Exercises like these are what I imagine people like Bud Powell and John Coltrane and Chopin and Bach worked on. Their recorded output is the tip of their “exercise iceberg”.

  1. Circle of fourths. 1 chord per bar (or so). Dominant sevenths. 3rd and 7th in the left hand. Right hand 8th notes in the Mixolydian mode; vary patterns: broken thirds, ascending/descending tetrachords, etc.
  2. “Classic jazz sound” revolves around Major 6th chords (and dominants). Particularly walking the scale on the 1 major 6 and 5 major 6. When Sunny Gets Blue.
  3. Circle of fourths. Alternate minor (particularly in first inversion) and dominant. Broken chords. To cover both chord qualities across the cycle, there are two sets (i.e., c minor and C dominant).
  4. Circle of fourths. Arpeggios in both hands, but one chord tone away.
  5. Modulate up a major 3rd using a 2-5-1. For example, loop the A section of Misty like this, modulating at the end of each 8 bars.