Jazz Theory – Contemporary Improvisation, Transcription and Composition

Widely regarded as one of the most important jazz theorists of our time, Ron Westray continues to expand upon the legacy set before him.

“Jazz Theory: Contemporary Improvisation, Transcription, and Composition offers a vast amount of prac-tical and speculative content which serves to guide, challenge, and inspire individuals in their pur-suit of musical understanding and creative excellence. Ron Westray has produced a compendium of useful and exotic resources which will serve as a beneficial aid for students, amateurs, scholars, and seasoned musicians. Performers, composers, theorists, and academics, working in or across a wide variety of contemporary ‘styles’ (e.g., jazz, rock, pop, country, latin, funk, gospel, urban), will find something useful and thought provoking in this impressive volume.”— Michael Coghlan, Associate Professor of Music, York University, Toronto, Canada

• Preface; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Music Is Math: An Effective Approach to Teaching Jazz Improvisation; 1 Advanced Scale Study, Section 1) Forms of Dominant Scale; Section 2) Augmented Scale/Melodic Minor Equivalent; Section 3a) Diminished and Inverted Diminished Scales; Section 3b) Two-In-One; 2 Chord Scale Solutions; 3 Alternate Solutions in Dominant; 4 The ii-V Progression and Tritone Substitution; 5 Transcriptions (Chronological); 6 Alternative Systems; 7 Polymorphic Root System; 8 Composition and Arranging; Afterword