These are the famous Jack Gale 24 Jazz Etudes (originally for Trombone), masterfully edited for Alto or Baritone Saxophone by Mike Titlebaum, Professor and Director of Jazz Studies at Ithaca College. This edition includes new and expanded insights on how to best play these fantastic and swinging etudes.
NOTE: When ordering these duets in PDF or hard copy format be sure to add the FREE MP3 download product here to your cart. It includes a phrasing tutorial, rhythm section play-alongs (original Jack Gale and newly recorded tracks produced by the editor) and tracks with solo instrument with rhythm section (original Jack Gale on Trombone and newly recorded tracks with Mike Titlebaum on Alto Sax).
- Harlem Express (C Major)
- Sunny Face (A Minor)
- Melon Dance (F Major)
- Minor Excursion (D Minor)
- Feelin' Kranky (Bb Major)
- The Meaning of Swing (G Minor)
- In High Groove (Eb Major)
- Sure Do! (C Minor)
- Hip Chick (Ab Major)
- Yes or No (F Minor)
- All for You (Db Major)
- Minor Major (Bb Minor)
- Bossa Babe (Gb Major)
- After Hours (Eb Minor)
- Be Rhythmic (B Major)
- Bossa Como Bonfá (G# Minor)
- Irreplaceable (E Major)
- Smiling at Me (C# Minor)
- Mellowing (A Major)
- Blue Stones (F# Minor)
- Rising Sea (D Major)
- Be Mine, Valentine (B Minor)
- Behave Yourself (C Major)
- Dinars (E Minor)
From Jack Gale...
The 24 etudes in this collection were written to serve three purposes: technical development, musical enjoyment, and jazz analysis. The intention was to provide exercises for basic jazz technique. All of the etudes are difficult in one way or another, and learning to play them well will develop speed, flexibility, and a sense of jazz phrasing. Each etude was designed to be enjoyable as a musical entity. Students of jazz improvisation may want to analyze the musical lines and their relationship to the harmonic base as an aid to creating their own jazz solos.
The pieces will work well played either alone or with rhythm accompaniment. They are based on common harmonic patterns and in order to cover as many scales and chords as possible, each major and minor key has been included. Since many common jazz tunes begin on minor chords and shortly move to the relative major or other tonalities, an effort has been made to include examples that largely remain in the minor keys.
To provide variety, several different rhythmic feels and tempos are called for. The basic jazz feel used in most of the etudes will be 12/8 with legato eighth notes. The Latin and rock lines should be played with straight eighths with a few noted exceptions. The ballads should also be played with straight eighths, and often they include a certain amount of double time which usually works best with straight sixteenths.
Because the chord changes are based on famous jazz tunes, the etudes can be used in actual jazz performance situations.
