A little while ago I got a question about jazz books for learning saxophone –

Dear Neal

What are the 10 most crucial Jazz Oriented Sax Method Books/.DVDs/Video,,?

Whats good whats crap,,,

My Best
Dave Doyle

Neal:

1. The Music Lesson – by Victor Wooten. This book changed my perspective on music in a very good way.

2. Jackie McLean Warm-up has scales and arpeggios across the range of the saxophone. I practice them with a metronome pretty much every day.

3. Lennie Niehaus Etudes Books – helped me a lot with phrasing

Basic Lennie Niehaus Jazz Conception

Intermediate Lennie Niehaus Jazz Conception

4. Bop Duets- cool duets book

5. The Real Book: Sixth Edition (in C)
– not exactly a method book, but great resource for learning jazz tunes
The Real Book (B Flat, Sixth edition – for soprano/tenor
The Eb Real Book, Sixth Edition – for alto/bari

6. For all instruments-The Jazz Theory Book. It helps if you play some piano.

7. Patterns For Improvisation By Oliver Nelson. It has stuff Oliver Nelson really played.

8. Charlie Parker: Charlie Parker Omnibook – E-flat (for altos/bari) or Charlie Parker: Charlie Parker Omnibook – B-flat (for tenor/soprano)

9. Basic Aebersold Play-Alongs- Volume 54 – Maiden Voyage. Has some great tunes, simplified a little bit.

10. Volume 16 – Turnarounds, Cycles & ii/V7s since this chord progression comes up so much in music.

Plus a couple more books I like:

Intermediate/Advanced Aebersolds- Volume 64 – Salsa Latin Jazz,

Not jazz, but useful-

Art of Saxophone Playing – Overall has a lot of important information about playing saxophone.