All the bop harmony you eat

....but not the language :-)

Thoughts on tone & legato

Here's my latest video

Jazz Guitar Scrapbook

I'm starting up a new Youtube channel to encapsulate my various rambling thoughts. This video talks about Warne Marsh's 2-octave major scale and the implications for upper extensions:

To Transcribe or Not to Transcribe?

I recently did something I've never done and posted a video of me playing along to a famous jazz recording:

This is a solo I learned a while back, and analysed in great detail to the point where I would say a lot of Christian's vocabulary has been assimilated into my playing, hopefully in a way that's beyond 'canned licks.' It's amazing the value one can squeeze out of one solo - and taking it out of mothballs and getting up to speed taught me something new, to boot...

In any case, the arguments for and against transcription are similar to the those for and against metronome practice. There are many great players who learned by copying their favourite players and a significant minority of great players who have taken a very different approach.

The arguments for include; the very holistic and rich nature of learning and studying solos as a practice activity; the value of tradition; the importance of knowing your history; the value of learning jazz in that same way as you would learn a spoken language. Those against warn against the traps of slavish imitation; the importance of avoiding canned material in solos and so on.

Methodologies for learning an studying solos are also diverse - ranging from those who learn to sing solos by ear form start to finish, to those who work on a few licks in isolation; from those who write everything down, to those who play everything right away.

Added to these direct arguments is a larger tension - between the conservative, traditionalist elements of jazz culture and the more liberal, radical elements. It's my belief every musician has to find a balance between these forces (Pat Metheny elucidates this nicely in a recent interview.)

Personally I love finding out about the tradition, but I have no interest in simply playing historical styles. But others couldn't care less about this, and are happy to develop their own style that works for them. Transcription may well form part of their study, but they are not interested in a chronology of who played what when. Others are interested only in mastering one specific historical language. And of course, people change their interests over time.

People can get pretty heated about these differences in approach. To me, this kind of thing seems a waste of energy. If you are truly secure in what you are doing then why get emotionally involved in what other people do?

Personally, I am comfortable that my knowledge of Charlie Christian's playing hasn't diluted my own style. If I chose to pastiche Christian, I do so very self consciously. In the end I play in my own style, and I think it will take more than learning a few jazz solos to cure me of that :-)

I would recommend transcription to any musician looking to develop their skills and knowledge, but I wouldn't insist on it. In the end, I think Hal Galper puts it best:

Lage Lund licks!

I've been off the transcription horse for a while. This week I dusted off my hat and climbed back on.

I picked Lage Lund's recording of Darn that Dream from his Standards album because it is a very tasty example of guitar trio playing. (It also seems a pretty popular choice for transcription) I've been working a fair bit in guitar trios, and really like this line up. It can be pretty scary at first, but if you can get used to it offers a lot of unique freedoms.

Anyway, my general approach is to pick out one or two lines that really jump out and get those down, before working on the rest of the solo. I think being too linear about it can lead to blockages.

In general shape he kicks it off with a very cool little break, plays rather sparely for the first A, hits a sweet turnaround lick, gets a bit more busy through the second A and really starts to burn on the bridge with some long eight note lines and a virtuosic burst of triplets.... Not a bad template for a AABA solo... I transcribed first the break, then the turnaround lick at the end of the first A.

Line #1 Analysis 

Here is the first one - the break that sets up the solo.

 

There’s quite a lot going on here. Instead of the standard I-VI-II-V turnaround, both Lage and the bass player (Ben Street) opt for a Tadd Dameron turnaround, which in this key (G) is Gmaj7 Bb7 Ebmaj7 Ab7#11. Lage also uses some anticipation of the chords – both in his ‘comping’ parts but also in his solo line. Here, he anticipates the changes by up to a beat. In the second system I have written the chords over the lines in the way that I believe reflects where they are being expressed in Lage’s line.

Lage’s approach (at least at this time, 2007) is heavily triadic. The advantage of this to an improviser working without a chordal accompanist is that you can very clearly outline harmonic movement with relatively few notes, and often the effect will be clearer to the listener than if you use the typical seventh chords used in jazz education. In Lage’s case, many of these triads are used as superpositions or upper structures of other chords – or substitute progressions if you like.

The use of the G+ over the Gmaj7 obviously gives you a slightly more unusual Gmaj7+5 sound, but the use of the D+/Bb+ triad over Bb7 is straight out of Lester Young. The C minor/Eb major pentatonic unambiguously gives us the Eb chord and resolves smoothly in the D - the root of D7, or the #11 of the Ab7#11 . In fact the only odd thing is the way he resolves – not to the expected third of the Gmaj7, but to a #11 (a #4 really, given the register.) This adds a little twist to an otherwise predictable bebop phrase. It really only requires those two unusual notes – the D# in the G+ and the finishing C# to give this line its contemporary sound. I don’t think it’s crazy to suggest that this kind of subversion is very typical of Lage’s dry Scandy humour, expressed in music.

