I'm looking for a good "bible" of jazz piano harmony. A work that goes deep into jazz harmony but remains accessible to somebody who has only an average musical knowledge. I heard about "The Jazz Piano Book" by Mark Levine. Any comments/suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

-- José.

José, I think Scott can give you the right suggestion here. I have a lot of books but seldom read them. In the past I have learned a lot from "A modern method for the keyboard study" by James Progris (Berklee Series), but right now I think that the best thing is to analize how great players play the songs you like most and this can be done searching for transcriptions of their songs or studying midifiles of those same tunes, played by really good musicians.
Andrea

Hi José. I HIGHLY recommend the 'Jazz Piano Book' by Mark Levine to anyone interested in jazz piano theory & harmony.

It throughly covers jazz harmony (along with chord voicings), including the rootless type that I've spoken about on one too many occasions here on this forum . The book is well laid out taking an organized approach to jazz piano presenting the many different types of keyboard styles played by jazz pianists thru the years (swing, bebop, etc) as well as suggests specific CDs to listen to hear examples of the different types of jazz piano styles covered in his book.

I was both fortunate & priviledged to have studied privately with Mr. Levine (about 10 years ago). His book 'The Jazz Piano Book' was used a the syllabus. I continue to refer to his book as a jazz piano reference bible. Mark Levine's 'Jazz Piano Book' is truly the 'definitive' book on jazz piano theory & harmony. His followup book called 'Jazz Theory'is also highly recommended.
http://www.shermusic.com/jazzpno.htm
http://www.marklevine.com/reviews.html#book

Scott

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http://scottyee.com

Andrea & Scott: Thanks a lot for your replies, they are a great help.

Andrea: I agree with you that listening and analizing songs from great players are an excellent method of making progress in understanding harmony. It requires a lot of time (like many good things in life!) but the rewards are important. In a brief search in the web I found this software that can be an interesting tool to study songs: http://www.reedkotler.com/

Scott: Your comments confirm the good opinions I got from friends at a portuguese jazz school about the "Jazz Piano Book", by Mark Levine. I will surely order it. Two other (less known?) authors caught my attention: Debbie Denke [ http://www.debbiedenke.i8.com/ ] and Conrad Cork [ http://www.tadleyewing.co.uk/ ]. Debbie Denke also wrote a book called "Amazing Phrasing Keyboard". These may be more practical books. I will also check these.

Thanks again to both of you

-- José.