Jazz Improvisation
by Gary Burton · Berklee College of Music
Five-module Coursera course from Berklee College of Music, taught by vibraphonist Gary Burton, treating improvisation as a language: chord scales for major, minor and dominant harmony, real-time scale choice, guide tones, and theme and variation. Players learn to build coherent solos over chord changes.
More resources on Jazz Improvisation
PianoGroove
Subscription site of structured video courses on jazz piano, covering chord voicings, jazz harmony, reharmonisation, comping, improvisation and tune arrangements, with sheet music for each lesson. Suited to adults who read basic notation; learners can voice lead-sheet chords and play standards in jazz style.
iReal Pro
Practice app for iOS, Android and Mac that plays realistic accompaniment from chord charts in dozens of styles, with a large community library of jazz standards and adjustable tempo and key. Musicians can rehearse improvisation, comping and tune learning with a virtual rhythm section.
The Jazz Handbook (Jamey Aebersold)
Aebersold's free 56-page 'red book' PDF: chord and scale nomenclature, the Scale Syllabus, ii-V-I patterns, practice procedures, a listening list and transcription advice. The reference sheet to keep on the music stand while working through everything else.
Hal Galper's Master Classes
Filmed masterclasses on the rhythmic side of improvising: forward motion, beat center, syncopation, time and tone, the illusion of an instrument. Galper attacks why players fail to swing despite correct note choices, and what to change in the practice room. Covers the dimension Levine and the Omnibook both omit: time.
Charlie Parker Omnibook, Volume 1 (C Instruments)
Sixty note-for-note transcriptions of Charlie Parker's recorded solos with chord symbols and metronome markings, plus streaming accompaniments. Working through these gives you bebop vocabulary in its original form - the source material jazz educators assign for learning the language. This is the reference transcription collection, universally assigned in jazz programs.
How to Improvise: An Approach to Practicing Improvisation
Hal Crook's method splits improvising into when to play, how to play and what to play, isolating one variable at a time - space, phrase length, dynamics, range, rhythmic density. Includes graded exercises and a sample daily practice schedule you can actually follow. Its 'one thing at a time' structure is a mental model, not a lick collection.