When it comes to Jazz Theory, and music theory in general you have so much to learn,
that you must get yourself half a dozen of books to cover all major aspects,
"The Jazz Theory Book" by Mark Levine will just do.
This is one heavy book - 522 A4 pages, all chunked together by spiral of pure jazz.
The book covers just about everything you need as a jazz improviser and composer,
Mark speaks in very common language, you won't start off a chapter with "Take the
Aeolian b9 chord and reharmonize into several 1/32 notes ascending sequences", Mark
teaches you through the hard and easy, boring and fun parts of theory.
He starts off his book with a part on basic scales / chord theory, which will make you a
half-expert already, but then he moves on to the real deal: "From Scales To Music" which
he teaches you how to apply your theory.
The book is intended for piano players mostly, but I found I can do just fine on the chro
with it (although I took up a bit on keyboards in order to play background chords).
The book has over 750 musical examples from jazz tunes (with reference to them all).
Here are the some of Mark's word on the book and some reviews:
Jazz Theory
A great jazz solo consists of 1% magic
99% stuff that is:
Explainable
Analyzable
Categorizeable
Doable
This book is mostly about the 99% stuff.
There is no one single, all inclusive "jazz theory." In fact, that's why the subject is called jazz theory rather than jazz truth. The only truth is in the music itself. "Theory" is the little intellectual dance we do around the music, attempting to come up with rules so we can understand why Charlie Parker and John Coltrane sounded the way they did. There are almost as many "jazz theories" as there are jazz musicians.
Having said this, it's OK to come back to reality and state that there is a common thread of development in jazz theory, a thread that has evolved logically from the earliest days of jazz through Louis Armstrong, James P. Johnson, Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Bobby Hutcherson, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson, to Mulgrew Miller and beyond. All these musicians could have played with each other and understood one another, even though their terminology may have differed. Louis Armstrong recorded with Duke Ellington,^ Duke Ellington recorded with John Coltrane^ and all three sounded as though they enjoyed the encounters.
Charlie Parker once said "learn the changes and then forget them." As you study jazz theory, be aware of what your ultimate goal is in terms of what he said: to get beyond theory.
When you're listening to a great solo, the player is not thinking "II-V-I," "blues lick," "A A B A," "altered scale," and so forth. He or she has done that already, many years ago. Experienced musicians have internalized this information to the point that they no longer have to think about it very much, if at all. The great players have also learned what the chords and the scales look and feel like on their instrument. Be aware of what your eyes see and what your hands feel when you play. Do this just as much as you focus your mind on the mental stuff, and you'll get beyond theory-where you just flow with the music. Aim for that state of grace, when you no longer have to think about theory, and you'll find it much easier to tap into the magical 1%.
In order to reach this point of mastery, you'll have to think about-and practice-theory a great deal. That's the 99% part.
When you get it you won't regret it.
Highly recommended!
Omer Rauchwerger