justjazz edited archives

JustJazz Edited Archives (vol. 1 - 112)

General Theory

What is backcycling? 3 Use of Dim7 Chords 5 The Minor Plagal Cadence 13 Some Scales and Modes 14 Shell Voicings 18

Guitar "Shell Voicings" (jazzguitar.com) 165

http://www.jazzguitar.com/lessons/lesson7.html

Other Topics

Fakebooks and the Canon 19 Kids Tunes as Practice Aid 21 Recommended Books and Other Material 29 Guitar Voicings 34 Transcribing Technique and Technology 44

Discussions of the following tunes:

Confirmation 51 Fly Me to the Moon 56 Four on Six 57 Israel 63 Satin Doll 67 Stella 70

Chord Substitutions

Chord Substitution Theory

General Sub Theory 81 Tritone Substitutions 88

Tunes

Autumn Leaves 92 Beautiful Love 94 Darn That Dream 96 Days of Wine and Roses 100 Doxy 106 Dreamsville 107 Easy To Love 108 Emily 110 Georgia 113 How About You 115 How High the Moon 119 I Remember You 120 It Never Entered My Mind 124 I've Told Every Little Star 126 Laura 129 Misty 129 Over The Rainbow 131 Solar 132 Star Eyes 132

Time After Time 137 When You Wish Upon A Star 141 You Must Believe In Spring 145 You're My Everything 147

Xmas Tunes

Frosty the Snowman 150 Have Yourself a Merry Xmas 151 Jingle Bells 153 Let It Snow! (3x) 155 Santa Claus is Comin' to Town 156 Silver Bells 160 The Xmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) 161 Winter Wonderland 162

DISCUSSION OF BACKCYCLING

reed to john:

Backcycling is essentially working backward from a place you wantto get to.

For example suppose you want to get to a Cmaj7 chord.

Well you can work backward and look for chords that would resolveto the Cmaj7.

For example:

G7 Cmaj7Dmi7 G7 | Cmaj7 |Emi7 A7 | Dmi7 G7 | CDbmaj7 Cmaj7 |Abmaj7 Dbmaj7 | Cmaj7 Abmaj7 Dbmaj7 | Dmi7 G7 | C F#min7 B7 | Cmaj7 |

I mean there are a million of different things you can do depending onthe tune.

Some are pretty standard, some more unusual.

So why is this any different from just working forwards?

Well in a way it is the same though sometimes by looking where we wantgo and working backwards we will see things differently.

Sometimes we can interrupt a forward flow as long as we use a convincingbackcycling method. In other words we already have set in motion wherewe are going and we just take a little detour.

DISCUSSION OF USE OF DIM 7 CHORDS

Date: Tue, 15 Oct 1996 14:24:12 -0700From: Frank CurranSubject: diminished 7th chords

What is a good set of guidelines for how to use diminished 7th chords?

I see them used a lot but I've never really paid much attention to whatis going on specifically. For example, I have noticed the use of thedim7 chord one-half step above following a major chord, for example, Afollowed by Adim. I don't know if that is only when the A is I and thechanges are moving to some other specific place or what. For example ina 12 bar blues, when bar 5 is IV bar six is often #IVdim, which then isfollowed by I or VI7/ii/V7/I or whatever.

So one way to rephrase the question is: If one were to scan a largevolume of charts and for each instance of a dim7 chord, analyze whatpreceded it, what followed it and what function it is serving, is therea set of simple set of guidelines that would describe what ishappening?

Frank

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 15 Oct 1996 19:51:20 -0700From: Reed Kotler Subject: Re: diminished 7th chords

Frank,

I don't have time to completely answer your question tonight butlet me shed some light on this problem.

The most common use of the diminished chord is as a dominant substitute.

In classical harmony, every triad has a basic function, either tonic,subdominant or dominant.

The V and viio chords are the dominant function chords.That is

V -> I or V -> i or viio -> I or viio -> i .

When extended to seventh chords we get the same thing:

V7 -> I or V7 -> i or viio7 -> I or viio7 -> i .

However they can essentially precede any chord, treating it as in essence a I.

Thus in jazz we might see:

Cmaj7 C#o7 Dmi7 ....

In the situation you mentioned in the blues, this concept is extended.

For example in Bb blues you have Eb7 Eo7 Bb7/F .

People usually omit the true bass note that the Eo7 chord is approachingwhich leads to confusion about what is going on here.

In this situation even though the target chord is a Bb7, the diminished chord treats the bass note as if it were the root.

This is very common in classical music and in gospel (as well as various pop music). For example in gospel you might have:

C F F#dim C/G ....

Of course the diminished chord is also a form of rootless dominant seventh chord so it can be used like that. But in a pure diminished formit general will be followed by another chord whose bass note (and most likely root) is a half step above the root (bass note) of the diminishedchord.

In american popular music there is another use which to the best of myknowledge is not found in classical music. That is the biiio7 chordas in the beginning of "Embraceable You"

Cmaj7 Ebo7 Dmi7 G7 .....

There are other uses of diminished chords, especially Bill Evans andWes Montgomery liked to use a sequence of them (or piece of them, like say the root and third, or just the diminished triad) which stay in thediminished scale.

For example:

Co7 Do7 Ebo7 Fo7 F#o7 G#o7 Ao7 Bo7.

This can be used for a pure diminished sound or as a dominant substitute.

[later...]

I forgot one important diminished use which you mentioned.

That is io7 I.

This is basically really a io7 I6

in otherwords:

Cdim7 -> C6 .. It is in essence a double appogitura. See my explanation of this on my post on "I Remember You".

Its [C D# F# A] -> [C E G A] with both the D# and F# resolving.

reed

Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 16:10:31 -0400From: Bert LigonSubject: Re: diminished 7th chords

>What is a good set of guidelines for how to use diminished 7th chords?

If you look at the major minor system, the only place you find fullydiminished 7 chords is viio7 in a minor key. Traditionally (Bach to Tin Pan Alley) the chord is used functioning to point to the i chord in minor.However, confusion usually ensues because of enharmonic spellings and thefact that it can and often does resolves in a deceptive cadence.

In the progression: F - F#o7 - Gm7 - G#o7 - Am7, found in many tunes like"It Could Happen To You" and others, you could analyze the chords as I - viio7/ii - ii - viio7/iii - iii. For the I, ii and iii chords you arein the key of F major, so the notes of the F major scale work. For the F#o7 (viio7/ii) you are in the key of G minor, and we derive harmony fromthe harmonic minor scale, so the G harmonic minor scale sounds correct. For the G#o7 (viio7/ii) you are in the key of A minor, so the A harmonic minor scale sounds correct. The F#o7 is essentially taking the place of D7b9 the V of G minor, and the G#o7 is standing in for the E7b9. Either way, the chords point the way, tonicizing the next chord.

Sometimes these chords are difficult to determine which key they are from. Often the G#o7 is written as an Abo7. An Abo7 chord is the viio7 of Bbb minor, the relative minor to Dbb major, with a key signature of 12 flats! I don't know about the rest of you, but I would rather think no sharps of flats than 12 flats.

Other times the diminished chord may be in an inversion, but written as if it is not. For example: Cm/Eb Do7 Cm. (i6 - viio7 6 - i). The shorthand is to write the diminished chord as a Do7, but in this contextit may be a Bo7. What's the difference? The actual chord spelling use the same enharmonic pitches, but while Bo7 is the viio7 of Cm, Do7 is the viio7 of Eb minor. In the passage, using a C harmonic minor may be the more musical choice.

There are times the diminished chord may not resolve as expected which can cause some confusion. In the first few measures of "The Song Is You"the hords are: C - D#o7 - Dm7. How can the D#o7 point to Dm? It doesn't; it points to Em and deceptively resolves to Dm7. The progression is I - viio7/iii - ii, and the E harmonic minor sound works over the D#o7 chord. (The D#o7 chord is sometimes spelled as Ebo7, which would be the viio7 of Fb minor!)

There are times when the diminished 7 chord sounds good using a octatonicscale, (A.K.A.: diminished scale, whole-half, symmetrical scale). So fora Bo7: B-C#-D-E-F-G-Ab-Bb-B. Using it arbitrarily would not be good as you may notice. If traditionally the Bo7 is suppose to point to C minor,thenthe C#, and E notes are, at best, ambiguous to that key, while theF-G-Ab-Bb sound natural.

Sorry if I went on too long, but it is in the interest of clarity.Sometimes answers that are too brief can lead to misunderstanding. If anything here is unclear, please let me know.

Thanks

_______________________________________Bert LigonDirector of Jazz Studies_______________________________________

Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 10:08:41 -0000From: Ian M Dilley Subject: RE: diminished 7th chords

A little addendum to Reed's comments. Diminished chords are especially useful as dominant substitutes because each one can sub for 4 different dominant chords. You can consider a diminished chord to be 2 tritones interleaved. This gives you the possibility to resolve to a chord a semitone above any of the notes in the chord.

Ian

Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 07:53:30 -0400From: Lawson G. Stone Subject: Re: diminished 7th chords

On Diminished chords, I have found the following rules of thumb helpfulas a beginner:

1. Diminished chords may generally substitute directly for a minor. Instead of Dm7 G7 C, Do7 will work for Dm7.

2. When a dom7 chord resolves up a 4th (as in V7 I) the diminished chord based on any chord tone but the root will work (ie 3rd, 5th, or b7). On guitar especially this is helpful. If you know the inversion of the dom7 chord, then any diminished fingering that doesn't land on the root will work.

3. In case 2, the diminished chord a half-step higher than the root will also work. For G7, Abo7.

4. When a non-dom7 IV chord resolves to the I, as in Fmaj7 C maj 7, the dim7 based on the root of the IV makes a nice passing chord. So IV I become IV IVo7 I. Or even IV IVmin7 I works well. Likewise, lines implying this harmony can sound nice, often even when the rhythm section doesn't play those chords. More tension, then, though, means the resolution needs to be more convincing.

5. In solos, lines based on these diminished subs will usually sound fine as well.

I think these can be summarized by two rules:

1-Chords resolving up a fourth may be replaced by diminished chords and lines based on the root a half-step higher (cases 2,3,5).

2-All Minor7 chords, and major chords resolving up a 5th may be replaced by diminished chords and lines based on the same root (cases 1, 4, 5).

Note: Joe Pass (great jazz guitarist, for non guitar players on thelist) once told me in personal correspondence that if we don't haveconfidence in our ears, or if we are uncertain about what we're hearingin our heads, that diminished scales are a good fallback. What heactually said was tougher. Having told me to play only what I hear in myhead, he said if I couldn't do that, "Find another hobby, or learn toread music, or play all diminished scales-can't go wrong."

If I've erred here or missed something important, please offer anycorrections or additions that are appropriate. I'm still very much abeginner in these realms.

[later]

Reed Kotler wrote:> > I forgot one important diminished use which you mentioned.> > That is io7 I.> > This is basically really a io7 I6> > in otherwords:> > Cdim7 -> C6 .. It is in essence a double appogitura. See my> explanation of this on my post on "I Remember You".> > Its [C D# F# A] -> [C E G A] with both the D# and F# resolving.>

This reminds me of some questions I had about 2 common sequences. I haveseen the following two types of lines:

1. The "Have you Met Miss Jones" line: F F#o7 Gm7 C7 (I I#o7 iim7 V7)2. The "Embraceable You" line: G Go7 Am7 D7 (I Io7 Am7 D7)

[insert quote of early reed post]

Both seem very similar, but I wondered if the following observationswere correct:

1. In case 1, the I#o7 could be seen as a sub for I7, suggesting the underlying harmony is I I7 IV... or I IV...2. In case 2, the Go7, containing G and E, could be a sub for the VI minor, suggesting an underlying I vi ii V, or I V movement.

In these two cases, the somewhat different function of the ii V seemsclear. In case 1, the ii as rel. min. of the IV masks the basic natureof the harmony as I to IV. In case 2, the ii V is more of an expansionon the V, masking as I vi ii V does, a basic I V movement. Thus insoloiing over these changes, it is a mistake to treat the ii V in caseone similarly to case 2. Especially in playing "Miss Jones" where thenext bar Am7 Dm7 takes you to a different kind of tension.

Obviously in over my head, I would appreciate correction andsupplementation. I find that treating these two types of linesdifferently preserves the distinctive character of the sequences forsoloing, lest all improvisations begin to sound alike.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 06:02:51 -0700From: reed Subject: Re: diminished 7th chords

Lawson,

You are making things way too complicated for yourself. You alternatetheoretical explanation for all this doesnt make any sense to me at all.See my earlier two posts on this. That's all there is. It's not any morecomplicated than that no matter whether it's Bill Evans or Chopin.

>This reminds me of some questions I had about 2 common sequences. I have>seen the following two types of lines:>>1. The "Have you Met Miss Jones" line: F F#o7 Gm7 C7 (I I#o7 iim7 V7)

The F#o7 is just like I explained in my earlier post. Diminished chords can have a dominant function just resolving to the chord a half step above.

In this case it is also possible to substitute D7 for the F#o7 because the chords are essentially the same and because the bass motion works.

Thus :

F D7 Gmi7 D7

>2. The "Embraceable You" line: G Go7 Am7 D7 (I Io7 Am7 D7)

This chord is not Go7 but rather Bbo7. See my earlier post.

>Both seem very similar, but I wondered if the following observations>were correct:>>1. In case 1, the I#o7 could be seen as a sub for I7, suggesting the> underlying harmony is I I7 IV... or I IV...

no. its a sub for VI7.

>2. In case 2, the Go7, containing G and E, could be a sub for the VI> minor, suggesting an underlying I vi ii V, or I V movement. >

no. see my earlier post.

>In these two cases, the somewhat different function of the ii V seems>clear. In case 1, the ii as rel. min. of the IV masks the basic nature>of the harmony as I to IV. In case 2, the ii V is more of an expansion>on the V, masking as I vi ii V does, a basic I V movement. Thus in>soloiing over these changes, it is a mistake to treat the ii V in case>one similarly to case 2. Especially in playing "Miss Jones" where the>next bar Am7 Dm7 takes you to a different kind of tension.>

There are no different functions of the ii/V here.

They are just plain old ii/V's.

reed

From: Lawson G. Stone Subject: Re: diminished 7th chords

I appreciate Reed's comments on my post. I think beginners, in order toget at what is really "simple," sometimes have to reinvent the wheel inafew places, which is likely what I've done. On the other hand, some ofthe distinctions I tried to make still feel different, especially theii-V in Miss Jones vs. Embraceable You. The context around thoseprogressions, I think, does make for a different function. I will try torethink the issue. Thanks for the input.

Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 09:20:52 -0700From: reed Subject: Re: diminished 7th chords

At 10:13 AM 10/16/96 -0400, you wrote:>I appreciate Reed's comments on my post. I think beginners, in order to>get at what is really "simple," sometimes have to reinvent the wheel ina>few places, which is likely what I've done. On the other hand, some of>the distinctions I tried to make still feel different, especially the>ii-V in Miss Jones vs. Embraceable You. The context around those>progressions, I think, does make for a different function. I will try to>rethink the issue. Thanks for the input.>-->//////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\>Lawson G. Stone Asbury Theological Seminary Wilmore, KY 40390>\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\//////////////////////////////////>"I never practice. I open the case once in a while and throw in a>piece of meat." Wes Montgomery, Jazz Guitarist, told to Jim Hall.>>>

Lawson,

You'll find that jazz (and classical theory) can be boiled downto a handful of very simple rules.

In fact most jazz musicians ply their craft with an amazinglysmall amount of information and techniques. I remember Hal Galpertelling me that many years ago and of course I didnt believe him.Those watching it think it's complicated but it's just the opposite.

You seem to be a Joe Pass fan.

Have you seen his video on Solo Guitar Playing? He boils eachtune down into the most simple way possible.

That makes it easier to remember and also then he can reharmonizebecause you can choose different paths as long as you satisy theoutline of the tune.

For example he would probably think of "Have You Met Miss Jones" as:

F | | | C7 |

I'm serious. Watch the video sometime.

There are many ways to play the beginning of that tune.

I use:

F Bb7 | Ami7 D7 | Gmi7 | C7 |

reed

Minor plagal cadence and other theory sources

From: Reed Kotler

When I was in 9th and 10th grade in high school I remember going throughthe Berklee School of Music guitar series. It's called the "ModernMethod for the Guitar" books I, II and III.

For me it was mostly a combination technique book (scales, arpeggios,etc) as well as a source for basic jazz guitar chords.

However it has many valuable theory lessons which unfortunately myteachers never discusssed with me. They are pretty deep and possibly myteachers who were just college students at Berklee themselves didntreally understand them either.

It has perhaps the best description of chord/scale relationships I'veever seen. Though of course it's spread out throughout the three volumeseries in a series of mini lessons. It's the only book I've ever seenthat relates chord scales to the key you are in, which is what earplayers do naturally . As such it's the only modern book whichacknowledges the importance of the harmonic minor scales.

Anyway, I find myself always going back to those books and am amazed howmuch valuable information I find there.

On the subject of ivm chords which I have gone on and on ad nauseumabout, I find that there is actually a whole page on these. I learnedabout these independently from studies many years later with pianoteachers and on my own. I'm amazed to see it was all layed out in thesebooks I used 25 years. Too bad there was nobody to explain this to methen.

On page 114 of book 2, there is a page on "Non Diatonic Minor6 and(unaltered) dominant 7th chords" where unaltered is defined to mean "No b9, +9, b5 or #5".

Anyway, it's all there.

They discuss the im6 and ivm6 chords which can appear and take a jazzminor scale from the i or iv respectively. It also explains how they canappear as the IV7 or bVII7 respectively.

For guitar teachers, students out there, I've noticed that there areseveral books from within the 3 volume set of books. I frequently havemy students take their books and xerox out various sections and placethem together in a binder. For example, one can xerox out all the"Theory" pages or all the "Chord Form" pages, and place them together ina binder, making a great book that can be read and/or practiced cover tocover for the constant review necessary for ultimate assimilation of thematerial.

What is missing from the series though are concrete examples from actualtunes, transcriptons, etc. The examples in the book are unfortunatelynot very musical and probably contributed to me not taking all thatinformation seriously.

[end mpc]

SOME SCALES AND MODES

frank:

What's the difference between the D7 alt mode as described below and D Locrian?

reed:

D7alt is different from D locrian.

Getting to the model key of C, B locrian is B C D E F G Aand B alt is B C D Eb F G A.

The names of the modes are not standardized.

Mark Levine calls them:

I minor-majorIII lydian augmentedIV lydian dominantVI half-diminished or locrian#2VII altered or diminished whole-tone.

Dan Haerle uses a different (but accepted also) nomenclature. I don'thave his book handy just now.

I tend to only think of jazz minor (I). For all the others I just thinkof the tension tones for the chords.

In other words for me alt is b9, #9, b5, #5 and obviously 1, 3 and b7.

I don't personally believe that the other modes have a real tonalityexcept for the jazz minor (I). This is an opinion and not generallyaccepted.

I find it simplifies things to think this way and I think musically itreally works this way.

Sometmes I may seem to be really into theory but I'm not. I have a verysimple framework that I use whereby everything is really simple and fitsnicely. Sometimes theoretical names are needed when you are trying totalk to others but when you are playing it is too complicated.

To me there are just 12 major, 12 jazz minor scales, and the ability toplay with tensions on dominant chords. In additon there are all thetools of classical music like approach notes, etc. Maybe throw in atouch of diminished scales and whole tone. That's it.

I don't think of dorian, mixolydian or any of that for the most partwhen I'm playing unless say it's really a modal tune.

To me G7 in the key of C is just C major, but I'm aware of the bass noteand how things can line up around that chord. To think of Ami7 to Dmi7to G7 to Cmaj as A aelian to D dorian to G mixolydian to C Ionian whileyou're playing is just plain nuts!

reed[later...]

#jazz minor scale

There is a scale that comes up over and over again in jazzcalled the jazz minor scale. Many ear players always used thisbut didnt know what it was called.

C jazz minor is just a C major scale with an Eb instead ofan E. Thus the ascending part of a melodic minor scale.

Thus:

C D Eb F G A B C

This is the natural scale to play against a pure minor chord,i.e. not a mi7 but rather a mi6 or mi#7.

I.e. if the chord is [C Eb G A] or [C Eb G B]

If you arrange the scale notes beginning on B,

B C D Eb F G A , this is called B7alt scale.

If we look at the enharmonic equivalents of these notes we get

B C C## D# F F## A

These correspond to the following parts of a B7 chord:

1 b9 #9 3 b5 #5 b7. Thus ever non essential tone, i.e. root,third and b7, is altered which is why it's called the alt scale.

Thus the chord is B7 (b5 #5 b9 #9)

(sometimes this is called a locrian #2 becuase itis a locrian mode with a raised second degree).

If I start the same scale on F I get:

F G A B C D Eb .

These correspond to the following degress of an F7 chord:

1 9 3 #4(#11) 5 13 b7.

Thus this is an F13#11 chord.

If I start on A I get:

A B C D Eb F G .

These correspond to the following degress of an Am7b5 chord.

1 9 b3 11 b5 b6 7 .

Thus this is essentialy an Ami9b5 chord.

Some players also use the one starting on the b3 for Ebmaj7+.

The theoreticall underpinnings of this harmony are not universallyagreed upon.

Some people say that all these chords are really just Cmi with differentbass notes. Ie. B7alt = Cmi6/B , F13#11 = Cmi6/F, Ami11b5 = Cmi6/A,Ebmaj7+ = Cm#7/Eb .

Certainly alot of times the underlying harmony of the piece at thatpoint can be said to be just say Cmi6.

For example in stella by starlight, this was my point about the plagalminor cadences.

If you think of the Ab7 as essentially an Ebmi6/Ab, then the scale is: Eb F Gb Ab Bb C D Eb. (Eb major scale with b3)

Ab7#11 == Ebmi6/Ab == D7alt/Ab == Gbmaj7+/Ab == Cmi9b5/Ab .

So I said it was Ebmi6 and Marc said he likes to play D7 alt there, butreally they are the same chord.

This interchangeable idea also means that a chordal instrument can playa Cmi6 when the changes say B7alt provided that you play or the bassplayer plays the B. (It can be omitted too when the harmony is alreadimplying a B).

You dont want the lowest note of your chord to be too low if you aredoing this otherwise it will sound like the bass note.

So you get alot of interchangeablity and reuseability of chord voicingsif you remember how this works for each key.

For example the chord voicing:

[Gb Bb C F] will work for all these chords.

for Ebmi6 they are [b3 5 6 9]for Ab7 these notes are [b7 9 3 13]for D7 they are [3 #5 7 #9]for Gbmaj7+ these notes are [1 3 #11 #7]for Cmi9b5 these notes are [b5 7 1 11]

now in this paricular case the voicing is kind ofa stretch for Cmi9b5 because there is no third in thechord. Generally you need the 3 and 7(6).

You can write a whole book on this alone. See Mark Levines Jazz Piano and Jazz THeory book. He talks about this alot. Also Dan Haerles Jazz theory book has a very compact explanationof all of this.

Another interesting thing about this harmony is that there areno notes in the scale that one would "avoid" playing against thechord.

For example in C major, while playing a Cmaj7 chord you have tobe careful with the note F.

So we say that in melodic (jazz) minor harmony there are no "avoid" notes.

Hope this helps.

reed

#end jazz minor scale

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 04:20:48 -0400From: KRosser414Subject: Re: Stella, again

In a message dated 96-09-12 20:59:38 EDT, you write:

>What's the difference between the D7 alt mode as described below and >D Locrian?

D7 alt mode is the same as D super locrian, also known as the seventh mode of Eb melodic minor.

>Regarding the jazz minor scale, I've heard it said that the modes of>melodic minor (ascending only) are very important. Does each mode of>the jazz minor have a name? or does one just say "the nth mode of>melodic minor"?

To me, the names of the melodic minor modes are purely academic. As far as the "real world" application of playing against these chords, it's actually much more important that you know all the chord tones. That way, any passing tones connecting them will potentially work ( a scale, after all, can be viewed as just an arpeggio with passing tones).

In improvisation, I personally think the "scale over chords" approach isover-emphasized. Granted, it's a great learning tool, but a good solo has a sense of direction, good rhythmic ideas (how come this never getsdiscussed?), a good tone and control over some of the expressive devicesof the particular instrument. And bottom line - a good solo SAYS something. That should be foremost in your concentration. Very subjective, I know, but I couldn't count how many terribly boring solos I've heard by folks trying to play all the right scales against the chords.

I say this as a bit of a harmony nut, myself. It was always the firstelement of music that attracted me. I'm a guitar player - I took a fewlessons a few years back with a name saxophonist, and after hearing me play a while he said to me, "Of the three main elements of music, harmony, melody and rhythm, harmony is the least important. In fact, I think it's possible to play a good solo playing only based on melody andrhythm and leaving harmony outside on the doorstep". He then demonstrated by playing a solo against a blues, with a lot of rhythmic ideas and development, a lot of melodic direction, but totally out of the harmony, and you know what? It sounded great to me. But the key is,to work on rhythm and melody with the same or more intensity than harmony in order to learn how to master those elements. He then proceeded to give me a lot of ways to do that.

Ken R

[end some scales and modes]

What is a shell voicing?

Jim, A shell voicing is a chord which contains only the root, third, and seventh. Often players will only use two notes, the root and third.

The formulas for the basic minor 7th, dominant 7th, and major 7th chordsall include a perfect 5th, which makes it a non-factor in identifying the differences between these three chords. For this reason, and possibly the fact that the root (either included in the voicing or played by the bassist) generates the perfect 5th as one of its strongestovertones, it is often excluded from voicings.

The pianist Bill Evans often used these "third and seventh only" chords in his left hand comps. Many guitar players (Emily Remler, Jim Hall, John Stowell, John Abercrombie, Mike Stern, Alan DeMause, etc.) use shell voicings in solo, duo, and trio situations where they want to add the harmonies "like a pianist" behind their melodies or solos. Joe Pass(among others) used the R,3,and 7 form often to make walking bass lines combined with chordal comps.

I hope this helped you!

Brian Oates

DISCUSSION OF FAKEBOOKS AND CANONICAL VERSIONS OF TUNES

>Only in the last few decades has jazz been "codified." So much of it >has been passed from "ear-to-ear" and not written down that to try to >study and discuss jazz without listening to CD's or delving into the >"blood-lines" would be somewhat like reading a "how-to-tune-up-your->1957-Chevy-V8" book having no idea what a carburetor is.>reed:

Well you bring up several interesting points for discussion here.

For a given tune, just what are the "real" chord changes and thestandard key(s) for that matter.

Well clearly there are the original sheet music changes. These aregenerally quite a bit different from what a jazz player would play butcan be quite interesting in terms of understanding the true harmoniccharacter of a tune.

<insert discussion of Stella>

When you talk about the "real book" you have to clarify that a bit.

The original "illegal" real books were great for when they first cameout. At that time there was no source for what chord changes were beingplayed on records unless you took it off the record yourself or ifsomeone else told you what they are.

The original real book had a lot of mistakes, that's true but for it'stime was the best you could get by far!

The "New Real Book" series by Chuck Sher music is another storyaltogher.

The transcriptions were done by Bob Bauer whose musicianship isimpeccable from the reputation he has. In other words I have no questionthat he correctly took the changes off for all those songs.

So then the qustion for the editor, Bob Bauer in this case, is what toput in the fake book.

What they did was to try and come to a "common practice" consenses asfar as key and chord changes. (They explain this in the forward).

That is essentially what appears in those books. If you look in theappendix you will see that he clearly states what sheet music (if any)and records were considered when arriving at those changes.

Like you said one has to "be around" for a while to learn all thevariations even for a very simple tune. This may mean getting leadsheets from different players, being on the bandstand, transcribing thechanges yourself off the record, etc.

This is the major complaint that pro's often have with people getting upon the bandstand with fakebooks. Clearly that is a stage that every onepasses through but when you do that, you are often locking the band intoone version of the chords and they may not want to play those changes.Alot of players like to vary the changes from chorus to chorus forvariety. If you are staring at the music, you may not be openning yourears to what the rest of the musicians want to do. (Of course in thebeginning (for a long time in fact), fixing on a particular set ofchanges is fairly necessary.)

