Jazz Improvisation No.4 Mehegan: Contemporary Piano Styles

Mehegan's writing taught me rootless voicings back in the 1960s. He was the first to catalog this style of chord formation, developed by Red Garland, Wynton Kelly, Ahmad Jamal, and Bill Evans -- a style learned today by every serious jazz pianist. Bill Evans appreciated this book enough to write the (short) introduction to it. But it won't teach you how to play jazz. It's a book for musicians, an invaluable reference to the "A" and "B" rootless piano voicings. Apply them as a vital ingredient in your playing, and you'll sound like a pro.

This is the last in a series of four volumes created between 1959 and 1965 by jazz pianist and instructor John Mehegan. The complete set is of the utmost historical importance for anyone with a serious interest in jazz piano. Before Mehegan, no other author had succeeded in unlocking the mysteries of jazz piano and then communicating them to a mass audience in a clear and cogent manner.Volume 4's "contemporary" styles include such jazz giants as Oscar Peterson, Horace Silver and Bill Evans. In Mehegan's view, these three were the primary architects of modern jazz piano.At the very beginning of the book is a note-for-note transcription of Bill Evans' classic "Peri's Scope." Serious jazz piano students will want to memorize or "cop" this performance in its entirety, since it encompasses so many of Evans' stylistic innovations within one comparatively short space.The "meat and potatoes" foundation of this volume is the series of chord-like clusters Mehegan refers to as "A" and "B" voicings. One set of voicings derives from Chopin, the other from Ravel. For accompaniment or "comping," these are played in the right hand with single bass notes or "root seven" intervals played in the left. For soloing, they are played in the left hand.This volume goes on to describe melodies voiced in "block" chords as developed by pianist George Shearing, and then outlines a solo piano architecture based on the A and B voicings [arguably prescient, anticipating the solo piano renaissance that occurred during the '80s].The book's primary flaw -- one which persists throughout the serie -- is its unfortunate allegiance to the concept of "figured bass" used within traditional music theory instruction. Indeed, there is a conspicuous overall effort throughout the series to "suck up" to academia, but this is a forgivable byproduct of an age when traditional academia persisted in viewing jazz as something too vulgar and intellectually impovershed to merit acceptance within hallowed academic environs. -- Cortland Kirkeby