by Jimmy Amadie. Unique method for creating chord voicings and harmonizing a melody. Learning Jimmy’s harmonization methods will enhance your personal creativity, make the world of harmony a friendly world to explore, and create limitless possibilities. Mr. Amadie uses his simple techniques over several well-known standards to clearly demonstrate it's ease of use and dramatic musical impact.
Unlike other jazz harmony books that simply provide a few harmonic choices, this book also teaches you how to "think" about jazz harmony - providing the "why to play" as well as the "what to play." This added dimension means you will never be at a loss for new harmonic ideas once you understand the rules of the "Amadiean Creed."
For all instruments; students, teachers, arrangers, composers, and performers. 166 spiral-bound pages for easy opening.
This text, using a unique method founded on 5-note harmony, will help students, teachers, and pro players who need to know how to voice chords and harmonize a melody. Using a step-by-step approach resulting from the author's years of experience as a pianist, composer, arranger, and teacher, its guidelines will help each player develop his creative potential to the fullest.
In combination with his second book, "Jazz Improv: How To Play It And Teach It", which follows the evolution of jazz through a number of styles, it becomes a comprehensive treatise for learning the essentials of harmony and improvisation.
Hear NPR’s “Fresh Air” story on Jimmy, his life, his music, and his books.
Guitarist Kurt Rosewinkel, who studied with Amadie, said: "My greatest teacher, Jimmy Amadie, was a true inspiration both musically and spiritually. I had one year of piano lessons with him when I was 17 and he gave me my foundation of harmonic understanding of jazz on the piano....What he probably taught me most is the value and meaning of blessing others with solid instruction and to inspire them to transcend their own limits. I will always have Jimmy in my heart and I wish him a blessed journey onward from this plane."
More endorsements:
“If I had to choose just 2 books on Jazz harmony/improv out of all that I’ve bought and downloaded in the last 10 years, this one would have be one of them (The other would be J.Amadie’s book on Improv!)
It assumes nothing, it doesn’t beat around the bush, it cuts no corners, and every word written in it serves a purpose, and that purpose is immediately put to practice, not creating drills that might eventually help, but actually creating the thing itself (a palette of rich sounding fat chords that can be applied to any context) from the start.
One thing I liked is as he mentions in the book, the goal through the book is not to memorize voicings, but rather, to learn the thinking process behind creating them to harmonize melodies and learning to be aware of what can be created, to use mind and ear. That’s invaluable, I think: a book that teaches you to think in a way that you can freely create.
I’m not a piano player, ( i play trombone) and when I started on this book, I spent about two weeks just working on Exercise II, and it has been tremendous help.
Just from the Introduction of the book you can tell the dedication and standard of excellence that was poured into this. Really, thank you for such great work. It makes a huge difference for those of us that are always searching for a richer and more enjoyable way to understand and create music.”
“Philadelphia had (until his recent passing) been home to the quintesential Jazz Sensei/Guru, Dennis Sandole. Yet, in the shadows of Dennis's studio down town, this here city has another great sensei to offer the world...
It is impossible to play Jazz without learning how to use your tones... You need them to make chords, you need them to form solos, and until you have mastered them, entire world's of ideas will be beyond your reach. The irony of it all is, over any chord, there really aren't but 7 tones you can use.
This incredible book will take you step by step through that process of finding and putting them together. I have used it with myself, I use it with my students. Work through this book and never again will any voicing or chord seem too challenging to make, play or even solo over on the spot. It will improve your ability to use fake books, to make chord notations, and ultimately your hearing.
Jimmy Amadia may have re-invented the wheel, but he's done so brilliantly... and in a manner that leads to a brilliant economy of style, both in terms of learning and performance.”
“…Amadie came up with a blindingly simple conception of harmony and chord voicings, and then went on to develop an amazingly effective method of conveying the conception so that players were infinitely inventive and comping becomes as creative as a lead solo.
Here are some of the core concepts: There are only four chords: major, minor, minor 7th, and 7th (dominant). All chords that you might create turn out to be harmonically in one group or another. If you want, you can freak out about your favorite notation, but often you're not freaking about the notes, the harmony, or the voicing. Often, you're just stuck in what you call the chord.
Every voicing can be acheived with two notes in the left hand and three in the right. This system makes Amadie's approach work extremely well for players of other instruments who want to explore harmony on the piano or would like to be able to provide a little support on the piano. This is not a system that depends on piano chops.
All the wild and weird notes that you can add are . . . wait for the suspense . . . embellishments. That's it. Nothing fancier and nothing less.”
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inthemix/RIP-Jimmy-Amadie-Philadelphia-jazz-pianist-and-educator--.html#AaX1iVMGspBsf3AT.99