If you are a piano, guitar player and like playing ahead of the time,like on the and of 4 and and of 2, you are going to be constantly layingdown the chords before the horn player has a chance to do what he wantsto do. If you arent reading his mind (or know how he plays and where hislines go), you are going to be forcing him to play something he doesntwant to play or else to have a clash with what you're playing...sometimes that is okay. This is why some horn players like to recordwithout chordal instruments or at least with players that are moresensitive to these issues.

(To me this is like talking while someone else is talking or even worseinterrupting them. I like to play chords in the spaces and often after Ihave heard what the horn player has to say. In fact singers will get madif you don't do this alot of the time).

Getting back to the "New Real Book", consider a tune like Autumn Leaves.

To me the recording I always think of is the one from CannonballAdderly's "Something Else" record (with Miles, Sam Jones, Hank Jones,Art Blakey). This one is not mentioned on the list of recordingsconsidered however other Miles and Cannonball recrordings were.

That recording has for example several deviations from the lead sheet inthis book.

However, there are lots of reharmonization possibilities that I use forthis tune which don't appear at all in this book and which I don't thinkare particularly original on my part. I'm sure I've heard others playthem before but probably in clubs because I don't have a particularlyextensive set of recordings of this tune.

I'd be happy to discuss my ideas on any particular tune, like autumnleaves for example, if you or anyone else is interested. Autumn leavesis one I always use with my beginning students because harmonically itis so simple in a way and so open to reharmonization possibilities.

DISCUSSION OF KIDS TUNES AS PRACTICE AID

Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 10:48:41 -0700From: reed kotler Subject: tips on learning tunes

There has been alot of discussion regarding playing by earand/or playing without fakebooks, etc.

Players will always tell students to learn tunes but one thing thatnever seems to be discussed is just how one goes about learning tunes.

As jazz musicians we cannot rely on "finger" memory the way a classical player might. We may be called upon to playtunes that we havent played for a long time.

I would like to start off this thread initially just focussingon tips for learning the melodies to songs.

The first thing about playing by ear is that you can't playsomething you can't sing.

ALot of times people think they know tunes because they willrecognize them if they hear them and even recognize some mistakesif played. But yet if you ask them to sing the tune the will getabout two bars and then get really unclear. They probably knowthe catchy "hook" part of the tune.

With my students I start them off playing by ear all the songswe learn as kids because those are usually totally clear to us.

Thus "Mary Had A Little Lamb", "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", "Happy Birthday", etc.

My main instruments are piano and guitar but I teach improvisingto people on other instruments and it's amazing how many jazzmusicians know all about "Giant Steps" but can't play "Mary Had a LittleLamb" without a book. Of course they can't play "Giant Steps" eitherwithout looking at a book.

So, anyway the first thing is to make a list of these tunes. I'llbe posting some lists I have. Others may do the same.

The next thing to realize is that almost all tunes end on the noteof the key. So if the tune is in the key of C it will end on C.

SO then I have people pick out the melodies to all these kidssongs in the key of C. Not all will start on C but they will alend on C. Of course once they can really play them in C then the nextthing is to play them in all the other keys.

These tunes are almost entirely diatonic though frankly even standards are for the most part except where they have keychanges.

Even my five year old piano students know that each week theyare working on a different scale and I will ask them at thelesson to play several songs they know in the key for that week.

From here, the next thing is to start learning standards thatyou already can sing, at least to some extent.

This process develops over time and is the first step to gainingconfidence in playing without seeing the notes.

I think that most professional jazz musicians did this when theywere kids.

Anyway I'll stop here for now.

[later...]

The first thing you need when playing the melody ofa tune is the starting note. Sounds simple but howdo you find it?

Well there is not just one way.

If it's a tune you've played for a while you might justremember what the note is in some particular key. For exampleyou might just remember that "Stella by Starlight" starts onBb when playing in the key of Bb. Then you are done. If you're playing the tune in Bb the starting note is Bb, ifyou are playing the tune in C the starting note is C.Some people that are very visual will find it easy tojust remember what the sheet of music that you first sawif on looked like.

(One note here is... know your major scales. That means inthis case to know the notes and what note each degree ofthe scale is. For example, the fourth note in the key ofC is F, in the key of Bb it's Eb.)

Sometimes you might remember that a tune starts on a particulardegree of the scale. For example you might remember that itstarts on the fifth degree of the scale. So you rememberthat "Happy Birthday" starts on the fifth degree of the scaleso in the key of C that would be G.

I have another technique I use which is a little hard to explainbut works quite well and is part of a larger ear training regime.

Play a major scale up and down, not too fast.Think of the scale degrees or even sing the scale as1-2-3-4...

C D E F G A B C B A G F E D C .1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Then pick any note of the scale and play it.

See if you can hear where that note wants to go.

If you play a B in C major you should hear that it wants togo up to C. This is the sound of 7 going to 1. You should hear7 - 1. Or if it goes to resting point after one note then itstarted on the 7.

If you play an F it should want to either go down or up to C.In other words you should hear either 4-3-2-1 or 4-5-6-7-1.Or , if you hear 5 notes up to 1, then it started on the 4.

Once you hear in what direction the note wants to go in (up or down),continue singing from that note until it gets to a resting point.The resting point should be the first degree of the scale, orC in this case. You can tell by how many notes it takes whatdegree of the scale you started on. Sometimes you will justhear the numbers 6-7-1.

(You could also do all of this with do-re-mi... if you want).

This is a general excercise that is good for ear training thoughI've never seen it mentioned in any book. It's just something Ideveloped for myself.

Now how does this apply to finding the starting note of tunes??

Think of a tune you are going to play. Suppose it's Satin Doll.Try to start getting an aural idea of that tune. You can singa few bars out loud or in your head or try and remember a recordingof it or whatever you need to do to get the tune happening inyour mind in some aural way.

Then think of the starting note, in an "aural" way. You may dothis by singing it or hearing it in your head. Now see ifyou can hear where the note wants to go.

In the case of Satin Doll you should hear 6-7-1.

This excercise works well over a period of time so don'tbe impatient.

Of course you eventually hope that you'll just go to the startingnote without thinking about it but these are some ideas thatcan help you get to that place.

[later]

I mentioned that I would submit some lists of basic "kid" tunes forbeginning practice on playing by ear. Please see my earlier discussionson this topic. Remember that initially the idea is to just be able toplay the melody in C and once that is clear, play it in all the otherkeys.

There are lot of reasons for doing this.

1) Almost all jazz artists and professional musicians I've met started doing this when they were kids. If you didnt then you need to. 2) It gets one into the idea of playing songs that you havent played for a long time. I.e. calling up the old inner CD player. 3) They are great melodies. 4) You should be able to play what you know.

I havent located my beginning list but I'll try and do some of it frommemory. Others are free to add tunes.I'll build a database and post theresults from suggestion tunes from others.

The point is to choose tunes that one is totally clear about. As suchdepending on our childhood, this list will be different. There are manypeople on this list that didnt grow up in the USA as I did so they mayhave a totally different list of tunes they have known since childhood.

So I don't mean learning tunes on this list that you don't already know.It's just a starting point for playing by ear the tunes you do know.

For college teachers, don't let students graduate without knowing happybirthday!!

Mary Had A Little LambTwinkle Twinkle Little StarLondon Bridges Falling DownRow, Row, Row, Your BoatABC songHappy BirthdayEeensy Weensy SpiderFor He's A Golly Good FellowTake Me Out to the BallgameHome on the RangeShoo FlyOn Top of Old SmokeySilent NightAuld Lang Syne

Jingle BillsWe Wish You a Merry ChristmasGreensleevesWhen Irish Eyes are SmilingBicyle Built for TwoDaisyOld Folks At Home (Swanee River)Camptown RacesOh, SuzannaAmerica (My COuntry 'Tis of Thee) (God Save the Queen)Star Spangled BannerColumbia, the Gem of the OceanAmerica, the BeautifulKumbayaJoshua Fit the Battle of GerichoYankee DoodleDixieShortin BreadLeave it to Beaver Theme SongI Love Lucy Theme SongBattle Hym of the RepublicWhen Jonny Comes Marching HomeDeep in the Heart of TexasGood Night LadiesLoch LomondThe Blue Bell of ScottlandMy Old Kentucky HomeSwing Low, Sweet ChariotCarry Me Back to Old VirginnyBrahams LullabyDeck the HallThe First NoelJoy to the WorldO Come, All Ye FaithfulBaa! Baa! Black SheepFarmer In the DellGo Down MosesI Ain't Gonna Study War No MoreGood Night LadiesThree Blind MiceMy BonnieFrere Jacques (Are You Sleeping? Brother John)Merrily We Roll AlongOld Macdonalds FarmAlouetteJimmie Crack CornDown in The ValleyPop! Goes the Weasel!Sweet Bestsy From Pike.Skip to My LouRock My Soul (in the bosom of Abraham)While Strolling Through the Park One DayI Dream of Jeanie With the Light Brown HairBattle Hymn of the Republic

The Stars and Stripes ForeverRain BarrelThe Man on the Flying TrapezeDown in the ValleyNobody Knows the Trouble I've SeenSwing Low, Sweet ChariotDradle Song (Hanukah)Ode to Joy (Theme for Beethovens Ninth)Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!Hava NagilaPolly Wolly DoodleOh, Where, Oh Where has My Little Dog Gone?Aedle Wiese (Spelling?)Do, a Deer (Sound of Music)ClementineFrog Went-A-CourtinStreets of LaredoSweet Betsy from PikeRed River ValleyCircus Song (Played on Calliope)Hush Little BabyWhere has my Little Dog Gone?I've Been Working on the RailroadFuniculi, Funicula

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 21 Sep 1996 17:48:09 -0400From: RogMcDSubject: Simple tune list

As a freshman theory teacher, I had freshmen sing from among these tunes with numbers and then play them "by ear" at piano or their main instrument. Grade descends from A+, mistake by mistake.

As a secondary brass teacher, I had all students play these tunes (as range developed) so as to show that they "knew" their instrument.

These tunes may augment Reed's list.

Roger McDuffie

====================

Alouetta Amazing Grace America America the Beautiful AngelsWeHaveHeard Are You Sleeping Auld Lang Syne Aura Lee Away In a Manger

Battle Hymn Bicycle Built for Two Billy Boy Blue Bells of Scotland Brahms Lullaby Bring a Torch Bycycle Built for Two Caissons Camptown Races Can Can ChristmasSng(Chstnts) Clementine ComeYeThnkflPple Crusaders Hymn Danny Boy Dark Eyes Deck the Hall Dixie DontSitUndrAppleTree DownByMillStream Doxology Edleweiss Eyes/Texas R Upon U Fairest Lord Jesus Faith of OurFathers Farmer in the Dell First Noel For He's Jolly Gd Fellow Go Down Moses Go Tell It-Mountain GodRestYeMerry G GoodKingWenceslas Goodnight Ladies GoTellAuntRhodie Happy Birthday Hark the Sound Hark-Herald Angels Holly & Ivy HomeOnTheRange Ode to Joy, Beeth. I Saw 3 Ships I'mPopeye S M IveBeenWorking-RR InSouthrnPrtOfFrance It Came Upon a Mid-n Jesus Loves Me Jingle Bells JollyOldStNicholas Joshua Joy to the World Joyful, Joyful Kumbaya LetMeCallYou SwtHrt Lightly Row

Little Pierrot Lo How a Rose London Bridge Long Long Ago Marine's Hymn Mary Had Little Lamb Menuet Muffin Man My Bonnie O Holy Night O Little Town O My Darlin Clementine O What Beautfl Morn ODearWhatCan MattrB Oh Christmas Tree Oh Come Emanuel Oh Danny Boy Oh Susanna OhCome-FaithfulOld MacDonald Old Rugged Cross OnTop-Smokie OnwardChristSoldiers Pop Goes Weasel Rakes of Mallow Rock-a-bye Baby Rondeau-Mouret Row Your Boat Rudolph Red Nose Sail Navy Scarborough Fair Scotlands Burning Sentimental Journey ShallWe GathrAtRiver She'll Be Comin Round Star Spangled Banner Swanee River Swing Low TakeMe-BallGame This Old Man Three Blind Mice Twinkle Little Star Voluntary Wayfaring Stranger We Three Kings WeWishYouMerryXms What a Friend-Jesus What Child Is This When Johnny Comes When The Saints Go White Christmas Yankee Doodle You Are My Sunshine Zip-a-di-doo-dah

Books, Videos, and Other Instructional Materials

The New Real Book series, published by Sher Music, is the canonical source of the list for tunes under discussion. Of course, you may ventureoutside of canon, but don't be too surprised if you areexcommunicated, or maybe exorcised.

The Jamey Aebersold catalog has about everything that's in print. You can get a free catalog by calling 1-800-456-1388 or by writing to

Jamey Aebersold P.O. Box 1244 New Albany, IN 47151-1244 U.S.A.

CD-ROM

Info on Masterclass Phil Woods Jazz Tutor CD-ROM

http://www.masterclass.com/mastercl/

Beginner Books

reed:

My favourite "first" arranging books would be:

"First Chart" by Van Alexander.

There are actually two books, an original and a revised. I may be getting the titles wrong. The original and revised are quite a bit different and it's worth getting both. They have slightly different titles. I think the other might be called "First Arrangement" or something. This book really starts you from zero and leads you through writing your first charts. Breaking the ice is important for people getting started.

"Professional Arranger" by (Russell?) Garcia.

This is a good book which also starts from zero and leads to a very advanced level. He has a book 2 which I havent read yet.

Of course no library is complete without the Mancini Book or the Nelson Riddle book. I think those are a bit more advanced in that it they are true "arranging" books and don't talk at all about harmony, reharmonization, etc. Also they don't really explain things like drop 2's, etc. They assume you know all that and as such deal with more arranging and orchestration issues.

There also used to be a great set of records/scores producedby Berklee press which I'm guessing are out of print. There werequite a few volumes (maybe even 20 or more) and they feature some wellknown arrangers in some cases (like Arif Mardin) that were just startingoff. They were designed as teaching tools so that students couldsee/hear lots of big band styles/instrumentations/ideas. (If anyone knows where someone can get these I'd love to know.They were available many moons ago when I was in high schoolbut I've tried to find them since that but to no avail.)

[...more...]

Someone was asking about materials for jazz compositionetc and for some reason I forgot to mention anexcellent harmony book though it is extremely advanced.

The book is "Modern Harmonic Technique" by Gordon Delamont.It is in a Modern Composing and Arranging Series. There isalso a counterpoint book which I've never read and perhapssome others. It's published by Kendor Music.

It is in two volumes with the second perhaps a bit moreinteresting than the first.

It purports to start from zero with a basic description ofintervals but it is really an extremely advanced text frombeginning to end.

I think you would have to know alot of tunes and have spent alotof time thinking about and doing reharmonization for itto make any sense at all.

It also has alot of information regarding voice leadingconsiderations of harmony which makes it also an excellentadvanced arranging text (though it doesnt discuss orchestrationat all).

---------Mike :

1) What is your favorite jazz arranger text book?

Of course the Ray Wright one is great. Also Don Sebesky's and Sammy Nestico's.

2) Is there a text that outlines or explains the various big band styles of the 30's/40's? (Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey, etal)

The Glenn Miller Arranging Handbook (or whatever it's really called) isprobably out of print but would be the best source for GM.

Try "Duke Ellington: Jazz Composer" for an interesting look into *some* of Duke's style.

Improv Books

reed on improvisation books:

I seem to remember a nice book (that I have at home but can't think of where I put it) by I think Jerry Coker (not his small paper back books, it's plastic spiral bound I think) on Jazz Improvistation where he reallycategorized the various improvisationtechniques that are in practice. Itcame out about four or five years ago. (Although Jerry's paperback booksare nice too).

Another book you might like is "Creative Jazz Improvisation" by Scott D. Reeves. I have it and have only leafed through it but it seems to been a Walter Piston type approach.

For me, even the good books don't make alot of sense (or help much) if you arent transcribing and learning lots of tunes.

Thinking in Jazz-The Infinite Art of Improvisation by Paul F. Berliner

I may be straying from the discussion a bit but this book was an eye opener for me, a beginning improvisor. It discusses the process and thinking behind improvisation and ensemble playing as told to the author by various known and lesser known players. Now, that kind of anecdotal description of a nonverbal process may be suspect in light of possible misinformation from some players, but he backs up his points with numerous transcriptions. What was inspiring to me were the stories of some great players when they were starting out (like Tommy Flanagan). By their own descriptions they were not great. But by practice, learning and transcribing they gradually became great. Anybody else read this book? -- Bob Murray

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a very personal approach tocommunicate what real professional jazz musicians experience from theirearly exposures to the music on through their maturation. The author isa trumpet player himself and did an outstanding job of bringing acrossthe points of view of the musicians he interviewed. Reading the storiesof these musicians as told by them is an uplifting experience. There'salso a couple of hundred pages of music in it.

It is a must read.

-- Frank

Other Books

Dan Haerle theory book

reed:

I mentioned this book several times but couldnt find it to give a goodreference.

It's "The Jazz Language" by Dan Haerle. Warner Brothers Publications.

It's a great compact book on nomenclature. It's very easy to find whatyou're looking for.

It's 58 packed pages of basic definitions of alot of the terms we havebeen using.

Chord Sub Book Recommendation

Jeremy M. Crosbie :

I would like to recommend a book that I have been studying with aboutChord Substitution.

It is by Ed Arkin and is called "Creative Chord Substitution." It is anoutstanding book, covering diatonic and chromatic chord substitution. Itgoes fairly in depth, with an explanation as to why a particular chordwas used in place of another one.

Someone had asked about substitutions for "static" changes. He has somevery good ideas on doing this over tunes like "Girl from Ipanema" wherethe I chord is played for two measures before resolving to the II chord.

Anyway, enough said. Anyone who gets an opportunity should check outthis book. It runs for about $15.00 and is available through BelwinMills publications (a division of Warner Bros. publications).

Video

Joe Beck "Jazz Chords Workout" Video

I watched a nice guitar instructional video by Joe Beck tonight that Ihavent watched for a while.

It's called "Jazz Chord Variations" and is a great video, a definitemust for any library.

He goes over so many things. It's almost a four year course in a onehour video. It's one of those videos you can watch over and over againfor years and each time, learn some more things you missed the previoustime.

One thing he talks about a bit is inversions, which is something wediscussed a while back.

Not to open up that whole discussion again but he shows someapplications of inversions in a musical context of certain kinds ofplaying.

It made me think about what I consider the fundamental knowledge ofinversions.

That is, one should intellectually know the inversions. In other words,one shouldnt hesitate when trying to name the first 3 notes of a B majorchord or a Eb major chord in first inversion or a D maj7 chord in 3rdinversion, etc. (Really it's more important to know the chord forms withthe root, 3rd, fifth and seventh (if applicable) as the bass note.

One should also know on the the guitar, the names of all the notes.

For me, this is basically the end of practicing inversions for the mostpart.

Oh, well I guess you play through some. Like I said earlier there arealot of excercises in the "Modern Method for the Guitar" by WilliamLeavitt for these.

However, the main thing is the intellectual understanding of what theyare.

pending time being able to go between them is not, IMHO, too usefulunless you have some particular musical things that you want to do andthen you should just practice that.

New Bill Evans video

reed:

While not marketted as an instructinal video, there is a new Bill EvansVideo that just came out which is unbelieveable as far as instructionvalue, IHMO.

It's called "Bill Evans in Europe, vidjazz 38, Concerts and Jam Sessionson Video".

It takes place mostly in 1964 and 1965 with Bill in his prime (one tuneis from 1970). In includes a very young Eddie Gomeze on one track andChuck Israels on the remaining. It's so revealing in many ways about hisplaying.

Discussion of Guitar Voicings

Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 17:05:25 -0800From: Roger Labbe (by way of Reed Kotler )Subject: Re: Inversions (long w/ examples)

Let's talk about inversions using a very specific, musical example.Suppose you are playing the changes to I Got Rhythm. The first twomeasures are:

| Bbmaj7 G7 | Cm7 F7 |

How would we play this on guitar? One choice would be:

| x | | | || | | x | || | x | x |

x | x | x | - 3| | | x | |

| x | x | x - 3| | | | x |

| | x | | | - 3| | | | x || | | x | x

(view as ascii or in non-proportional font to make it come out right)

which uses non-inverted chords. However, play it through few times and you realize that by placing the root in bass you are

1) duplicating the role of the bass, assuming you are playing with a bassist, and

2) the bass line is rather boring.

So suppose you want to make your music more varied, or you want a lessobvious bass line, or you are getting in the way of your bassist.Inversions, by placing different notes in the bass, will automaticallygenerate more interesting bass lines for you.

For example, take the previous example, but play the f7 as

| | x | | | - 3| | | | x |x | | x | |

which is the same as the previous f7 except the A wasmoved from string 1 to 6. Now the bass line is

Bb G C A

We can get more bass movement by moving up the neck.Starting at fret six we can play the two measures as:

| | | | | |x | | | x | - 6| | x x | |

| | x | | | - 5| | | | x |x | | x | |

x | x x x | - 8| | | | | || | | | | |

| x | x | x - 8| | | | | || | | | x |

Giving a bass line that walks: Bb B C F

Equally, inversions give you a choice of what notes to place in themelody, but I won't talk about that; the principle is the same as withthe bass.

Finally, inversions allow you to play a series of chords in one positionon the neck, which makes playing easier and gives a more consistantsound.

I agree with Reed that sitting down to study inversions is not useful.However, I do think it is useful to know 5 or 6 standard ways to play agiven chord in your idiom. I've placed a chart at the end of the messagethat shows different inversions for the most common chords. You canlearn these very quickly by taking a tune like I Got Rhythm and playingthe first few measures using the chart below. Try playing low on theneck, medium on the neck, then high on the neck. You will find that ateach position you will use a different mix of inverted and normal chordsto avoid changing position drastically. I bet you can learn most of thechords in just 2 days if you are diligent. As you do it don't justmemorize the chords but listen to the sound; some will give you a niceprogression in the bass, others will sound terrible. Sometimes the basswill stay the same over two chords, but the internal voices in thechords will change, giving inner movement. Then spend the next severaldays trying to cause these effects. Play a descending bass line. Playan ascending bass line. Make the inner voices move around. It won't belong before you can choose your sound, all just by knowing a few commonchord voicings.

Don't bother figuring out how to play every inversion of every chord. AsReed has pointed out, players only really use a few common form. Theones below are somewhat old fashioned as the voicing are very full;good for holding down the rhythm in a big band, but not so good formore modern forms where you might just play the 3 and 7 of a chord.

If you want to know more than the chords below, get a book such as ArnieBerle's "Chords & Progressions for Jazz & Popular Guitar". It contains afew of the most common chord voicings, and talks about things likeconstructing a bass line, how to comp, etc. It doesn't overburden youwith 10 zillion chord forms that no one plays, it just gives a fewuseful forms for each style (e.g. barre, top four strings, etc). Thereare many other books out there, but this one is fine.

The following shows several choices for common chords. The numbersindicate the function of the note in the chord. For example, to play thefirst chord as GMaj7, play it at the third fret, which places the R(oot)on G.

Maj7 chords

R | | | 5 | | | R | | | | | | | 1 | | | 5 1 3 | | | 7 3 | | | | | | | | | | 2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 3 | | 5 7 | 5 | | | | | 7 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 7 | | | | | | | |

7 Chord

R | 7 | 5 | | | R | | | | | | | R | | | 5 R 3 | | | | 3 | | | | | | 7 | | | 3 | | | 7 | | | | | | | | | | | 3 | | 5 | | 5 | | 7 | | | | | | | |

m7 Chords

R | 7 3 5 | | | R | | | | | 3 | R | | | | | 3 | | | | | | | 3 | | | 7 | | | | | | | | | 5 R | | | | | | | | | | | 5 | | 5 | | 7 | | 7 | | | | |

6 Chords

| | 6 | | | | | R | 6 | | | | | R | 6 | 5 R 3 | R | | | 5 | | | | | | | | | 3 6 | | | | | | | | | | | 3 | | 3 | | 5 | | 5 | | | | | | | | | | |

m6 Chords

| | 6 | | | | | R | 6 | | | 3 | R | | | | | 3 | R | | 3 5 | 3 | | | | | | | | 6 | | 6 | 5 R | | | | | | | | | | | 5 | | 5 | | | | | | | | | | |

I hope this answers Reed's valuable injunction to make your studiesspecific and musical, but also gives you knowledge of several inversionswhich you can use anytime in jazz. It was written more for a beginnerrather than someone with decades of experience (like Jim).

Roger

Date: Mon, 02 Dec 1996 09:21:46 -0500From: Lawson G. StoneSubject: Re: Guitar Chord Systems

reed wrote:> > Kevin,> > Wow! Nice job.> > Yes it's certainly easier to read and you have all the tensions> which is more important than the written notes anyway.> I've been working on these voicings as well. I have put them into neckdiagrams that I might be able to post as some kind of PICT or JPG file,or even an Adobe Acrobat type of file, if there is interest. I tend notto like tab that much, preferring standard notation with neck diagramsat key places.

I appreciated Kevin's analysis. Most of these voicings I have stumbledon for myself, but it's nice to see them synthesized; plus its helpfulto have one's own learning validated by someone else.

RE Joe Pass' videos and chord shapes. He was an ardent advocate of theCAGED approach to chords and scales, in which 5 basic fingerings arecorrelated to the basic, first position shapes of the C, A, G, E, and Dchords. That is also the order in which a single chord moves up theneck. While a couple of books out there purport to present Joe's system,I learned CAGED from my first guitar teacher 32 years ago and have sincefound it brilliantly expounded in a series called "Fretboard Logic." Itis especially effective for linking Pentatonic scales.

Thanks again, Reed, for the voicings. --

------------------------------Lawson G. StoneProfessor of Old Testament

------------------------------

Lawson,

To me the main thing is to reduce the amount of actual information andthen just relate everything to a few simple things.

To me, that is a fundamental part of the lesson Joe Pass communicateson his video. BTW, he even talks about all those books with thousands ofjazz guitar voicings and how he just plays easy things.

I think most top players do that, though not all may use an identicalsystem.

Joe Beck on his video is describing a similar system to what you say Joeis using whereby he has a couple of shapes derived from the basic cowboychords that he sees up and down the neck. (Interstingly enough, beyondsaying that is what he does, he doesnt really seem to be doing that atall on the video).

Guitar players tend to see shapes since it's a very visual instrument.

For me, I see shapes too but I also want to see harmony on the freboardso I can voice lead.

For me, just seeing shapes is limiting in that respect.

My system was derived from something I developed first on the piano.

I still have to start posting my piano version. It's a little morecomplicated because piano players have to learn them in all the handsplits. That is a 5 note voicing may have to be practiced with 1 not inthe left hard, 2 notes in the left hand , 3 notes in the left hand, etc.

I first came up with this because piano players tend to get locked intoparticular grips like guitar players. It makes it very awkward to voicelead if you have to move your whole hand just because you can't fingerthe chord appropriately for the music. Of course I could have juststarted trying to voice lead but I found that working through thesekinds of voice leading excercies, which are actually quite musical andnice sounding, helped me to practice them in all the keys and get verycomfortable with them.

Also, the various grips tend to become isolated things in particulartunes and particular keys if you don't work on them this way.

When you see what someone like Bill Evans is playing, you know that hedid something like this because he is voice leading and using lots of"non standard" hand splits whenever he needs them. For example if hewants to play the notes [D F A C E ], he might grab it with anycombination of the notes in the left and right hand depending on whereis coming from and where he is going to.

My guess is that someone like Barney Kessel or Ron Eschte is doingsomething more like what I posted though I don't know for sure.

I've recently orderred some Barney Kessel videos on chord playing and aRon Eshte book so I'll report on what I see when I get them.

I think Joe Beck and Joe Pass are too though clearly when he describedthings, Joe Beck was giving the CAGED speech.

BTW, you have to be very careful with what top players say they do ifthey don't actually seem to be demonstrating that on the video(similarly in person.) This was the source of my comment of what JoeBeck said regard the CAGED system. Sometimes they will just repeat whatothers have said in an educational setting and it's not what they aredoing at all.

