Jazz Theory Resources - Volume 1 & 2

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INTRODUCTION

PURPOSE

Jazz is an aural tradition. The music is passed from one teacher to a student, from one generation to the next, not from written books, but from the tradition of personal interaction, listening and imitation. The success of this method is proven world wide. There are no etude books for Indian classical music; a stu-dent of African drumming does not run to the store to buy a copy of the well-tempered drum book. Most of the great jazz artists we listen to learned from the aural traditions and not from written text-books. Why write one? This book is meant to be a supplement to and not a substitute for the aural musi-cal education. This book is a resource to augment the learning experience of listening, transcribing clas-sic jazz performances, and performing the muclas-sic with peers.

The book has been developed over the last ten years of teaching. I want to extend thanks to the hun-dreds of students who helped me determine areas that needed clarification and allowed me to formulate answers. Thanks also to Reed Kotler whose internet discussion group offered me the opportunity to offer my answers to many common questions. I appreciated the opportunity to try out parts of chapters in those electronic chats, honing my opinions in some productive (and sometimes heated) discussions.

ORGANIZATION

It is my contention that jazz music theory should not be separated from traditional tonal music theory. C major is C major. Music of many different styles still share fundamental building blocks. Jazz shares tonal principles, harmonic frameworks, forms, and melodic construction with tonal music from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods, and with ancient folk and contemporary popular music. The book is divided into two volumes that correspond with two levels of jazz theory classes at the uni-versity level. Volume I deals with the relationship of jazz improvisation to the traditional major/minor system (Chapters 1-11). This section includes a lengthy chapter on rhythms in jazz performance. Volume II examines additions to and extensions beyond the major/minor systems (Chapters 12-17). Many of the concepts in the second section are best understood in relation to the foundation of the ma-jor/minor system. After study of the component parts of jazz, a student should be prepared to recognize how pieces fit into the whole of a jazz improvisation and be able to transcribe and analyze complete jazz improvisations. Chapter 18 provides analyses models of five well-known improvisations. Chapter 18 could be used as a graduate level jazz theory class using the transcriptions included here as a beginning. There are five appendices included at the end of Volume II which should be valuable resources for stu-dents of jazz: Reference for Chord/Scale Relationships, Elaborations of Static Harmony, Endings, Composing Tips, and Theory Applications. Students are encouraged to supplement this book by consult-ing the many available sources for the history of jazz, lists of representative musicians and recordconsult-ings, and lists of standard jazz tunes for performance.

Good music theory should describe how the music sounds. And music theory has only two rules: (1) does it sound good? and (2) does it sound good? All else is a discussion of principles: “if I do this, it sounds good; if I do that, it doesn’t.” I have tried to keep all discussions relative to the aural experience.

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There are no mathematical charts that are irrelevant to practical applications. The book’s concepts were based on personal research of jazz improvisation by outstanding jazz artists and the study of great musi-cians from all eras. The book includes musical examples from a wide range of sources including Bach, Mozart, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Tom Harrell and Mike Stern. It is these artists who are the ulti-mate authority and who have determined the fundamental laws of music theory. I have never liked the distinction between an “ear player” and a “theory player.” It implies that one who knows theory is sepa-rated from the aural, and implies that one who plays by ear knows nothing of what he plays. A good player (“ear” or “theory”) knows what it is that he hears, plays by ear, and understands the concepts of what he plays. Whether he is able to articulate what it is that he does is another matter. A “theory player” who does not sound good has not used music theory well. I based this book on music theory that describes how the music sounds never loosing sight of the two rules.

What about those students who define jazz as “playing what you feel” and often shun theory discussions? Art can express feelings. Without some knowledge these students wander about musically and conse-quently express very little. There are many skills to be mastered. I am reminded of something said by the great baseball philosopher, Yogi Berra, “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.” Learning theory can give these students some direction and goals so they wind up playing what they feel instead of winding up someplace else. As a writer studies grammar and vocabu-lary, an improviser and composer studies music theory: to find and master the tools necessary for the goal of personal expression. Any young improviser who wants to “play what he hears” or “play what he feels” has an idea about some notes that sound good in a context. That idea is music theory.

