Learn to Harmonize Any Jazz Melody with Hip, Modern Voicings
From Mark Levine, acclaimed author of The Jazz Piano Book, comes a focused and practical guide to learning and then applying professional-level voicings to the standard jazz repertoire. In The Menu, Levine distills decades of piano mastery into a system that demystifies the art of harmonizing melodies — using the same vocabulary as jazz greats like Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, and Kenny Barron.
These voicings are all drawn from a one-page 'Menu' that, once internalized, will allow you to spontaneously create your own style of playing jazz piano, based on the masters of the art form.
"You have done it again with a most valuable learning tool for all of us.” — Rufus Reid
Includes:
A curated “Menu” of essential voicing types: ‘So What’ chords, stacked 3rds, Kenny Barron voicings, upper structures, 4th chords, and more
Step-by-step breakdowns of two standards and one bebop tune
Clear explanations of why certain voicings work under specific melody notes
Four-bar chunks that show how to apply the Menu in real-world contexts
Tools to build your own unique voice while staying grounded in the tradition
Bonus appendices on Drop 2 voicings and melodic minor harmony
Spiral-bound, 63 pages
Why It Matters
Turns memorized voicings into real-time musical decisions
Helps pianists sound hip, modern, and harmonically rich without overcomplication
Perfect for intermediate-to-advanced players looking to play melody + harmony fluidly
Mark Levine is one of the most respected jazz piano educators of all-time for a good reason. Any serious student of jazz piano should be studying his texts.
The book also includes appendixes on “Drop 2” voicings and melodic minor harmony.