There are a basic set of rooted voicings, which also can have upperchord degrees that I will be posting.

reed

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 2 Dec 1996 09:22:50 -0800From: Frank CurranSubject: Re: Guitar Chord Systems

> From: Kevin Johnsrude> Date: Fri, 29 Nov 1996 15:15:38 +0000> Subject: Re: Guitar Chord Systems> Is there enough interest and are there enough guitar players to> continue this thread? Let me know and we can compare notes (haha).> I'm a guitar player and I've also been working diligently on Reed'schord voicings. I'd like us to continue this thread. I've started topractice songs, like from fake books, and use Reed's voicings toconstruct chord/melody solo guitar. I have had to start very slowly andwork carefully, about one song per week. Its fun and, after just acouple of weeks, it is making a difference in my playing.

Frank

Date: Fri, 29 Nov 1996 15:15:38 +0000From: Kevin JohnsrudeSubject: Re: Guitar Chord Systems

Hi y'all!

I meant to do this earlier, but my axe is at home and my Internetconnection is at work.

Here are the ascii tab versions of the first set of Reed's rootlessguitar voicings for those of you without Web access or Adobecapabilities.

Sorry about the representation, but I don't have a music notationprogram--pencil and staff paper are easy and cheap.

Once again, if this stuff doesn't line up right, then use a monospacedfont like Courier.

First Set of Reed's Rootless Guitar Voicings:

First progression template is: | Dm9 G13 | Cmaj13 ||Second template is: | Dm9 G13 | C6/9 ||

Dm9 voicings:=============Notes: C F A EChord degrees: b7 b3 5 9

Strings: E A D G B ETop 4 : x x 10 10 10 12Mid 4 : x 15 15 14 17 x

G13 voicings:=============Notes: B F A EChord degrees: 3 b7 9 13

Strings: E A D G B ETop 4 : x x 9 10 10 12 Mid 4 : x 14 15 14 17 x

Cmaj13 voicings:=============Notes: B E A DChord degrees: 7 3 13 11


C6/9 voicings:=============Notes: A D G CChord degrees: 6 9 5 1


All mistakes are mine.

Play the two progressions above, using first the top 4 stringvoicings and then the mid 4 string voicings. Notice how smooth theprogressions are; that's because of the common-tones between eachchord. I kind of like the ambiguity in the rootless progressions aswell--the root is implied but not stated and that opens up the soundof the chords. I'm going to take a little time to see in whatcontexts I can arpeggiate these chords with the bass; I may be ableto make the key center ambiguous.

Personally, I think that you should learn both the top4 and the mid4 voicings because so many tunes do ii-V7's through the circle of fourth's but your mileage may vary.

Reed then alters the above templates to form the following progressions,with both Cmaj13 and C6/9 endings (but I'll only show the Cmaj13 endings):

| Dm9 G13(b9) | Cmaj13 ||| Dm9 G13(#9) | Cmaj13 ||| Dm9 G7(#9#5)| Cmaj13 ||| Dm9 G7(b9#5)| Cmaj13 ||| Dm9 G7(b5#9)| Cmaj13 ||

Each of these alterations are accomplished by only altering one or two notes; there's great economy of effort here.

I know Reed's got at least three more sets of voicings and I'd loveto see them. I've found some additional rootless voicings that are interesting.

Is there enough interest and are there enough guitar players tocontinue this thread? Let me know and we can compare notes (haha).

Kevin

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 2 Dec 1996 10:10:27 +0000From: Kevin JohnsrudeSubject: Re: Guitar Chord Systems

Here are the second set of guitar voicings. These are the "drop 2" voicings. I may have made an error in the Cmaj13 voicings as they're a bit of a jump from the other chords. Maybe these voicings weren't meant to be the top 4 strings and the mid 4 strings.

If this stuff doesn't line up right, then use a monospaced font likeCourier.

Second Set of Reed's Rootless (Drop 2) Guitar Voicings:

Dm9 voicings:=============Notes: F C E AChord degrees: b3 b7 9 5

Strings: E A D G B ETop 4 : x x 3 5 5 5Mid 4 : x 8 10 9 10 x

G13 voicings:=============Notes: F B E AChord degrees: b7 3 13 9


C6/9 voicings:=============Notes: E A D GChord degrees: 3 6 9 5


Cmaj13 voicings (This is the big jump that I'm not too sure about):=============Notes: A D G BChord degrees: 13 11 5 7


All mistakes are mine.

The above chords are used in the following progressions:

| Dm9 G13 | C6/9 ||| Dm9 G9(#5) | C6/9 ||| Dm9 G9(b5) | C6/9 ||| Dm9 G13(b9) | C6/9 ||| Dm9 G7(b9#5)| C6/9 ||| Dm9 G7(b5b9)| C6/9 ||| Dm9 G13(#9) | C6/9 ||| Dm9 G13(#9) | Cmaj13 ||| Dm9 G7(#5#9)| C6/9 ||| Dm9 G7(#5#9)| Cmaj13 ||

Kevin

------------------------------

Kevin,

Wow! Nice job.

Yes it's certainly easier to read and you have all the tensionswhich is more important than the written notes anyway.

Okay, I'll start posting the other sets .

I promise at least one by monday.

The next sets are pretty simple.

Basically you have:

1) Pure m7 instead of m9. So the first one for dm9 of [ F C E A ] becomes [ F C D A ]. SImilarly for the other.

The reson for this one is that :

a) It's a different sound.

b) The natural 9 is not always an appropriate tension. For example Em7 A7 in the key of C, you might not want that F# . For example the horn player might just be playing in C and not want that F# shoved down his throat.

2) Pure m7 -> m7b5 . 6 -> m6 .

3) A few variations of other pure m7 inversions going to dominant chords. Similarly for m7b5. Also pure m7 -> m11 so [ F C E A ] becomes [ F C E G ]

There are a few other things.

Anyway, all the sets above are almost trivial modifications to the firstset and cover an amazing percentage of what people play, when it comesto rootless voicings.

I have another set like these based on shells (R 3 7) and if you add afew more things you basically end up with all the voicings a straightahead guitar would use. So someone like Barney Kessel, Joe Pass, etc.

I think I can post it all over the next month or so.

If you watch the Joe Pass solo guitar video you'll see he is doingexactly this. He talks alot about simplifying things.

Also, a few times he plays through all the tension variations veryquickly so he's obviously thought the same way and practiced them.

Then I have some guitar solos I've written which illustrate how all thisworks together.

What I'm thinking of doing is just using ones that are in the new realbook and just remove the melody note.

SOmeone with the book could just pencil the melody notes back in.

reed

Transcribing Technique and Technology

How, Why, Who?

Who?

I see the value of transcribing non guitarists. My best stuff I'velearned by hacking around in the Charlie Parker Omnibook. I hear a lickI like, go to the Omnibook, try to play it, ruin my hands, give up. Goback, try again. Etc. It could be Bird is just too hard and I may needto give Chet Baker a try.

Be careful of the "Omnibook"

I've transcribed several of the solos myself.

On "Confirmation" the solo was so far off as to be totally unuseable.

For me, one of the main points of doing transcriptions is to get insightinto what is going on.

Every note Charlie Parker plays makes incredible sense. At no points in the solo is he hemming and hawing. This tells you what level he was playing at to have that quality and level of purpose over 32 bars. Charlie never really felt comfortable playing more than one chorus, eventhough he was such a great improvisor. Contrast that with many of todaysplayers that arent be fit to shine his shoes and they see no problem with taking 5 choruses.

That tells you alot about the level of preparation he went through, before he got up on the bandstand.

This is the one common feature of all the great imporovisors.

Bill Evans, Jim Hall, Wes Montgomery, Chet Baker, Clifford Brown, Stan Getz, Cannonball Adderly... all have this same feature in their solos. The quality level is amazing.

I've transcribed them all and their solos are like written compositions.

Not having accurate transcriptions robs you of realizing what these guyswere really doing.

In order to play like that you have to start very simply and sincerely,making every note and idea be meaningful. Bill Evans says this on hisinstructional video. He also says that people always are in a hurry to achieve the final product and so approximate it with alot of confusion.Unfortunately this confusion will never become the real thing. Peoplethen layer confusion on top of the confusion.

The lesser players have a lick here and there or the occasional idea, but the entire 32 bars of whatever is just stream of conciousness with no overall meaning.

If you try and play the solos in the omnibook, many of them make no senseat all and it's not because Charlie Parker doesnt make sense on the record.

If it werent for copyright rules, I'd post my transcription.

If you compared them you would be amazed.

Also, if you listen to the recording you would hear instantly that mine is exactly what is being played. It's been checked by Don Haas who is a great transcriber and also has perfect pitch.

Transcription books, especially alot of the older ones, are not to be trusted at all.

Bird is more than just too hard for beginning transcribers.Bird is a level 8 solo (on a scale from 1 to 10). Partiallybecause of the speed and partially because of the qualityof the recordings.

Level 10 is McCoy Tyner on his first two trio records. Try transcribing his solos on "Star Eyes" or "There is No Greater Love".

You will have enough trouble doing Chet Baker. Take my word for it. (Chet is the closest to a level 1 solo I can find).

reed

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 15 Nov 96 16:04:01 PSTFrom: Jules Goldberg x2152Subject: Re: Chet Baker

Sax players in the Chet Baker class are Stanley Turrentine, CliffordJordan, and Junior Cook from the '60's and late '50s. Simplicity always sounds good. For these people, medium tempos are the best. I thinkCliffords solo on Horace Silver's 'The outlaw' (Blue Note 1957 Furthur explorations by the horace silver quintet) is simple enough for basictranscription, and he really says something. Also Stanley Turrentine'srecordings with Shirley Scott are just as good. A good example is 'secretlove' which is on the impulse lable. (I don't know the record title.) Is it still available? (I have no idea.)Junior's solo on 'sister sadie' is also great. It is on horace Silver's 'blowin' the blues away.' (Blue Note 1959)

I have some of Chet Baker's mariachi brass record. This was his answer toHerb Alpert. He plays simply, but sometimes it sounds as if the A&R man told him to stick with the melody.

have fun transcribing jules

Technology - Computer Based

If you want to transcribe music, it is much easier to first sample itinto your computer, and use a program with a good graphical interface tolisten a few notes at a time, etc. Generally, you will be able to get adequate software for free, and you are already staring right at the expensive part. Here's how to do it.

Macintosh

First, get SoundHack right now. This program can be used to do recordingoff of the microphone input of a later mac, or to import tracks or partsof track directly offaudio CD. Be sure to use the mono option, as many other programs seem to get screwed up by stereo, especially older ones. SoundHack has about a zillion features, but no good playback editor or console. Other than importing, you may wish to use the 'phase vocodor' function, which lets you slow down a song or sample without changing thepitch. The resulting playback has an echo-y, metallic tone, however. This operation is also mind-bendingly slow (like it takes 100 seconds to process a 1 second sample), although if you pay the shareware fee, a PowerPC native version is provided, which should be much faster.

To listen and edit, the best (free) thing out there seems to be Sample Editor. It has labling, variable rate playback (with corresponding pitchchange), and various other goodies.

Wayne sez -

And for you Mac fans, I use DigiDesign's Sound Tools for similar results.It will slow tunes down without changing pitch. But as Berry states, youcan only go so far before you lose quality. Still, for transcribing solos -- we are light years ahead of where we were when I was in school (don't ask when that was!) :)

One negative: Digidesign AudioMedia II card (or PowerMac) required. For an 030 machine (such as my Mac IIsi), the NuBus card was $400, and the AudioMedia card (included SoundTools software) was another $1,200. Not a cheap option.

Alternatively, you might want to try SlowTune, available from Lark in the Morning, which is not free. If anyone has actually used it, pleasepost a review.

PC (gag)

I found that by using the soundcard in my PC and a shareware program called "Cool Edit" I can sample tracks off of CDs, save them in .WAV files, and (this is the fun part) slow them down *without* changing pitch. The program uses software DSP techniques to alter the music in this and other interesting ways.

THere's a limit to how far you can go, but I find that by stretching about 20-30%, and then looping a section while I play along I can pick off the parts I need.

If you sample at CD quality, you WILL use up tons of disk space and memory, and if you downsample to a lower resolution you can't stretch asmuch before the sound gets awful.

Cool-Edit runs on Windows PC's and can probably be found in most shareware archives.

--berry

Technology - Standalone Hardware

Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 01:29:41 -0800From: krogerSubject: Re: Digital SloMo

There will be a head-on comparison of the RiffMaster, the AkaiRiff-O-Matic, and possibly the Encore, in the Winter issue of Just JazzGuitar (the best journal in the history of the universe). Bob Pattersonwill be doing the honors. It or some subset of it will also appear on Bob Patterson's web page, Jazz Guitar Online. www.jazzguitar.com/

Jim

Riff-o-matic from Akai

From: Alan ReiderSubject: Re: "Riff-o-Matic" (U40) from Akai

Maybe this model is improved over what you tested. The stop note worksgreat, and gives a really fine-grained playback loop. And you canshift the loop forward or backwards in very tiny increments. It has2/3 and 1/2 spd, a 3-level filter, semi-tone (+/- 6) and fine-tune(+/- 50 cents). Its very intuitive to use. All in all it appears to bea huge step up from using a 1/2spd tape recorder.

But I didnt know there were other units, if the slo-mo encore ii isbetter I'd rather have that! So please let us know the result of yourcall re: the discount.

One big drawback of the akai unit for me is that, altho its tiny, itwont run on batteries. It would have been cool to be able to plug itinto a walkman and study on the train or whatever.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 08:20:24 -0400 (EDT)From: Philip Cibley Subject: Re: discussion-l Digest - V01 #13

Re: Riff-o-matic.

I think you'd be better off getting a used reel to reel tape machine with the ability to record at 7 1/2 ips and 15 ips. to take off solos record at 15 and play back at 7 1/2. It will be half as fast and an octave lower. For bass lines record at 7 1/2 and play back at 15.

It will be an octave higher and twice as fast. A 1200 foot reel of tapewill give you an hour of recording time at 7 1/2, and you can find decentused machines for anywhere from $250 to $700 or so. All in all, a lot cheaper than a sampler and you get a lot more than 30 seconds of recording tim time.

Phil Cibley

SloMo

The Cadillac of transcribing devices (what I use and at least one other professional transcriber uses) is the "Slo-Mo Encore II' . Ijust bought the new model and have owned the original for many years.I have used it to transcribe all manner of fast solos. Wait tilltomorrow to call. I'm going to call them and ask them for a specialprice for list members. It's still not cheap but they gave about $100off for SJW attendees. They have gone home already today.(If you want to just get a brochure call "Ridge Runner", 1-800-373-8776).

Don't buy anything you can't return too.

Some people are very bothered by the sound coming out of thosedigital boxes. In that case you might just want a half speed analog.

reed

Date: Sat, 23 Nov 1996 10:51:44 -0800 From: reed Subject: Re: standalone transcription devices - update

I'm going to double check the price with them on Monday. I thought it came out to $400 and some change.

The phone for the Slo Mo is 512-847-8605 for outside the US.

It's worth checking out the Riff Master too. It's $149.95 and even has a bunch of features not in the Slo Mo. It goes to 1/4 speed and may have some freeze note feature (I can't remember).

I havent heard it yet but they do have some audio samples at their web site. They just bumped the amount last night on their web site but I am talking to them about discounts for the discussion-L group.

I think Ridge RUnner (the SLo Mo folks) actually sell both. I just found that out. I may try talking to them about discounts for that product.

They will all give trial periods and usually will extend the period if you ask in advance.

Riff Master gives 2 weeks but I think it actually might be a USA consumer law that they have to accept returns in saleable condition up to 30 days but I'm not sure.

I tried the other less expensive model Akai RiffaMatic last summer and was not too impressed. It's $199 and not nearly as good as the slo mo.

For jazz solos, you want to be able to slow things down as far as possible. The Slo Mo goes to 1/6 speed (which I've used alot).

Someone sent me some private e-mail saying that he thought that 1/2 speed is probably good enough for jazz.

Unfortunately I don't think he's ever transcribed so that's just a theory that isnt true.

The Akai only goes to 1/2 speed. reed ------------------------------

Date: Fri, 22 Nov 1996 15:54:44 -0800From: reed Subject: standalone transcription devices - update

I've negotiated a special price for the "Encore II Digital Slo Mo" . The price as advertised in Guitar Player Magazine is $699.95.

They are giving it to members of discussion-L for 30% off which makes theprice $400 .

You have to mention "Dept RK" or "Reed Kotler" when you order it.The phone number is xxxxxxxxxxxxxx .

This is the model I use. I have used the original model and the new one.

I am also noticing another new product called "Riff Master" which sellsfor $149.95 . If it works as advertised it is a great bargain.Check out their website, which has samples etc. at

http://www.gbase.com/rifftech/

Their phone number is xxxxxxxxxxxxxx .

Both companies will allow a trial period. I think Ridge Runnner (Slo Mo)will charge $15 or something if you return it and I think they givea month trial. The "Riff Master" folks will give a 2 week trial.

reed

DISCUSSION OF 'CONFIRMATION'

Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 11:09:38 -0700From: Frank Curran------------------------------Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 20:59:09 -0700From: reed kotler Subject: Re: [Fwd: Composition books and articles] : reposting

Jim Kroger wrote:> > I hope this is an appropriate question for this mailing list.> Please correct me if I'm out of line (again).> > I've been told that two songs had revolutionary effects on jazz,> due to their innovative approach to composition. One is> "Cherokee" by Charlie Parker, the other is "Giant Steps" by> John Coltrane. Can anyone explain what is important or> revolutionary about these songs?> > Thanks> Jim

Well Giant Steps is important for the interesting chord changes it used,for all the other tunes written using the same idea, and for providing areharmonization technique that has been applied to lots of other tunes.

First of all though it is generally thought that Giant Steps is derived from the bridge to the tune "Have You Met Miss Jones"by Richard Rodgers.

When the tune is played in F, the bridge starts in Bb and goes:

Bbmaj7 | Abmi7 Db7 | Gbmaj7 | Emi7 A7 |Dmaj7 | Abmi7 Db7 | Gbmaj7 | ...

So we see the key change from Bb to Gb to D to Gb. In otherwords the key centers are changing in major thirds. To my knowledgethis was the first tune to do this.

If we rewrite the bridge in B we get;

Bmaj7 | Ami7 D7 | Gmaj7 | Fmi7 Bb7 |Ebmaj7 | Ami7 D7 | Gmaj7 | ...

So the key changes from B to G to Eb to G .

Now lets look at the changes for giant steps.

Bmaj7 D7 | Gmaj7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7 | Ami7 D7 |Gmaj7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7 F#7 | Bmaj7 | Fmi7 Bb7 |Ebmaj7 | Ami7 D7 | Gmaj7 | C#mi7 F#7 |Bmaj7 | Fmi7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7 | C#mi7 F#7 |

So the key also changes in major thirds:B to G to Eb to G to Eb to B to Eb to G to B toEb and turnaround back to B.

You should read the chapter on "Coltrane Changes" in Mark Levine's "Jazz Theory Book". He gives alot of examples and talks about the history and importance of those changes. His jazz piano book discusses this too.

I haven't personally studied all the ramifications of that reharmonization because the players I have studied (Bill Evans,Wes Montgomery, Chet Baker, etc) never got into that. Althoughwriting this post has piqued my interest.

I think the basic idea is that it provides another way to get to a major chord without the need for ii/V I or iii/VI ii/V I or whatever.

For example in place of | Dmi7 G7 | Cmaj7 | you could try.

Emaj7 G7 | Cmaj7. So the key center goes from E to C.

Or say if you had | Dmi7 | G7 | Cmaj7 | you might try

Abmaj7 B7 | Emaj7 G7 | Cmaj7 |

Here the key goes Ab to E to C. In major thirds again.

What Coltrane did in fact was to write tunes that were based on reharmonizations of other tunes using this technique.

For example, Countdown (also from the Giant Steps album) is based on theMiles Davis tune Tuneup.

The Changes to Tuneup are:

Emi7 | A7 | Dmaj7 | |Dmi7 | G7 | Cmaj7 | |Cmi7 | F7 | Bbmaj7 | Ebmaj7 |Emi7 | F7 | Bbmaj7 | A7 |

So what Coltrane saw was four bars starting with Emi7 and ending with Dmaj7, four bars starting with Dmi7 and ending with Cmaj7 and four bars starting with Cmi7 and ending with Bbmaj7. He left the last four bars alone and even duplicated the melody from tuneup.

So he just backed up from the target chords, i.e Dmaj7 for the first four, Cmaj7 for the second four and Bbmaj7 for the first four.

Emi7 ?? | ????? | ????? | Dmaj7 |Dmi7 ?? | ????? | ????? | Cmaj7 |Cmi7 ?? | ????? | ???? | Bbmaj7 |Emi7 | F7 | Bbmaj7 | A7 |

So the first line will first go from F#(Gb) key center to D.

Emi7 ?? | ????? | Gbmaj7 A7 | Dmaj7 |

Then we get to Gb key center from Bb.

Emi7 ?? | Bbmaj7 Db7 | Gbmaj7 A7 | Dmaj7 |

Now we just add a V chord into Bb.

Emi7 F7 | Bbmaj7 Db7 | Gbmaj7 A7 | Dmaj7 |

The second two lines are reharmonized in the same manner,yielding the changes in total:

EMi7 F7 | Bbmaj7 Db7 | Gbmaj7 A7 | Dmaj7 |Dmi7 Eb7 | Abmaj7 B7 | Emaj7 G7 | Cmaj7 |Cmi7 Db7 | Gbmaj7 A7 | Dmaj7 F7 | Bbmaj7 |Emi7 | F7 | Bbmaj7 | A7 |

Coltrane wrote several other tunes in this manner.In addition he reharmonized parts of existing tunes like Body and Soul (the bridge, see New Real Book vol 2), and Everytime We Say Goodbye justto name a few. Sometimeshe modified the melody slightly to accomodate the reharmonization.

Although I enjoy playing Giant Steps. One thing that I've always felt isthat it should really be a ballad. It has been interesting to see how many musicians in the last few years have discovered the same thing and begun recording it that way.

I hope this helps. I sure learned alot from writing it.

reed

------------------------------Subject: Confirmation and Giant Steps - was fwd....

Question from Jim:> Can anyone explain what is important or revolutionary about these> songs? (Confirmation and Giant Steps)

Yes I agree with Reed - great question. I've studied Giant Steps morethan Confirmation so I'll offer a few comments on it. Part of theinnovation that Coltrane created in GS is the harmonic structure basedon a cylcle of thirds. This moved away from the traditional tonic todominant to tonic with subdominant excursions or 2-5-1 backcycling.Cycling the harmonic structure based on thirds gives the feeling ofconstant movement and resolution just as effectively as traditionalharmony but with a new, interesting sound. Part of the revolutionarysignificance lies in the successful departure from the tradition of thepast, not that a huge proportion of subsequent jazz followed the GSpattern.

I too have to run in a few minutes, will try to send more later, perhapsfrom my home system tonight. Specific analysis of GS harmonic structureand improv ideas would be a lot of fun.

Frank

------------------------------

reed:

Confirmation is a great tune and one that I studied alot becauseI transribed the head and the solos off the "Now's The Time" recording.

I'm not sure exactly why it would be considered revolutionary except thatit had the germ of something that I think Charlie Parker created and thatwas the kind of blues changes he later used in tunes like "Blues for ALice". (I don't seem to have a recording for "Blues for Alice" so I'm basing my analysis here on the chart in the New Real Book Vol. 2 which was derived from a Charlie Parker recording as well as a Roland Kirk recording so the changes may be somewhat modernized. I will also give the ones at the end from the Charlie Parker Omnibook which differ in a few places. The Omnibook was a momentous work but it does have alot of mistakes as I have found when transcribing the solos so I'm not 100% confident about the chord changes. If I can find a recording I'll see what I hear and have Don double check.)

The first five bars of Confirmation are essentially:

F | Emi7b5 A7 | Dmi7 | Cmi7 F7 |Bb |

So this was a way to get from a I chord to a IV chord in the right number of measures for a blues.

A traditional blues is basically:

F7 | | | |Bb7 | | F7 | |C7 | | F7 | C7 |

What Charlie Parker did that was revolutionary in "Blues fo Alice"was to make the I and IV chords be major sixth chords instead ofSeventh chords.

F6 | | | |Bb6 | | F6 | |C7 | | F6 | C7 |

Then there was the question of how to fill in the chords so that we logicall arrive at the proper place. The F6 to Bb6 was filled in basically the way he did it for "Confirmation".

F6 | Emi7 A7 | Dmi7 G7 | Cmi7 F7 |Bb6 | | F6 | |C7 | | F6 | C7 |

Then he used a minor plagal cadence to get from bars 6 to 7,i.e. Bbmi6 (actual chords played being Bbmi7 to Eb7).

F6 | Emi7 A7 | Dmi7 G7 | Cmi7 F7 |Bb6 | Bbmi7 Eb7 | F6 | |C7 | | F6 | |

Then he approached the C7 with a Db7. Db7 can be looked at as just a half step approach or else a tritone sub for G7 which is the V of C.

F6 | Emi7 A7 | Dmi7 G7 | Cmi7 F7 |Bb6 | Bbmi7 Eb7 | F6 | Db7 |C7 | | F6 | C7 |

Next he turned the remained dominant seventh chordsinto ii-V7 , a common device.

F6 | Emi7 A7 | Dmi7 G7 | Cmi7 F7 |Bb6 | Bbmi7 Eb7 | F6 | Abmi7 Db7 |Gmi7 | C7 | F6 | Gmi7 C7 |

Then he just extended the turnaround at the end substitued iii7/VI7 ii7/V7 for I ii7/V7 which is another common device.

F6 | Emi7 A7 | Dmi7 G7 | Cmi7 F7 |Bb6 | Bbmi7 Eb7 | F6 | Abmi7 Db7 |Gmi7 | C7 | Ami7 D7 | Gmi7 C7 |

The Omnibook has:

F6 | Emi7b5 A7 | Dmi7 G7 | Cmi7 F7 |Bb7 | Bbmi7 Eb7 | Ami7 | Abmi7 Db7 |Gmi7 | C7 | F7 | Gmi7 C7 |

The main differences are the Bb7 in bar 5 and the F7 in bar 11. The Bb7 in bar 5 is bit alarming but most likely it was a Bb6 and because of the Ab melody note in the middle of the measure he renamed itbut this is speculation since I havent heard the recording.

The Ami7 in bar 7 instead of F6 is really not much of an issue. Either would work.

Similarly the F7 for Ami7 D7 is just another way to do the turnraround though the F7 insread of F6 is a bit alarming.

reed

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 25 Oct 1996 18:57:51 -0700From: reed Subject: Re: Harmonising a melody? : Fly me to the Moon

At 10:34 AM 10/24/96 +0100, you wrote:>Hi folks> I am trying to find an approach to producing simple but >pleasant harmonizations of the songs in my fake books (for piano).> I have tried playing block chords in the left hand and melody in the >right hand but this usually produces poor results. >> To be specific if we take a nice melody like 'Fly Me To The Moon' how >do you approach turning this into a two handed harmonization?.>I have tried simply fitting all the notes of the chords under each >melody note but the result is a bit disappointing. Is there a better >way?. >> Any tips or ideas on this subject greatly appreciated.>>---------- John >John,

Nice tune choice.

First let's agree on some basic changes for the tune.

For C, use Cmaj7 or C6.

Ami7 | Dmi7 | G7 | C C7 |Fmaj7 | Bmi7b5 | E7 | Ami7 A7 |Dmi7 | G7 | Emi7 | A7 |Dmi7 | G7 | C | Bmi7b5 E7 |Ami7 | Dmi7 | G7 | C C7 |Fmaj7 | Bmi7b5 | E7 | Ami7 A7 |Dmi7 | G7 | Bb7 | A7 |Dmi7 | G7 | C | Bmi7b5 E7 |

Okay, well first, try just playing the melody in the right hand and the bass note (as low as practical) in the left hand. That's always a good intro to the basic structure of the tune.

There are so many things one can do.

