Jamey Aebersold
| Jamey Aebersold | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Wilton Jameson Aebersold |
| Born |
July 21, 1939 New Albany, Indiana |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Educator, publisher |
| Instruments | Saxophone |
| Years active | 1967–present |
| Website | www |
Wilton Jameson "Jamey" Aebersold (born July 21, 1939 in New Albany, Indiana) is an American music educator and publisher. His "Play-A-Long" series of instructional book and CD collections, using the chord-scale system, the first of which was released in 1967, are an internationally renowned resource for jazz education. As of 2013[update], 133 of these collections have been published by Aebersold, who taught musical improvisation at the University of Louisville for a number of years. He is also an adept pianist, alto saxophonist, bassist, and banjoist.
Most of the volumes in Aebersold's "Play-A-Long" series feature a selection of 10-12 jazz standards, though some focus on scales, standardized chord progressions (like the blues), or original compositions by Aebersold's collaborators. The books contain charts for the tunes in question, transposed as necessary for instruments in C, B-flat, E-flat, and bass clef. The recordings normally feature a professional rhythm section (typically piano, bass, and drums, occasionally including guitar) performing an improvised accompaniment (or "comping") to each song. Melody instruments like saxophone and trumpet are omitted, enabling a jazz student to practice playing the song's melody, and improvising over the song's chord changes, with accompaniment. The piano and bass tracks are typically panned to opposite channels, so that a pianist or bassist can easily omit the recorded piano or bass part by muting the appropriate channel.
Perhaps the most well-known feature of the "Play-A-Long" series is Aebersold's distinctive voice, which counts off the tempo for each track on most Aebersold recordings.
For over 50 years, Aebersold has also run "Summer Jazz Workshop" sessions at the University of Louisville (Louisville, Kentucky). Many leading educators and performers have served as Workshop faculty. The week-long event is billed as a place to learn jazz through hands-on experience, and provides an intensive learning environment for musicians of widely varying ages and levels. The standard Workshop curriculum includes master classes, ear-training sessions, jazz theory classes from beginning to advanced, and concerts by faculty.
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Wikipedia