Kawai Piano Prices: Jazz Improvisation 4: Contemporary Piano Styles [Paperback] Review

This is the last in a series of four volumes created between 1959 and 1965 by jazz pianist and instructor John Mehegan. The complete set is of the utmost historical importance for anyone with a serious interest in jazz piano. Before Mehegan, no other author had succeeded in unlocking themysteries of jazz piano and then communicating them to a mass audience in aclear and cogent manner.
Volume 4's "contemporary" stylesinclude such jazz giants as Oscar Peterson, Horace Silver and Bill Evans.In Mehegan's view, these three were the primary architects of modern jazzpiano.
At the very beginning of the book is a note-for-note transcriptionof Bill Evans' classic "Peri's Scope." Serious jazz pianostudents will want to memorize or "cop" this performance in itsentirety, since it encompasses so many of Evans' stylistic innovationswithin one comparatively short space.
The "meat and potatoes"foundation of this volume is the series of chord-like clusters Meheganrefers to as "A" and "B" voicings. One set of voicingsderives from Chopin, the other from Ravel. For accompaniment or"comping," these are played in the right hand with single bassnotes or "root seven" intervals played in the left. For soloing,they are played in the left hand.
This volume goes on to describemelodies voiced in "block" chords as developed by pianist GeorgeShearing, and then outlines a solo piano architecture based on the A and Bvoicings [arguably prescient, anticipating the solo piano renaissance thatoccurred during the '80s].
The book's primary flaw -- one which persiststhroughout the serie -- is its unfortunate allegiance to the concept of"figured bass" used within traditional music theory instruction.Indeed, there is a conspicuous overall effort throughout the series to"suck up" to academia, but this is a forgivable byproduct of anage when traditional academia persisted in viewing jazz as something toovulgar and intellectually impovershed to merit acceptance within hallowedacademic environs. -- Cortland Kirkeby

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Product Description:
This is a survey of the development of jazz piano from 1950 to the present, with many illustrations of left-hand chord voicings, right-hand modes, turnarounds, harmonic distortions, blues and modal fragments.