The Bluesier Side of Jazz for Alto Saxophone and Eb instruments by Andrew D. Gordon and Frank Villafranca was inspired by the piano students Andrew 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 & 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 file 30 audio tracks to play on your CD player or computer Over 200 mp3 files Over 200 MIDI files/ Recueil / Saxophone Alto

From best-selling author, John O'Neill, The Saxophone Method is a complete course for the beginner to intermediate saxophonist. Start by mastering the essential foundation skills required to be a great player in any style. With a wide range of tunes from all over the world you will be exposed to a great variety of musical styles to motivate and inspire.The mp3 backing tracks, available as free downloads, feature top professional musicians and will give you the feeling of playing in a great band from the very beginning.The Saxophone Method is supplemented by two Repertoire Books to give you even more music to practice and enjoy. By the end of the method you will be able to:- understand the fundamentals of good playing technique- have explored the full range of the instrument- be familiar with the most common rhythms- have a solid grounding in music theory- have the confidence to play with a real band in many different styles