hi all i have only just started to discover jazz and would like advice on what and whom i can play on my saxophone i dont play well yet about grade 4 but enjoy the more jazz / swing pieces i am finding in the books i have .

hope this doesnt sound too daft

monkey

No it doesn't sound daft at all! I am a clarinet player but can highly recommend the Guest Spot Books - I started with the Classic Blues book and moved on from there. If you're not familiar with them, they come with a CD which has practise or play along tracks, where you play along with another clarinet (or sax in your case!) and then progress to playing with just the backing track. They are intermediate level (grade 4 - 6) but there is also a Junior Guest Spot series, which has simplified arrangements, which you could probably get your teeth into straight away. I buy mine online from musicroom.com and there is a whole series to go at, including jazz, blues, latin and swing. Have fun choosing!

thanks i hope they have a swing one i listen to you tube at lunch time and reallly liked the way swing sounded

thanks again monkey

Hi again,

There is a Swing one but I haven't got it. However, I do have 20 Jazz Greats, which I think contains a selection from the Blues/Jazz/Swing and Latin books and has some great Swing pieces in (Perdido, Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby etc!) - I'm fairly certain that the Sax book contains exactly the same! Another one which I have is Classic Jazz for Clarinet: (also available in exactly the same format for sax) and this too has a nice mix but no backing CD - ok if you have a band to play with, though! The arrangements in this book are simpler too, with easier keys. Another one which I don't have but want to look at is I Got Rhythm, which has backing tracks to play with. If you discover anything else do let me know!

I also play sax, and a really great place to start is with some Jamey Aebersold books. These books are fantastic for beginners and advanced player alike. Aebersold has written over 100 of these books which have had huge success. A good place to start would be with book 1: How to Play Jazz & Improvise. Here is a full list of all his play-a-longs: http://aebersold.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv...ory_Code=AEBALL

Hope this helps

I saw this post and just wanted to add that I have had the same series recommended to me by TSax on another thread. I now see that if you want to begin improvising straight away, the Guest Spot books are of limited value, particularly as they don't contain chord symbols. However, I do think they are a good introduction to the music and it is great fun playing along with the backing tracks!

I've recently bought the ABRSM Grade 1 level Jazz Clarinet and intend to look at the Aebersold series next. Although my classical playing is around Grade 5 - 6 standard, improvisation is not something I've done up to now and I suspect that I'm going to have to work at it! Hopefully, I can have some fun doing so!

Jazz is a language. Therefore the best way to learn to play it is to listen, listen and listen some more! Find a favourite player and mimic him/her. That's how all the greats did it. They didn't have books, they had records and live gigs and used their ears.

Find a jazz saxophone compilation CD - there are plenty about - and then explore the player(s) that appealed to you most.

There's no short cut. It's a journey and half the fun is getting there!