Updated 2023
Jazz Play-A-Longs or backing tracks is a system created by saxophonist Jamey Aebersold in the seventies.
They allow the student to play over a recording made by a rhythm section of well-known jazz musicians.
The most used series are those of Jamey Aebersold and Hal Leonard.
1
Jamey Aebersold
Jamey Aebersold´s Jazz Play-A-Long series are recorded by jazz musicians but they don´t play the melody of the jazz standard, just the harmony and rhythm.
The piano or the bass can be silenced with the sound balance.
The series can be found at:
Jamey Aebersold. Introduction.
Jamey Aebersold: Jazz Handbook Free Download
Recommended sequence
Jamey Aebersold: recommended sequence by scale or form:
| Major (bebop) scale | Vol. 24 CD1 | |
| Mixolydian (bebop) scale | Vol. 84 | |
| Dorian (bebop) scale | Vol. 24 CD2 | |
| Major (blues) Pentatonic scale | Vol. 24 CD1 | Vol. 42 |
| Minor (blues) pentatonic scale | Vol. 24 CD2 | Vol. 42 |
| Dominant blues | Vol. 2 | Vol. 42 |
| Major blues | Vol. 2 | |
| Minor blues | Vol. 2 | Vol. 57 |
Jamey Aebersold: recommended sequence by volume:
- JA Vol. 24 “Major & Minor”.
- JA Vol. 84 “Dominant 7th Workout”.
- JA Vol. 42 “Blues In All Keys”.
- JA Vol. 1 “How To Improvise”.
- JA Vol. 2 “Nothing But Blues”.
- JA Vol. 54 “Maiden Voyage”.
Jamey Aebersold. Free Download. Jazz Standards. PDF (10 pages).
2
Hal Leonard
In Hal Leonard´s Jazz Play-A-Long series each jazz standard has two tracks recorded by jazz musicians, in one of the tracks they play the melody of the jazz standard, this can´t be found in Jamey Aebersold´s series.
The piano or bass can be silenced with the sound balance.
The series can be found at:
Hal Leonard. Jazz Play-A-Long series. Introduction.
Hal Leonard. Jazz Play-A-Long series. Example.
Hal Leonard. Jazz Play-A-Long Series. Free Download. PDF (31 pages)
Jazz Scales: A Roadmap for Beginners
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