IntermediateClarinetJazzBlues

Exploring Jazz Clarinet, by Ollie Weston

Name: Exploring Jazz Clarinet, by Ollie Weston
Brand: MusicGurus
Author: Ollie Weston

Ollie Weston

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Modules184

Replay songs49

InstrumentClarinet

LanguageEnglish

Contents (184 modules, 49 replay)

- 01. Starting Out
- 02. What is Jazz?
- 03. Improvisation
- 04. The Clarinet in Jazz
- 05. Notation
- 06. Chapter Content
- 07. Sample Solos
- 08. Backing Tracks
- 09. Practice
- 01. The Blues
- 02. Leavin’ Town
- 03. Intervals
- 04. Tones and Semitones
- 05. The Blues Scale
- 06. Swing Quavers
- 07. Song Form
- 08. 12-Bar Blues
- 09. Head and Solos
- 10. The 12-Bar Blues Chord Progression
- 11. Improvising
- 12. Sample Solo – Leavin’ Town
- 01. Chords and Passing Tones
- 02. Major Seventh Workout
- 03. The 12-Key Dilemma
- 04. Embellishing Simple Phrases
- 05. Expanding Your Major Seventh Chord Repertoire
- 06. Pentatonics in Pop
- 07. Using the Blues
- 08. Blue Note Resolution
- 09. Major 7th Heaven
- 10. Lead Sheets
- 01. Major and Minor Keys
- 02. The Minor Seventh Chord
- 03. Minor Seventh Chord Passing Tones
- 04. Minor Scale Variations
- 05. Dorian Mode / Minor Seventh Chord Workout
- 06. The Minor Pentatonic Scale
- 07. Relative Major / Minor
- 08. Minor Pentatonic Patterns
- 09. Using the Blues over Minor Sevenths
- 10. Triplets
- 11. Miles Davis – Kind of Blue
- 12. So Far, So Good
- 01. Creating a Seventh Chord
- 02. The Tritone Interval
- 03. The Mixolydian Mode
- 04. The Seventh Chord in the 12-Bar Blues
- 05. Thirds and Sevenths of the 12-Bar Blues
- 06. The Major Vs. Minor Triad in the Blues
- 07. Sonny’s Blues
- 08. Major and Minor Triad
- 09. The Last Four Bars of the Progression
- 01. Pearly White
- 02. Half-Time Feel
- 03. Pearly White – Sample Solo
- 04. Jazz / Funk
- 05. Down To It
- 06. Down To It – Sample Solo
- 01. Diatonic and Chromatic
- 02. Modes of the Major Scale
- 03. Modal Workout
- 04. Modes from a Static Root
- 05. Use of Modes in Jazz and Popular Music
- 06. First Impression
- 01. The Perfect Cadence
- 02. The Cycle of Fifths
- 03. Dominant Seventh Chords with the Cycle of Fifths
- 04. The Perfect Cadence in Jazz
- 05. II-V-I
- 06. II-V-I Licks
- 07. Licks in All Keys
- 08. Dancing With Duke – Head
- 09. Dancing With Duke – Sample Solo
- 10. Dancing With Duke – Guide Tones
- 01. Relative Major and Minor
- 02. Melodic and Harmonic Minor
- 03. Leading Note within the Dominant Seventh Chord
- 04. The Harmonic Minor Scale in Minor Cadences
- 05. Minor V7-Im7
- 06. Minor V7-I in Twelve Keys
- 07. Minor V7-I Lick
- 08. Minor Cadences in Jazz Progressions
- 09. The Minor Seven, Flat Five Chord
- 10. Autumn Sun
- 11. Feel and Swing
- 12. Autumn Sun – Sample Solo
- 13. Using the Dorian Mode on Root Minor Seventh Chords
- 14. Play Your Own Version
- 01. Among the Stars
- 02. The Head
- 03. Using Chords III and VI
- 04. III-VI-II-V-I Progression
- 05. The Solo
- 06. Expanding a Chord Progression
- 07. The II7 Chord
- 08. Undying Love – Head
- 09. Rhythmic Exercise
- 10. Turnarounds
- 11. Take the Express Train
- 12. Modulation to Chord Four
- 13. Rhythmic Exercise
- 01. 52nd St. Blues
- 02. Chromaticism
- 03. Articulation
- 04. The Chord Progression
- 05. The Bebop Scale
- 06. Playing the Solo
- 07. Bebop Soloing
- 08. Quoting from the Written Solo
- 01. Flying with the Bird
- 02. Rhythm Changes
- 03. The Head
- 04. The Solo
- 05. Latin Music
- 06. The Bass
- 07. Super Nova
- 08. Ballads
- 09. Sleepless Eyes
- 10. Blues Shuffle
- 11. Times Square Shuffle
- 01. What Now?
- 02. Further study
- 03. Transcription
- 04. Real Books
- 05. Transposition
- 01. The 1920s – Early Days
- 02. The 1930s – The Big Bands (Swing Era)
- 03. The 1940s and 50s – Bebop
- 04. The Mid 1950s – Hardbop
- 05. The 1960 – Modal jazz and Beyond
- 06. The Late 1960s and 70s – Soul Jazz and Fusion
- 07. The 1980s onwards
- 08. Selected Biographies
- 01. Index
- 02. Track Listings
- 01. Leavin Town
- 02. Leavin Town (Bluesed Up)
- 03. Write Your Own 12-Bar Blues
- 04. Leavin Town Sample Blues Solo
- 05. Major Seventh Workout (Fig 2.5a)
- 06. Major Seventh Workout (Fig 2.5c)
- 07. Major Seventh Workout (Fig 2.5b)
- 08. Major 7th Heaven
- 09. Dorian Minor 7 Workout (Fig 3.4a)
- 10. Dorian Minor 7 Workout
- 11. Dorian Minor 7 Workout (Fig 3.4b)
- 12. Dorian Minor 7 Workout (Fig 3.4c)
- 13. So Far, So Good (Fig 3.15a)
- 14. Sample Solo (Fig 3.16b)
- 15. Mixolydian Workout (Fig 4.5a)
- 16. Mixolydian Workout (Fig 4.5b)
- 17. Mixolydian Workout (Fig 4.5c)
- 18. Sonnys Blues (Fig 4.13)
- 19. Pearly White (Fig 5.1)
- 20. Down To It (Fig 5.3)
- 21. Modal Workout
- 22. Modal Progression from Static Root
- 23. First Impression
- 24. Unresolved Ending (Fig 7.3a)
- 25. Unresolved Ending (Fig 7.3b)
- 26. Dominant Chord Guide Tones
- 27. Guide-Tone Line Swing Rhythm (Fig 7.7)
- 28. Guide-Tone Line Swing Rhythm (Fig 7.8)
- 29. II-V-I in Twelve Keys
- 30. Dancing With Duke Head
- 31. Minor V7-I in Twelve Keys
- 32. Minor V7-Im Lick
- 33. Diatonic Chord Progression
- 34. Autumn Sun
- 35. Among the Stars
- 36. Undying Love A Section
- 37. Undying Love A Section with I7
- 38. Undying Love Head
- 39. Take the Express Train A Section
- 40. Take the Express Train Expanded
- 41. I-III-VI-II-V-I
- 42. Take the Express Train Head
- 43. 52nd St. Blues Head
- 44. II-V-I to C7
- 45. 52nd St. Blues Sample Solo
- 46. Flying with the Bird
- 47. Super Nova
- 48. Sleepless Eyes
- 49. Times Square Shuffle