Since we started talking about block chords, let's try this for the first two measures.

From bottom to top, try the following voicings:

[E G A C] [D F Ab B] [C E G A] [A# C# E G][A C D F] [A# C# E G] [C D F A] [D F A C]

I'm basically harmonizing the scales using seventh chordswhen the melody fits and diminished chords elsewhere.I'm using some inversion of the diminished chord beginninga half step below the chord I'm approaching.

In the left hand you can just duplicate the melody .

C B A G F G E C

reed

Reed Kotler

http://www.justjazz.com

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 22:38:38 +0200From: Aldo Brucale Subject: Soloing: Four on Six in Gm

Hi to all

I'd like to start a little talk about "Four on Six" by Wes Montgomery. I only own the old illegal Real Book, but fortunately the changes for thehead seem to be correct (I am referring to the original recording from"Incredible Jazz Guitar"). I don't agree with the "solo" section:

|Gm7 | | | ||Cm7 F7 !Bbm7 Eb7 |Am7 D7 |Ebm7 Ab7 ||Gm7 | | |C-7 F7 ||Bbmaj7 |Am7b5 D7b9 |Gm7 |Am7b5 D7b9 |

First of all, I'm sure that bars 7 and 8 are right for the theme exposition, but during the solos they are simpler:

|Am7 |D7 |

Also, the cadence in bar 12 is not there: it's a plain Gm7. (This happensoften in the old Real Book: backcycling is systematically imposed).

So my "right" solo changes would be:

|Gm7 | | | ||Cm7 F7 !Bbm7 Eb7 |Am7 |D7 ||Gm7 | | | ||Bbmaj7 |Am7b5 D7b9 |Gm7 |Am7b5 D7b9 |

I still have a lot to learn about improvisation, so my soloing during themodulations in bars from 5 to 7 is not very fluid: I will always play aphrase in Cm, then one in Bbm , then a II-V in Gm (so the Am7 in bar 7sometimes gets its fifth flatted), all disconnected. I was wondering ifthere was a simpler way to look at the harmonic structure, and playingagainst the bass solo I noticed how Percy Heath's changes in bars 5-8 sound more like:

|Cm7 !Eb7 |Am7 |D7 |

so the whole thing remains in the key of Bb/Gm. I would read Cm7 as the IV in Gm, Eb7 as the IV in Bb (to be precise, Eb would have a major seventh and a sharp eleventh, but the dominant sound is usual in this context - it's bluesy), Am7(b5) and D7 as II-V in Gm or in G. To me, it is much easier playing with this structure in mind (the piece is not even modulating any more, if not between Bb and its minor relative), andI can still use the chords that were left out as substitutions.

I have some questions: can I, viceversa, play these "new" changes if thebass player plays the former ones? and, is this approach correct(simplifying the structure of a song and then making substitutions whileplaying)?

I'd like to end saying thanks to Reed for the creation of this forum: forthe second time I feel that the Internet is not useless, after all (thefirst time being when I downloaded Marc Sabatella's Primer - thank you,Marc, great work!).

== Aldo Brucale ========[message posted from Bologna, Italia]===

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 14:26:38 -0700From: reed Subject: Re: Soloing: Four on Six in Gm

At 10:38 PM 9/30/96 +0200, you wrote:>== Aldo Brucale ========[message posted from Bologna, Italia]===>Aldo,

I'm assuming you are listening to the "Incredible Jazz Guitar ofWes Montgomery" album.

I'll be posting to this. I also may transcribe the solo out ofcuriosity since I've transcribed already some of the other solosfrom that record.

BTW, do you have perfect pitch?

reed

Date: Sun, 06 Oct 1996 00:58:15 -0700From: Reed Kotler Subject: Re: Soloing: Four on Six in Gm

Aldo,

I havent really had time to thoroughly answer your post solet me just give some basic advice. I would like to spend sometime at the piano with this tune but it's too late at night to playfor me right now.

At 10:38 PM 9/30/96 +0200, you wrote:>Hi to all>>I'd like to start a little talk about "Four on Six" by Wes Montgomery. I>only own the old illegal Real Book, but fortunately the changes for the>head seem to be correct (I am referring to the original recording from>"Incredible Jazz Guitar"). I don't agree with the "solo" section:>>|Gm7 | | | |>|Cm7 F7 !Bbm7 Eb7 |Am7 D7 |Ebm7 Ab7 |>|Gm7 | | |C-7 F7 |>|Bbmaj7 |Am7b5 D7b9 |Gm7 |Am7b5 D7b9 |>>First of all, I'm sure that bars 7 and 8 are right for the theme >exposition, but during the solos they are simpler:>>|Am7 |D7 |>>Also, the cadence in bar 12 is not there: it's a plain Gm7. (This >happensoften in the old Real Book: backcycling is systematically >imposed). So my "right" solo changes would be:>>|Gm7 | | | |>|Cm7 F7 !Bbm7 Eb7 |Am7 |D7 |>|Gm7 | | | |>|Bbmaj7 |Am7b5 D7b9 |Gm7 |Am7b5 D7b9 |>>I still have a lot to learn about improvisation, so my soloing during >the modulations in bars from 5 to 7 is not very fluid: I will always >play a phrase in Cm, then one in Bbm , then a II-V in Gm (so the Am7 in>bar 7 sometimes gets its fifth flatted), all disconnected. I was >wondering if there was a simpler way to look at the harmonic structure,>and playing against the bass solo I noticed how Percy Heath's changes >in bars 5-8 sound more like:>I am planning to transcribe wes's solo at some point on this tune which might offer some more insight.

By the way, are your ears good enough to transcribe his solo, if so Isuggest you do that. If not you might try one something easier from thissame record. I might recommend doing the octave solo on "Gone With The Wind".

My experience with Wes's playing is that wes does try and make most of the changes on these kind of tunes.

That means when it's tight, he's often playing some kind of arpeggio andthe resolving it. This means that the line will be somewhat disconnectedpossibly though it's possible to just repeat the lick (transposed of course).

For example Cm7->F7 he might play Eb G Bb D F. Where the Eb G Bb D isessentially a rootless Cmi9 chord. Then for Bbmi7->Eb7, Db F Ab C Eb.

There are two basic approaches when the changes are tight, especially with ii/V's.

Once is to just let them go by and possibly catch a note or two that works. This is probably what someone like chet baker or even Miles woulddo.

The other is to play some worked out ii/V lick.

Playing music is like engineering as opposed to mathematics.

Different tunes and different parts of tunes require specific solutions.

For example, some parts of a tune are more open and you can stretch andbe more creative.

Other parts may be too busy and in order to keep up you have to resort tosome things you've worked out for that part of the tune. Otherwise youmay have to let some changes go by.

My guess is that Wes had alot of worked out material for fast tunes or tunes with dense changes (as do most players) and he just didnt feel theneed to be creative everywhere.

For tricky parts of tunes like this, try composing some things to play.Actually, try composing a solo for the whole tune. When composing you have alot of time to work out solutions to problem areas. If you wait until you are playing then you may be too unprepared.

I plan on posting some examples of this as soon as I finish working outproblems related to transforming my postcript into giffs, and pdf.

>|Cm7 !Eb7 |Am7 |D7 |>>so the whole thing remains in the key of Bb/Gm. I would read Cm7 as the>IV in Gm, Eb7 as the IV in Bb (to be precise, Eb would have a major >seventh and a sharp eleventh, but the dominant sound is usual in this >context - it's bluesy), Am7(b5) and D7 as II-V in Gm or in G. To me, it>is much easier playing with this structure in mind (the piece is not >even modulating any more, if not between Bb and its minor relative), and>I can still use the chords that were left out as substitutions.>

Cmi7 is the ii of Bb. Eb7 is the V of Ab. I'm a big fan of simplificationbut in this instance I think you have to admit where it's really in adifferent key.

While I think that essentially it is just in Bb/Gm but you really can't ignore the temporary modulation to Ab with the Bbmi7/Eb7 chords.

>I have some questions: can I, viceversa, play these "new" changes if the>bass player plays the former ones? and, is this approach correct>(simplifying the structure of a song and then making substitutions while>playing)?>Ideally the musicians are sensitive enough so that if you start playingdifferent changes the bass player will adjust.

Even with top professionals, they can't always do this.

There are lot's of examples on records where it seems everyone in the band is playing somewhat different changes.

I think if it sounds okay to you, you can play different changes.

Alot of players have a very strong sense of how they hear the tune andif the rest of the band is doing something different, they will stillcharge ahead.

>I'd like to end saying thanks to Reed for the creation of this forum: >for the second time I feel that the Internet is not useless, after all >(the first time being when I downloaded Marc Sabatella's Primer - thank>you,Marc, great work!).>>== Aldo Brucale ========[message posted from Bologna, Italia]===>------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 06 Oct 1996 15:42:04 -0400From: Lawson G. StoneSubject: Re: Soloing: Four on Six in Gm

One somewhat helpful approach to soloing on Four on Six is to realize that the changes are exactly the same as Frank Sinatra's rendition of "Summertime" except for being in Gm. If you think of the melody of "Summertime" you begin to think of ideas that flow melodically, which is a nice way to supplement the approach of playing over changes. I know some people would make "melodic" improvising and improvising over changes mutually exclusive, but an amateur/beginner like me has to use every meanws available.--//////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\Lawson G. Stone Asbury Theological Seminary Wilmore, KY 40390\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\//////////////////////////////////

Date: Sun, 06 Oct 1996 18:59:20 -0700From: reed Subject: Re: Soloing: Four on Six in Gm

At 12:58 AM 10/6/96 -0700, you wrote:|>>>>so the whole thing remains in the key of Bb/Gm. I would read Cm7 as the>>IV in Gm, Eb7 as the IV in Bb (to be precise, Eb would have a major >>seventh and a sharp eleventh, but the dominant sound is usual in this >>context - it's bluesy), Am7(b5) and D7 as II-V in Gm or in G. To me, it>>is much easier playing with this structure in mind (the piece is not >>even modulating anymore, if not between Bb and its minor relative), and>>I can still use the chords that were left out as substitutions.>>>Cmi7 is the ii of Bb. Eb7 is the V of Ab. I'm a big fan of >simplification but in this instance I think you have to admit where it's>really in a different key.>>While I think that essentially it is just in Bb/Gm but you really can'tignore>the temporary modulation to Ab with the Bbmi7/Eb7 chords.>>Aldo,

I misunderstood what you were doing right here.

Whatever works for you is fine if it simplifies things as far asunderstanding the tune.

I would probably think of this as Cmi7/F7 in the key of Bb. And then think of the Bbmi7 as the I (a kind of funny Bb) and then just a ii/V modulation to minor which makes sense, thus:

Cmi7 F7 | Bb (Bbmi7 Eb7) | Ami7 | D7 |

In fact, during the solos if the Bbmi7 chord is troublesome, you might just to Bbmaj7 there. Or possibly Bbmaj7 Ebmaj7.

Cmi7 F7 | Bbmaj7 Ebmaj7 | Ami7 | D7 |

I'm not at the piano right now so I can't hear this but I think is shouldwork.

With this change you pretty much pure Gm/Bb.

Also, this will probably just merge right in with what the bass player isdoing.

reed

[end four on six]

reed:

"Israel" was a pretty important tune in Bill Evan's arsenal. He recordedit many times. It was also on that famous Miles album "Birth of theCool". I think Gerry Mulligan (arranger? for that album) played the tunealot too. I thought that I bought John Carisi's record just to see howhe played the melody because Bill And Gerry played it very differentlybut I can't seem to find it.

But I think that a basic discussion of that tune would be interestinghere.

It's a 12 bar minor tune, generally played in Dmi. Essentially a minorblues.

Bill played for the head (essentially):

Dmi | Dmi+ | Dmi6 | D7 |Gmi | C7? | Dm7 Em7 | Fmaj7 |Bbmaj7 | A7 | Dm6 B7 | Bb7 A7 |

Bill's head arrangement is a somewhat involved so this is my basicanalysis of what he played. Scott Lafaro is on bass and doesnt alwaysplay the root so it's hard to be 100% sure as Bill is playing rootlessvoicings at times.

During the solos, the changes are more what you would expect.

Dmi | Dmi+ | Dmi6 | D7#9 |Gmi | C7 | Fma7 | Bbma7 |Emi7b5 | A7 | Dmi6 B7 | Bb7 A7 |

I have a chart from Gerry Mulligan's "A Concert in Jazz" recording. Idon't know that album so I'm not sure if they solo over these changesalso. Has anyone out there transcribed the changes from "Birth of theCool"?

The changes I have from Gerry are:

Dmi | Dmi+ | Dmi6 | Ami7b5 D7#9 |Gmi | Gmi7 C9 | Dmi7 Emi7 | Fmaj7 |Bbmaj7 | A7 | Dm F9 | Bbmaj7 Bb7 A7 |

These are pretty much the changes Bill played over the head. The walk up(dmi7 Emi7 -> Fmaj7) might be pretty cumbersome during the solos thoughI don't know what tempo they are playing at. Bill played the tune fastand openned the changes up nicely for the solos.

I like the Bbmaj7 A7 move during the turnaround. That is a veryeffective device to avoid hearing the more predictable Bb7. I didnt dothis leadsheet and I'm not sure if anyone actually played the Bb7. Thereis an Ab melody note there and sometimes people will just make thatchord adjustment even if it was never heard.

The Bbmaj7/A7 type combination is a move Bill liked to play.

If he had say:

Dmi7 | G7 | he might play

Dmi7 Abmaj7 | G7sus G7 |

!!!!Correction to Bills soloing changes. He plays a somewhat simpler turnaround.

> During the solos, the changes are more what you would> expect.> > Dmi | Dmi+ | Dmi6 | D7#9 |> Gmi | C7 | Fma7 | Bbma7 |> Emi7b5 | A7 | Dmi6 | A7 |> !!!!end correction

------------------------------Ken R

Re: the changes to Israel:

>Dmi | Dmi+ | Dmi6 | D7 |>Gmi | C7? | Dm7 Em7 | Fmaj7 |>Bbmaj7 | A7 | Dm6 B7 | Bb7 A7 |

Man, I may be way off the mark here and in need of an ear-tuning, but onBirth Of The Cool, I could swear I heard:

Dm / Dm+ / Dm6 / D7#9 /Gm7 / Em7b5 A7 / Dmaj7 Em7 / Fmaj7 Gm7 /Abmaj7#11 / A7 / Dm6 B7 / Bb7 A7 ://

The orchestrations do make it a bit obscure, I didn't exactly transcribeevery part to double check, but on a fairly quick check, this is what I got. If it's not "right", at least it may provide some interesting subs:-)-------------

reed:

Re: the changes to Israel:

Dmi | Dmi+ | Dmi6 | D7 |Gmi | C7? | Dm7 Em7 | Fmaj7 |Bbmaj7 | A7 | Dm6 B7 | Bb7 A7 |

These changes above were Bill Evan's changes from the head as played on"Explorations". The C7 is a judgement call. He's playing an Emi7b5 inhis left hand (the same as C9 if you add the C bass note) and the bassis playing a D and then a C.

I just listened to the CD again and if you want to include theorchestrations, they are playing differnt things on almost every chorusit sounds like.

What I hear the piano player playing throughout the solos isessentially:

Dmi | | | D7 |Gmi (Gm+ | Gm6 A7) | Dmi7 Emi7 | Fmaj7 |Bb7 | A7 | Dmi | A7 |

(Of course Gm6==Em7b5)

But it's not the same every chorus and the horns are playing allkinds of things that I'm not sure exactly what it is right off. They are playing dissonances, etc.

reed

Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 12:12:10 -0700From: reed kotler Subject: Don Haas

Don Hass has agreed to join the list as a definitive resource for whatchanges are being played on a particular recording.

Don is a top pianist/arranger and has perfect pitch and perhaps the bestears in the business. There might be some judgement calls in some casesas to how to interpret what certain notes indicate, especially say in adense orchestration, but there is no question that he heard all thenotes correctly.

Don is also a harmonic genius and will be contributing to discussions onchord changes. Don could get up in the morning at 8am and start playingStella By Starlight and by 8pm he could still be playing and not haverepeated himself harmonically.

Don does not have email though and is very busy so I will be posting onhis behalf. Any mistakes will be from me not communicating correcly onhis behalf. I aplogize in advance for the inevitable mistakes that Iwill make.

I had him listen to "Israel" from the "Birth of Cool" record and hestarted laughing. The actual changes are really wild for that recordingand are pretty much different for every chorus. However, wouldnt youknow, the power went out just as he was about to transcribe the changeson paper. We may have to wait for another week because Don is reallybusy but it will be worth the wait.

Maurice:

I began studying jazz guitar last summer; I've been playing for many years. My present assignment is to write a solo over the changes to Satin Doll in C.

I don't own the Sher New Real Books, so I can't provide their changes, however to start the discussion I will give first the old Real Book changes, then the changes given on J. Aebersold's Duke Ellington Book/CD set.

First, the old 5th edition Real Book--

Satin Doll -- Duke Ellington

/ D-7 G7 / D-7 G7 / E-7 A7 / E-7 A7 / / A-7 Db7 / Ab-7 Db7 / C / E-7b5 A7b9 / / D-7 G7 / D-7 G7 / E-7 A7 / E-7 A7 / / A-7 Db7 / Ab-7 Db7 / C D-7 / D#dim7 E-7 /

/ G-7 C7 / G-7 C7 / FM7 / G-7 C7 / / A-7 D7 / A-7 D7 / D-7 G7 / E-7 A7 /

/ D-7 G7 / D-7 G7 / E-7 A7 / E-7 A7 / / A-7 Db7 / Ab-7 Db7 / C / (E-7b5 A7b9)/

Then from Volume 12 by Jamey Aebersold 'Duke Ellington'--


/ D-7 G7 / D-7 G7 / E-7 A7 / E-7 A7 / / A-7 Db7 / Ab-7 Db7 / C B7 / Bb7 A7 / / D-7 G7 / D-7 G7 / E-7 A7 / E-7 A7 / / A-7 Db7 / Ab-7 Db7 / C / /

/ G-7 / C7 / F / / / A-7 / D7 / G7 / /

/ D-7 G7 / D-7 G7 / E-7 A7 / E-7 A7 / / A-7 Db7 / Ab-7 Db7 / C / (A7) /

last verse: / D-7 G7 / D-7 G7 / E-7 A7 / E-7 A7 / / A-7 Db7 / Ab-7 Db7 / C7 B7 / Bb7 A7 / / A-7 D7 / Ab-7 Db7 / C7 B7 / Bb7 A7 / / A-7 D7 / Ab-7 Db7 / C / /

My teacher's comments were to the effect that it is not necessary to think in terms of two beats of D-7 then two beats of G7 then repeat that,for example, in the first two measures. He said that it's ok to think a bar of D-7, then a bar of G7 or maybe even two beats of D-7 then 6 beatsof G7. Then he said "What I'm trying to say is that soloing is loose, looser than the rhythm section changes. Check it out and you'll see whatmean."

From this I gather that there is an approach to harmonization that applies to the changes or the structure of the tune as realized by the rhythm section which I see as the approach that Reed took with Stella ByStarlight. Then there seems to be a different paradigm for approaching asolo.

With this in mind, I'd be interested in approach to Satin Doll's rhythmstructure and solo approach.

Thanks in advance

Maurice Tucker

reply from reed:

...... but let me give you a basic soloing approach.

At a first approximation, just think of the whole A section (first 16bars ) as playing in the key of C major.

Then think of the first 4 bars of the bridge as the key of Fmajor.

Then the next four bars as G major.

Then the last 8 bars as the key of C major again.

This is a simplification and if you just play that way without listeningyou will play alot of wrong notes.

Then put on the record and try to make sure you can hear when the bandis in the A section, in the first four of the bridge and the last fourof the bridge.

Then just play along by ear. You can be intellectually aware of theoverall keys that I mentioned but listen and try to make adjustments.

You are never more than a half step away from a "right" note. If you hita wrong note, just move it up or down a half step.

When the Abmi7 comes in you could just lay out there for now if youcan't hear how to adjust from C major but you should be able to move thenote you are at up or down a half step and it will work.

Play very, very, very, little at first. You have to try and hear theband, your sound and what you are playing. If you play a million notesthat won't happen. Sometimes just let the band go by for severalmeasures without playing at all and just listen to the chords, thebass, the drums.

Once you can do that, try experimenting with some modifications to themajor scales that don't change the feeling of the key.

For example you can play an F# if you play G next. That is called anapproach note. Similarly you can play D Db C as a line because the Db isjust a chromatic approach note.

You can also add some indirection like F# A G which is really just avariation of F# G where you take a slight detour.

You are also free to make adjustments that you "hear" to the basicscales I mentioned, but use your ear. Since you arent probably use toimprovising this way you have to play sparse at first.

If you play a million notes and noodle, this technique will bringdisaster so be simple!!

reed

------------------------------

John Hyde reply to Maurice:

I'm sure I won't be the last person to point this out, the 5th bar shouldbe A-7 D7. Also the 13th and 29th. Satin Doll is an excellent tune to getyour 2 - 5's together. The whole song is made up of this device. D-7 G7,E-7 A7, A-7 D7 etc. They are called 2 5's because they are taken from theII minor chord and the V dominant chord and tend to resolve down a fifth.ex. D-7 G7 Cmaj7. One aproach to soloing over a 2 5 is to play over thechord or scale they are resolving to. The first 2 bars Cmaj, next 2 D-.Another approach would be to pick a target note, say a 3rd or a 7th of the dominant chord and approach from 1/2 step below, scale tone above. EX. D,E,F,G,A,C,A,A#,B with B the target note.

Others will probably analyze this old warhorse, If you remember that dom 7 chords can also resolve down a half step and that any dominant chord can be preceded by its related II-7 chord your well on your way ex. Ab-7 Db7 / C

------------------------------

John F. Hyde pointed out:>I'm sure I won't be the last person to point this out, the 5th bar >should be A-7 D7. Also the 13th and 29th.

Whoops!!Here are the corrected changes:First, the old 5th edition Real Book--


/ D-7 G7 / D-7 G7 / E-7 A7 / E-7 A7 / / A-7 D7 / Ab-7 Db7 / C / E-7b5 A7b9 / / D-7 G7 / D-7 G7 / E-7 A7 / E-7 A7 / / A-7 D7 / Ab-7 Db7 / C D-7 / D#dim7 E-7 /

/ G-7 C7 / G-7 C7 / FM7 / G-7 C7 / / A-7 D7 / A-7 D7 / D-7 G7 / E-7 A7 /

/ D-7 G7 / D-7 G7 / E-7 A7 / E-7 A7 / / A-7 D7 / Ab-7 Db7 / C /(E-7b5 A7b9)/

Then from Volume 12 by Jamey Aebersold 'Duke Ellington'--


/ D-7 G7 / D-7 G7 / E-7 A7 / E-7 A7 / / A-7 D7 / Ab-7 Db7 / C B7 / Bb7 A7 / / D-7 G7 / D-7 G7 / E-7 A7 / E-7 A7 / / A-7 D7 / Ab-7 Db7 / C / /

/ G-7 / C7 / F / / / A-7 / D7 / G7 / /

/ D-7 G7 / D-7 G7 / E-7 A7 / E-7 A7 / / A-7 D7 / Ab-7 Db7 / C / (A7) /

last verse: / D-7 G7 / D-7 G7 / E-7 A7 / E-7 A7 / / A-7 D7 / Ab-7 Db7 / C7 B7 / Bb7 A7 / / A-7 D7 / Ab-7 Db7 / C7 B7 / Bb7 A7 / / A-7 D7 / Ab-7 Db7 / C / /

Maurice Tucker

STELLA BY STARLIGHT

Reed:

For example consider the tune "Stella By Starlight". The original key for the tune was G but it's pretty much universally played in Bb today.

A modern player would probably play something like:

Emi7b5 | A7 | Cmi7 | F7 Fmi7 | Bb7 | Ebmaj7 | Ab7 Bbmaj7 | ....

If you look at these changes they look pretty strange harmonically. Imean you have a ii/V in Emi7b5/A7 which looks like it should go to Dmior Dmaj7 in the beginning and instead it goes to a Cmi7. Later youhave an Ab7 would normally would seem to want to resolve to a Dbma7 orDbmi and instead goes to a Bbmaj7.

Well the original sheet music changes (transformed to Bb) yieldalot of insight harmonically into what is going on here and infact explain why alot of people really goof when they improviseon the Ab7 chord because they don't understand how this works.

In the original changes, the first chord is really a Bbdim7 chord which can also be thought of as Dbdim7/Bb. It is a common device to begin songswith Idim to Imaj7. For example "Star Eyes" is often played that way.

The reason why I think of it as Dbdim7/Bb will become obvious whenyou realize that it is going to a Cmin7 chord. This is a commonmove, iiibdim7 going to iim7 as in the beginning of "Embraceable You".

So how do we get from Dbdim7/Bb to Emi7b5. Well Dbdim7 is the same as Edim7. Someone along time back just tried substituing Emi7b5 for Edim7 in this case (not an uncommon substitution try) since they only differ by one note and found it worked.

Next one can always try a V after a mi7 or mi7b5 and in this case it works. So really the A7 chord is just a kind of color chord thatdoesnt really have any real impact on the harmnonic moevement.

In fact despite all this, the Emi7b7 to A7 still functions as a Dbdim7 chord which naturally can move to Cmi7, which is the next chord.

Looking further along we see the Ebmaj7 going to Ab7 going to Bbmaj7. Clearly a strange looking progression. Here the sheet musicdoesnt really help us out too much (however the sheet music from othertunes of this period do regarding this harmonic move) but in realitythe Ab7 chord is just an Ebm6/Ab . Now what we really have is a plagalcadence (for those that didnt sleep through classical harmony I). It'sEb, Ebm to Bb. So its IV, ivm to I. The Eb is from a major plagalcadence and Ebm from a minor plagal cadence (okay to do).

The reason why this is important to know is that the "improvisation"scale so to speak would be an Eb melodic minor scale . (Mark LevinesBooks on Jazz Piano and his new Harmony Book explain melodicminor harmony quite well). The point here is realize is that theavailable tension tones would be 9, #11, 13. Many people try otherapproaches to the dominant chord here and they don't work at all.Similarly for chordal instruments, the chord becomes Ab13#11.

So in summary, I see the first 8 bars of stella as kind of a long version of idim7 to I. In this case bbdim7 to Bb though it was surely a long way there.

An interesting side point to me is why that progressionof idim7 to Imaj works so well.

To me it's just an appogitura.

In other words, in the model key of C, we have cdim7 goingto C. Really I think of this as cdim7 going to C6.

(For these purposes the cdim7 [c eb gb a] needs to bereally spelled as [c d# f# a] which make it technicallya d# dim 7 chord in 3rd inversion).

So we have [c d# f# a] going to [c e g a]. So it's just a double appogitura with d# going to e and f# going to g. I don't feel this is overly theoretical because if you play the chords it sounds that way at least to my ears.

I see the next bars as essentially the following:

Bb | ??? | Dmi | ??? | F |

This is a fairly common progression, even in classical music.Each chord has two common tones with the previous chord.So we have [bb d f] going to [d f a] going to [f a c].

Now if we fill in the approach chords, we get

Bb | Emi7b5 A7 | Dmi | Bbmi7 Eb7 |F

Em7b5/A7 to dmi is just a ii/V in minor.

The Bbmi7/Eb7 to F is just a fancy version of Bbmi to For ivm to I which is just a minor plagal cadence. The Bbmibeing the essential chord and the common jazz try ofturning it into a mi7 and then seeing if we can add theV. Once again though you have to be careful improvising.Essentially we have Bbmi here and the eb7 thus willhave 9, #11 and 13 as the most natural tensions. Ear playersalways do the right thing here but some more modern schooledplayers try some other dominant approaches based onincorrect harmonic analysis which usually don't work too well.

Some players will play a Gmi7b5 to C7 (ii/V) to F. Interestinglyenough here, Bbmi6 which is enhamonically the same as Gmi7b5. Thesechord move variations appear in other tunes. For example most peopleplay Gmi7b5 to C7 to F in the beginning of "I Love You" but someplayers start with Bbmi6. For example Bill Evans used Bbmi6 on thattune on his "New Jazz Conceptions" recording.

