The Jazz Piano Player printable pdf download

The Jazz Piano Player

Jazz chords explained

John Kember is a composer, arranger, music teacher and former ABRSM examiner. His many

publications range through latin, jazz and pop music to classical and baroque, for a range of instruments

and abilities from solo piano to string quartet. He is well known for his imaginative approach to teaching

jazz technique, through publications such as The Jazz Piano Player and Jazz Piano Studies (formerly

Progressive Jazz Studies). Here he offers some advice for aspiring jazz pianists…

I remember the first time I volunteered

to play in a band. Considering myself a

Where to start?

competent pianist, I was totally lost as

the music put in front of me showed no

For a first approach most students – with a basic awareness of chords and arpeggios –

recognisable notation, just a few rhythmic

will figure out the notes required for a simple 8-chord sequence in C major.

suggestions and the chords to play using

just the symbols. Help! To aid aspiring jazz

C - G - Am - Em - F - C - F - G (etc.)

pianists, whether soloists, accompanists

or in an ensemble, I therefore came up with

And may well interpret as a series of triads in the right hand, with the bass note in the left

the idea for The Jazz Piano Player. Each of

– not altogether musical and probably breaking most rules of harmony! But given the

these initial two volumes, Stormy Weather

advice to move the chord on contrary motion to the movement of the bass line it may

and Autumn Leaves include 16 classic

become more acceptable:

jazz standards, presented in two different

formats. The first version of each song

includes the melody, lyrics and basic chord

structure, ideal for improvisation. The second

version is a full arrangement for piano solo,

suitable for intermediate level pianists.

By learning these chords the sounds will

become familiar, the chords more readily

understood and the shapes will begin to lie

But what the student needs to ‘see’ is the hidden, smooth (stepwise) movement the

more comfortably under the hands. All the

sequence offers.

songs are in their standard keys, enabling

pianists to play with other jazz musicians.

The sequence may well be recognised now and demonstrates the art and skill required to

make musical sense of the symbols. It involves learning to ‘voice’ the chords and to link

them as the composer intended, but while offering the player freedom to interpret in their

own way – similar to how the figured bass gave independence to the continuo player.

The jazz pianist needs to be able to negotiate their way through a sequence of seemingly

unrelated chords as smoothly as possible and with minimum movements of upper parts

and in doing so find the often chromatic line too.

First steps

Among the first sequences to master is the sequence of 7ths.

These can be found in songs such as:

Autumn Leaves

This sequence can also be found in the middle 8 of Try to remember (Harvey Schmidt);

There’s a small hotel (Richard Rodgers) and All the things you are (Jerome Kern).

The diminished 7th is frequently used as part of an ascending or descending chromatic

bass line, often between a root and 1st inversion chords.

The Jazz Piano Player

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