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JolyBook Major Music Books

Critical reading notes on major books of music theory, composition, rhythm, ethnomusicology, and jazz improvisation.

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The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization: Tonal Gravity as Practice

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Published Jun 13, 2026, 9:00 AM

Published

Read Russell as a practical ear-training system for tonal gravity, not only as a Lydian scale shortcut.

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Technique de mon langage musical: Messiaen as a Composition Toolkit

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Published Jun 13, 2026, 9:00 AM

Published

Use Messiaen's treatise as a working palette for modes, non-retrogradable rhythm, color, resonance, and form.

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Studies in African Music: Polyrhythm, Ensemble Logic, and Listening Discipline

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Published Jun 13, 2026, 9:00 AM

Published

Approach Jones as a dense archive of ensemble rhythm, interlocking parts, and transcription problems.

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Metamorphosis: Transformation of the Jazz Solo as a Practice Lens

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Published Jun 13, 2026, 9:00 AM

Published

Treat solo transformation as a disciplined process: motif, variation, displacement, register, harmony, and form.

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George Van Eps Guitar Books: Harmonic Mechanisms for the Fretboard

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Published Jun 13, 2026, 9:00 AM

Published

Read Van Eps as a serious musicological theory of guitar polyphony: mechanisms, voice independence, inversional pathways, chordal morphology, and fretboard counterpoint.

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Godel, Escher, Bach: Strange Loops as Musical Thinking

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Published Jun 13, 2026, 9:00 AM

Published

Read Hofstadter through music: canon, recursion, self-reference, formal rules, and emergent meaning.

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Complete Book of Harmony: Bret Willmott for Working Musicians

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Published Jun 13, 2026, 9:00 AM

Published

Use Willmott as a practical harmony map: chord quality, function, voice leading, substitutions, voicing families, and application.

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Patterns for Jazz: Vocabulary, Sequence, and Ear-Led Fluency

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Published Jun 13, 2026, 9:00 AM

Published

Read Patterns for Jazz as a disciplined vocabulary laboratory: sequence, transposition, articulation, and musical placement.

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David Baker Books: Bebop Language, Pedagogy, and Jazz Craft

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Published Jun 13, 2026, 9:00 AM

Published

Use David Baker as a complete jazz craft curriculum: language, rhythm, analysis, teaching method, and historical accountability.

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Miles: The Autobiography: Sound, Persona, and Band Leadership

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Published Jun 13, 2026, 9:00 AM

Published

Read Miles Davis autobiographically and musically: sound, decision-making, band chemistry, risk, taste, and reinvention.

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Jerry Bergonzi Inside Improvisation Vol. 1: Melodic Structures

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Published Jun 13, 2026, 9:00 AM

Published

Read Bergonzi Vol. 1 as a focused practice system for small interval cells, triadic shapes, and four-note structures that can move through changing harmony.

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Jerry Bergonzi Inside Improvisation Vol. 2: Pentatonics

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Published Jun 13, 2026, 9:00 AM

Published

Read Bergonzi Vol. 2 as a focused practice system for five-note collections used as modern melodic engines over static harmony, dominant color, modal vamps, and substitutions.

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