The next twelve bars are essentially

F | ??? | Am7b5 | D7 |G7 | | Cmi7 | |Ab7 | | Bb | |

Essentially we are just modulating back to Bb from F and doing this byheading towards the ii (Cmi7) chord of Bb.

The bar after F is played almost two different ways fairly equally.

Either Em7b5 to A7 which gives us a fairly common move where wheresequences of ii/V going to ii/V with the second ii being the minorversion of the first V.

Or some people play Gm7/C7 . This version is basically just ii/V going to iii/(V of iii) to II7.

The G7 is just V of Cmi7 so we are on our way back to Bb.

The Ab7 is just our old buddy Ebm6/Ab aptly disguised. So we just havereally Ebm6 going to Bb or our minor plagal cadence ivm to I.

The last 8 are essentially:

Emi7b5 | A7 | Dmi7b5 | G7 |Cmi7b5 | F7 | Bb | |

which is just a sequence of ii/V beginning on #iv which is a common device.

There are some variations at the end here.

I like to play:

Dbmi7 Gb7 | Cm7 F7 | Bb

sometimes. A common move of just applying chromatically descending ii/V chords in place of just a single ii/V.

Some people like to play instead of Dmi7b5 to G7,

| Ebmi7 Ab7 | Dmi7 G7 |

Similarly some of these m7 chords will be tolerated as dominant seventhchords as is always a possibilty. For example, iim7/V7 becoming II7/V7.

I like to get an overal harmonic understanding of a tune. It helps me tosee what chords are fairly essential to the tune and therefore where thepoints of departure might be. It also helps when transposing to differntkeys.

For this tune I therefore see as the basic harmonic structure.

| ??? | ??? | Cmi7 | F7 || Fmi7 | Bb7 | Eb | Ebmi6 || Bb | ??? | Dmi | ??? || F | ??? | Ami7b5 | D7 || G7 | | Cmi7 | || Ebmi6 | | Bb | || Emi7b5 | A7 | ??? | ??? || ??? | ??? | Bb | ??? |

The ??? part is just places not part of the overall structure of the harmony.

Of course you can peel some of this away and still here the tune, but this is the essential structure as it is commonly played.

reed

------------------------------

From: KRosser414

The Ab7 to Bbmaj7 can also be looked at this way - Ab7 as a substitute for F7. Remember, dominant chords can be substituted by any other dominant in a cycle of minor thirds, the tritone being the most commonlyused. Putting the ii chord in front of this particular example does givethe ear the feeling of a plagal cadence, probably why it works so well, but looking at it as really an F7 in disguise might yield some interesting dissonances when you're soloing. Using this technique, B7 and D7 could also be used here, and these may yield even more tart dissonances. The B7 wouldn't really work with the melody, unless you either more over to Herbie Hancock territory and put both sevenths in, or do like Coltrane did in Body and Soul and actually alter the melody to fit the reharmonization.

Ken R

------------------------------

Ken,

Yes, I tried superimposing the F7 over the Ab7 and I liked it. I want toexplore some more consequences of your comments but I have some ideasalready. The B7 and D7 did sound stranger but often it's a matter ofaccustoming onself to the sound which then allows you to use it to matchthe situation better. Like you said, using the whole set of seventhchords or even just triads make it more palatable and frankly veryinteresting. Thus Ab, C, Eb, Gb or Ab7, C7, Eb7, Gb7.

To my ears it works in this case because the F7 is essentially an upperstructure of Ab7 anyway, i.e. F7/Ab7 == Ab13b9 (so there is no clash),and the F7 is the V of Bb which is where the progression is going anywayso it creates an interesting feeling of forward motion towards the Bbchord.

When the Ab7 is looked at as Ebmi6, we can use Eb jazz minor,or Eb F Gb Ab Bb C D Eb.

Since this is melodic minor harmony (and there are no "avoid"notes ), any triad or seventh chord from that scale will superimposenicely too.

So Ebmi, Fmi, Gb+, Ab, Bb, Cdim, Ddim or Ebmi(maj7), Fm7, Gbmaj7+, Ab7, Bb7, Cmi7b5, Dmi7b5

Your point about superimposing dominants at minor thirds away is a goodone.

Clearly the tritone sub (b5) is always there. The others I assume are derived from the diminished chord. I.e. C#dim7 = C7b9 = Eb7b9 = Gb7b9 = A7b9.

Thats a good reminder to always try those possibilities when looking forreharmonizations. I always think of the tritone but forget about theothers alot.

Since this song essentially starts on Bbdim7, then we can try startingon A7, C7, Eb7, or Gb7.

I find the sound to be refreshing here, thus. Especially I think itwould sound nice with strings or a string patch on a synth.

A7 | | Cmi7 | F7 or

C7 | | Cmi7 | F7 or

Eb7 | | Cmi7 | F7 or

Gb7 | | Cmi7 | F7

Thanks for pointing out those chord superimposition possibilities.

reed------------------------------

Marc:

The system rejected my first attempt to send this; sorry if it's old newsnow, but I wanted to try again.

> >>Looking further along we see the Ebmaj7 going to Ab7 going to> >>Bbmaj7. Clearly a strange looking progression.

> The Ab7 to Bbmaj7 can also be looked at this way - Ab7 as a substitute> for F7.>

This particular chord - bVII - is actually one of the canonical examplesof what, in classical theory, is called a "borrowed" chord - it is diatonic to the parallel minor key of Bb minor. In that analysis, it would be seen as substituting for the ordinary vii(o) chord, which of course is itself just a substitution for the V. You might also expect the borrowed iv chord to precede the bVII - that is, Ebm7-Ab7. This would be similar to "Lady Bird" - I/I/iv/bVII/I...

> Using this technique, B7 and D7 could also be used here

I tend to use Eb7alt - D7alt a lot here, sometimes walking the alt chordsdown to Bb7alt which I would use in place of the expected Bbmaj7. The Bb7alt can actually be used as a pedal of sorts over the next several measures.

--------------

reed:

Marc Sabatella wrote:

> > >>Looking further along we see the Ebmaj7 going to Ab7 going to> > >>Bbmaj7. Clearly a strange looking progression.> > > The Ab7 to Bbmaj7 can also be looked at this way - Ab7 as a > > substitute for F7.> > This particular chord - bVII - is actually one of the canonical > examples of what, in classical theory, is called a "borrowed" chord -> it is diatonic to the parallel minor key of Bb minor. In that > analysis, it would be seen a substituting for the ordinary vii(o) > chord, which of course is itself just a substitution for the V. You > might also expect the borrowed iv chord to precede the bVII - that is,> Ebm7-Ab7. This would be similar to "Lady Bird" - I/I/iv/bVII/I... >

Okay, I think I see what you are saying here.

You are saying that the "parallel" minor key of Bb major is Bb minor.("parallel" minor is not the same as "relative" minor for those thatmay be confused by this).

By Bb minor you mean the relative minor scale of Db.

In this key Ab7 is the dominant, so it is a diatonic chord in that key.Thus we are borrowing a chord from the parallel minor to use in aprogression for the major scale (a common technique from classical music).

Then you are saying that the viio7 of Bb would be Adim7 (which canfunction as the V of Bb). In this case Ab7b9 == Adim7.

In this case by borrowed iv chord you mean the iv chord from the Bbminor which is Ebmi.

I think we are thinking along similar lines. The chord we are targettingis Bb, it's just a matter of how we view the approach. In fact we endup agreeing on the improvisation scale though by slightly differentmeans.

We are both seeing the chord for that measure as borrowed harmony from the "parallel" minor.

In my case I'm seeing it as a borrowed iv chord so that we get a minorplagal cadence and you are seeing it as essentially a viio7 of Bb and using Ab7 as a subsitute for that chord. Then I see the Ab7 as just a V of the borrowed iv (Ebmi) and you see the borrowed iv7 (ebmi7) as a ii of Ab7.

If you see Ebmi as the essential chord, then Eb jazz minor is theessential tonality. (That is Ebmi not Ebmi7. Ebmi7 would in general always make the V chord [Ab7] more importan). So I'm seeing the importantchord as Ebmi6.

If you see Ab7 as the essential chord (being the V of Db major) then Dbmajor would be the essential tonality. If you chose to play |Ebm7 Ab7| for the measure then Ab mixolydian (Db major) would work most naturally.

Now you say a little later that you tend to use D7 alt for the Ab7(tritone sub). D7 alt scale is the same as Eb jazz minor so we arrive at the same scale for improvisation purposes. (D7 alt being the mode starting on the seventh degree of Eb jazz minor).

> > Using this technique, B7 and D7 could also be used here> > I tend to use Eb7alt - D7alt a lot here, sometimes walking the alt > chords down to Bb7alt which I would use in place of the expected > Bbmaj7. The Bb7alt can actually be used as a pedal of sorts over the > next several measures.

So you are saying that beginning with bar 7 you use:

| Eb7alt D7alt | Bb7alt ..... |

with the Bb7 alt as a pedal for a few measures.

This is in place of the traditional

| Ab7 | Bbmaj7 |

So the Eb7 is V of Ab7 and D7 is the tritone sub of Ab7.

Thanks for the stimulating post.

reed

> --------------> Marc Sabatella> > http://www.fortnet.org/~marc/

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 01:08:57 +0100From: Alan YoungSubject: Re: Stella, again

At 11:19 PM 9/11/96, Marc Sabatella wrote:>The system rejected my first attempt to send this; sorry if it's old >news now, but I wanted to try again.

I'm glad you did, Marc. I got here late, and arriving at this point in the discussion has been very confusing. My chart of Stella is in a different key...but I guess you are talking about measures 9-11?>>> >>Looking further along we see the Ebmaj7 going to Ab7 going to>> >>Bbmaj7. Clearly a strange looking progression.

I have the published sheet music, which indicates C - F9 - G (for guitar), but *spells* the chords (in the piano voicing) as C9(no 7) - F9 - Dsus. The Dsus is less startling than a G or Gmaj7. (Bbmaj7 in your key).

>I tend to use Eb7alt - D7alt a lot here, sometimes walking the alt >chords down to Bb7alt which I would use in place of the expected Bbmaj7.>The Bb7alt can actually be used as a pedal of sorts over the next >several measures.

This is an intriguing solution. It certainly colors the piece in a modern way. I've been using Ebmaj9 - Ab9 - Ami7b5, which IMHO better preserves theoriginal character of the music. I tried several substitutions for the Ab9 and didn't like any of them.

---- Fathom ---- > 8-) >

Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 01:55:57 -0700From: reed kotler Subject: Re: Stella, again

My chart of Stella is in a different> key...but I guess you are talking about measures 9-11?> >Your are looking at it in G.

I think we are counting measures differently. I have the sheetmusic too. Beginning with the "refrain", don't count the first barwith the word "The" as it's just a pickup. Therefore you Cmajor chord (Ebmaj7 in the key of Bb) should be beginning at bar 7.(The sheet music should have had a double bar after that firstpickup measure).

I think you are suggesting, beginning with bar 7

| Ebmaj9 | Ab9 | Ami7b5 |

The Ami7b5 is intriguing, how do you follow that?It's too late at night for me to go the piano to hearthat possibility there.

I think mark was suggesting:

| Ebmaj7 | Eb7alt D7alt | Bb7alt |

Had you added the 13,#11 to your chord you would get Ab13#11==D7alt.In any case they are just tritone subs.

reed

------------------------------From: Bill Kennerly

>>> >>Looking further along we see the Ebmaj7 going to Ab7 going to>>> >>Bbmaj7. Clearly a strange looking progression.>>I have the published sheet music, which indicates C - F9 - G >(for guitar), but *spells* the chords (in the piano voicing) as >C9(no 7) - F9 - Dsus. The Dsus is less startling than a G or Gmaj7. >(Bbmaj7 in your key).

This sounds like a 2nd inversion I with a double appoggiatura in the melody.After considering this, I find that the resulting bass line, starting in the bVII7 area, could be a real nice line descending from the bVII.

bVII7 - bVII7/bVI - I4-3/V - bVm7b5 - IV7b9 - iiim7 - bIII9+11 - V4-3/II- iii - etc.

Bill --------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 05:35:53 -0700From: reed kotler Subject: stella

An interesting substitution was suggested by Don on bars7 and 8.

For bars (5-8) we have :

| Fmi7 | Bb7 | Ebmaj7 | Ab7 |

Instead we use:

| Fmi7 | Bb7 | Emi7b5 | Ebmi7 Ab7 |

Dons idea was that the Emi7b5 only differed from theEb6 by one note and offered some surprise value as wellas a more interesting bass line.

I think Dons basic feeling is that fancy reharmonizationswere always played by bass players who were searching toplay more well connected bass lines.

Chordal instrument players just learned to figure out whatnotes to put on top of the bass line to make a complete chord.

reed

------------------------------

[end stella]

General Principles of Chord Substitutions

reed:

Reharmonization discussions get pretty obscure if you arent talkingabout particulars.

Also, don't be too sure that just because you intellectually understandtri-tone subs or can hear them that you really know how they apply. WhenI was your age I read about them and said , "oh yeah, I understandthat", what else is there? Well in that one thing is the key to alot.I'm just pointing this out because nobody did that for me and it wastedalot of time for me in my musical career. What you find it is that therearen't so many reharmonization tricks, it's a matter of understandinghow and where they apply.

Another thing is that reharmonizations are nice, especially for theplaying head of the tune and for solo piano etc, but if they get toodense they can make it difficult to improvise melodically over thechanges. For me, I like to do negative reharmonizations for the solosection. In other words, I take away things that arent necessary.Perhaps making some small reharmonization here and there but the ideabeing to keep long sections open so that they are essentially in one key.

The general idea of reharmonization is to make the bass line moreinteresting.

A very common thing to overlook is to just add ii chords in front of allthe V7 chords.

So you should go through the whole tune and anywhere you see a dominantchord without a ii chord in front of it, try adding that ii chord andsee what it sounds like. It's good to spend some time away from thepiano with a tune also, thinking about these things. When we are at aninstrument we often start noodling and playing habitually.

For example, if you see a bar of G7, try | Dmi7 G7 |.

This does several things.

1) It might brighten up that one measure or sometimes the dominant chord may take up several bars so it might keep the changes from getting too static.

Thus we might have had.

| G7 | | so we try | Dmi7 | G7 |

2) By adding the Dmi7 chord, we now have doubled the possibilitiesas far as reharmonizing the bars before the G7. Now the barsbefore the original G7 can either target a G7 or target a Dmi7.

3) We have openned the doors to some other possibilities as wewill see below.

Another thing you can do is to go through and look at all the mi7 chordsand see what would happen if they were dominant seventh chords.

So in case above:

| Dmi7 | G7 | we might try | D7 | G7 |.

Now if we try adding ii chord in front of these dominants we have:

Ami7 D7 | Dmi7 G7 |

So you see by applying two very simple ideas we have changeda static place, harmonically speaking, into one with alot going on.

Now let's see how tri-tone subs might enter into play here.

Well what if we replace the G7 with a Db7 .

| D7 | Db7 | now with ii chords we get.

| Ami7 D7 | Abmi7 Db7 |

Or similarly replace the D7 with Ab7,

| Ab7 | G7 | becomes | Ebmi7 Ab7 | Dmi7 G7 |

Or do both at once:

| Ab7 | Db7 | becomes | Ebmi7 Ab7 | Abmi7 Db7 |

Now we can also just use the dominants here with the ii/V's,

| D7 | G7 | or| D7 | Db7 | or| Ab7 | G7 | or| Ab7 | Db7 |

So you see we have squeezed all of this out of a G7 chord. This can workif G7 is spread out across many bars or just one bar. It depends on thetune.

Some other minor variations here are:

1) consider all the mi7 chords as iimi7b5 or vice versa. in other words if you see Dmi7, try Dmi7b5 or if you see Dim7b5 try Dim7.

2) A somewhat advanced idea that applies less often but when it does it can yield some exciting ideas is to try maj7 chords in place of dominant seventh chords.

For example:

| D7 | G7 | try | Dmaj7 | Gmaj7 || Ab7 | G7 | try | Abmaj7 | G7 |

One other trick which I'll mention because it just popped into my headis that sometimes a maj7 chord can be used to approach a mi7 chord froma half step below. The reasons this works is a little complicated butbasically its a double appogitura.

Thus:

Dbmaj7 | Dmin7 G7 |

If you add the maj7 ii/V idea you get:

Abmaj7 Dbmaj7 | Dmi7 G7 |

or sometimes:

Abmaj7 Dbmaj7 | Dmi7b5 G7 |

I'm going to stop here for now because that is alot foryou to think about.

Before discussing this further, you need to think of some tunes you knowor want to learn and then we can talk about particulars. It will beeasier to discuss one tune at a time.

So in summary there were the following basic ideas:

1) try ii chords in front of dominant seventh chords.2) tritone subs3) change chord quality -- i.e. mi7 - domininant 74) approgitura generated ideas like Dbmaj7 -> Dmi7 . We have already discussed other examples of this in earlier talks like for example A6 -> Adim7 A6 .

[end reed]

Marc:

> A very common thing to overlook is to just add ii chords in front> of all the V7 chords.

Also, sometimes a ii chord will be seen in an arrangement without a V, and it can be added, as in:

Cmaj7 | Fmaj7 | Dm7 | Cmaj7 | => Cmaj7 | Fmaj7 | Dm7 G7 | Cmaj7

On the other hand, if the arrangement specifies a ii-V, you can alwayssimplify it by removing the ii chord.

> For example, if you see a bar of G7, try | Dmi7 G7 |.> > This does several things. > 1) It might brighten up that one measure or sometimes the> dominant chord may take up several bars so it might keep> the changes from getting too static.

Here is an example of how I applied some common sense and some basictechniques recently:

I was working with a student on "Georgia On My Mind" a few days ago. She was playing it in F, and had the bridge like this:

Dm7 | Bb7 | Dm7 | G7 ...

Now, I don't know (nor do I care, for the purpose of this discussion), what the original changes really were, but I knew I didn't like these, and we set about trying to "fix" them. My first observation was that, given the melody, going to the G7 at the beginning of the fourth bar madethe B natural that occurs just before beat three sound anticlimactic in away. I wanted the chord to change on that note, to bring out the non-diatonic B. So the first cut was to play | Dm7 G7 | for that measure.But now there were six beats of Dm7. So I wanted chord that provide

relief from the Dm7 but didn't give away the G7. My first inclinationwas to go with a tritone sub - Ab7, or perhaps Abmaj7. These worked OK,depending on how they were voiced, but I never got quite the sound I thought it should have, so we decided to keep looking. I started almostrandomly trying chords that would not clash too badly with the C in the melody on beat one. I found Gb7 worked well, although I can say why except that it, like the Ab, creating a half step motion in the bass leading to the G. I also found Eb7 worked, again, who knows why. Eventually I hit upon Fm6, or Dm7b5 if you prefer, or Ab6, which is practically the same thing, as being the sound I was after in the first place. So now I have about 5 different chords to use there should I everfind myself playing the song (obviously, it is not one I normally play much).

[end Marc]

Ken R:

>The "basic method" of reharmonization improvements is primarily>through improving the bass line, since you can't change>the melody.

Why not? Coltrane, Hancock and Jim Hall have done it. I'm sure there are many others, but they immediately come to mind.

While the "bass line" idea is certainly valid, to me the tunes I hear most crying out for reharmonization are ones in which the melody rests on too many of the primary chord tones, i.e., the roots, thirds andfifths, and reharmonizing is a way to inject a little harmonic/melodictension. Case in point - I transcribed a pretty radical reharm of All The Things You Are done by Andy Laverne that knocks me out.

No need to "improve" the bass line of the tune, IMHO, as it has a lot ofnice movement already. The thing that gets a bit stale to my ears is the melody notes have very little tension, if any, against the chords (as opposed to say, Stella, which has pretty interesting melodic tensions as it is). So, when I heard Levine's reharm, it sounded like abreath of fresh air in that tune.

[end Ken R]

From: David Kaczorowski Subject: Subs/Bassist's perspective

Hi everybody, I'm thinking my earlier post was quite inadequate, so here'sanother stab. The original post was concerning subs and bass lines,etc. I hope this helps. Let's say your playing a Bbm blues, when on the I chord, try building a line from the A, or the C, or even C#. Generally speaking,I think building a line from a step above the root of the chord workswell, but virtually any thing will work depending on what position/register your playing in and whether you're going to play an ascendingline or descending line. However, starting from a fourth above the chord root is no good, though it might work as a passing tone. You must also keep in mind the next chord and how you're going to aproach it. Some guidelines were mentioned in an earlier post( resolve from whole step above, half step below, etc) This is agood start, but my ears accept others: half step above, tritone aboveor below, thirds, minor thirds, possibly sixths and sevenths (natural or altered). Use these tastefully and in context. You can make greatuse of whole tone scales. Reed, anybody, did I miss anything? I am kinda pressed for time. Is my advice good or worthless? As I am not formally trained, I'm notsure whether or not I make much sense to those who are.

[end David]

reed:

The reason I say this is that bass players played cool subs long beforemost piano players incorporated them into their harmonic thinking.

Later piano players started harmonizing these interesting bass lines, atleast this is how Don Haas says they evolved and he has been an activeperformer going way back.

Bass players are obviously focussed on the bass line and in how tologically get from one place to another.

They also listen to the bass line and it has its own kind of validityjust like a melody does.

Whereas for many piano players and guitarists, the bass note is justsomething on the bottom of the chord. They don't hear it as it's own line.

I think that it's good for piano players and guitar players to learn howto play bass lines.

Also, singing bass lines is a good excerise. Just open up the real book and try singing the roots of the chords to a piece.

Many bass players also practice singing the melody and playing the bass line. Piano players or guitarists could try this too.

[reed: note on chords for my substitutions]

In general I don't put the tensions is (#9, #11,...).

A lot of times there are different variations and it clutters up thebasic reharmonizaiton which is essentially driven by bass noteimprovement.

If you sit down at the piano you should be able to figure out what theright ones are by trying them.

Also, for the more beginning jazz piano student out there, don't but anunaltered fifth in your dominant seventh voicings, at least not in thelower left hand portion.

I.e. for C7 play [C E Bb] instead of [C E G Bb].(of course [C Bb E] is fine too).

I find that many home schooled pianists don't know about this.

This is a standard for jazz musicians but I've never actuallyseen it in a book (though I think it might be in Mark Levines book).

Mark was my first real jazz piano teacher and this is one of thefirst things he taught me. I was blown away because I had never heardof this despite purchasing countless books on Jazz piano but of courseit's completely true.

[later...]

During the somewhat argument during the star eyes analysis,some points got thrown around alot somewhat haphazardly so let me justsummarize.

Certainly anyone is entitled to their opinion on this subject so let megive mine here:

The importance of bass note motion in harmony is documented from beforeBachs time through Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Chopin, Shubert....Art Tatum, Bill Evans...

The basic rules are the same throughout and if you turn that music upsidedown you won't find any places where they are violated. What is amazing is the small number of possibilities allowed and how much variety of music is created within those seemingly narrow boundaries.

The inner voices are secondary to the fundamental need for the bass motion to work.

In that sense I don't think it's subjective at all as to whether this iswhat is going on. This should be obvious to anyone that has studied thatmusic and really analyzed it and put it under a microscope.

These rules can't however be summarized by just a set of rules like I'mallowed to go down by fifths or whatever though certainly this is part ofit all.

There are cadences, small and large, going on as well as harmonic rhythm.For example you don't usually see a ii/V7 where the ii starts on beat three of the preceding measure and then the V7 on beat one of the next measure. (One tune that is really an exception to this rule is the tune "My Ideal", but that's a story for another post.)

This is my point about local and global bass motion. A freqeuent error itto achieve some locally nice harmonization which doesnt make sense or work in a global context. Alot of time impatience is the real culprit here. The desire to innovate overrides the reality that the innovation doesnt work. Some tunes are very hard to achieve any successful reharmonization because every try hits some dead end. Sometimes musicians try and cheat but it never fools my ears at least.

All this has to be taken into consideration when deciding whether aparticular harmonization is effective.

In addition for jazz, since the music has certain stylistics boundaries as well as historical precedence, that can be part of deciding whether a re-harmoniation is effective.

Now given all these factors there is an amount of subjectivity as towhether you are satisfying all of this.

In my opinion though, among people that are fairly good at this, there isseldom any serious disagreement. When there is, at least both sides areaware of why the argument exists. It's not a matter of something like "bass motion isnt important".

[end]

Tritone Substitutions

reed:

.... about tritone substitutions.

These are even in Bach's music.

The basic idea is that if you take any dominant chord, say C7 and lookat it you have:

C E G Bb.

Now within that chord we have a tritone interval, namely E and Bb.

This is a very unstable and strong interval. It is also a tritone nomatter which note you start on. I.e. Bb is a tritone above E and E is atritone above Bb.

Thus E is the third and Bb the seventh in a C7 chord. In Gb7 (a chordwith a root a tritone away), E (Fb) is the seventh and Bb is the third.

Because of the dominating nature of the tritone, this interval prettymuch overrides the rest of chord.

[E Bb] is going to resolve to either [F A] or [Eb Cb]

The [F A] corresponds to F major and [Eb Cb] to Cb major.

Thus C7 can be substituted for Gb7 and vice versa because they both havethe same tritone.

This concept is used over and over again in reharmonization.

Now what gets even more interesting is that the root substitutions canbe applied beyond dominant seventh chords.

I.e. sometimes an Abmaj7 can be used in place of a D7 even thoughtechnically Ab7 would be the tritone sub.

For example instead of | C D7 | G7 | we might have | C Abmaj7 | G7 .

In other words the idea comes from dominants but players have learned tostretch the concept.

[end reed]

Marc (context is Stella):

> In this key Ab7 is the dominant, so it is a diatonic chord in that key.> Thus we are borrowing a chord from the parallel minor to use in a> progression for the major scale > (a common technique from classical music).>

> Then you are saying that the viio7 of Bb would be Adim7 (which can> function as the V of Bb). In this case Ab7b9 == Adim7.

Yes, although in general, classical theory teaches you that any borrowedchord can substitute for the corresponding scale degree of the originalkey. It's just coincidence that it happens to yield a common substitution in this case. Normally, I don't give much credence to classical analysis of non-diatonic chords, because it seems artificial, but in this case, it does make more sense to me to think of it this way.

Note another place where classical theory tries to explain something thatis obvious to most jazzers is the tritone sub. As someone mentioned, it is used in Bach and elsewhere, but they'd never call it that. Dependingon how it was used, it would be a Neapolitan, German Sixth, French Sixth,or Italian Sixth, and it would be spelled with all sorts of weird enharmonics so you wouldn't recognize it as a seventh chord at all. But that's all these things are.

> > I tend to use Eb7alt - D7alt a lot here, sometimes walking the alt> > chords down to Bb7alt which I would use in place of the expected > > Bbmaj7. The Bb7alt can actually be used as a pedal of sorts over the> > next several measures.> > So you are saying that beginning with bar 7 you use:> > | Eb7alt D7alt | Bb7alt ..... | > > with the Bb7 alt as a pedal for a few measures.

No, when I say "walk it down", I mean all steps in between. That is, a bar of Eb7alt in place of the Ebmaj7, then a beat each of D7alt, Db7alt,C7alt, and B7alt in place of the Ab7, then landing on the Bb7alt for a while in place of the Bbmaj7 and what follows. That's just one device. I also use an F pedal over this whole section sometimes.

[end marc]

reed:

Re: Stella, again - Augmented sixth chords

[weird names for tritone subs.....]

Yes, this is an important point as far as nomenclature goes.

Because of voice leading considerations, the tritone sub iscalled an augmented sixth chord in classical music.

For example consider Db7 -> C as a tritone sub for G7 -> C

If we wrote Db7 as a dominant seventh chord it would be:

Db F Ab Cb .

When a note resolves up a half step, you write it as a minor second fromthe note you are resolving to. I think the reason why is because thatsound is basically the sound of a leading tone resolving to the root ofthe scale. (In the key of C major, B is the leading tone and B->C). Thenotation is trying to reflect the function of the two notes.

Thus: E -> F, F# -> G, G# -> A .

