Steve Crowell's "Jazz Standards in Chord Melody Style" series

I have had Steve Crowell's "Jazz Standards in Chord Melody Style" volumes 1, 2 and 3 for ages. If you are a student and you are interested in playing chord melodies, this is a very accessible and attractive series in chord studies. The books have both chord diagrams and standard notation for every standard. Though I'm not sure playing prefab chord melodies necessarily qualifies as "jazz", Steve's books do provide an excellent series in chord studies so you can get your own thing going later. Though there are some (performance) notes for each tune, there is little to no theory involved. Tunes range from easy to intermediate.

Over the years I have been playing tunes from this series over and over again and though some are not that easy, they provide good insights into chord melody playing. I recorded a few of them over the years and I decided to make a compilation of 7 tunes. What I found on my hard drive I simply glued together. Some of the older vids are way over 10 years old so the quality of the sound and image is not very consistent with the more recent ones. I did not have a good camera at the time. And you will see a much younger Dutchbopper at work ...

 The samples are incomplete for copyright reasons.

By the way, I think the series has been updated with TABS these days. The old copies I have only have chord boxes and standard notation. The samples you see here are probably not what you find in the current series anymore.

For ordering a book in this series click here. Below I added an overview of the standards in each book.






Steven Crowell - Jazz Standards In Chord Melody Style - Vol 1 - Book and CD

Each volume contains 9 chord melody solos loaded with numerous compositional devices! Includes: "Bluesette, Here's That Rainy Day, Cute, Girl Talk, Misty, Satin Doll, Moonlight In Vermont, Moonlight Serenade, Have You Met Miss Jones".

Steven Crowell - Jazz Standards In Chord Melody Style - Vol 2 - Book and CD
Each volume contains 9 chord melody solos loaded with numerous compositional devices! Includes: "On Green Dolphin Street, The Girl From Ipanema, How High The Moon, One Note Samba, Look For The Silver Lining, The Shadow Of Your Smile, Polka Dots And Moonbeams, Wave, Witchcraft".

Steven Crowell - Jazz Standards In Chord Melody Style - Vol 3 - Book and CD
Each volume contains 9 chord melody solos loaded with numerous compositional devices! Includes: "Autumn Leaves, Meditation, Once In A While, You Are The Sunshine Of My Life (Stevie Wonder), Sophisticated Lady, A Prelude To A Kiss, Lil' Darlin', How Deep Is Your Love (The Bee Gees), We're All Alone (Anne Murray)".

Steven Crowell - Jazz Standards In Chord Melody Style - Vol 4 - Book and CD
Each volume contains 9 chord melody solos loaded with numerous compositional devices! Includes: "Sweet And Lovely, The Way You Look Tonight, Don't Get Around Much Anymore, Dancing On The Ceiling, Too Marvelous For Words, Ain't Misbehavin', Delta Blues, Ferris Wheel Rag, Fly Me To The Moon".