Those who do not improvise often wonder what it is that we do. This is the simplest answer to the ques-tion, “on what do we improvise?”—We improvise on the melody (paraphrasing), or improvise on the harmony (being either specific or general). A dictionary defines improvisation as “inventing with little or no preparation.” Few improvise on the melody or harmony without a great deal of preparation. Preparation for jazz improvisation can occupy a lifetime. The study of music is a never ending puzzle. One piece may be solved, but in doing so one finds it connects to a larger piece of the puzzle. When we are done with the Sunday crossword puzzle we tossed it aside; but, thankfully, music is a puzzle that can entertain and fascinate an artist for a lifetime.

When I began to play, improvise and compose music, I was confronted with twelve pitches and no pat-terns or preconceived notions about structure. I spent years practicing and studying patpat-terns of scales, arpeggios, melodic shapes, embellishment figurations, harmonic possibilities, and rhythms. I find I get closer to completing a circle and returning to the point where I am confronted with twelve pitches and no patterns or preconceived notions about structure.

LANGUAGE & MUSIC

There are numerous analogies between the musical and verbal languages. Some similarities are relevant to the music learning process. Anyone who has tried to learn a spoken language as an adult can only marvel at the ease at which extremely young children learn a language. Children begin learning lan-guage in the womb. Studies in music education have also found the best time to develop the musical language is at an early age, and that the chances for developing complete musical skills diminish with each passing year.

Babies only four days old can distinguish one language from another by noticing the general rhythms and melodies. This confirms the relationship between musical perceptions and language. A child will imitate distinctive sounds, words and phrases before linking them to any meaning. Around age one, meanings are associated with words and single words appear in their speech. By age three they are ana-lyzing grammar and recognize that sentences are constructed from noun phrases (“The big bad wolf”) and verb phrases (“ate the grandmother”). As they advance and mature, they construct sentences using

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gins reading, the reading material is much more elementary than the child’s aural languages skills, and they work to balance the two skills.

This is the opposite of the musical learning experience for so many children. The first day with an in-strument is often spent looking at whole notes on a page. By the time many students attempt to under-stand the aural significance (the real musical language!) they are past their prime learning period. While their reading skills may be quite advanced, many of these students attach little actual musical meaning to what they have been trained to reproduce. At the age when training the ear is finally stressed, it is of-ten more difficult to ever achieve any balance.

Children can distinguish noun and verb phrases and individual words even though language is not spo-ken one . . . word . . . at . . . a . . . time. Language, like a musical line, is often a nonstopstreamofsound. So often a musical student will attempt melodic dictation trying to hear each individual note of a phrase rather than trying to hear groups of notes analogous to noun and verb phrases. A child can perceive the basic meaning of “The big bad wolf ate the grandmother,” to be “wolf ate grandmother.” A music stu-dent should learn to distinguish groups of pitches in a phrase as pointing to a single pitch that is more important than the surrounded pitches. The phrase below includes all twelve chromatic pitches, yet the bracketed groups of pitches point to the three notes of the C major triad. The line is not heard as ran-dom chromaticism, but as an embellished tonal idea in the key of C major. We can hear the bracketed groups of pitches in the same way we hear noun and verb phrases.

& c Ó

‰

#

œ

j

3

œ œ

n œ

b

C

œ

↓

œ

# œ œ

b œ

↓

œ

n œ œ

#

œ

↓

Identifying each pitch by its vertical alignment with the given chord provides no insight and serves no real purpose. We do not hear separate words or letters in a sentence, nor would we analyze a sentence in this way.

& c Ó

‰

#

œ

j

3

œ œ

n œ

b

C #6 M7 M9 m9

œ

↓

œ

# œ œ

b œ

↓

œ

n œ œ

#

1 #4 M6 m6 P5 P4 M2 A2

œ

↓ M3

One of the characteristics of music and jazz music in particular is that the musical ideas may not be contained within the measure lines. The measure lines do not exist in music; they exist only in music no-tation. If melodies are highly polyrhythmic, as they are in many jazz compositions and improvisations, the melodies will often overlap the measure lines, and the notes will not align vertically with the written chord symbols. It is extremely important when listening or analyzing to realize that music is linear and not vertical. If we analyze music vertically confining the notes to neat groups of four eighth notes it makes as much sense as trying to read the sentence “The big bad wolf ate the grandmother,” as “Theb igba dwol fate theg rand moth er.”

