The Bluesier Side of Jazz for Tenor Saxophone and Bb instruments by Andrew D. Gordon and Frank Villafranca was inspired by the piano students he teaches at Shepherd University School of Music in Los Angeles and is dedicated to those students: Jungwon Yumiko Yoko Eunice Sooji Hae Ji and Ok Kyu. As with many students that come from a classical background it is a difficult transition to learn to play Blues and Jazz. When a musician improvises they usually play a variety of riffs or phrases that they have developed and learnt over a period of time and can access these phrases instantaneously whatever key they are playing in to create a seamless improvisedsolo from the phrases they have learnt.Andrew's idea for this book is to create phrases or riffs over two measures of various Blues progressions. He sub-divided each of the 12 Bar Blues progressions used in this book (the chord progression for Watermelon Man is a 16 measure progression) into six sections (two measures each) and within each of the six sections created four different phrases or riffs so that the student has a choice of four different phrases to play over every two measures. They can then create a solo based on which phrase they choose for each two measures. By breaking down these phrases to two measures each he has found that the students have an easier time of learning to improvise than by trying to transcribe a whole solo from an audio recording or leaving them to their own devices in trying to play a solo based on the Blues scale or other related scales.Each of the ten examples are based on common Jazz/Blues chord progressions from Jazz songs such as 'Watermelon Man' 'Blue Monk' 'Tenor Madness' 'Route 66' 'Blue Trane' 'Bag's Groove' starting off with basic I-IV-V chords and increasing in complexity throughout the book. There are over 200 phrases/riffs to choose from that can be learned and applied to many types of jazz songs.The package includes:Book or PDF file30 audio tracks to play on your CD player or computerOver 200 mp3 filesOver 200 MIDI files

The Blues Scale for Tenor Saxophone and Bb instruments by Andrew D. Gordon is he feels one of his most important books because of the nature of the blues scale and how it is used to improvise in many styles of contemporary music. This book contains 20 grooves in 13 styles: Pop: 2 Grooves Rock: 3 Grooves Blues: 2 Grooves Jazz: 1 Groove Funk: 3 Grooves RandB: 1 Groove Latin: 1 Groove Gospel: 2 Grooves New Age: 1 Groove Reggae: 1 Groove Calypso: 1 Groove Acid-Jazz: 1 Groove Country: 1 Groove In The BluesScale For Tenor Saxophone And Bb Instruments the blues scale and relative minor blues scale are covered in detail. This book explains how they are used either separately or together in the patterns for each style (the relative minor blues scale is generally not used in minor keys). Each of the 20 grooves in this book contains over 150 patterns in total using notes solely from the blues scale. Each groove utilizes a chord progression that is commonly used for that style of music. The patterns generally start off fairly simply and become more complex as the groove progresses. The audio files contain recordings of all the blues patterns that are notated in the book featuring a rhythm section of Piano Organ Guitar Bass and Drums. Also included are extended 2-3 minute play-a-long MP3 files of all 20 grooves enabling you to practice playing the blues patterns or creating your own for an extended period of time. MIDI files are also available. Watch the video below for more information.