compositions are present on these 1959 studio sessions, which were issued by Phillips. With bassist Guy Pederson and drummer Gus Wallez, Legrand covers songs by French composers of the day along with the ever-popular "Moulin Rouge" and a somewhat upbeat arrangement of Edith Piaf's usually maudlin "La Vie en Rose," as well as standards from the Great American Songbook by Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Vernon Duke, and Mack Gordon. Most of the songs have a Parisian theme to them. Legrand's piano style is hard to define, as he shows a variety of influences without letting any of them overwhelm his sound…