A valuable tool for teaching language is the use of memorization of common phrases. All language courses teach basic conversational, useful phrases: “how are you?” “which way to the [train station] [bathroom] [theater]?” “will you accept my credit card?” At the more advanced level, a student of lan-guage may memorize portions of great literature or important documents. (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? . . ,” “We hold these truths to be self-evident . . .”) The value of this exercise is obvious: the student learns to appreciate the sound, structure and finer use of the language. The musical analogy

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is also obvious: students wishing to learn the jazz language should memorize short and long phrases from important jazz improvisations in order to appreciate the sound, structure and finer use of the mu-sical language.

We diagram and analyze sentences to determine the noun and verb phrases and identify the modifiers. We diagram sentences to learn to use the basic structures to construct our own sentences. Different mod-ifiers can be used, the sentences reordered and the potential for expression is infinite. Musical analysis can parallel this grammar exercise. Analyzing well constructed musical lines can teach us how to play our own individual lines. We can borrow the fundamental principles and shapes of a well constructed line, add or subtract decorative chromaticism and embellishments (modifiers), change the rhythmic character and create infinite lines of individual expression.

Pat Metheny responded to a question about jazz improvisation and echoed the language analogy: Improvising on chord changes is a lot like giving a speech about a fairly complex sub-ject using fairly complex grammar—there is no way you can just wing it, you have to have done a lot of research into the subject and have a pretty wide ranging vocabulary that makes the language in all its potential available to you. much in the same way that all of us are capable of kind of “improvising” our sentences without really thinking too much about verbs, adjectives, pronouns, etc. A really good improviser who has studied harmony and its implications for years can sort of just “play.” There is no getting around it, if you are serious about playing on a tune like Giant Steps or even Phase

Dance for that matter, you will have to know everything there is to know about particular

chords, series of chords, key changes, etc. The only way to get past the problems . . . is to practice a lot for many years and to learn all you can about music. There are no short cuts or quick fixes. (3.24.99)

CONCLUSION

I have written three books with the goal of making it easier for students to learn all they can about jazz music. The books are certainly not short cuts or quick fixes, but companions for many years of practice and study. This theory book was to have been the first that I published, but I spent so much time on Chapter 10 on common melodic outlines that it became a book itself, Connecting Chords with Linear

Harmony. Comprehensive Technique for Jazz Musicians is meant to be the practice room companion

to this theory book, though published first. Jazz Theory Resources can provide theoretical explanations and suggestions that may be pursued in the practice room and provide insight into the organization of jazz improvisation and composition. Music is more than the sum of the parts. This book is just about “some” of the parts.

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I. REVIEW of BASIC THEORY MATERIALS

This book assumes the student is more than familiar with the basics of music theory: the notes of the staves, intervals and inversions, tertian chord construction, notation principles, key signatures and the order of accidentals. There are a number of good books which were designed to teach these basics. This chapter reviews a few of the fundamentals in the interest of clarity.

CHROMATIC SCALE

The one scale that all jazz musicians use is the chromatic scale. It is shown below written ascending and descending. Altered notes want to continue in the direction in which they have been altered. Sharps in-dicate a raised note and the direction it wants to resolve. Flats inin-dicate a lowered note and the direction it wants to resolve. Accidentals, when written correctly, make lines easier to read. The note above C

n

is not always a C

#

. It may be a D

b

under certain circumstances. If a line moves up from C to D through a chromatic note, that note is C

#

, indicating the alteration and the direction of the resolution. If a line moves down from D to C through a chromatic note, that note would be D

b

, indicating the alteration and the direction of the resolution.

& œ

#

œ

˙

œ

b

œ

˙

Chromatic Scale: Difference in ascending and descending

&

?

˙ ˙

#

˙ ˙

#

˙ ˙ ˙

#

˙ ˙

#

˙ ˙

#

˙ ˙

#

˙ ˙

#

˙ ˙ ˙

#

˙ ˙

#

˙ ˙

#

˙ ˙

˙ ˙ ˙

b

_{˙ ˙}

_b

_{˙ ˙}

_b

_{˙ ˙ ˙}

_b

˙ ˙

b

_˙

˙ ˙ ˙

b

_{˙ ˙}

_b

_{˙ ˙}

_b

_{˙ ˙ ˙}

_b

˙ ˙

b

_˙

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INTERVALS & INVERSIONS

Intervals, the distance between two pitches in a melody line or in a chord, are primary musical building blocks. It is important to understand their construction and their individual sounds. Intervals are easier to understand and hear in the context of actual music, but a review of the principles here will expedite understanding material presented in this book.

