
Eric Alexander
22 Minor Key Explorations
In this follow up to 21 Major Key Explorations, Eric Alexander clarifies one of the most common misconceptions for students of jazz and improvisation. Learning to distinguish when to use the tonic minor sound versus a ii-7 dorian sound would be well worth the investment on its own, but Eric doesn’t stop there.
In the accompanying video lessons, once again, Eric delivers his unique, direct and straight to the point teaching style. Students will come away with a deeper understanding of how to improvise in minor tonalities, a bounty of pertinent vocabulary and additional pearls of wisdom direct from the source.
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New Generation of Jazz Education
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Eric Alexander
With over 40 albums as a leader and more than 120 as a sideman, Eric Alexander is one of the top recording artists in jazz over the past 30 years. As a world renowned jazz music educator Eric communicates the lessons and tradition learned from the many masters he has studied and performed alongside.
Eric Alexander's Bio
Boasting a warm, finely burnished tone and a robust melodic and harmonic imagination, tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander has been exploring new musical worlds from the outset. He started out on piano as a six-year-old, took up clarinet at nine, switched to alto sax when he was 12, and converted to tenor when jazz became his obsession during his one year at the University of Indiana, Bloomington (1986-87). At William Paterson College in New Jersey he advanced his studies under the tutelage of Harold Mabern, Joe Lovano, Rufus Reid, and others. “The people I listened to in college are still the cats that are influencing me today,” says Alexander. “Monk, Dizzy, Sonny Stitt, Clifford Brown, Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson–the legacy left by Bird and all the bebop pioneers, that language and that feel, that’s the bread and butter of everything I do. George Coleman remains a big influence because of his very hip harmonic approach, and I’m still listening all the time to Coltrane because I feel that even in the wildest moments of his mid- to late-Sixties solos I can find these little kernels of melodic information and find ways to employ them in my own playing.”
During the 1990s, after placing second behind Joshua Redman in the 1991 Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition, Alexander threw himself into the whirlwind life of a professional jazz musician. He played with organ trios on the South Side of Chicago, made his recording debut in 1991 with Charles Earland on Muse Records, and cut his first album as leader in 1992 (Straight Up for Delmark). More recordings followed for numerous labels, including Milestone and others, leading to 1997’s Man with a Horn; the 1998 collaborative quartet session with George Mraz, John Hicks, and Idris Muhammad, Solid!; and, that same year, the first recording by One For All, Alexander’s ongoing band with Jim Rotondi, Steve Davis, Joe Farnsworth, Peter Washington, and Dave Hazeltine.
Eric has appeared in many capacities on record, including leader, sideman, producer as well as composing a number of the tunes he records. By now, Alexander has lost count of how many albums feature his playing; he guesses 80 or 90. While he has garnered critical acclaim from every corner, what has mattered most has been to establish his own voice within the illustrious bop-based jazz tradition.
In 2004, Eric signed an exclusive contract with the New York-based independent jazz label, HighNote Records where he has amassed a considerable discography of critically-acclaimed recordings. Most recent among them is “Chicago Fire” HCD 7262, “The Real Thing” with Pat Martino HCD 7278 and “Second Impression” HCD 7296. Eric’s most recent HighNote release, “Song of No Regrets,”(HCD 7311) was featured in Downbeat’s “Hot Box”.
Eric continues to tour the world over to capacity audiences. Using NYC as his home base he can regularly be seen in the city’s most prestigious jazz clubs.
What You Get
- 22 Minor Key Jazz Language Templates in all 12 keys
- Online Course with Video Lessons covering each Jazz Language Template
- PDF Book Download
- Lifetime Access on the Better Sax Members Site.
- Bonus Transcription of Eric Alexander's Solo Using all 22 Templates
- Audio recordings of each template with backing track accompaniment.
- Better Sax Members Forum Access.
- Physical Book also available to order

List of Minor Key Templates
- Bare Bones
- A Bit of Bird
- Like Mr. PC (Coltrane)
- Like Mr. PC (Coltrane) Upside-down
- Coltrane Diatonic Movement
- Coltrane Diatonic Movement (Upside-down)
- Minor 6 Chords Always Sound Good
- Trane's Minor 6 Idea
- Adding Half Steps from 6ths and 9ths
- Alternating Minor Triads and Diminished 7
- Alternating Minor Triads and Diminished with Inversions
- Bebopish
- This is a Tarantella (CPE Bach)
- So Is This
- An Eric Alexander Favorite
- Alternating Minor 6 and Diminished 7
- Alternating Minor 6 and Diminished 7 Ascending
- When in Doubt Play a Dominant 7
- Another EA Favorite
- Just Messing with the Tonality
- Finding Melodies
- A Little Creepy

Online Video Course
Each Minor Jazz Language Template has an accompanying video lesson. Eric explains the orgins of the vocabulary, where he likes to use it and how it functions harmonically.
Digital Download Book
Each Minor Jazz Language Template written in all 12 keys plus a transcription of Eric’s solo utilizing each piece of language in context
Physical print copies (pictured) available at checkout as well.


Audio Recordings
Audio recordings are provided for each Minor Jazz Language Template played on both alto and tenor saxophone.
There is also a recording of Eric’s solo implementing the templates in context.
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