(We can also appreciate that Ebmaj7 Ab7#11 Gmaj7 is a substitute for Am7b5 D7b9 Gmaj7)

Line #2 Analysis

Lick 2 happens over a ii-V followed by the turnaround again.

The run up on the ii-V is clearly an ascending scale with a couple of added notes. It’s a little bit of a puzzle as to why these notes are added, and not the more common choices such as the D bebop dominant scale, but I have chosen to break it down as shown. I’m by no means convinced this is the best analysis.

The rest of the line is pretty obvious. Here, Lage spells out triads again over the Dameron turnaround. We have Gm over the Bb7 and Ebmaj7 chords, which against the bass gives an overall Bb6 and Ebmaj7 tonality respectively, and an Fm and Ab7 on the Ab7 chord giving an Ab13 sound with a classic bebop tinged chromatic enclosure into the root on beat 1… The whole thing is based on clear chord shapes – almost like a Charlie Christian lick! It represents a pretty vanilla expression of the turnaround, which I suppose goes to show how hip a progression it is that it sounds so modern…

Another interesting point is that Lage is completely unafraid to express the root of the chord as a point of resolution and also plays roots in the other chords as well - in contrast to the advice often given to jazz improvisers to avoid them.

The rhythm is tasty, too. I’ve beamed the notes in the analysis to reflect the groupings.

I’m looking forward to learning the rest of the solo. It’s clear to me already Lage at this stage had a deep grasp of the tradition as well as a very fresh modern sound.

Common tone diminished chords and way to modern them up

Sometimes people come across old school chord progressions and have an allergy to diminished chords. For some styles of harmony it does sound a bit wrong, it’s true. A lot of the time you can swap a dim7 out for a ii-V, for example:

Ebmaj7 | Eo7 | Fm7 | F#o7 | Gm7 |

Is often played:

Ebmaj7 | Gm7b5 C7b9 | Fm7 | Am7b5 D7b9 | Gm7 |

However, there are a couple of common progressions that aren’t so obvious. Here are some alternatives, all given in C:

The Horse

F  | F#o7 | C

Subs

F7 | % | C

F | F#m7b5 B7b9 | Dm

Swing era turnaround (Out of Nowhere etc)

C/E | Ebo7 | Dm7 | G7

Subs

Em7 | A7alt | Dm7 | G7

Em7 A7 | Ebm7 Ab7 | Dm7 | G7

(not good if the melody note in bar 2 is an A or B (or both) which it quite often is. Sometimes they change the melody.)

Case study – last eight of On Green Dolphin Street:

Original (I think)

G7 | G#o7 | Am | F#o7 | C A7 | Dm7 G7 | C

Real book changes from the 1970s when ii-V’s were fashionable

Dm7 Dm7/C | Bm7b5 E7 | Am7 Am7/G | F#m7b5 E7b9 | Em7 A7 | Dm7 G7 | C

Stella by Starlight

Eo7 | % | F7 | % | Bb7 | % | Eb

Became

Ebm7b5 | A7b9 | Cm7 | F7 | Fm7 | Bb7 | Eb

Harmonic butchery? Perhaps, but these changes are fun to blow on which is why you hear so many jazz players blowing on them. The original changes are beautiful, very Romantic era harmony. It’s good to know both versions.

Many improvisers find ii-V’s easier to solo on than diminished sevenths (personally, I think it’s nice to have both) so there you go. So therefore, next time – ways to deal with a dim 7 when soloing

Chord Progression of the Week #1

The Kipper

I should thank clarinettist extraordinaire Duncan Hemstock for introducing me to this name for this progression – although he blames guitarist/banjoist Simon Picton. It is possible he made it up. I'll have to ask him.

I used to call it a Cole Porter turnaround but as no one knew what I was on about, and ‘the Kipper’ is satisfyingly stupid name so we’ll go with that. 

Other names are welcome in the comments box below. Keep it clean, please.

The progression comes in two main flavours, in C, both of them shmokey:

F#m7b5 | Fm6 | C/E (or Em7) | Ebo7 | Dm7 | G7 | C

F#m7b5 | Fm6 | C/E (or Em7) | A7 | Dm7 | G7 | C

The second one is a little more familiar, so I’ll pass it over…. We’ll focus on the first progression.

The first chord, can be understood also as D7/F#, in which case we have this:

D7/F# | Fm6 | C/E | Ebo7 | Dm7 | G7 | C

Function:

The function of the Kipper is the same as any long turnaround progression: to bring us back to the tonic (I) chord with lots of classy and interesting chromatic voice leading in between. We could just write C for 8 bars, but that's not how jazz is. (Well, it's not how Cole Porter is.)

The only unusual thing about this progression, in fact, is the first chord, F#m7b5. Many progressions of this type start on Dm7 or F, so to have this as our first chord makes the whole thing a little more exotic.