To find the intervals between two pitches count the first as one and continue to the second pitch. For example, the interval from D up to F is a third: D (1) - E (2) - F (3). If the interval is inverted, D down to F or F up to D, the interval is a sixth: D (1) - E (2) - F (3) - D (4) - E (5) - F (6), or F (1) - G (2) - A (3) - B (4) - C (5) - D (6).

The presence of accidentals does not change the numeric value of intervals. D

b

to F and D

n

to F are both separated by the interval of a third: D

b

to F is made of four half steps and is a major third; and D

n

to F is made of three half steps and is a minor third.

Intervals will have different qualities depending on the number of half steps. Seconds can be minor, ma-jor or augmented. Thirds are usually either minor or mama-jor. Octaves, fourths and fifths are diminished, perfect or augmented. Sixths can be minor, major, and sometimes augmented. Sevenths are usually mi-nor or major.

All intervals can be inverted as shown below. Inverted intervals added together equal 9:

Unison (1) Octave (8)

Second (2) Seventh (7)

Third (3) Sixth (6)

Fourth (4) Fifth (5)

Interval qualities are inverted as shown below:

Major Minor

Perfect Perfect

Augmented Diminished

An inverted third becomes a sixth and a major becomes a minor, so a major third inverts to a minor sixth. Spelling makes an considerable difference in analyzing intervals. The pair of intervals and their inversions below will sound the same, but are spelled and should be analyzed distinctly. An augmented second has the same number of half steps as a minor third, but the letter names of the pitches decide the numerical interval. Any C to any D is the interval of a second and therefore inverts to a seventh; any C to any E is a third and therefore inverts to a sixth.

&

˙

#

˙

#

˙

b

˙

b

˙

A2 d7 m3 M6

Intervals and spelling will be easier to understand with discussion of scales. Scales are made of intervals, and intervals come from scales.

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MAJOR SCALE CONSTRUCTION

There are two ways of understanding the construction of a major scale. The major scale can be defined as intervals relating to tonic or intervals relating to adjacent pitches.

C major scale shown with intervals relating to tonic pitch:

&

?

˙

M2 M3 P4 P5 M6 M7 P8

C major scale shown with intervals relating to adjacent pitches:

&

?

˙

M2 M2 m2 M2 M2 M2 m2 W W H W W W H

In order to create the same order of intervals starting on F, it is necessary to lower the B

n

to B

b

.

Most scales have one pitch for each letter, so there are only seven pitches in the scale. It is for this rea-son that B

b

is used instead of A

#

in the F major scale regardless of ascending or descending. This avoids having an A

n

and an A

#

in the same scale. Any additional chromatic pitches that might occur it the key of F would follow the principle that altered notes want to continue in the direction in which they have been altered.

&

?

˙

b

˙

b

˙

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In order to create the same scale starting on G,. it is necessary to raise the F

n

to F

#

.

&

?

˙

#

˙

#

˙

MINOR SCALE CONSTRUCTION

Natural or pure minor is found on the sixth degree of a major scale. A natural minor scale is related to a major scale in the sense that they share the same pitches and therefore the same key signature. A

n

minor is the relative minor of C major . A natural minor scale can be parallel to a major key if they share the same tonic. C minor is the parallel minor to C major. Parallel minor can be created by lowering the third, sixth and seventh degrees of the major scale.

C Natural Minor - Parallel Minor to C major A Natural Minor - Relative Minor to C major

&

?

˙

b

˙

b

˙

b

˙

b

˙

b

˙

b

˙

&

?

˙

The natural minor scale does not have a leading tone. In order to create a dominant chord and harmo-nize minor keys, the seventh degree must be raised. This creates the leading tone and the interval of an augmented second between the sixth and seventh degrees. The augmented second has the same number of half steps as a minor third, but will not sound like a minor third in the scales below. The altered lead-ing tone is added in order to create harmony with a dominant chord, and the scale is therefore called

harmonic minor.

C Harmonic Minor: A Harmonic Minor:

&

?

˙

b

˙

b

˙

A2

˙

b

˙

b

˙

A2

&

?

