Teaching and Learning Jazz

Summary

Richie and Mike provide direct practical guidance on the skills and knowledge necessary for jazz to be passed on and performed well. The conversational tone of the book makes for entertaining and worthwhile reading. Those who have been teaching jazz for a long time will appreciate Richie's stories and his fearless opinions on jazz including how the teaching and learning of it are evolving (for good and for bad).

For readers new to teaching, they will gain a perspective and perhaps some greater insight into jazz education that your students want from you and benefit from.

Justin DiCioccio of the Manhattan School of Music called it the best book on jazz education he's ever read. Why?

• Because of the stories that will capture student's attention on things like the art of jazz time (swing), dynamics, 'wrong' notes, the right amount of notes, and how the masters think about music


• A view of what can and cannot be taught in the process of making students better jazz players


• How to be more motivating and effective with students


• A candid and pointed review of the film, Whiplash, and what it teaches us to defend against in our roles as jazz educators


• Fly on the wall insight into one of Richie's most inspired trio recordings with George Mraz and Al Foster.

Students of jazz will appreciate:

• How to choose the right school for one's personal needs and ambitions


• Many of the skills that musicians need in order to be successful that are not taught in the classroom


• How best to use some of the more popular digital tools for learning and practicing jazz


• Richie's telling of the blow-by-blow experience of group interaction while recording the Tune "Nardis" with George Mraz and Al Foster

A chapter is dedicated to a review of the movie Whiplash, a film about a college jazz gig band led by a tyrannical conductor played by J.K. Simmons.