The Polytonal
Rhythm Series
Emile De Cosmo
As long as I have been interested in jazz improvisation and
the saxophone I have seen adds in Downbeat and other magazines
that said "Develop Big Ears". While in high school
I had the opportunity to attend one of Emile De Cosmo's master
classes at a local summer jazz festival where the author made
his first impact on me.
Recently I had the opportunity to look over some of the books
in Emile De Cosmo's Polytonal Rhythm Series and it was refreshing
to look at "shedding" in a new light. The series
begins with The Dianonic Cycle and continiues with studies
in all aspects of the scales used in jazz improvisation. More
recently Emile De Cosmo has added the well-known Woodshedding
Source Book published through Hal Leonard. The newer series
does not negate the use of the Polytonal Rhythm Series but
does add a Cd with tracks to practice along with.
"This is the book you need to graduate from just playing
scales to creating tasteful melodic ideas from them. It systematically
provides the notes and scales to use with what chords along
with rhthmical ideas. You gradually build up a vocabulary
of rhthmical and melodic possibilities, all the time playing
along with the CD backing tracks. This is a unique study and
a solution to the question of "How do I make scales sound
like music? I want to learn to solo, what notes can I use,
etc"
The first book I had a chance to work with and practice was
the Blues Scale from the original series. What impressed me
most was the volume of material provided for only a few dollars.
Page one of the Blues Scale will take nearly 30 minutes to
complete at m.m.=60. There are litteraly hours and hours of
practice material in just this one book of a dozen or more
in the series.
Although the series is intended for improvisors of all levels,
I find the books in the series to be outstanding warm up material
on the saxophone. Just sightreading the examples on page one
and then applying them to 33 different rhythmic variations
was more of a task than I anticipated! Yes a task, but well
worth the investment of my time.
In Emile De Cosmo's own words, "there are no shortcuts"
to learning jazz improvisation. His books and cds will provide
you with countless hours of challenging, eye and ear-opening
practice.
To order directly: Emile De Cosmo 3944 49th Avenue South
St. Petersburg, Florida 33711 (727)906-9294 E-mail:bigears23@earthlink.net
This material was reviewed by Skip Spratt
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