Jazz Piano Masterclass with Mark Levine

I've always loved the sound of Drop 2 chords but never really understood how it worked and Mark Levine the master that he is of the instrument and master teacher really clarifies the whole process. I love working with this book and practicing my scales in drop 2 in different keys to get them under my fingers. Mark has you using your little finger initially to play a bebop scale, then has you fill in the chords in 4 way close harmony and once you've gotten that down, he has you drop the 2nd voice from the top (drop 2) to your left hand and voila!, you're playing drop 2, and then he goes on to different scales and tweaks, etc. lots of good material in this great little book to work with.

This book is a welcome follow-up to Mark Levine's Jazz Piano Book. The only frustration I had with the Jazz Piano Book is that it could not tell me EVERYTHING. The Jazz Piano book only introduced Drop 2 techniques, leaving the voracious student wondering where to find more information. The Drop 2 Book fills that void with the same clarity and pace that made the Jazz Piano Book so useful and popular. The book explains major, minor and dominant progressions, tweaks to make chords sound "modern", applications, problems and work-arounds, soloing, comping, the Altered Bebop Minor Scale, and suggested practice routines. As an added bonus, this book includes a CD with recorded examples. Most students at this level could hammer out the examples, but the relative volumes of the left and right hands are important to this technique. Such nuances cannot be expressed clearly with standard music notation, so the CD is more than just a nice afterthought. If you have worked through the Jazz Piano Book and feel ready to explore Drop 2 voicings in greater depth, this book will take you there. Buy it and recommend it to all your friends so that we can see more Masterclass books by Mark Levine.

Very thorough explanation of drop 2 concept.All of the author's books are excellent.

Came without the cd.

Good product at a good price!

All I can say is that the difference this book made in my playing is drastic!!! Suddenly, the approach to jazz voicings that used to be so enigmatic is now clear. This book is fantastic. It is not a collection of chords given to you to learn. Instead, it's a simple method that will put you on the road to harmonic freedom.Mark Levine, thank you so much!

Great book.

This book is more for the advanced Jazz Pianist !! It is not an easy task to digest the concepts if you are not sure about the Shearing block chords concepts.Absolutely not recommended for beginners of Jazz Piano. If you totally understand Jazz Harmony or Chord/Scale Theory, get this book. Not easily applicable in real life playing unless you really put in a lot of practice and time into it. PLUS, practice it in all the keys.I would highly recommend this book if one does not get enough of the basic Shearing's block chords concepts.

Bought as gift for Jazz Piano playing Son-in-Law. He is very happy with this book and it has assisted his technique considerably, although he also has a Teacher who is able to give the practical demonstration.

A great book for mastering a certain style of playing, as far as I know the only one of it's kind on the market !Well written, it's an invaluable tool to a jazz player's vocabulary.

Very informative with a lot of information for those requiring more theory on drop w.HIGHLT RECOMMENDED

Mark Levine is a great author of anything jazz but I feel this book is overpriced for what it is. However, his book 'jazz piano' is remarkable and would not hesitate to recommend.

Just what I was looking for!