In other words you don't write Ab -> A or Gb -> G.

If look at the notes as they would resolve in Db7->C you get:

Db -> CF -> EAb -> GCb -> C

In order to satisfy the rules for notating voice leading you would wantthe Cb->C to be B->C. However B is not the seventh of Db but rather theaugmented 6th. In other words the sixth degree of Db is Bb so B is theaugmented sixth.

So technically the Db7 when substituted for G7 is a Db augmented sixthchord.

If you read classical music, it is always notated like that. Especiallyif you read Chopins Mazurkas or Waltzes you will see this all over theplace.

There are various flavors of augment sixth chords as Marc pointed out.

[end reed]

From: Paul RinzlerSubject: Stella, again - Augmented sixth chords

Reed Kotler wrote:

>Because of voice leading considerations, the tritone sub is>called an augmented sixth chord in classical music.

=============My summary of Reed's idea:The Cb in a Db7 tritone sub for G7 in the key of C is really a B,following the rule in classical theory that sharps resolve upward andflats resolve downward, so B can resolve upward to C, whereas Cb wantsto resolve downward; so with a B you get an augmented 6th above Db.=============

That's correct, except that in jazz a CM7 or Cm7 is "common practice"(pun intended) after a G7, instead of C (triad), so the B doesn't haveto resolve to C anyway, but to B or Bb potentially.

The problem is that in order for the voice-leading that *defines* theaugmented 6th to work, you have to expand the augmented 6th to anoctave, and once you do that you're outside of common practice in jazzbecause you now have a plain triad, rather than the standard 7th chord.

[end Paul Rinzler]

reed:

Paul,

I wasnt awake when I answered you earlier.

It doesnt really matter if the Db7 resovles to a Cmaj7.

In that case if you wrote a score, and B was the melody note over theDb7 chord, how you would you write the chord?

I'll bet it would be Db F Ab B. Once you write a B it's not technicallya Db7 anymore, otherwise you would write a Cb. However had it been theoriginal G7 that we were subbing for, the B would have been fine.

Obviously for normal chord charts it doesnt matter at all but if youwrite band charts, or piano arrangements out, by the way you arenotating things it is an augmented sixth chord in the case of Db7 as asub for G7.

The point is that the note B in that context is the leading tone of thekey of C (it doesnt matter if you actually resolve the note). Once youuse a B in the Db7 chord it's an augmented sixth chord.

[later]

One more point. Let's take a different key.

Let's say the D7 is a chord we use for a tritone sub.

What chord could the sub be for? Could it be for Ab7?

Technically not because Ab7 = [Ab C Eb Gb] . If we wrote the notes D7 = [D F# A C] then the F# would be mispelled. So technically D7 could only be a tritone sub for G#7 .

(The tritone sub for Ab7 is Ebb7!!)

So G#7 is the dominant chord for C#. The note C in the key of C# is B#so once again we have to spell D7 as D F# A B# when we are in that keysignature so we have an augmented sixth chord.

Anyway, in classical music it is always written this way and should bein jazz big band charts but I don't know if it is always done properly.

My teacher Richard Hindman really drilled into my head these augmentedsixth chords (in jazz, as he is an amazing player [was Stan Getz's andRichie Coles pianist for a while ]), as well as the minor plagal cadenceanalysis that I've been discussing.

[end]

Autumn Leaves: Substitutions and Improv

reed kotler

The original sheet music was in G and was written in cut time. I haveit in my Johnny Mercer collection "Too Marvelous for Words". A must forall Johnny Mercer fans. He wrote the english lyrics for this tune,originally it was in french.

It commonly played in Bb and C and written in 4/4. The NRB volume 1 hasa chart. I'm not going to discuss all their changes as a few I don'tcare for and don't play.

The sheet music chord changes in Bb are:

Cm7 | F7 | Bbmaj7 | |Am7b5 | D7 | Gmi | |Cm7 | F7 | Bbmaj7 | |Am7b5 | D7 | Gmi | |D7 | | Gmi | |F7 | | Bbmaj7 | |D7 | | Gmi | |C/E Cmi7/Eb | D7 | Gmi | |

By just adding ii7 chords and getting rid of the strange chords C/E toCmi7/Eb, we get: (remember that for a minor key, iimi7b5 is often usedfor the ii idea) (we also add Ebmaj7 after the Bbmaj7. This is a commondevice. It's line a ii/v with maj7 chords).

Cmi7 | F7 | Bbmaj7 | Ebmaj7 |Ami7b5 | D7 | Gmi | |Cmi7 | F7 | Bbmaj7 | Ebmaj7 |Ami7b5 | D7 | Gmi | |Ami7b | D7 | Gmi | |Cmi7 | F7 | Bbmaj7 | |Ami7b5 | D7 | Gmi | |Ami7b5 | D7 | Gmi | |

This tune is simplicity at it's finest.

For improv purposes it just goes back an forth between Bb major and Gharmonic minor (the relative minor).

So going a line at time as far as keys it goes: Bb, Gmi, Bb, Gmi, Gmi, Bb, Gmi, Gmi.

It's easiest to just think Bb and remember that the note F# will bepresent in the minor sections. You "ear" will tell you to F or F#.Remember that Bb major and G harmonic minor only differ by the note F/F#.

As far as sub's go:

Let's look at bar's 1-4

bar 1 can be F#7sus, followed by F7sus F7 .

F#7sus | F7sus F7 | Bbmaj7 | Ebmaj7 |

Another possibility for bars 1,2 is:

Cmi7 F#7sus | F7sus F7 | Bbmaj7 | Ebmaj7 |

I like to go from Bbmaj7 to Bb7 because it provides a nice V7/I motioninto the Ebmaj7. Similarly I like to go from Ebmaj7 to Abmaj7. THisprovides a nice ii/V like bass motion and I like to approach mi7 ( or mi7b5 or even dominant) chords with a maj seventh a half step below.See my earlier discussion on "I remember you" and the previous mail to that for a description of that technique and why it works.

F#7sus | F7sus F7 | Bbmaj7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7 Abmaj7 |

The next line typically begins with Ami7b5 but because that progressiongets overdone in this tune, I like A7. Change of chord quality is alwaysworth a try.

A7 | D7 | Gmi | |

Another try is:

Ami7b5 Eb7 | D7sus D7 | Gmi | |

The last bar sounds nice with G7 because it leads more strongly to theCmi7 following.

A7 | D7 | Gmi | G7 |

The next eight bars are essentially the same so you can pick and choosefrom earlier improvements.

I tend to just leave the bridge alone.

The last 8 usually is played nowadays with the Gmi in the first fourbards replaced with Gmi7 C7 | Fmi7 Eb7 | going to Ebmaj7 (in place ofthe Ami7b5) and then squeezing the ii/V into one measure.

Ami7b | D7 | Gmi7 C7 | Fmi7 Bb7 |Ebmaj7 | Ami7b5 D7 | Gmi | G7 |

On the Cannonball Adderly "something else" record they just leave thelast eight the way it was originally (except the wierd C Cmi is turnedinto Ami7b5) and I think this may be preferrable for soloing because theGmi7 C7| Fmi7 Bb7 feels very awkward for me at that point whileimprovising.

So I like (for the head) in total:

F#7sus | F7sus F7 | Bbmaj7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7 Abmaj7 |A7 | D7 | Gmi | G7 |Cmi7 F#7sus | F7sus F7 | Bbmaj7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7 Abmaj7 |A7 | D7 | Gmi | |Ami7b5 | D7 | Gmi | |Cmi7 | F7 | Bbmaj7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7 |Ami7b | D7 | Gmi7 C7 | Fmi7 Bb7 |Ebmaj7 | Ami7b5 D7 | Gmi | (G7) |

[end]

Subs for "Beautiful Love" by Victor Young.

reed kottler:

It's a tune I play alot but frankly never thought much aboutreharmonizing it. I transcribed Bill Evan's solo from "Explorations" andI play pretty much what he plays for changes which is also what is inthe NRB volume 1.

I expected to just document a few little variations I use and insteadfound alot of new fresh ideas.

I don't have the original sheet music (It appears to be out of print.Anybody seen it anywhere?) but I expect the first four bars werebasically:

Emi7b5 | A7 | Dmi | |Gmi7 ...

The fourth bar usually has a D7 to lead into the Gmi7

Emi7b5 | A7 | Dmi | D7 |

Emi7 can be substitued for Emi7b5 in most parts of the tune for variety.

Bill plays a Emi9b5 which is essentially a G jazz minor chord. C13#11is also a G jazz minor chord and they are all basically interchangeablegiven that the bass motion ends up making sense.

So I tried substituting and using a chromatic dominant sequencewhich is just a cycle of fourths with tritone subs.

C13#11 B7 | Bb7 A7sus,A7 | Dmi | D7 |Gmi7....

I also found a slight change to the last bar which increases the motion.Namely just adding an extra ii/V

C713#11 B7 | Bb7 A7sus,A7 | Dmi | D7 Ami7,D7 |Gmi7....

The next four are basically :

Gmi7 | C7 | Fmaj7 | Emi7b5 A7 |Dmi

I applied a standard Bill move that I play which just delays the ii/V bygoing to ii7 bVI7sus | V7sus V7 . Here I applied it to Gmi7/C7 .

Gmi7 Db7sus | C7sus C7 | Fmaj7 | Emi7b5 A7 |Dmi

Then christmas came early this year. I substitue F#mi7 B7 for Fmaj7. Thebass line is basically going that way anyway and it keeps the two chordper bar harmony going across the whole line.

Gmi7 Db7sus | C7sus C7 | F#mi7 B7 | Emi7 A7 |Dmi

Now I'm on a roll and frankly surprised because I've played this tunealmost the same way for years and never thought about any of these subs.

The next four are basically:

Dmi | Gmi7 | Bb7 | A7 |

Here I notices another interesting idea that I would probably save forthe second A section (the tune is A A form) but here it is.

Ami7 D7 | Gmi7 Gmi7/F | Bb7 | A7 |

The Ami7 follows nicely from the preceding |Emi7 A7| and leads fine tothe Gmi7. The F bass note in the second half of that measure seems rightto my ear. I'm sure alot bass players would play it anyway. However thatF bass note suggested the idea of using an Fmi7 chord there because theparallelism from the Gmi7 is refreshing and because we are going to Bb7in the next bar anyway so its a ii/V .

Ami7 D7 | Gmi7 Fmi7 | Bb7 | A7 |

The last four are basically:

Dmi | B7 | Emi7b5 | A7 |

I like to use Bb7 in place of the Emi7b5 and G7#11 is a refreshingchange in place of the B7. I just really noticed it for the first timein the NRB 1 today and I like it.

Dmi | B7 | Bb7 | A7 | or

Dmi | G7#11 | Bb7 | A7 |

Note that the Bb7 is bVI in D harmonic minor which is why it shows upalot, especially in minor tunes.

So a fresh reharmonization idea is to play the head:

C713#11 B7 | Bb7 A7sus,A7 | Dmi | D7 Ami7,D7 |Gmi7 Db7sus | C7sus C7 | F#mi7 B7 | Emi7 A7 |Ami7 D7 | Gmi7 Fmi7 | Bb7 | A7 |Dmi | G7#11 | Bb7 | A7 |

[end]

Subs for Darn That Dream

reed kottler:

Someone suggested that we make a list of tunes that have such nicechanges that they can't be improved.

I'm not sure such a list exists though there are certainly some tunes,especially jazz tunes like confirmation, where you are pretty muchlocked in.

One tune suggested along these lines is "Darn that Dream" by Jimmy CanHuesen.I'm going to assume that people have the "New Real Book" volume Iwhich has this tune but if you know it anyway you should be able tofollow this analysis.

Well certainly even the sheet music is fairly sophisticated but thechanges in the "New Real Book" (NRB) are fairly modern changes and atleast include Bill Evan's cut at the changes. So part of the problem isnot improving Jimmy Van Huesens changes but improving Bill Evan's changes.

I'll present the sheet music and standard modifications and some freshideas I found without spending alot of time. I don't have time right nowto try and rethink the whole tune as it is more challenging to findimprovements than alot of other tunes.

The first eight are:

| G Eb7sus/Bb Eb7/Bb | Ami7 B7 | Emi Am/C | Bmi7b5 E7 |

| Ami7 F7 | Gmaj7 Bbdim7 Eb7 | Ami7 Ab7 | Gmaj7 Bmi7 Ami7 Ab7 |

The Eb7sus/Bb is more or less a Bbmi7. Either work.

The descending line from Emi is improved by modern players to goE->D->C#->C by |Emi Emi/D A7/C# Cmi6| The A7 can also be a C#mi7b5. I personally prefer Bmi7 instead of Bmi7b5.

Thus we have essentially:

| G Bbmi7 Eb7/Bb | Ami7 B7 | Emi Emi/D A7/C# Cmi6 | Bmi7 E7 |

Also a C7 can be substituted for the Cmi6 if you wait untilthe C melody note is played to actualy hit the chord.

There are some obvious improvements which lead interesting places.

We can put a V(F7) in front of Bbmi7 and the tritone sub (C7) ofthe V(F#7) in front of B7.

| G F7 Bbmi7 Eb7/Bb | Ami7,C7 B7 | Emi Emi/D A7/C# Cmi6 | Bmi7 E7 |

Now we apply an interesting substituation idea that I've seen before.That is to follow a tritone sub to it's I instead of the I of what it issubbing for. Bill Evans (and Claire Fischer) both used this veryeffectively in their arrangements of "A Time for Love".

So we change the F7 into a B7 and follow the B7 to Emaj7.

| G,B7 Emaj7 | Ami7,C7 B7 | Emi Emi/D A7/C# Cmi6 | Bmi7 E7 |

We we follow the Emaj7 through a cycle of fourths of major seventhchords.

| G,B7 Emaj7,Amaj7#11 | Dmaj7,C7 B7 | Emi Emi/D A7/C# Cmi6 | Bmi7 E7 |

Also notice that can also be considerred a giant steps move in thiscase because the initial key change is by a major third. The nicebass line is what make this work!

I think it's a very effective sound and breaths some new life intothese changes.

The second four bars of the tune are usually played with a melodicchange of the original sheet from an E on beat three to an F.

This allows the Bbdim7,Eb7 to become Bbmi7,Eb7 .

The turnaround at the end is a bit old fashioned and is generallyreplaced by a more modern jazz turnaround.

Great post on Darn that Dream! I especially like the modulation to Emaj7in the first bar, it really opens up the sound. However I don't believe you can call it a Giant Steps move. Giant Steps is built on an augmentedtriad, B, D#, F##or G. I think the Emaj7 sounds so fresh because we expect to hear an E-7.

[insert quote from original post]

I have a question about F7 and minor plagal cadence. I understand you tomean that the F7 is taken from the parallel minor key, Gminor so F7 isthe bVII7 of G minor? In playing over the F7 I would tend to use thescale F,G,A,B,C,D,Eb or the lydian b7 scale. The B natural is obviouslynot from Gminor. Perhaps I don't understand what you mean by mi. plagalcadence. I vaguely remember from school sub-dominant minor chordssubstitution. I guess I'm looking for a technical explanation for adevice that is used quite often.

Thanks for the great post, this is the only group where I print out thearticles and leave on my piano for further study.

[end John Hyde]

reed:

Most "ear" players will do the right thing here, as you did, withoutneeding a technical explanation. Modern schooled players aremore like todo something wrong because of incorrect harmonic analysis.

A minor plagal cadence is a borrowed cadence from Gm, namely Cmi to Gmi.

However it is used in all the Standards (Gerswin, et, al) and inJazz quite a bit.

In the case the F7 is really a Cmi6/F = C Eb G A F = F9.

The significance of it being really just a minor chord overa different bass note is that the chord scale is then C jazz minor or C D Eb F G A B . (C jazz minor = F lydian b7)

Confusion about this frequently occurs when iv minor chords masquerade as dominants.

Basically dominant chords will resolve to a I or if they are tritone subthey resolve to the I ot rh tritone sub. G7->C or Db7-> C. They can alsopivot sometines like Dmi7->G7->Gmi7->C7. Usually if they are doingsomething other than this then they are really something elsemasquerading as a dominant. Also bVi7->V7 or bVI7->i appears. There maybe a few others I'm not thinking of.

Anyway the point is that if we think they are just dominants weare likely to approach playing them incorrectly in improvising.

[end]

Subs for Days of Wine and Roses

reed kottler:

This a great Henry Mancini tune with lyrics by Johnny Mercer.

These subs are basically head changes. In other words, as Jules pointedout, these harmonically rich changes are not the ones you wantto solo on though some musicians like to.

To me it's equally alot of work to work out interesting headchanges as it is to work out soloing changes and time doesntpermit me to do both in one post.

I plan to begin posting written solos for various tunes and thenI will get into soloing changes. I am currently struggling withtrying to get my finale into .giff and .pdf so I can post themat the web site. To me the soloing changes affect alot what kindof solo you can play.

This tune has so many possibilities that I'm not going to try andpick a particular set. You'll have to see the variations andcome up with your own set.

The sheet music is in F and I think generally the tune is played inthat key.

The sheet music changes for the first four bars are essentially:

F | Cmi6/Eb | D7 | |Gm

The Cmi6/Eb is a misspelled Ami7b5/Eb. This is a common mistake infake books. Apparently the Mi7b5 chord was considered a "novel" ideain the past and nobody would know what it is so they wrote itas a minor sixth chord with the 6th degree in the bass. I even hearda fairly recent interview with Dizzy before he died and he stillcalled it a minor 6th chord with a 6th in the bass. Monk had taughthim that chord and it was considered revolutionary. (Though Chopinuses it extensively throughout the Mazurkas).

But a Cmi6 chord would no sense harmonically. Why would an F chord goto a C chord and then a D chord. That makes no sense.

So we write:

F | Amib5/Eb | D7 | |Gm

Now we have a I iii/VI ii which makes sense.

It is also fairly common to voice a mi7b5 chord with the b5 in the bass.

The F can be replace with something like F+ F6.

F+ F6 | Amib5/Eb | D7sus D7 | |Gm

or

F+ F6 | Ami7b5 | D7 | |Gm

Even something like:

F F+ | F6 Amib5/Eb | D7 | |Gm

Another possibility is to use a minor plagal cadence idea:

F | Bbm6 | Ami7 | D7 |

or

F | Bbm6 | Ami7 D7 | D7 |

This opens up the possibility of replacing the F, probablynot on the first eight though, with Bmi7b5.

Bmi7b5 | Bbm6 | Ami7 D7 | D7 |

Given that this ivm type chord applies, we can also try theV of that chord, Eb7 which will function the same way.

Fmaj7 | Eb7 | D7sus D7 | D7 |

Notice that I make some chord adjustments for certain subsin order to preserve bassline integrity.

The next four are essentially:

Gmi | | Bbm6 | |Ami7

This can work as:

Gmi7 D7 | Gmi7 | Bbm6 | |Ami7

or

Gmi7 Ab7 | Gmi7 | Bbm6 | |Ami7

reed:

Well there are basically two ways in jazz that you can go to a I chord.

One is the V7 and the other is the ivm6. The V7 is more common but theminor plagal cadence occurs quite a bit too. Sometimes either will workas in this tune.

The Ami7b5 is from the ii/V7 idea and the Eb7 from the ivm6 idea as it isjust Bbm6/Eb in this instance. In other words the Eb7 is not a truedominant. A true dominant always has resolution of the tritone intervalwhich makes it go to a I or the tritone sub's I.

[later...]

Of course there are many more variations but I leftout one that I had made a note to put in my mail:

On bars 9 - 12 you can play

Ami7 Emi7,A7 | Dmi7 Ab7 G7sus G7 | Gmi7 | Gmi7/F |

One more interesting sub is:

On bars 9 - 12 you can play

Fmaj7 Emi7,A7 | Dmi7 Ab7 G7sus G7 | Gmi7 | Gmi7/F |

[end reed]

John F. Hyde :

>The Ami7b5 is from the ii/V7 idea and the Eb7 from the ivm6 idea as it >is just Bbm6/Eb in this instance. In other words the Eb7 is not a true>dominant. A true dominant always has resolution of the tritone interval>which makes it go to a I or the tritone sub's I.

The Eb7 resolves down a half step to the D7, the tritone resolves (G-Db)to (F#-D). I find an interesting device to use on this tune is to modulate up to Ab for the second part of the tune. (bar 17 to end) It really pushes the solo's along. Just add a Bb-7 Eb7 in bar 16 and your off!

[end John]

reed replies:

Well this is still a little tricky. I kind of glossed over things here.

Even though in this case it's resolving by a half step, it's still really a ivm in the key of F.

For example, try altering the 9 or 13 or adding a #5 and you will see itdoesnt really sound right.

Its an Eb#11 which is essentially a Bb jazz minor chord. It's like a bVIchord in minor.

That chord wil not resolve to a I, i.e. Abmaj7.

I'm probably not explaining it very well in this instance but I willget back to you on this one.

[end reed]

Win Hinkle :

Nobody's mentioned it yet so guess I will. "Days of Wine ..." is a good candidate (like several others) to do a cyclic chromatically dropping fill starting on bar 2 cause the melody isstatic at this juncture and the progression is I moving to VI7 like manytunes.

FMaj7 | Bm7 E7 | Bbm7 Eb7 | Am7 D7 | Gm7 ........

But, personally I like the Eb7 on bar two - it's more what Mancini intended - I think.

RE: Playing this tune - modulating up a minor third at the halfway pointthen returning to the starting key at the beginning of the next chorus -Bill Evans, of course was the first to do this and it can be done to mostother "Half" type tunes - 32 bar tunes where the second 16 starts as arepeat of the first 16.

Even more interesting is the 8 bar-half-step-up modulation scheme available in this tune and others such as "Falling In Love With Love."

Try playing "Days...", up tempo in the following way, finding a quick pivot chord to the Dominant of the new key and:

First 16, - original keysecond 16, first 8, - up a half step (melody and changes) last 8, -back to the starting key. Make all voicing as smooth as possible.

Then for a real challenge, play this modulation formula with every chorusmodulating up a half step (Gb to temp G, etc.).

[end days of wine and roses]

Date: Sun, 06 Oct 1996 19:48:10 -0700From: Reed Kotler

Subject: substitutions: Doxy

I havent really studied this tune (for standards this requiresgoing to the sheet music and for jazz tunes this means transcribingrecordings of the original artist at least).

The fake books give (essentially):

Bb Ab7 | G7 | C7 F7 | Bb F7 |Bb Ab7 | G7 | C7 | F7 |Bb7 | | Eb7 | Edim |Bb Ab7 | G7 | C7 F7 | Bb F7 |

I talked to Richard Hindman (pianist extrodinaire, formerpianist for Stan Getz, Richie Cole and others) and hewas very familiar with this tune and offered a differenttake on the tune, which I have added to and hopefullywill convey the essential message.

Dick thinks of the tune as basically a blues for blowingpurposes though his changes are somewhat different.

For the first four he uses:

Bb7 Eb7 | D7 G7 | C7 F7 | Bb7 F7 |

Now this to me suggests in fact a common intro (which I in fact usebut didnt see here) for a blues as well as a turnaround used inthe middle of the blues.

I frequently use:

Bb7 | A7 | Ab7 | G7 |C7 | F7 | Bb7 G7 | C7 F7 |

This is essentially the turaround I frequently used for the last six bars of the blues.

Blues in Bb:

Bb7 | Eb7 | Bb7 | Bb7 |Eb7 | (Edim7) | Bb7 A7 | Ab7 G7 |C7 | F7 | Bb7 G7 | C7 F7 |

Anyway, you see the walk down from Bb7 which really fits this tune.Then when you look at the bridge it is the same as bars 3-6 of theblues.

Anyway, not to runnoff theoretically, you can see that basicallythe tune is just a blues shifted over a few bars. Thus a basicblues in Bb approach will work over the tune.

So in total:

Bb7 A7 | Ab7 G7 | C7 F7 | Bb7 F7 |Bb7 A7 | Ab7 G7 | C7 | F7 |Bb7 | | Eb7 | Edim7 |Bb7 A7 | Ab7 G7 | C7 F7 | Bb7 F7 |

or

Bb7 Eb7 | D7 G7 | C7 F7 | Bb7 F7 |Bb7 Eb7 | D7 G7 | C7 | F7 |Bb7 | | Eb7 | Edim7 |Bb7 Eb7 | D7 G7 | C7 F7 | Bb7 F7 |

An interesting bass line suggested by dick is:

Bb D Eb E | F F# G B |.......

reed

Subs for Dreamsville

reed:

Dreamsville is a wonderful Henri Mancini tune.

Somebody asked about this tune a while back.

I really don't use subs for this tune, except maybe some minor things.

I feel it's just fine as it is and it's designed alot around the chordchanges.

I asked around and nobody else I know does anything for this tune eitherso here are the basic changes, essentially as they are on the sheetmusic with only some minor changes.

Cmaj7 | Gmi7 | Cmaj7 | Gmi7 F#7 |F7sus F7 | Dmi7 Ebmi7 | Emi7 A7 | Dmi7 G7 |Cmaj7 | Gmi7 | Cmaj7 | Gmi7 F#7 |F7sus F7 | Dmi7 Ebmi7 | Dmi7 Db7 | Cmaj7 ,Gmi7|F#mi7 B7 | Emi7 A7 | F#mi7 | F7 |G#mi7 C#7 | F#mi7 B7 | Emi7 A7 | Dmi7 G7 |Cmaj7 | Gmi7 | Cmaj7 | Gmi7 F#7 |F7sus F7 | Dmi7 Ebmi7 | Dmi7 Db7 | Cmaj7 |

The first gmi7 is often played as Gmi7/C but I prefer just straightGmi7.

A number of the mi7 chords are mi7b5 chords in the original music. It'sa matter of taste.

Subs for Easy to Love

reed:

"Easy to Love" by Cole Porter is very interesting tune.

Harmonically I was first interested in the tune because in the key of Gmajor, I saw in a fake book that it's chords went from Ami to Dmi. Iincorrectly tried to analyze the Dmi as some kind of V in G withoutrealizing that the tune really started in Ami and Dmi was just the ivchord.

Anyway, I'm going to look at the tune in Bb today because G, theoriginal key, is a fairly miserable key for solo piano for this tune.

The first four in the original sheet music is essentially:

Cmi | Fmi | Cmi | F7 |Bbmaj7 |

The first thing is to realize that the Cmi chords are really from thekey of C minor. Thus the Fm is a iv and hence we can replace it with astronger ii/V. I prefer to use Dmi7 here though throughout this tunethere is alot of interchangeability between mi7 and mi7b5.

Cmi | Dm7 G7 | Cmi | F7 |

Because its a real Cmi, we can go to the vimi7b5.

Cmi Ami7b5 | Dm7 G7 | Cmi | F7 |Bbmaj7

The ii/V will work going to Bb but there is something better here. Forthose keeping score, the most common ways to the I are with a V or aminor plagal cadence. However, there is another technique I explained inthe tune "I Remember You". In this case the I is approached by a idim7which then gets transformed. In this case the idim7 is a little awkwardbut you can hear that it would work.

Cmi Ami7b5 | Dm7 G7 | Cmi | Bbdim7 |Bbmaj7

We use instaed Emi7/A7. (See my explanation of "I Remember You" for why this works.) This technique is sometimes called going in the back door.

Cmi Ami7b5 | Dm7 G7 | Cmi | Emi7 A7 |Bbmaj7

The next four in the sheet music is:

Bbmaj7 | Cmi | Bbmaj7 | |Cmi7

A fairly standard jazz cadence works here. We've seen this before. Lookat previous posts if this isnt clear.

