Review

Dale Cheal
Doodles: Exercises for Mastering Jazz Trombone:

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Publisher: Ufonium Music/Jamey Aebersold Jazz
Date of Publication: 2005

173 pages

Primary Genre: Jazz Material - method
Secondary Genre: Jazz Material - etude

This is a long, 173 page collection of scales and lip building exercises. They are accompanied by 58 selected studies performed by Cheal on compact disc at moderate tempos. The book includes numerous modes, arpeggios, and original exercises, each of which runs through all tonal centers. Range is not a major concern and is well within the province of a reasonably accomplished player. Other jazz trombone books cover specific areas touched upon by Cheal, such as the whys and wherefores of jazz theory, across the grain playing, lip slurs, doodle tonguing and the like. To fit the needs of an all-purpose source, however, one is hard-pressed to find a better all-in-one collection of technical and improvisational study.

-Joel Elias
Sacramento State University