Peter Retzlaff and Ian Froman provide an overview of jazz playing from early small-group jazz right up through post-bop and ECM styles. Retzlaff's section contains a complete approach to ride cymbal playing, ideas for handlingturnarounds, and a section on brushes, while Froman tackles approaches to modern jazz timekeeping.

Included are extensive exercises in 3/4 time (an area overlooked by most jazz books). Explanatory audio examples are included, aswell as play-along tracks.