About this songbook

If you can already read notes and simple rhythms on B♭ clarinet, Exploring Jazz Clarinet shows you how to start speaking real jazz - with the sounds, shapes, and feel that make the style come alive. You’ll begin with essential foundations like the blues scale and core chord types, then move into the concepts that power jazz solos: modes, cadences, and the II-V-I language that turns “notes” into lines. The opening chapters are deliberately exercise-heavy (scales and patterns) so your fingers and ears catch up with the harmony, and the later chapters lean into style and improvisation with more tunes to play along with and develop your own sound.

You’ll also work directly on feel - including how swing quavers are typically not written out, and how to lock into swing with practical cues and listening-led practice (“It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing!”).

Many chapters include sample solos (improvised in the tune’s style) to help you internalize chord progressions and vocabulary, and the book points you toward listening and clarinet greats throughout.

Recorded play-along material is a core part of the method: the Track Listings include a dedicated set of Audio Backing Tracks for tunes like Major 7th Heaven, Dancing With Duke, 52nd St. Blues, and more. Start now - press play and learn, then come back and build your own solos with the same musical ingredients jazz players actually use.

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Meet the Guru

Ollie Weston

Since graduating from the Leeds College of Music (BA Hons) and the Guildhall School of Music (Post Graduate Diploma in Performance), Ollie has built a busy and varied career in music. As a saxophonist he has performed in live and studio settings with artists as diverse as Amy Winehouse, Tim Minchin, Bonobo, Frank Turner, the London Jazz Orchestra, the Hackney Colliery Band, the Ambient Jazz Ensemble and the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. He is also the co-leader of the jazz quartet 'Time Is Of The Essence', and composes and arranges material for this and other ensembles.

Ollie is active in music education, currently as course leader for the jazz department at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (junior school), where he runs jazz ensembles, big band and theory classes. He has written a series of 'Exploring Jazz' books for Schott Music that are published worldwide and feature on exam syllabuses in the UK. Ollie has also run workshops for Oxford University, Pro Corda Strings and BABSWE, as well as the Guildhall School of Music summer schools.

In his Exploring Jazz Saxophone courses, Ollie takes you from getting started right through to soloing confidently over songs and chord sequences, building the improvising skills that put a real jazz player's vocabulary at your fingertips.

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Published with

Schott Music

Founded by Bernhard Schott in Mainz in 1770, Schott Music is one of Europe's oldest and largest music publishers, with a catalogue of more than 30,000 titles. Over its 250-year history Schott has issued first editions of Mozart, Beethoven and Wagner, championed 20th-century voices from Hindemith and Schoenberg to Ligeti and Henze, and today publishes sheet music, books and educational materials from offices in Mainz, London, New York, Tokyo and beyond.

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