Bbmaj7 | Eb7 | Dmi7 | G7 |Cmi7

The next four in the original sheet music is:

Cmi7 | F7 | Bbmaj7 | |Cmi7

There are a number of possibilities here:

Cmi7 | F7sus F7 | Bbmaj7 Ebmaj7 | Dmi7 G7 |Cmi7

I like:

Cmi7 | F7sus F7 | Ami7b5 D7 | Gmi7 C7 |Cmi7


Cmi7 | F7 | Dmi | Dbdim |Cmi

The Dbdim is a little clumsy. Common is:

Cmi7 | F7 | Dmi7 | G7 |Cmi

I like:

Cmi7b5 | F7 | Emi7 A7 | Dmi7 G7 |Cmi

Then we're back to the first eight so I have:

Cmi Ami7b5 | Dm7 G7 | Cmi | Emi7 A7 |Bbmaj7 | Eb7 | Dmi7 | G7 |


Cmi | Ebmi6 | Bbmaj7 | D7 |Cmi7

The Ebmi6 is our old friend the minor plagal cadence and the D7 justsounds wrong to me. We want something like:

Cmi7 | Ebmi7 Ab7 | Bbmaj7 | G7 |Cmi7

In any case, C is a pretty miserable key to play it in for solo piano.

What I do is play the head in Eb, modulate to E and take my solo andthen modulate to F for the out head. It's very effective.

I'm going to give the analysis in Eb.

The original sheet music changes for the first 8 bars are essentially:

Ebmaj7 | Cmi7 | Fmi7 | Bb7 |Ebmaj7 Cmi7 | Bbmi7 Eb7 | Abmaj7 | Abm6 |

You can play the first four essentially as written. Another possibilityis something that I think Bill Evans used to do on this tune. Namely touse a C7 in place of the Cmi7 and approach that chord from a V7. Thus.

Ebmaj7 G7 | C7sus C7 | Fmi7 | Bb7sus Bb7 |Ebmaj7 Cmi7 | Bbmi7 Eb7 | Abmaj7 | Abm6 |

In the second four, I see no reason to go back to the I. Instead I justpivot right there.

Ebmaj7 G7 | C7sus C7 | Fmi7 | Bb7sus Bb7 |Bbm7 | Eb7 | Abmaj7 | Abmi6 |Cmaj7 ...

The Abm6 seems to be a poor choice to me. As a minor plagal cadence itwould go back to Eb.

Instead we use the Abmi6/Db == Db9. Now we have essentially a dualfunction chord which moves nicely into the C major 7. In other words, itis natural to have Abmaj7 go to Db9 there as it is basically a minorplagal cadence back into Eb. However, then we are surprise because Db9is also the tritone sub for G7, so it is a pivot chord, i.e a chordoccuring in two tonalities which allows us to modulate.

Ebmaj7 G7 | C7sus C7 | Fmi7 | Bb7sus Bb7 |Bbm7 | Eb7 | Abmaj7 | Db7 |Cmaj7 ..

The next eight bars in the sheet music are essentially:

Cmaj7 | Ami7 | Dmi7 | G7 |Cmi7 | F7 | Fmi7 | Bb7 |

I pretty much leave this section alone except for possibly putting an E7in from of the Ami7.

The next eight are basically:

Ebmaj7 | Cmi7 | Fmi7 | Bb7 |Ebmaj7 E7 | Eb7 | Abmaj7 | Dmi7 G7 |Cmi7

I really just make a few of the same improvements I made for the first eight:

Ebmaj7 | Cmi7 | Fmi7 | Bb7sus Bb7 |Bbmi7 | Eb7 | Abmaj7 | Dmi7 G7 |Cmi7

The next eight in the sheet music are basically:

Cmi7 | D7 | Gmi7 | C7 |Fmi7 | Bb7 | Gmi7 | C7 |Fmi7 ...

I pretty much leave these alone two, except for a few sus chords.

Cmi7 | D7 | Gmi7 | C7sus C7 |Fmi7 | Bb7sus Bb7 | Gmi7 | C7sus C7 |Fmi7 ...

The last eight in the sheet music are:

Fmi7 | Abmi | Gmi7 | C7 |Fmi7 | Bb7 | Ebmaj7 | |

Here I make several improvements. The Abmi7 is a minor plagal cadenceand I just add the V in .

Fmi7 | Abmi7 Db7 | Gmi7 | C7 |Fmi7 | Bb7 | Ebmaj7 | |

Rather than starting with the Fmi7, I use Ami7b5 since it breaks up therepetitiveness in this section and also provides a nice #ivmi7b5walkdown.

Ami7b5 | Abmi7 Db7 | Gmi7 | C7 |Fmi7 | Bb7sus Bb7 | Ebmaj7 | |

So in total we have:

Ebmaj7 G7 | C7sus C7 | Fmi7 | Bb7sus Bb7 |Bbm7 | Eb7 | Abmaj7 | Db7 |Cmaj7 (E7) | Ami7 | Dmi7 | G7 |Cmi7 | F7 | Fmi7 | Bb7 |Ebmaj7 | Cmi7 | Fmi7 | Bb7sus Bb7 |Bbmi7 | Eb7 | Abmaj7 | Dmi7 G7 |Cmi7 | D7 | Gmi7 | C7sus C7 |Fmi7 | Bb7sus Bb7 | Gmi7 | C7sus C7 |Ami7b5 | Abmi7 Db7 | Gmi7 | C7 |Fmi7 | Bb7sus Bb7 | Ebmaj7 | |

When I modulate to E I just put a F#mi7 B7 in the last bar and off I go.

[end]

reed:

I've prepared a complete analysis of "Georgia on my Mind", unfortunatelyit's in my head and I want to answer Waynes question first so I don'tknow if I'll get to writing my analysis up tonight.

I have a few basic comments though.

The tune starts in F and then modulates to D minor so the changes youstudent brought in have some serious mistakes right off. For one itdoesnt start on Dmi7 but rather Dmi or Dmi6.

The basic changes in the beginning of the bridge are:

Dmi | Bb7 | Dmi | Dmi7 G7 | Dmi

The original sheet music changes are:

Dmi Gmi6 | Dmi Bb7 | Dmi Gmi6 | Dmi7 G7 | Dmi

Bb is the diatonic bVI chord of d harmonic minor which essentially has asubdominant function not unlike the ivm.

The change to Dmi7 is really interesting. There are alot of ways you canlook at that.

In the book "Modern Harmonic Technique vol II " by Gordon Delamont heintroduces a sort of generalized version of major/parallel minorborrowing called mixed modes. It's really brilliant!!

Essentially under that system, you can borrow from other minor modes,(dorian mode in this case), when working in a minor key.

I think Schoenberg is making a similar point in "Structural Functions ofHarmony" though I need to reread that book.

Frankly I'm just starting to really realize all the ramifications ofthese notions in jazz harmony.

So basically I view the dmi7/G7 as i7 iv7 in dorian. That's why it neverfeels like it needs to go to C. But the ii/V sound is still nice.

In fact in the original changes, in the bars of Dmi it goes from Dmi toGmi, or i iv in D minor.

So what we have is a sort of temporary modulation from D minor to Ddorian and back again.

So just as in classical music when we can freely change from major tominor, we can change between different minor scales.

[later]

Here is the rest of my analysis of "Georgia on My Mind".

How high is the moon?

From: Owen Thwaites

I'm doing a laid-back sub of 'How High The Moon' as an audition peice for a music degree - The verse has some tasty C#7b5's and stuff in it, but since I'm only breifly passing over the verse once, I was going to simply play the melody of the song. Would this be an outrageous injustice, to leave the harmonic canvas empty for the sake of simplicity?(I'm not that good...) They cry out for a dominant scale or something, but these chords only appear for one beat in a bar...but it sounds so bland to leave them. Make up a simple lick to use?It goes like this:

Am7 % | Am6 D7sus4 | G % | G C#dim7 | C6 % | Cm6 D7 | etc.

Of course I changed that G to a Gmaj7. What should I do over the C#dim7? I only play this section once as an intro.Also in the chorus it goes:

Ebmaj7 % | Am7b5 D7alt | Gm7 | etc.

I use F Dorian for the Ebmaj7, and G Dorian for the Gm7, but what for those two in the middle? I'm a bit too green to use a different scale for each of them!!Again, should I use a simple pre-cooked lick there, or just continue in F Dorian? And what is D7 Altered?

A similar turnaround is:

Gmaj7 % | Bmin7 Bbdim7 | Am7 D7 |

It sounds FAB, but what should I play over it? I tried just playing themelody of the song, which is simply a repeated D note ("until you willhow still..."), but it sounds genuinely weak, especially if you've just been improvising and you go back to this pathetic ostinato...

[end Tyson]

[end How High the Moon]

Substitutions : I Remember You

reed:

The tune is "I Remember You" by Victor Schertzinger. Lyrics by JonnyMercer.

The original sheet music is in G but it's played in G and in F alot.Anyway, I'm going to discuss it in what Richard Hindman always calls the"model key of C". (For those that don't know me my two major Jazzteachers were Don Haas and Richard Hindman.)

The first 8 bars as essentially from the original sheet music (I don'thave it but have a boiled down version which is probably accurate).

C6 | Cdim7 | C6 | Gmi7 C7sus,C7 |F6 | Fmi6 | C6 | Dmi7 G7 |

The Cdim7 has a B melody note so may also be written as B7/C.(C Eb Gb A + B == C D# F# A B = C + B7 in first inversion).We've discussed this appogitura idea earlier in the Stella discussion.(By the way, this analysis for "I Remember You" is another wayto explain the unusual chord sequence as is played today for Stella).

So the first reharmonization idea that is frequently used on thistune is to subsitute an actual B7 for the Cdim7. And then weput a ii7 in front of the B7 so we get:

C6 | F#mi7 B7 | C6 | Gmi7 C7sus,C7 |

B7 forms a nice triple appogitura for C6, i.e. [B D# D# A] -> [C E G A].

The next 4 bars have some interesting possibilites. First ofall, the Fmi6 which is a minor plagal cadence to C can bechanged to Fmi7/Bb7 as is commonly done in jazz when a minorplagal cadence is encountered.

So we get:

F6 | Fmi7 Bb7 | C6 | Dmi7 G7 |

Now the last two bars have a number of possibilities.

One common device is to substitute Emi7/A7 for the C6. This works verywell because we usually precede chords with some kind of V chord. Inthis case A7 is the V of D so we get

F6 | Fmi7 Bb7 | C6 A7 | Dmi7 G7 |

Now we have alot of interesting possibilities.

We can substitue Emi7 for C6 thereby puting a ii in front of the V andcreating a very smooth bass lines.

F6 | Fmi7 Bb7 | Emi7 A7 | Dmi7 G7 |

This is an important footnote to my previous email. Not only do you lookfor ii7 to put in front of a dominant seventh but you may challengeother chords, C6 in this case, as to which would better precede thedominant.

Now it get's interesting.

In this particular song, G7sus to G7 sounds nice to me but then we endup with a funny bass line. (G7sus == Dmi7/G essentially so it's also acommon resubstitution try).

F6 | Fmi7 Bb7 | Emi7 A7 | G7sus G7 |

So I would try:

F6 | Fmi7 Bb7 | Emi7 Abmaj7 | G7sus G7 |

Normally I would try perhaps D7 or Ab7. In this case though I have a Gmelody note at that point so instead I change chord quality here an usean Abmaj7. Though this move will work in other instances (provided thatthere is no clash with the Abmaj7).

Now I can go even further an try puting a IImaj7 in front of the Abmaj7as I suggested in my previous post.

So I use:

F6 | Fmi7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7 Abmaj7 | G7sus G7 |

Once again, under the proper situation this can replace a iii7/VI7ii7/V7 sequence in other tunes. Eb7 also works fine in place of theEbmaj7. (If we put the Ebmaj7 back to C6 we have what is called the"Lady Bird" turnaround after the builtin use of that turnaround at theend of that tune).

Another interesting try makes use of my idea of preceding a minorseventh chord with a major seventh a half step below.

Then going back to when we still had the Dmi7 chord, we can have:

F6 | Fmi7 Bb7 | Cmaj7 Dbmaj7 | Dmi7 G7 |

This sounds quite nice. Also we can precede the Dbmaj7 withthe IImaj7 and try:

F6 | Fmi7 Bb7 | Abmaj7 Dbmaj7 | Dmi7 G7 |

I'm getting into Don land and I think I need to take a rest in a minute.

On final idea is to always remember to try the minor 6th chord in aminor plagal cadence as both the minor 6th and it's enharmonic mi7b5.(We discussed this when we talked about stella) In This case Fmi6 ==Dmi7b5 so we can try something like:

F6 | Dmi7b5 G7 | Cmaj7 Dbmaj7 | Dmi7 G7 |

Hope this helps.

(P.S. If you don't know "I Remember You", learn it!!!! Get the sheetmusic if you can. It might be in some collection books but it's not inany of the ones I have. It's also in Jamey Aebsersold volume 22 "13Favourite Standards".)

[later...]

Here are a few more ideas for the first four and then I'm going to moveonto the bridge.

Gmi7 on beat 4 or bar 1 would make a nice passing chord to the F#mi7 in bar 2.

| C6 ,Gmi7| F#mi7 B7 |

Bars 3 4 could be:

C6 Ami7,D7 | Gmi7 C7 .

Another interest try is to approach the F6 chord in bar 5 witha minor plagal cadence.

C6 | Bbmi7 Eb7sus,Eb7 | F6 ....

The second 8 are the same as the first 8 essentially:

C6 | Cdim7 | C6 | Gmi7 C7sus,C7 |F6 | Fmi6 | C6 | Gmi7 C7 |F6 ...

Onto the bridge....

Basically we have:

Fmaj7 | Bmi7 E7 | Amaj7 | Bmi7 E7 |Amaj7 | Ami7 D7 | Gmaj7 | Dmi7 G7 |

The first 6 bars of the bridge look fairly much okay. I might add anF#mi7 or F#7 after the first Amaj7. This basically makes it a I vi7 ii7V7 in A. Thus:

Fmaj7 | Bmi7 E7 | Amaj7 F#mi7 | Bmi7 E7 |

Substitutions: I've Told Ev'ry Little Star

From: reed kotler

This is a nice Jermoe Kern tune and I have to credit Jamey Aebersold forintroducing me to this tune with the "Yesterdays", Volume 55, play alongCD. Not too many players know this tune.

I begin reharmonization whenever possible with the sheet music as thosethat have been following my mail know. This tune is no exception. I'mgoing to leave the tensions out. I tried that on my subs from yesterdayand found it quite cumbersome and it clouds the chart. If people findthem necessary I can consider putting them in future charts.

In the sheet music, the first eight are basically:

F | C7 | C7sus/F F | C7 |F | C7 | F | C7 |

Not a particularly insipring set of chord changes.

We begin with a simple ii7 in front of the first C7.

F6 | Gmi7 C7 | C7sus/F F | C7 |F | C7 | F | C7 |

There are a number of approaches to the Gmi7 we can add.Dmi7 is a possibility.

F6 Dmi7 | Gmi7 C7 | C7sus/F F | C7 |F | C7 | F | C7 |

I prefer Ab7 which is the tritone sub for D7, which is theV of Gmi7.

F6 Ab7 | Gmi7 C7 | C7sus/F F | C7 |F | C7 | F | C7 |

Another nice alteration is to replace the F6 with F/A. This provides avery nice bass line. Bill Evans begins the verse to "The Boy Next Door"on the "Explorations" CD this way. Although in place of Ab7, he playsAbdim7.

F/A Ab7 | Gmi7 C7 | C7sus/F F | C7 |F | C7 | F | C7 |

Next we try another ii7.

F/A Ab7 | Gmi7 C7 | C7sus/F F | Gmi7 C7 |F | C7 | F | C7 |

The C7sus/F, F is pretty week so we approch with a sequenceof V7 chords. A ii/V7 is not possible because of the melody.

F/A Ab7 | Gmi7 C7 | A7 D7 | Gmi7 C7 |F | C7 | F | C7 |

However the C7 is not a convincing approach to the F. In situationswhere V -> I doesnt work, it's always worth trying a minor plagalcadence, i.e. ivm -> I which works fine here.

F/A Ab13 | Gmi7 C7 | A7 D7 | Gmi7 Bbmi7,Eb7 |F | C7 | F | C7 |

We do some more ii7 additions.

F/A Ab7 | Gmi7 C7 | A7 D7 | Gmi7 Bbmi7,Eb7 |F | Gmi7 C7 | F | Gmi7 C7 |

We replace the first F with iii7/vi7 and the second with the same way weopen the tune. VI7 is not possible because of the melody.

F/A Ab7 | Gmi7 C7 | A7 D7 | Gmi7 Bbmi7,Eb7 |Ami7 Dmi7 | Gmi9 C7 | F/A Ab7 | Gmi9 C7 |

The second eight are the same except that it is modulatingto C major on the bridge to we use an appropriate ii/V.

Thus the first sixteen are essentially:

F/A Ab7 | Gmi7 C7 | A7 D7 | Gmi7 Bbmi7,Eb7 |Ami7 Dmi7 | Gmi9 C7 | F/A Ab7 | Gmi7 C7 |F/A Ab7 | Gmi7 C7 | A7 D7 | Gmi7 Bbmi7,Eb7 |Ami7 Dmi7 | Gmi9 C7 | F6 | Dmi7 G7 |

The sheet music changes for the bridge are essentialy:

C | G7/D G7 | C | Cdim |Bdim G7 | Am | F | C7 |

The G7/D sounds more convincing as Dmi7.

C | Dmi7 G7 | C | Cdim |Bdim G7 | Am | F | C7 |

The Cdim sounds pretty bad but it's hard to see what tochange it to until we go a little further.

The Bdim is the first three notes of Bmi7b5 which suggest rightoff a minor ii7/V to Ami since that is where things are going anyway.

C | Dmi7 G7 | C | Cdim |Bmi7b5 E7 | Am | F | C7 |

Substitutions: Laura

From: Tim Walters

Here are some substitute chords to Laura (played as a long meter samba,all chords with * are anticipated by an eighth note)

| F-9 | | Bb9sus | Bb+9(+11) |

| EboM7M9 | | EbM9 | D-9|

| Eb-9* | | Ab9sus | Ab+7(+9) |

| DbM9(+11) | | A+7(+9) | D-9|

| Db-9* | | Gb9sus | Gb13(-9) |

| BM9 | /F#| EM9(+11) | /D#|

| Db7(+9+11) | | Bb13(+11) | Ab13(+11) |

| G-9 | F-9 | E+7(+9) | (break) |

| F-9 | | Bb9sus | Bb+9(+11) |

| EbM9 | | Ab13 | D-9|

| Eb-9* | | Ab9sus | Ab+7(+9) |

| DbM9 | | C+7(+9) | D-9|

| Db-9* | | Eb7(-9) | |

| EM9 | | Gb9sus | F9sus F#9sus |

| B-9 | C#-9 | D-9 | Eb13(+11) |

| EM9(+11) | AM9(+11) | Ab6/7/9 | |

[end Laura]

Substitutions - Misty

From: Ian M Dilley

I've plucked up enough courage to post this humble offering. I've markedsome chords as (alt). I don't know if this is the right terminology but I play them with just about everything altered (b5 b9 b10 b13). In the 6th bar of the middle 8 (bridge in the US I believe) in the right hand I play the melody as Ab and Bb triads with a D7 in the left hand.

In bar 1 the Eb dim maj7 is just for 1 beat - a sort of appoggiatura typeof thing. In the 4th bar I play an inner part that goes Bb Ab G Gb F in time with the melody. The F landing at the start of the Db.

Reed (and anyone else), please feel free to comment (improve it) as much as you like. I'm an amateur and need to learn.

Ebdim maj7,Ebmaj7 | Bbm7 A7(alt) | Abmaj7 | Abm7 Db7 |G13 Cm7 | Fm7 Bb7b9 | G13 F#7b9 | Fm7 E7(alt) |Ebdim maj7,Ebmaj7 | Bbm7 A7(alt) | Abmaj7 | Abm7 Db7 |G13 Cm7 | Fm7 Bb7b9 | Dbmaj7 D7b9 | Eb chords tacet for 2 beats |C7b9 F+7b9 | Bbm7 A7(alt) | Abmaj7 | Fm7 Bbm7 |Am7 | D7(alt) | Gm7b5 Cm7 | Fm7 E7(alt) |Ebdim maj7,Ebmaj7 | Bbm7 A7(alt) | Abmaj7 | Abm7 Db7 |G13 Cm7 | Fm7 Bb7b9 | Dbmaj7 D7b9 | Eb | (for the ending) | Eb Cm7 | Fm7 E7(alt) | (to go into choruses)

BTW. I'm not sure about the first 2 bars of the bridge.

[end Ian]

reed:

Ian, I don't have time to work through the bridge today. There seem tobe some problems in the beginning of the bridge but I have to spend somemore time because it may just be the way I'm voicing the chords.

The first section is nice. (BTW, I'm not just being nice because the lastguy flamed me. ) You make some different bass note and tension choices than I do but that's more or less a matter of taste.

The only real problem I see is the Cmi7 chord in bar 5.

That doesnt really fit. Having a minor seventh chord like that, followinga dominant 7th chord, on the weak part of the measure is a problem.

For that measure, I see the following choices as working:

Gmi7 Cmi7 | weak but it worksGmi7 C7 |G7 C7 |

Of course tritone variations of the above will work too.

I like the Dbmaj7 D7b9 move into the Ebmaj7 chord before the bridge.

Consider some kind of ii/V into the bridge though. You don't really want to let it sit for two bars like that do you?

[end reed]

Substitutions: Solar

From: reed kotler

Solar is a pretty simple 12 bar tune. If you squint your eyesit might look like a blues.

The basic changes are:

Cmi(maj7) | | Cmi7 | Gmi7 C7 |Fmaj7 | | Fmi7 | Bb7 |Ebmaj7 | Ebmi7 Ab7 | Dbmaj7 | Dmi7b5 G7 |

I employ all standard moves. If they arent clear how I'm coming up withthese subs then send some questions but first review my explanation ofearlier subs I submitted.

I'm going to start putting the tensions in. It might be helpful to some.

Cm6 G13b9 | Cm6 Ami7b5,D7b9 | Gmi7 D7b9 | Gmi7 C7b9b5 |Fmaj7 C7#5#9,C7b9b5 | Fmaj7 Gmi7,C7b9 | Fmi7 B9#5 | Bb7sus Bb7b9b5 |Ebmaj7#5 | Ebmi7 Ab7sus,Ab13 | Dbmaj7 | Dmi7b5 G7#9#5 |

[end Solar]

Substitutions: Star Eyes

From: John F. Hyde

Here's the standard changes for this standard.

| Fmaj7 | G-7 C7 | Fmaj7 | F-7 Bb7 || Ebmaj7 | Am7b5 D7 | Gmaj7 | Gm7b5 C7 ||| Fmaj7 | G-7 C7 | Fmaj7 | F-7 Bb7 || Ebmaj7 | Am7b5 D7 | Gmaj7 | Gm7b5 C7F7 ||| Bbmaj7 | Bbmaj7 | Bb-7 | Eb7 || Abmaj7 | Abmaj7 | Gm7b5 | C7 ||| Fmaj7 | G-7 C7 | Fmaj7 | F-7 Bb7 || Ebmaj7 | Am7b5 D7 | Gmaj7 | Gm7b5 C7 || Fmaj7 | Eb7 D7 | G-7 C7 | F6 ||

It's basically an ABAA tune with a 4 bar tag at the end. The A sections are interesting in that they go through 3 tonal centers; F, Eb, and G. One of my ideas to start with on this tune was to sub by quality. In other words, Tonic chords are I, III, VI: Sub-dominant II, IV: Dominant V and VII. Chords within each category can be substituted.

Here's the first 8:

| A-7 Abo7 | G-7 Eb7 | D-7 B7 | Bbsus7 Bb7E7 || Ebmaj7 | Am7b5 D7 | Gmaj7 | Db7 C7F#7 ||

The D-7 in the 3rd bar is a good ex. of sub. by quality. (VI for I) The A-7 in the 1st bar could be thought of as a sub by quality but actually will sound like your basic III, VI, II, V progression. Bars 9 - 16:

| B-7b5 Bbo7 F6/A Abo7| G-7 Db7 C7 Gb7 | Db7/B F6/C | Bbsus7 B7 Bb7 Bo7|| C-7 | D7b9sus C-7 B7 | Bbmaj7 | Db7 C7 B7 ||

Ouch! I hope that's not too hard to read. Bar 9 is actually seen most ften as an ending; Starts on the #IV and goes down chromatically, in bar10 I felt like I had to keep the chord per beat motion going so I threw in some tritone subs, bar 11 is a classical cadence that Duke used alot,I'm sure Reed knows the name of it; voice it from the top G,Db,Ab,F,B to F,D,A,F,C. The C-7 in 13 is an example of sub by quality. Da bridge:

| A-7b5 Ab7 G-7 Gb7 | Fm7 B7 Bb7 Bo7 | C-7 F7 | Bb-7 Eb7A7 || Abmaj7 Dbmaj7 | Gb7 F7 | E7us2 | Eb7 C7 Eb7/Bb ||

Did I mention that I'm thinking of this tune as a ballad? I really like the C-7 in bar 19 and the preceding 2 bars are pretty much setting that chord up. I expand the melody in beat 3 and 4 of bar 21, 8th note to quarters so the melody extends into 22. us in bar 23 means F#triad over E7. You can sub dominant chords min. 3rds apart which is what I'm doing in 24, in diminished harmony the C7, Eb7, Gb7, and A7 would all use the same half/whole diminished scale so the chords are interchangeable as long as the voicing you use is from that scale.Last 12 (in the thank God category!)

| A-7 Abo7 | G-7 Eb7 | D-7 B7 | Bbsus7 Bb7E7 || C-7 C-7/Bb | Am7b5 D7Ab7 | Gmaj7 | Db7 C7 || F7 E7 | Eb7 D7 | Db7 C7 | B7us#IV ||

Well, there you go, please go easy on me Reed :-0 I realize that there are too many chords, I also realize that I play to many notes, someone told me a long time ago that musicians get paid by the note and I'm applying that theory to reharm. :-)

[end john]

reed:

Anyone that doesnt want my opinion about their subs just need omitmy name from the mail. It seems like you are asking my opinion.

I played looked through your subs and I don't have time to write a complete reply today but basically your subs suffer from the same problems that Franks on Bluesette had.

You have some nice sounds, some interesting ideas, but they don't forma coherent and convincing reharmonization primarily because the bassline makes no sense.

Your discussion with frank on his last subs for bluesette make me thinkthat you too are being a bit too intellectual in your approach. You havecompelling intellectual reasons to believe that certain things willwork so you convince your ear of that.

Here is something to do.

Play the melody with your bass line (the bass notes of the chords you gave) and tell me if it sounds good.

The bass line is one of the notes in the chords you have so if thebass line doesnt sound good neither will the substitutions (in general).

[later...]

I think I can explain what I see as problems with your changes in a moreor less objective manner.

I'm just going to focus on the first eight bars for now. I can't promisewhen I'll get to the rest.

Before doing this I want to state a basic rule of reharmonization.

You have to end up at certain essential chords or else you usually justtear the fabric of the song apart.

Someone like Bill Evans or Art Tatum was a master at figuring out wherethese places are and devising all kinds of clever tricks for arriving atthe proper place at the proper time.

The basic problem is like I initially said. You have made local bassmotion solutions but essentially they dont fit together.

In this case what I'll show is that you start a very strong cadence andthen take off in a totally different direction in an unconvincingfashion.

At 02:29 PM 10/8/96 -0400, you wrote:>Here's the standard changes for this standard.>>| Fmaj7 | G-7 C7 | Fmaj7 | F-7 Bb7 |>| Ebmaj7 | Am7b5 D7 | Gmaj7 | Gm7b5 C7 ||>| Fmaj7 | G-7 C7 | Fmaj7 | F-7 Bb7 |>| Ebmaj7 | Am7b5 D7 | Gmaj7 | Gm7b5 C7F7 ||>| Bbmaj7 | Bbmaj7 | Bb-7 | Eb7 |>| Abmaj7 | Abmaj7 | Gm7b5 | C7 ||>| Fmaj7 | G-7 C7 | Fmaj7 | F-7 Bb7 |>| Ebmaj7 | Am7b5 D7 | Gmaj7 | Gm7b5 C7 |>| Fmaj7 | Eb7 D7 | G-7 C7 | F6 ||>

>It's basically an ABAA tune with a 4 bar tag at the end. The A sections>are interesting in that they go through 3 tonal centers; F, Eb, and G. >One of my ideas to start with on this tune was to sub by quality. >In other words, Tonic chords are I, III, VI: Sub-dominant II, IV: >Dominant V and VII. Chords within each category can be substituted. >Here's the first 8:>>| A-7 Abo7 | G-7 Eb7 | D-7 B7 | Bbsus7 Bb7E7 |>| Ebmaj7 | Am7b5 D7 | Gmaj7 | Db7 C7F#7 ||>

What happens here is you start off with a very nice move which I assure you I will be using sometimes in the future when I play this tune.

