FREE JAZZ SOLO TRANSCRIPTIONS
Below is my collection of free jazz solo transcriptions featuring artists such as Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Stitt, Michael Brecker, Jackie McLean, Eddie Harris, Joe Henderson, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Hank Mobley, and many others.
As several transcriptions were completed over 5-7 years ago, in 2025, I revisited and refined every transcription in this library to ensure greater pitch and rhythmic accuracy, cleaner and standard notation, and a more precise representation of each musician's phrasing and articulation.
These transcriptions are provided solely for educational study and personal use. Please do not repost, sell, or redistribute them elsewhere. Copyright remains with the original composers and publishers.
My goals for sharing these transcriptions are to:
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Assist developing musicians with studying the language of jazz through accurate and easy-to-read materials
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Encourage you to transcribe by ear! Even though I am providing clear notation, try to use these PDFs to check your own work rather than as a shortcut. I promise you will gain a lot more by transcribing by ear first.
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Highlight phenomenal musicians who deserve more recognition - I hope these help you discover new approaches to improvisation through musicians you may not be familiar with.
Over the past several years, I have also had the pleasure to collaborate directly with musicians such as Chad LB, Vincent Herring, Eric Alexander, Mike Tucker, and Sam Dillon to create official transcription books of their solos. Click here to learn more about these projects - proceeds are shared with the musicians!
In addition to maintaining this transcription library, I've published Common Jazz Shapes and Phrases, a PDF reference guide that organizes 155 shapes into melodic building blocks for major, minor, dominant, altered, and diminished sounds. The second section of the PDF includes 33 example phrases over various ii-V-I chord progressions to illustrate how you can combine the shapes to create your own vocabulary.
If you've found these transcriptions useful, please consider supporting my work by purchasing one of the official transcription books or through the donate button below. Your support is greatly appreciated and helps me ensure I can keep producing new transcriptions for you.
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