What is your favorite book on jazz harmony?

**Rick5** · 02-17-2024, 10:34 AM

Mine is (by a very wide margin) The Jazz Harmony Book by David Berkman. 15 stars out of 10!

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**Bop Head** · 02-17-2024, 11:01 AM

I have two:

"Jazz Theory: a creative approach" by Stan Kenton (foreword by Teddy Wilson)
"Grundlagenharmonik" by Werner Pöhlert, 6. edition from 2000

**Reg** · 02-17-2024, 12:12 PM

Originally Posted by Rick5

Mine is (by a very wide margin) The Jazz Harmony Book by David Berkman. 15 stars out of 10!

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Yea... totally agree. I remember when book came out... I pushed it here. It's great somewhat simple approach to actually be able to play jazz without too mush BS. And he can actually play...LOL

**Bop Head** · 02-17-2024, 02:41 PM

I have to mention two more:

Philippe Baudoin: "Jazz: mode d'emploi.", especially vol. 1 (of two)*)
Our Alan Kingstone's Barry Harris guitar method book was one of the things that helped me understand Barry's harmonic method better.

*) in French unfortunately;

The Pöhlert I mentioned above is in German, but you might find a used copy of the English translation of an older edition called "Basic Harmony", not sure if the latter includes several books by Pöhlert like the edition I mentioned above.

**JGinNJ** · 02-17-2024, 09:17 PM

I don't know if it's my favorite, 'cause I only have one, and just bought it at a used bookstore yesterday, but "Jazzology", a Hal Leonard textbook by Robert Rawlins and Nor Eddine Bahha, seems very complete.

It starts from the basics, quickly gets into jazz chords, scales and modes, on to structures, reharms, etc.. It's billed as being for all instruments, though it seems piano oriented. So far I'm using it for review and filling in some gaps, but it looks like further into it, it will cover stuff I should have learned in college (if I wasn't studying electronics!).

**sgcim** · 03-28-2024, 06:44 PM

I got the most from a book called Inside Outside by Reese Markevich a long time ago. I don't know where you could find it now. It's OOP.

**Jimmy blue note** · 03-29-2024, 06:20 AM

I was brought up old school on Vincent Persichetti's Twentieth Century Harmony which gave me a foundation beyond the traditional boundries of jazz and gave me fluency in language that is untapped in even the most out players. Solid groundwork.
And Dave Leibman's A Chromatic Approach to Harmony and Melody is an excellent complement to the Persichetti. Leibman has an approach that is comprehensive enough to cover any treatment of the 12 notes in a context that paves the way for total harmonic/melodic freedom. It's a must have in my book.

These two books aren't jazz specific as far as a step by step to understanding how to play jazz, but are, rather volumes that will be a lifelong companion to what you can do as an evolving and advancing guitarist.

**Christian Miller** · 03-29-2024, 06:43 AM

OP - what do you mean by jazz harmony? Further context needed…

That said I probably wouldn’t be much help anyway because I didn’t really learn ‘jazz harmony’ from a book. I’m not sure there are books on a lot of the stuff I found most helpful.

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