Arranging & Composing

David Baker’s is impossible to overstate. A tremendous trombonist (he played with Miles and also played trombone and bass trombone in Quincy Jones’ band among other associations) he was also a great composer (composing and arranging for Quincy and for Dexter Gordon). On top of this he was a master educator. He taught none other than Freddie Hubbard and also taught Randy and Michael Brecker.This book is yet another example of his abilities as an educator. Simply a must read.

Edit, Update as of 10/17/12: I emailed Amazon regarding my difficulty reading the book on my kindle. Amazon got back to me and informed me they are refunding my purchase. 5 stars for Amazon's customer service.I'm going to use that credit to go towards my purchase of the hard copy of the book.___________________________My original post:I recommend if you buy this book, buy the hard copy.I've only spent 30 minutes with the book so this review is not about the content.This review is about the legibility of the 'diagrams'. On a kindle the font size can be changed but that does not affect the size of the diagrams displayed. On my kindle, the original with a 3&1/2" by 4&1/2" display, the diagrams are so small that much of the writing/notation on the diagrams is illegible. A kindle display is about 1/3 the size of the hard copy book. The book is full of diagrams all of which are too small to read.To see for yourself, go to page 2 in the look inside feature. The diagram there starts with "Chord Types". This diagram's font can't be changed on my kindle as it is an image. I can read the diagram in the 'look inside' feature on my laptop. On a kindle it is much smaller and I'm unable to read it.

This is a great book for the aspiring writer. It contains detailed information on melodic and harmonic construction, chord nomenclature, and extensive sections on how to write idiomatically for rhythm section and horns. Methods of handling 2, 3, 4, and 5 part voicings are covered in great detail.Though not a book for the beginner, any student with a rudimentary knowledge of scales, keys, and basic chords will find numerous practical applications. Highly recommended.

The book is great! Although Jazz doesn't follow rules ,Baker has written some wonderful thumb rules that ,in my opinion , will simplify writing & practising Jazz.the book is a step-by step book . first , you get to know the instruments charactaristics,their scoring ..etc .second,the melody line.third, the accompany chord.fourth , the piano trio..etcI am carefully studying the book , page by page. Every lesson needs a sufficient time to practise (through writing & playing). Until now , it has strengthened my sense of composing and made it more articulate.it might take you some time to get used to it.. but hey it's great if you adore JAZZ!

You will need some musical study behind you to suss out what is going on here. David Baker has choosen to include a great wealth of information in this text, and readibility at time suffers. Suggest that you have already read something like Mark Levine's jazz theory book before taking this on. There is no padding here or much in the way of explanatory notes, the book is mainly in point form with some musical examples (a study of these is probably more useful than further explanation in any case). As a professional musician and band leader of working small ensembles, I have found this work to be invaluable, giving me more practical tools and options to work with. Well worth the money.

This is the hardest book I have ever read on music.It is an intence study and wordy in places that will boggle the home-grown musician. It reccomends other study materials in every chapter which I dont know where anyone could find the time to practice thier instrument.It should come with CD's with playing examples. But in all the book has a wealth of useful information, and if you're willing to go to Juliard and you're sreious then the book is for you.

Seeking a useful text to share information with my teenager, this book did not win me over. I would not recommend it. I had issues with the completeness of information as provided in the lessons. Let me stress this is my opinion, you may see it differently but I would suggest you seek out a copy to review before making the purchase.

Really good book. I bought this to extend my arranging from saxophone quartet to 17 instrument band. It helped a lot.

A useful reference book with some good exercises in there. Essential information for writing for horn sections in various combos.

A very informative Jazz cursus due to the didactic mastery of the great David BakerNot only for jazz musicians: the David Baker approach could be usefull for song arrangers and musicians wantig to expand their musical vocabulary

Again, good to have another approach from an expert.