Melody permitting, this is a classy and somewhat old fashioned way to dress up a F-Fm-C-A7-Dm-G7 progression (Christophe) or even a Rhythm Changes/turnaround type of vibe. Here, we just start with a bar of C and let the Kipper err…. unfold…

Also, F#m7b5 is a common substitute for C major where the melody is C or E, especially on the last A of a standard AABA tune, so this progression could function here too, if the melody fits…

It is the white tie and tails of chord progressions and is essentially a pre-bebop - although Jobim also used it, as he did many pre-war style progressions.

Popular Appearances

• Night and Day
• Georgia on my Mind
• It Was Just One of Those Things
• Djangology
• Aguas de Marco
• A Smooth One (this also loops the first few chords a few times.)

Challenges

As with any non ii-V based progression, this set of chords can seem a bit difficult to get to grips with for players coming out of modern jazz education. There’s not really a ‘ii-V’ sub that fits comfortably either.

We can’t really ignore it though, as it pops up quite a few tunes.

Soloing suggestions

Well we could play arpeggios of course. So what do we do? Well the Dm7 G7 I is a II-V-I, so no problems there. I would narrow the challenges in this progression to two main things that could be helpfully practiced on their own.

• F#m7b5 Fm6 C
• Em7 Ebo7 Dm7

Both are actually fairly common progressions, but I haven't seen the mentioned to much in jazz textbooks.

F#m7b5 --> Fm6 --> C

In this case, I’d suggest thinking of the first chord as a Am6, and the third as a C major and go from there:

Am6 | Fm6 | C | Ebo7 | Dm7 | G7 |

Em7 --> Ebo7 --> Dm7

This progression is very common in older forms of jazz and is closely related to quite a few other things, so is a great thing to get to grips with.

I tend to think of the Em7 as a Cmaj9 chord without the root (C). That said, you don’t have to think of it that way, but it does produce the most diatonic and inside approach, which is important to me. If you consider the first chord as Em7 it’s likely you will view it as a Dorian chord, which will pull you outside of the prevailing key. Try it.

The Ebo7 can be thought of as an extension of the D7b9 chord – as Em7 is Cmaj9 without the C, Ebo7 is D7b9 without the D. Got it? :-)

Em7 --> Ebo7 --> Dm7

Is in fact

C --> D7b9 --> G7

With a funny bassline.

Dominants

An alternative approach for the first two bars is to use the related dominants of the minor chords. This may in fact be the simplest approach. We use the ii-V relationship to come up with this:

D7 | Bb7 | C

The whole progression is then:

D7 | Bb7 | C | D7(b9) | G7 | C

In the simplest understanding we can reduce the chords to this, as Fm6 is a common swing and bebop substitute for G7:

D7 | G7b9 | C | D7b9 | G7 | % | C

From this simplification we can see that the progression is really a D7 G7 C repeated twice. The first few bars of the Kipper, expressed as arpeggios sound magical over a II7 V7 I progression, such as found in Exactly Like You, Take the A Train and so on. I heard Django using this substitute first, but the Fm6 over G7 thing is very common in all harmonic era (1910s-1960s) jazz.

Scales

In scalar terms, the first two chords can be well handled using the melodic minor. We encounter a little bump with the Ebo7 – another chromatic chord.

Many textbooks advise the use of the half – whole or diminished scale here, but I would suggest also considering the use of the E harmonic minor for very smooth approach.

ii-V’s

More beboppy approaches might include swapping that biiio7 for a little sidestep ii-V:

Am6 | Fm6 | Em7 A7 | Ebm7 Ab7 | Dm7 | G7 | C

We could even ‘ii-V’ the first two, resulting in some sustained chromatic modulations. With a little artistic licence we can turn the first chord from F#m7b5 into F#m7 (works best in a guitar or piano trio.)

F#m7 B7 | Fm7 Bb7 | Em7 A7 | Ebm7 Ab7 | Dm7 | G7 | C

Line cliches

Lastly, we can interpret the chord progression from the point of view of its voice leading. This can allows us to improvise more melodically but keep the sound of the progression:

The bassline is the most obvious chromatic line.

F# F E Eb D (Db) C

However, the middle voice has this.

A Ab G Gb F F E

Soloists in a swing band setting, where the bass is likely to be playing the chromatic line, might be best off basing their soloing around the second line, which be have a more interesting sound than octave doubling of the bass. Notice that the two lines together move in thirds.

These aren’t guide tone lines in the sense of using 3rds and 7ths. In fact guide tone lines only really work for progression that go around the circle of fourths – such as ii-V-I’s. But you usually find something similar if you write out the chords or work on them at the piano.

Conclusion

Once mastered, the Kipper can be used as an interesting way of getting around rhythm changes and other turnaround progressions. It is closely related to the Rhythm A, Christopher Columbus A the Mean to Me/Ain’t Misbehaving A and the Bewitched A, all of which can be exchanged for each other. It is not a million miles away for the Art Tatum/Monk subsitutes for Rhythm Changes:

F#7 B7 | E7 A7 | D7 G7 | C

Or

F#m7b5 B7 | Em7b5 A7 | Dm7b5 G7 | C