˙

#

˙

A2

˙

#

˙

A2

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It is a natural tendency to raise the sixth and seventh degrees when ascending from the dominant to the tonic and lower them when descending. This principle was addressed concerning chromatic scales: raised pitches want to ascend, lowered pitches want to descend.

A Melodic Minor:

&

?

˙

#

˙

#

˙

#

˙

#

˙

_n

_˙

_n

_˙

˙

_˙

˙

_n

_˙

_n

_˙

˙

_˙

C Melodic Minor:

&

?

˙

b

˙

n

˙

n

˙

b

˙

n

˙

n

˙

_b

_˙

_b

_˙

˙

_b

_˙

˙

_b

_˙

_b

_˙

˙

_b

_˙

CIRCLE of FIFTHS

Review of the circle of fifths with key signatures. There are other possible keys. Continuing around the circle would yield the keys of C

#

major with seven sharps and C

b

major with seven flats. Using the paral-lel keys is advisable whenever possible. Most would prefer D

b

(5

b

s) to C

#

(7

#

s) and B (5

#

s) to C

b

(7

b

s).

C major/A minor

F major/D minor G major/E minor

B major/G minor D major/B minor

G major/E minor

D major/B minor B major/G minor

A major/F minor Emajor/C minor

E major/C minor A major/F minor

0

b

0

#

1 1 2 2 3 3 5 5 4 4 F major/D minor

#

b

6

#

6

b

b b b b b b b # # # # #

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SCALE DEGREE NAMES

Commonly used names for the steps of any scale:

&

?

˙

b

˙

n

˙

Submediant Leading Tone

Mediant

Tonic Supertonic Subdominant Dominant Subtonic

˙

b

˙

n

˙

The names were derived from their relationship to tonic. This is important to understand as it shows the importance of learning pitches as they relate to the home pitch, and not as they relate to adjacent pitches. This principle will have great significance regarding hearing tonal music. A subdominant is not named for being the pitch below the dominant, rather it is named for because it is the pitch a fifth be-low the tonic.

&

?

˙

œ

œ˙œ

œ

˙

Tonic

œ

_˙

_œ˙œ

_b

_˙

œ

_n

_˙

œ

Leading Tone Dominant Subdominant Mediant Submediant Supertonic Subtonic

KEY SIGNATURES & ORDER of ACCIDENTALS

Key signatures and the order of accidentals should be memorized. C major/A minor No

#

s/No

b

s

F major/D minor 1

b

B

b

B

b

major/G minor 2

b

B

b

, E

b

E

b

major/C minor 3

b

B

b

, E

b

, A

b

A

b

major/F minor 4

b

B

b

, E

b

, A

b

, D

b

D

b

major/B

b

minor 5

b

B

b

, E

b

, A

b

, D

b

, G

b

G

b

major/E

b

minor 6

b

B

b

, E

b

, A

b

, D

b

, G

b

, C

b

F

#

major/D

#

minor 6

#

F

#

, C

#

, G

#

, D

#

, A

#

, E

#

B major/G

#

minor 5

#

F

#

, C

#

, G

#

, D

#

, A

#

E major/C

#

minor 4

#

F

#

, C

#

, G

#

, D

#

A major/F

#

minor 3

#

F

#

, C

#

, G

#

D major/B minor 2

#

F

#

, C

#

G major/E minor 1

#

F

#

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COMMON NOTATION ERRORS

The principles and rules of notation are designed to make the music easier to read. Here are a few common errors. Correcting them will make homework assignments, solo transcriptions, arrangements and compositions easier to read.

STEMS

Notes above the middle line of any clef have stems down, below middle line have stems up.

Correct stems: Incorrect stems:

&

?

c

œ

NOTE ALIGNMENT

Check the vertical alignment of notes. If two notes occur at the same rhythmic place, it should be visu-ally reflected on the page. The notes in the second measure below are not aligned verticvisu-ally as they are in the first measure, making it difficult to tell which notes are to be played together.

Correct vertical alignment: Incorrect vertical alignment:

&

?

c

œ

œ œ œ

œ

ACCIDENTALS

Accidentals should precede the notes in the corresponding space or on the line as in the first measure. If they are placed arbitrarily before the note, as in the second measure, it makes reading difficult. The accidental should never follow the note: in a paragraph we may write “B

b

,” but in the staff it should be written “

b

B.”

