Jazz Piano By Mark Levine - Confused about sus4 chords

[penguin_pianist]

I recently picked up a copy of "The Jazz Piano Book", by Mark Levine. In Chapter 4, page 23, it talks about sus4 chords. In other places I have read that a sus4 chords substitutes the third for a fourth, but Levine tells me that Gsus is the same as F/G, which I am pretty sure is a different chord. I know Gsus4 as GCD, and I know F/G as an F triad with a bass G. 
While it might be possible he is glossing over this and voicing Gsus4 without a fifth and with extra tensions (the seventh I understand, however why would add a ninth chord to such a simple lesson?) , I am confused. Could anyone enlighten me?

[goose]

Hi Penguin, and welcome to the forum. Mark Levine's book is great, but some concepts can be a bit confusing at first.

The key thing to realise is that chord voicings don't necessarily follow the simplest theory (meaning only using the most obvious note choices), but they do often follow simple shortcuts (like the 'play a major triad a whole step below' for a sus chord). Jazz voicings are all about what sounds good. Play Fig 4.4 on p.23. Now tell me Herbie's sus chords for Maiden Voyage don't sound great.

You've kind of answered your own question. Since the simplest jazz voicings typically have root, 3rd and 7th, you spotted that the 7th is there. The 3rd is replaced by the 4th (as in a basic sus triad). And the added 9th is simply a 'bonus' colour tone you get from using the easy rule. It's a valid chord tone, and it sounds good. Simple as that.

Good luck,
Goose

[penguin_pianist]

Just a hypothetical question, but would these substitutions still be valid on a guitar? I play some basic guitar for school jazz band, and if I ever felt the need to make a Gsus4 to F/G chord substitution, would it make things sound radically different? I'm guessing no, because it is basically the same chord, but how far can I go with this? Can I add tensions at will? What notes can I drop? And what are some other helpful chord voicing rules like this?

Many thanks.

[goose]

I don't play guitar, but I know that very simple voicings (e.g. triads) can sound great on guitar, often as basic inversions, since guitar voicings tend to use fewer notes anyway than piano.

In terms of more voicings, the best advice I can give is to dive in to Levine's book. For more on voicings,  I recommend Phil DeGreg's Jazz Chord Voicings book (which helps you get them in your fingers) and Frank Mantooth's voicings book, which gives more simple tips, and is good for two-handed voicings for comping.

You didn't ask specifically, but the best book I've found on jazz to complement Levine's is Randy Halberstadt's 'Metaphors for the musician'. That really opened up the Levine book for me.

[penguin_pianist]

Is there a book of straight music I can buy? For example, I've played piano for about a year and a half, so I just went off and bought the entire collection of inventions and sinfonias, am am currently learning them. For Jazz guitar, there are a few good collections of etudes floating around. For ragtime piano, which I love, there are these great collections published by Dover that have scans of the original sheet music and beautiful cover art. Is there a big book of jazz and blues piano compositions I could buy? Or is what I am looking for a Fake Book? I am especially interested in the music of Thelonious Monk, and playing jazz standards.

( I highly reccomend those dover rag books by the way, they have some great tunes)

Also, what are some good collections of classical (not time period, I mean more not jazz, aka Chopin and Bach) music suitable for someone playing through the Piano Literature Vol. 4 Book by Kjos publishing? (About Invention and Joplin Rag level, maybe a bit harder) I don't want to have to go pick out things one by one when I'm just going to play them for my enjoyment, I just need a big book o' music, with interesting sounding songs and preferabley simple(er) key signatures. (G flat scares me) Do you have any good suggestions that balance Baroque and Contemporary songs?

Do you know of any good resources on reharmonization? I find the way Levine twists old tunes very interesting...

[goose]

If you want to play jazz, which is improvised, then you'll want a fake book. There are lots to choose from. Sher Music do some good ones. You can use the lead sheets as a basis and then get into reharmonization - Levine or Halberstadt would help you understand the chord/theory relationships, or just use your ears.

For classical piano, I recommend you get a good teacher