JazzEducationinResearchandPractice Vol. 2, No. 1 • Copyright ©TheTrustees of Indiana University • DOI 10.2979/jazzeducrese.2.1.19 The Jazz Rhythm Section: A Manual for Band Directors By FumiTomita Rowman & Littlefield, 2019. M any people entering university music education courses have little or no training in jazz music. Often, these students come from classical, rock, popular music, choral, or Broadway backgrounds and as such have not had the opportunity to come into direct contact with jazz, especially in all its subgenres. As jazz education has expanded across schools nationwide and internationally , and as high school and college jazz groups have become more important for giving students and their institutions a chance to stand out, the need for appropriate instructional materials has become ever more pronounced. Many of the texts that have come out of this tend to address jazz history, or in the development of jazz vocabulary, along with the more standard big band literature widely available. Also, many music education organizations deal with the subject in a similar way. For example, one of the largest, the National Association of Music Teaching (NAfME), currently lists somewhat out-of-date publications among its recommended books for teaching jazz. Thus, very few texts deal specifically with running a contemporary jazz ensemble. Fortunately, a compact, comprehensive primer can be found in Fumi Tomita’s book, The Jazz Rhythm Section: A Manual for Band Directors. In spite of its relatively small size of 127 pages, this text is a very extensive look at what would one would need to know in order to run a high school or college jazz ensemble from the point of view of the core of any such ensemble: the rhythm section. Russ Spiegel is a commissioned composer and arranger as well as a highly respected international guitarist, bandleader, writer, musicologist, and award-winning sound engineer. He received his undergraduate degree in Philosophy from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and continued his studies at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He earned his master’s degree in Jazz Performance at the City College of New York and his doctorate in Jazz Composition at the University of Miami Frost School of Music as a Henry Mancini Institute Fellow. Spiegel currently teaches at Barry University in Miami Shores, FL. 238 Jazz Education in Research and PracticeVolume 2, Number 1 Tomita, an Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is himself a jazz bassist and composer. He received his doctorate in Jazz Performance from the Eastman College of Music and was active for many years in the New York jazz scene. With this background he is able to cogently explain many issues and concepts of the rhythm section that others with training in music education may not have. The Jazz Rhythm Section: A Manual for Band Directors provides a complete overview of each of the components of the jazz rhythm section: bass, drums, piano, and guitar. Tomita breaks up the content into two main areas: 1) overall roles of each rhythm section instrument in both small and large ensembles from setup to performance and how they interact with one another and 2) the physical characteristics, equipment involved, and a general overview of stylistic approaches for each instrument. What stands out in Tomita’s book is the thoroughness and attention to detail. In the first section he begins by explaining each instrument’s role in the rhythm section delineating approaches according to style and covering elements such as swing, shuffle, ballads, Latin jazz, rock, funk, and concepts of groove. He then describes how each of these instruments function in conjunction with each other rhythm section instrument, how this aids in developing a cohesive rhythm section, and how the rhythm section both individually and as a unit supports a soloist. The section concludes with an overview of general setup and rehearsal techniques. The second section of the book goes into depth of the specifics of each rhythm section instrument individually. Here Tomita provides a more in-depth examination of both the particular instrument’s role and varieties and idiosyncrasies of each instrument. Tomita provides a very thorough going-over of the types of instrument (such as the varieties of electric...