That is:

Ami7 Abdim7 | Gmi7

I use this on so many tunes and I don't know why I never thought of trying it here.

Now you've set up a very strong cadence with the bass line. The bass lineis heading towards F already very strongly and its going to get there bypassing through Gb or C.

If you play the notest A Ab G you should hear that it's going that way. (Its just a tritone sub of A D G ).

So at this point we have already locked ourselves into:

Ami7 Abdim7 | Gmi7 ? | Fmaj7

So how to get to the F.

An obvious way is:

Ami7 Abdim7 | Gmi7 C7 | Fmaj7

or

Ami7 Abdim7 | Gmi7 Gb7 | Fmaj7

Well Bill Evans would probably do something like:

Ami7 Abdim7 | Gmi7,Db9#11 C9sus,C13b9 | Fmaj7

Now Art Tatum might have tried your Eb7 but he would know that he has tobe at Fmaj7 by bar 3.

Ami7 Abdim7 | Gmi7 Eb7,D7,Db7,C7 | Fmaj7 |

The chromatic line from Eb7 is eighth note harmony.

or possibly:

Ami7 Abdim7 | Gmi7,E7 Eb7,D7,Db7,C7 | Fmaj7 |

>The D-7 in the 3rd bar is a good ex. of sub. by quality. (VI for I) The>A-7in the 1st bar could be thought of as a sub by quality but actually >will sound like your basic III, VI, II, V progression. Bars 9 - 16:

The Dmi7 is trying to replace the F which is a very strong chord andan important part of the progression.

If you want that sound, you have to figure out someway to set it upmore convincingly. In other words the whole progression from beat onehas to be moving towards the Dmi7 in some very strong way. And even ifyou suceeded, now you have a really weak cadence to the next important chord which is Ebmaj7.

Frankly the Dmi7 is an example of what I would call an intellectual chordchoice. Well it's VI for I but so what. If you want to convince me that this will work here you have to precede it with a very convincing progression. Just Eb7 to Dmi7 doesnt make it.

The Db7 to C7 in bar eight is nice and is precisely what Bill Evans usedfor his blowing changes on Star Eyes.

[end reed]

From: Win Hinkle :

FYI below is what a bassplayer like myself might do to the changes below.I'd add pedal points on the first eight to give more rhythmic interest inthe traditionally Latin sections - for the head only. I'd play the bridge straight ahead.

> >| Fmaj7 | G-7 C7 | Fmaj7 | F-7 Bb7 | | C pedal ..................................

> >| Ebmaj7 | Am7b5 D7 | Gmaj7 | Gm7b5 C7 || Bb ped ................ Ab.| G ped .....

etc. This gives the pianist and/or horn player the freedom to do morelinear things with the changes and the drummer a little more space to exert himself.

[end Star Eyes]

Substitutions: Time After Time

From: reed

"Time After Time" is a wonderful tune with music by Jules Styneand Lyrics by Sammy Cahn.

The sheet music is in a really nice book called "The New Sammy Cahn Songbook".

I prepared a complete analysis of this on Wednesday night and a set of subs.

I saw Don on Thursday and he offered a set of changes that he says arethe ones that most top bass players in the SF Bay area would use.

They are quite different from what I play though I think it will befairly clear to people how the changes I got from Don would be derivedfrom the sheet music changes. I'll present them at the end after myusual summary. This also illustrate what I was explaining about how Dontold me that originally alot of the hip subs came from piano playerslistening to the bass lines and then add the vertical components.

This is not a tune that I would usually play except in a solo pianosetting. I might call it if I was playing guitar with a piano and bassand let them decide the changes and then just play by ear along withthem. With a bass player I would give them my changes so they arentsurprised. The main reason is that there would be too many harmonicvariations without a chart.

To clarify some recent comments I made regarding bass players and subs:I can hear a fair amount of tune variations and adjust to the bassplayer but not nearly as much as bass players can usually do. I try toimprove in this respect but I don't consider it to mean I'm not a goodplayer. The ability to adjust for me falls under the category ofmusicianship. The ability to adjust depends alot on experience andfrankly how many times you've been in a situation in which you arent incharge of the changes. Also, I've even seen world class piano playersdrag some poor bass player that's never played with them before all overthe harmonic map (with no chart of course) but when they are in asituation and the tables are reversed and the bass player plays somesimple variation, they can't adjust at all. I find this to be a generalrule. Bass players play with alot of different piano players and getpretty adept at adapting whereas the piano players couldnt do the sameif they were in the same position.

Okay, on to the tune.

The first four in the sheet music are:

C Ami | Dmi7 G7 | C Em | Dmi7 G7 |C

Substitutions: When You Wish Upon A Star

From: reed kotler

This is a nice old disney tune many of us grew up hearing.

The sheet music is not too bad though the chord symbols on the sheetmusic are pretty terrible and I do have a few moves to add. Often timethe chord symbols are a horrible renderring of the written part of themusic. You have to do your own analysis.

The orignal Key is C though I learned it in F but will analyze it in Cfor this mail.

The original 4 bars in sheet music is:

C A7+ | Dm(maj7) Dm7 | G9 G7sus,G7 | Cdim7 C6 |C/E

I play pretty much the same thing:

C A7#5b9 | Dm(maj7) Dm9 | G9 Dmi9,G13b9 | Cdim7,Emi7/C C6 |C/E


C/E Ebdim | Dmi9 A7 | Dmi7 G9,G7b9 | Cmaj7 G7 |C ...

The Dmi7 in the sheet music is notated as F. That's because F A C is inthe right hand, however the left hand bass note is G. Moral: never trustsheet music chord symbols from the publisher.

The C/E can be played as an Emi7 but be careful because the C melodynote will clash with the Emi7. You have to voice the chord correctly anduse proper dynamics.

The turnaround C G7 is pretty lame. I use:

Emi7 Ebdim | Dmi9 A7b9 | Dmi9 G7b9 | Emi7,A7b9b5 Dmi11,G13b9 |C ...

The next 8 are basically the same except we don't need the turnaroundgoing into the bridge.

Essentially we have for the first 16:

C A7#5b9 | Dm(maj7) Dm9 | G9 Dmi9,G13b9 | Cdim7,Emi7/C C6 |Emi7 Ebdim | Dmi9 A7b9 | Dmi9 G7b9 | Emi7,A7b9b5 Dmi11,G13b9 |C A7#5b9 | Dm(maj7) Dm9 | G9 Dmi9,G13b9 | Cdim7,Emi7/C C6 |Emi7 Ebdim | Dmi9 A7b9 | Dmi9 G7b9 | C6 |

Em7 A7b9b13 | Dm(maj7) Em11 | Fmaj7#5 Fmaj7 G7sus G13 | G#ø7 Gm6 F#ø7 Fm6 |

C/E D#o7 | Dmi9 Dm#5 Em7 Em7#5 | Fmaj7#5 Fmaj G7sus G13b9 | C/G |

Em7 A7b9b13 | Dm(maj7) Em11 | Fmaj7#5 Fmaj7 G7sus G13 | G#ø7 Gm6 F#ø7 Fm6 |

C/E D#o7 | Dmi9 Dm#5 Em7 Em7#5 | Fmaj7#5 Fmaj G7sus G13b9 | C/G |

Dø7/G G7b9 | C/G | Dø7/G G7b9 | B/G C/G B7#9 F9#11 |

Em9 Bb9#11 Am6 Eb13 | D9#11 D#o7 | C/E Fm6 | Fm(maj7)/G G13b9 |

Cmaj7 B7alt Bb7#9 A7#9 | Dm(maj7) Eb9#11 | F#9sus / G9sus G7 | G#ø7 Gm6 F#ø7 Fm6 |

B7#9b13 Eb9#11 G#7#9b13 C9#11 | F#13b9 Ab13#11 C#7#9 B7#9 | Fmaj7#5 Fmaj G7sus G13b9 | Bbmaj7 Dbmaj7 C / |

[end bert]

Jules:

Reed,

a) You have worked out a beautiful cahrt on "when you wish upon a star". If I were trying to solo over it, It would be less confusing if the basic simple chords that you base the extensions on were given to me while you played this chord chart. I could fill in the extensions with my solo and also add a few more. (I am a sax player.)

b) A good ear player would probably get the essance of what you are doing and play something that is highly adequate.

c) If you really get far out, a chord chart or a rehearsal would be necessary. Since all bass players are not geniouses, it would be considerate to let him in on what you are doing as well.

d) Since you have done all of this in the past, this letter is really not directed at you personnally, but rather at the many keyboard players out there that don't think about other people in thier jazz groups.

[end Jules]

From: Frank Hamilton

Reed,

Looking over your chart...............>

>The orignal Key is C though I learned it in F but will>analyze it in C for this mail.>>The original 4 bars in sheet music is:>>C A7+ | Dm(maj7) Dm7 | G9 G7sus,G7 | Cdim7 C6 |>C/E

>I play pretty much the same thing:>>C A7#5b9 | Dm(maj7) Dm9 | G9 Dmi9,G13b9 | Cdim7,Emi7/C C6 |>C/E

It seems that the G13b9 would require the vocalist to sing an Ab insteadof a G in the melody. On the syllable "dif-f'rence". This doesn't bother me. The F# on the syllable "where" would follow the Ab making this an interesting tune.

Also, I would prefer to label the Em7/C as a Cmaj9.

>The next four in the sheet music are:>>C/E Ebdim | Dmi9 A7 | Dmi7 G9,G7b9 | Cmaj7 G7 |>C ...

>The C/E can be played as an Emi7 but be careful because the>C melody note will clash with the Emi7. You have to voice the>chord correctly and use proper dynamics.>>The turnaround C G7 is pretty lame. I use:>>Emi7 Ebdim | Dmi9 A7b9 | Dmi9 G7b9 | Emi7,A7b9b5 Dmi11,G13b9 |>C ...

This is pretty. A nice reharmonization.

[end Frank]

reed:

>It seems that the G13b9 would require the vocalist to sing an Ab >instead of a G in the melody. On the syllable "dif-f'rence".

Not really. I voice g13b9 with a G in the melody frequently.

I.e from the bottom:

[G F Ab B E G]

The b9 is buried way down in the chord and I dont't thinkwill bother the singer if you are playing the G melodynote.

>Also, I would prefer to label the Em7/C as a Cmaj9.>

yes, that was more an indication of what to grab. Kindof a pianistic thing. I'm playing something like [C E]in the left hand and [B D E G] in the right hand.

[end When You Wish]

Substitutions : "You Must Believe in Spring"

From: Reed Kotler

"You Must Believe in Spring" is a beautiful tune by Michelle Legrand withlyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. The sheet music is in the "MichelleLegrand Songbook" published by Hal Leonard, a great book and a must forevery library.

This was a favourite of Bill Evans. He recorded it on his "You Must Believe in Spring" album and in his second duo record with Tony Bennet called "Together Again". Both are great albums.

There is a transcription by Pascal Wetzel of Bill playing "You must believe in Spring" in one of the Bill Evans transcription books but I can't find my copy to give a better reference. The transcription book is very good though I have found a few mistakes in the solo sections and sometimes the chord symbols seem to be spelled incorrected harmonically.All in all a great book and definitely one that should be in every library.

One particularly fascinating thing about this tune is the half stepmodulation in the tune.

This is a really difficult tune to play because it winds aroundharmonically and then does this modulation. Without a chart you better know it cold because it has lots of surprises. It is also 26 bars long!

Anyway it is played in B minor with a modulation to C minor half way through.

The sheet music changes are adequate but there are a couple of thematicsubs I used throughout the piece.

Or even start on B7 if you want. There is normally a G7 as a pickupchord so you can even have C7 -> | B7 Bb7 |....

The Gmi7 is just a harmonized version of a logical bass note, G forthat measure.

The next eight bars in the sheet music are:

Dm | Dm Dm7 | G6 Gmmaj7 | G7 |C6 | Ebm6 | Dm7 G7 | G7/D G#dim |Am

There are alot of paths through this section.The one I like is:

Dm A7 | Dm Dm/C | Bm7b5 E7 | Am7 D7 |Dm7 | A7 | Dm7 G7 | Bm7b5 E7 |Am

Another possibility is:

Dm A7 | Dm | Bb7 A7 | Dm7 G7 |Em7 A7 | Ebm7 Ab7 | Dm7 G7 | Bm7b5 E7 |

The Ebm7/Ab7 could be replaced with | Fm7,Bb7 Ebm7,Ab7 | .In both examples you could try for the Bm7b5 E7 measure:| F#7 Bm7b5,E7 | .

You can mix and match some common parts of this example.There are too many possibilities to put them all down.

The first one can link up with the second one by:

Dm A7 | Dm Dm/C | Bm7b5 E7 | Am7 D7 |Dm7 G7 | Ebm7 Ab7 | Dm7 G7 | Bm7b5 E7 |Am

The next four bars in the original sheet music are:

Am | D7 | G7 | |C

Nothing interesting here, just:

Am7 | D7 | Dm7 | G7 |

The next eight bars are pretty much the same as the first eightin the sheet music:

C | | B7 | E7 A7 |Dm | Dm Dm7 | E B7 | E |Am

I use:

C Bb7 | Ami7 Gmi7 | F#mi7 B7 | Em7 A7 |Dm A7 | Dm Dm/C | F#m7 B7 | Em7 A7 |Am


Am | C7 | F6 | Fm6 |C

I use:

Am7 D7 | Gm7 C7 | F6 | Bb7 |C

The last four bars in the original sheet music are:

C Ebm6 | G7 | C | |

There are a million ways to play this:

I would probably use:

Em7,A7 Ebm7, Ab7 | Dm7 G7 | C | |

Other possibilities are:

Em7 A7 | Dm7 G7 | C | |

or

C Ebm7,Ab7 | Dm7 G7 | C | |

or even:

Gm7,C7 Fm7,Bb7 | Em7,A7 Dm7,G7 | C | |

In total I would like best:

C Bb7 | Ami7 Gmi7 | F#mi7 B7 | Em7 A7 |Dm A7 | Dm Dm/C | Bm7b5 E7 | Am7 D7 |Dm7 | A7 | Dm7 G7 | Bm7b5 E7 |Am7 | D7 | Dm7 | G7 |C Bb7 | Ami7 Gmi7 | F#mi7 B7 | Em7 A7 |Dm A7 | Dm Dm/C | F#m7 B7 | Em7 A7 |Am7 D7 | Gm7 C7 | F6 | Bb7 |C A7 | Dm7 G7 | C | |

reed

Substitutions : " Frosty the Snow Man "

reed :

A nice holiday tune by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins.

The original chords are kind of sparse so try and liventhings up a bit.

The first four bars in the sheet music are:

C | C C7 | F F#dim | C |F

instead I try:

C Dm7,G7 | C C7 | F F#m7b5,B7 | C C7 |F


F F#dim | C A7 | Dm7 G7 | C G7 |

I try:

F F#m7b5,B7 | Em7 A7 | Dm7 G7 | Em7,A7 Dm7,G7 |

The next eight are essentially the same except for the modulationto F on the bridge. I use:

C Dm7,G7 | C C7 | F F#m7b5,B7 | C C7 |F F#m7b5,B7 | Em7 A7 | Dm7,Ab7 G7sus,G7 | C C7 |

The first four bars of the bridge in the sheet music are:

F F#dim | C | Dm7 G7 | C |G

I used :

F F#m7b5,B7 | Em7 A7 | Dm7 G7sus,G7 | C |

The sheet music continued with:

G | G Ddim | Am D7 | G G+ |C

Instead I used:

G C7 | Bm7 E7 | Am7 D7 | Dm7 G7 |C

For the last eight, I begin with a different move for varietyeven though the sheet music remains the same as the beginning:

C F#m7b5,Fm6 | Em7 A7 | Dm7 G7 | C C7 |

The ending is the same I used for the second eight so I end up within total:

C Dm7,G7 | C C7 | F F#m7b5,B7 | C C7 |F F#m7b5,B7 | Em7 A7 | Dm7 G7 | Em7,A7 Dm7,G7 |C Dm7,G7 | C C7 | F F#m7b5,B7 | C C7 |F F#m7b5,B7 | Em7 A7 | Dm7,Ab7 G7sus,G7 | C C7 |F F#m7b5,B7 | Em7 A7 | Dm7 G7sus,G7 | C |G C7 | Bm7 E7 | Am7 D7 | Dm7 G7 |C F#m7b5,Fm6 | Em7 A7 | Dm7 G7 | C C7 |F F#m7b5,B7 | Em7 A7 | Dm7,Ab7 G7sus,G7 | C |

[end frosty]

substitutions: "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

reed:

A great holiday song by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blake.

THe original sheet music changes are okay but fairly repetitive.

In the sheet music, the first four bars are

C | Dm7 G7 | C | Dm7 G7 |C

I use:

C,Bb7 Am7,A7 | Dm7,Ab7 G7sus,G7 | C,Bb7 Am7,D7 | Dm7 G7 |

The next four originally are:

C Am7 | Dm7 G7 | E7 A7 | D7 G7 |C....

Try:

C A7 | Dm7 G7 | Bb7 A7 | D7 G7sus,G7 |C

The next four bars repeat the first four so I use the same changes.

Then they have a modulation to F:

C Am7 | Dm7 E7 | Am | C7 |F

I tried:

C#m7b5 F#7 | Bm7 E7 | Am7 D7 | Gm7 C7 |F

which worked quite nicely.

That gives for the first sixteen bars:

C,Bb7 Am7,A7 | Dm7,Ab7 G7sus,G7 | C,Bb7 Am7,D7 | Dm7 G7 |C A7 | Dm7 G7 | Bb7 A7 | D7 G7sus,G7 |C,Bb7 Am7,A7 | Dm7,Ab7 G7sus,G7 | C,Bb7 Am7,D7 | Dm7 G7 |C#m7b5 F#7 | Bm7 E7 | Am7 D7 | Gm7 C7 |


F Fm | C Ebdim | Dm7 G7 | C Am7 |

I tried

F#m7b5 Fm6,Bb7 | Em7 Ebdim7 | Dm7 G7 | C |

Then the sheet music had:

F#m7b5 B7 | Em G+/A | G/D D7sus,D7 | Dm7 G7 |C

I tried:

F#m7b5 B7 | Em7 A7 | Am7 D7 | Dm7 G7 |C

So for these eight I get:

F#m7b5 Fm6,Bb7 | Em7 Ebdim7 | Dm7 G7 | C |F#m7b5 B7 | Em7 A7 | Am7 D7 | Dm7 G7 |

The last eight starts originally with the same four bars as thebeginning of the tune so I use the same as in the beginning.

C,Bb7 Am7,A7 | Dm7,Ab7 G7sus,G7 | C,Bb7 Am7,D7 | Dm7 G7 |

Then originally we have

C Am7 | Dm7 E7 | Am | C7 |F

I tried:

C,Bb7 Am7,A7 | Dm7 Bm7b5,E7 | Am7 D7 | Gm7 C7 | F

The last four in the original sheet music were:

F Am7 | Dm7 G7 | C | |

I used:

F Em7,A7 | Dm7 G7sus,G7 | C | |

So I got in total:

C,Bb7 Am7,A7 | Dm7,Ab7 G7sus,G7 | C,Bb7 Am7,D7 | Dm7 G7 |C A7 | Dm7 G7 | Bb7 A7 | D7 G7sus,G7 |C,Bb7 Am7,A7 | Dm7,Ab7 G7sus,G7 | C,Bb7 Am7,D7 | Dm7 G7 |C#m7b5 F#7 | Bm7 E7 | Am7 D7 | Gm7 C7 |F#m7b5 Fm6,Bb7 | Em7 Ebdim7 | Dm7 G7 | C |F#m7b5 B7 | Em7 A7 | Am7 D7 | Dm7 G7 |C,Bb7 Am7,A7 | Dm7,Ab7 G7sus,G7 | C,Bb7 Am7,D7 | Dm7 G7 |C,Bb7 Am7,A7 | Dm7 Bm7b5,E7 | Am7 D7 | Gm7 C7 |F Em7,A7 | Dm7 G7sus,G7 | C | |

Also, for the most part you can replace

C,Bb7 Am7,A7 with F#m7b5,Fm6 Em7,A7 in the tune for variety.

[end Have Yourself a Merry Little Xmas]

Substitutions: "Jingle Bells"

reed

Another festive tune. Words and music by J. Pierpont.

The first eight in the sheet music are:

G | | | C |C Am | D7 | | G |

I tried:

G D7sus | G Am7,D7 | G Dm7,G7 | C Bm7,E7 |Am7 E7 | Em7 A7 | Am7 D7 | G D7sus,D7 |

The original sheet music has for the next eight:

G | | | C |C Am | G/D | D7 | G D7 |

I tried:

G D7sus | G Am7,D7 | G Dm7,G7 | C Bm7,E7 |Am7 D7,C7 | Bm7 E7 | Am7 D7 | G D7 |

The original sheet music has for the next eight:

G | G | G | G G7 |C |C/G,G | A7 | D7 |

I tried:

G Am7,D7 | Bm7 Am7,D7 | G Am7,D7 | G Dm7,G7 |C F7 | C6/G,G Bm7,E7 | Em7 A7sus,A7 | D7sus D7 |

The last eight in the original sheet music are:

G | G | G | G G7 |C |C/G,G | D7 | G |

I tried:

G Am7,D7 | Bm7 Am7,D7 | G Am7,D7 | G Dm7,G7 |C F7 | C6/G,G Bm7,E7 | Am7 D7sus,D7 | G |

So in total:

G D7sus | G Am7,D7 | G Dm7,G7 | C Bm7,E7 |Am7 E7 | Em7 A7 | Am7 D7 | G D7sus,D7 |G D7sus | G Am7,D7 | G Dm7,G7 | C Bm7,E7 |Am7 D7,C7 | Bm7 E7 | Am7 D7 | G D7 |G Am7,D7 | Bm7 Am7,D7 | G Am7,D7 | G Dm7,G7 |C F7 | C6/G,G Bm7,E7 | Em7 A7sus,A7 | D7sus D7 |G Am7,D7 | Bm7 Am7,D7 | G Am7,D7 | G Dm7,G7 |C F7 | C6/G,G Bm7,E7 | Am7 D7sus,D7 | G |

[later...]

For the first 8, also try:

G C9 | Bm7 Am7,D7 | G B7 | C Bm,E7 |Am F9 | Em7 A7 | Am7 D7 | G D7sus,D7 |

The B7 possibility is one I shouldnt have missed. That is a standardback door move which even occurs in tunes like the beginning of "SomeDay My Prince Will Come".

The F9 is an option to the E7 I had. Both will work though the F9 hassomewhat better bass motion.

[end Jingle Bells]

Substitutions : Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

reed

A great holiday tune by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn.

[re:] What is a minor plagal sequence?

In C minor it is:

Fm Cm

However, the chord can be used in a major key too, like:

Fm C

In jazz they frequently put the V of the iv minor chord

Fm7, Bb7 C

Thats how "Just Friends" in C starts out:

F | | Fm7 | Bb7 |C

The F is the IV of C. Its a IV to ivm to I .

Thats why that Bb7 can resolve to C. THe Bb7 is technicallyjust an Fm6/Bb. In other words it's not really a dominant 7thchord but rather a minor 6th chord over a different bass note.

[end reed]

jules:

Smith Dobson hates diminished chords and he always plays something like Bm7b5 E7 in place of Bdim7. Bert and you seem to be saying that. For non san jose residents on Reed's list, Smith Dobson is the top jazz pianist in our area and many people listen to what he does, including myself and Reed.

[end jules][end Let It Snow]

Substitutions: "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town"

reed:

Seeing how it's the holiday season I thought some christmas song changesmight be appropriate.

I couldnt find the original sheet music but I found a lead sheet that isprobably pretty close. I like to start a reharmonization from as basic aset of changes as possible.

There are alot of repetitive parts to this tune and I provide alot ofalternate subs so you can mix and match quite a bit.

I like:

Gm7 C7 | Am7 D7 | Gm7 C7 | F |Am7 D7 | Bm7 E7 | Am7 D7 | Dm7,Ab7 G7sus,G7 |

The last eight are the same as the original. For repeats I use a dom 7turnaround so I get in total something like:


C,Bb7 Am7,A7b9 | Dm7,Ab7 G7sus,G7 | Abmaj7 Dbmaj7 | Dm7 G7 |


C,Bb7 Am7,A7b9 | Dm7,G7 Abm7,Db7 | C Bb7 | Am7 Ab7 |

Gm7 C7 | Am7 D7 | Gm7 C7 | F |

Am7 D7 | Bm7 E7 | Am7 D7 | Dm7,Ab7 G7sus,G7 |


C,Bb7 Am7,A7b9 | Dm7,G7 Abm7,Db7 | C A7 | D7 G7 |

A nice ending is to replace the last two bars with the four bars:

F#m7b5 Fm6 | C6/E Ebm7 | Dm7 G7 | C |

For blowing changes I like:

C C7 | F Bb7 | C C7 | F Bb7 |C Am7 | Dm7 G7 | Abmaj7 Dbmaj7 | Dm7 G7 |C C7 | F Bb7 | C C7 | F Bb7 |C Am7 | Dm7 G7 | C7 Bb7 | A7 D7 |Gm7 C7 | Am7 D7 | Gm7 C7 | F |Am7 D7 | Bm7 E7 | Am7 D7 | Dm7 G7 |C C7 | F Bb7 | C C7 | F Bb7 |C Am7 | Dm7 G7 | C A7 | D7 G7 |

[later...]

All those chords will take a C melody note until the G7 .

Before doing this post, I always played essentially the blowing changeseven when I play solo piano.

The blowing changes are fairly close to what Bill Evans used to playthough he didnt use that nice turnaround Abmaj7 Dbmaj7 | Dm7 G7 | .Bill recorded the tune originally in G on the "Trio 63" album. The best recording I've heard of him playing it though is on "Bill Evans, The Solo Sessions Vol. 2", released after his death.

Marc Sabatella's Jazz Improvisation Primer

http://www.outsideshore.com/primer/primer/

Bert Ligon's book

http://www.music.sc.edu/ea/Jazz/books/BOOKs.html

Michael Fitzgerald Home Page (nice discographies)

http://www.jazzdiscography.com/

Transkriber Software

http://www.reedkotlermusic.com/learn_jazz.htm

Guitar "Shell Voicings"

So, what the heck is a shell voicing, you ask? That's a term from jazz arranging, also used by jazz pianists, that refers to the basic essentialnotes of a chord. You ever hear a piano solo whare the guy snaps out those cool 2 and 3-note chords in his left hand that sound so full? Wanna learn how to do it on guitar? Well, here goes:

First, we need to know what the essential notes of a chord are. They are(in descending order of importance) the 3rd, 7th, added tones, root, fifth. In English, that means in, say, a C13 chord, the most important notes are: E, Bb, A, C, G, in that order. What is implied is that you canomit the least important notes if you don't want them. Usually, the fifthis the first to go. Then the root - especially if you have a bass player.What would you need with another root? With that in mind, let's look at some guitar shell voicings for various chords.

Cmaj7 voicings

e ----------------------------------- B -------------------8-------5------- G ----4------9---------------7------- D ----2------9-------9-------9------- A ----3--------------7--------------- E -----------8-----------------------

Cmin7 voicings

e ------------------------------------ B --------------------8-------4------- G ----3-------8---------------7------- D ----1-------8-------8-------8------- A ----3---------------6--------------- E ------------8-----------------------

C7 voicings

e ------------------------------------ B --------------------8-------5------- G ----3-------9---------------7------- D ----2-------8-------8-------8------- A ----3---------------7--------------- E ------------8-----------------------

These are just a few voicings. With this concept in mind, you can construct shell voicings over just about any chord you can think of.Try it!

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