Alignment of Accidentals:

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Accidentals should follow the logic of the chromatic scale. For raised notes: use sharps, for lowered notes: use flats. Accidentals that indicate modulations should be used when appropriate rather than their enharmonic equivalents.

The first two measures of the example below are drawn from a published transcription of a Charlie Parker improvisation. The second two measures is a preferable version. The change in the first measure from D

n

to D

b

might seem correct since the flat lowers D. However, the C

#

is preferable to the D

b

. The C

#

is a tone that indicates the modulation from the key of F to the key of D minor, is the leading tone to D minor, and is the third of the indicated A7 chord. A D

b

is meaningless in this context. Would it be the diminished fourth of the A7 chord and the lowered tonic of D minor? The A

b

, as a lowered note, wants to move down. It slows down reading when the A

b

is followed by an A

n

: the A

b

indicated downward mo-tion which was contradicted by the A

n

. The A

n

should have had a courtesy accidental in the first two measures. The courtesy accidental is unnecessary with the use of G

#

. A G

n

followed by a G

#

indicates up-ward resolution, and allows anticipation of the A

n

. Using the C

#

and G

#

also avoids having repeated pitches of the same letter name: D

n

to D

b

and A

b

to A

n

.

Ambiguous Accidentals: Preferred Notation:

& b œ œ œ œ œb œ œ œb

Eø7 A7

œ œ

Dm7

œ

œ œ œ œ

#

œ œ œ

#

Eø7 A7

œ œ

Dm 7

BEAMING

For instrumental writing in common time, beam eighth notes in groups of two or four, and beam six-teenth notes in groups of four.

c Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û

or:

Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û

Beam eighth notes in groups of two, and sixteenth notes in groups of four, when writing for instruments in triple meter.

4 3 Û Û Û Û Û Û

Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û

The time signature 6₈ has the same number of eighth notes as 3₄, but the subdivisions should be grouped differently to indicate the pulse difference. 6₈ indicates two beats per measure so eighth notes should be grouped in threes and sixteenth notes in groupsof six.

8

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IMAGINARY MEASURE LINE

Observe an imaginary measure line between beats two and three in common time when subdivided by eighth notes, between every beat when subdivided by sixteenth notes.

The top line notation is preferred to that on the bottom in the following examples. The notation on the bottom line while mathematically correct is more difficult to read because the imaginary measure line principle is not observed, making it difficult to see the separate beats in the measure. Make the notation as easy to read as possible. If musicians have to stop a rehearsal and to count out the notes in the mea-sure, then there was probably a more logical way to notate the rhythms.

Top line preferred to the bottom line:

.

Û

J

Û Û

Û

.

Û

.

Û

Û Û Û Û Û

Û

J

Û Û

J

Û Û

Œ

Û

J

Û

.

Œ

Û

.

Û

.

Top line preferred to the bottom line:

.

Û

Û Û

Û

.

Û

.

Û

Û Û Û Û Û

Û

Û Û

‰

J

Û

.

‰

Û

.

Û

.

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II. RHYTHM in JAZZ PERFORMANCE

The rhythmic language is the main element that distinguishes jazz from the European musical traditions. Jazz music borrowed many things from European musical traditions (major/minor harmonic systems, scales and pitch sets, instruments) but jazz has drawn much of its rhythmic heritage from the African culture.

A single chapter could never begin to cover all the aspects of rhythm in musical performance. This chapter will touch on rhythmic concepts that are unique and prevalent in improvised and composed jazz performances. A basic understanding of rhythmic notation, relationships of note values, ability to accurately read and write simple rhythms is assumed. For more background, there are many other sources for basic rhythmic concepts and notation.

POLYRHYTHMS

No attempt will be made here to thoroughly explain the inner workings of an African drum ensemble, but some generalizations will be helpful for understanding certain aspects of jazz rhythm. In an African drum ensemble there are many different pulses occurring at once, making the music polyrhythmic. One role in the band may be to play a primary pulse on a cowbell, something we could write in Western no-tation as quarter notes. These quarter notes can be subdivided into two eighth notes. Another role is to suggest a second pulse which could be notated as a dotted quarter, which can be divided into three eighth notes. The two pulses will continue throughout the piece. There will probably be other pulses in-troduced including half note triplets, and their subdivisions of quarter note and eighth note triplets.

2.1 Polyrhythms Soloist Pulse #3 Pulse #2 Pulse #1

c

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.

