Mark Levine, and an update on my progress with the Paul Abrahams podcast

Paul Abrahams advised me via e-mail that I could take a look at the Mark Levine book vice the Mehegan series. I still believe the Mehegan series has the discipline needed to be versatile (e.g., commanding you to practice all songs in every key), but per Mr. Abrahams' advice, Levine is more instantly accessible to musicians. 

I bought the Levine book this afternoon at the local music shop in downtown Mountain View, CA.  Let's see if it lives up to the kudos of all who have reviwed it on Amazon.com....

Also, Paul is coming out with his own book shortly.  I have progressed through 7 of the podcasts (playing with Autmn Leaves this morning).  He clearly describes the use of shells with the left hand, and his step by step approach enables you to quickly learn the lesson.  Of particular benefit is his accompaniment, which deliberately plays around the parts you are required to play as the student.  It is a refreshingly effective way of getting students halfway around the world to understand some of the basic tenets of Jazz.  I will certainly write a review of his podcast on iTunes, but I want to get a couple more lessons under my belt in order to more completely descibe the experience.

Given the lesson on Autumn Leaves, I was compelled to mesh this tune with a rather obscure Amnerican television program theme from the 1960's.  I came up with the composite tune, Autumn Leaves Dark Shadows, with the Dark Shadows theme coming in after the second solo in the five section exercise Paul set forth.  Why Dark Shadows? When coming out of the second solo of Autumn Leaves, it sounds nice when begun on the IV.  Played through a couple of times (it isn't a long theme, only 8 bars) and then returning to the melody of Leaves has a nice effect.

Jazz Piano Teacher London

To augment my study of the Mehegan books, I have found a very good podcast by a professional keyboardist in London, Paul Abrahams.  His methodology general follows Mehegan, and his presentation is well-paced.  He may be contacted through his website.  I am through podcast #4, which is all review for me at my level of musicianship, but I am sure the lessons will become more complex.

The benefit here is that I can listen to this podcast at times when I don't have access to a piano.  Keeps the thinking going.

There are many music instruction podcasts available, and I intend to sample them from time to time.  So far I am very pleased with Paul's.