Jim’s Jazz Piano Lessons | Jim Funnell • Funnelljazz publishing • AfuriKo productions

Do you want to be able to sit in at a jam session anywhere in New York or in your hometown? Be admitted to a jazz school or music college? Build a solid repertoire, become proficient at playing standards, write tunes, and maybe put your own band together or feel comfortable joining an existing outfit?

I’m thankful that I’ve had the opportunity to go through all of these exciting steps in the life of a musician myself, and I’m definitely looking forward to sharing this experience with you! I began to learn jazz piano in Paris (France) as a teenager, and later attended Berklee College of Music in Boston on a full tuition scholarship. I recently moved to New York City to continue to grow as an artist in this utterly inspiring metropolis, full of talent and creativity.

I offer jazz piano lessons (in person and online via Lessonface or Skype) that are well suited for:

pianists of course;
all other instrumentalists who wish to strengthen their basic piano skills or deepen their practice of improvisation;
singers who wish to hone their piano accompaniment skills;
arrangers/composers/producers who wish to improve in the areas of jazz harmony, arranging, composition, improvisation…

In addition to the actual lessons, make sure to check out these posts regularly for tips, ideas, transcriptions, analyses, and in depth study of intriguing jazz topics that will help you walk in the masters’ Footprints and make Giant Steps towards your Freedom Jazz Dance!

Repertoire

The repertoire studied during the lessons can be as vast as jazz is diverse! I curate a playlist on Spotify entitled “Jim’s Jazz Piano Lessons” (embedded below), which is a selection of jazz tunes and standards from the Great American Songbook performed by a wealth of diverse jazz musicians, and covering a wide range of styles and eras…

Study Material & Resources

Jamey Aebersold, Charlie Parker Omnibook: for C instruments (treble clef) (Alfred Music Publishing)
Fiona Bicket, The Barry Harris Approach to Improvised Lines & Harmony: An Introduction (www.barryharris.com)
Miles Davis, Quincy Troupe, Miles: The Autobiography (Simon & Schuster)
Charles-Louis Hanon, The Virtuoso Pianist in Sixty Exercises for the Piano (Schirmer)
Mark Levine, The Jazz Piano Book (Sher Music Co.)
Mark Levine, Jazz Piano Masterclass: The Drop 2 Book (Sher Music Co.)
Mark Levine, How to Voice Standards at the Piano: the Menu (Sher Music Co.)
Frank Mantooth, Voicings for Jazz Keyboard (Hal Leonard Corp.)
Stephen Nachmanovitch, Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art (Tarcher/Penguin)
Neil Olmstead, Solo Jazz Piano: The Linear Approach (Berklee Press)
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet (fully digitized here on jazz pianist Bill Carrothers’ website!)
Adam Spiers, Scale Matcher (http://scalematcher.adamspiers.org)
Kenny Werner, Effortless Mastery: Liberating the Musician Within (http://kennywerner.com/effortless-mastery)