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.

3

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As a piece progresses, individuals may improvise rhythms suggesting combinations of the pulse; for awhile suggesting the quarter note pulse, and other times suggesting the dotted quarter pulse. The

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em-recognized now as being a part of more than just jazz, as they have permeated the American and World pop music.

SWING EIGHTH NOTE

Defining a swing eighth note is to define the indefinable. As with all the material written about jazz, the real meaning is in the playing, listening and the experience. Nowhere is this more true than understand-ing the eighth note feel.

In the European tradition, the pulse can be divided into two or into three. Quarter notes are usually di-vided into two even eighth notes, or three eighth notes as in a triplet. When dividing a quarter note in a swing feel into a subdivision of two, the two notes are rarely of equal value. The first eighth note in a swing feel typically has a longer duration than the second eighth note. Even eighth notes have the ratio 1:1. A dotted eighth note followed by a sixteenth note has a ratio of 3:1 and this is too much of a differ-ence to create a convincing pair of swinging eighth notes. The jazz eighth note ratio is more commonly explained as a ratio of 2:1, as in a triplet figure with the first two eighths tied.

2.2 Different ratios of subdivision: 1:1

œ œ

3:1

.

œ œ

2:1 3

œ œ œ

Some research has been done using a computer system to time the relationship between the first and second notes in the improvisations of artists like Oscar Peterson, Sonny Stitt, John Coltrane, Miles Davis and many others. The results were tabulated and the average ratio was in the neighborhood of 58:42. This ratio can be rounded to 60:40 and then reduced to 3:2. 3:2 can be conventionally notated:

2.3 Subdivision with 3:2 ratio: 3:2 5

œ œ œ œ œ

3:2 5

.

œ œ

This study was fascinating but it offered little help for the aspiring young jazz musician. The 3:2 ratio is difficult to read and even more difficult to teach. The best way to understand the jazz swing feel is to lis-ten to hours of great musicians playing jazz. A close examination reveals many different concepts from one player to the next and even from one player within a single performance. There will be times when the eighths notes are perfectly even, others where they will be more like the dotted rhythms, others may fall in that indefinable area between the 3:2 and 2:1 ratios. What makes the music swing is not just the ra-tio of eighth notes, but the combinara-tion of forward drive, swing eighth notes, well placed accents and ar-ticulations.

The best way to understand the jazz swing feel is to listen to hours

of great musicians playing jazz. What makes the music swing is not

just the ratio of eighth notes, but the combination of forward drive,

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ACCENTS & ARTICULATIONS

Anyone who has practiced European art music has at one time practiced scales, being careful not to ac-cent any notes, making long, smooth legato lines up and down their instruments. Classical music per-formance demands the refined, lyrical, legato line be performed with no accents so musicians must practice in order to perform it correctly. Part of the African music tradition is the use of irregular and sometimes unpredictable accents. The accents are a way of bringing out the polyrhythmic character of the music. The irregular accents should not be mistaken for haphazard. The music may be in march time, while the accents played by the improviser may suggest a meter or combinations of meters that actually extend over the measure line. If a line of eighth notes is played with no accents, the polyrhyth-mic character is lost. I heard a pianist complimenting another pianist saying he could play all the Oscar Peterson lines, but without the accents, and this, to him made him the better player. I think they both missed the point. Heavy irregular accents are part of the tapestry of jazz music. In order to play Mozart, the objective is to play smooth lines without accents. To play jazz convincingly, you must learn to con-trol accents, not randomly, but as a part of suggesting the polyrhythmic nature of jazz.

In the European model of a common time measure, beats one and three are the strong beats with beat one being the stronger of the two. Beats three and four are the weaker beats. From the influence of African rhythmic traditions, in some music, the opposite is true: beats two and four get more of an em-phasis. A traditional jazz band will play four quarter notes in a row and beats two and four will get slightly more of an accent than beats one and three. Quarter notes will usually be played short regard-less of their location in the measure.

2.4 Short quarter notes:

c œ.

œ^

œ.

œ^

‰ œ^

J

œ

J

œ œ^

J

œ^

Watch a jazz musician count off a tune. Usually he will snap his fingers on beats two and four to establish the tempo and then count, “One - (snap) - two - (snap) - one - TWO - three - FOUR.” This emphasizes the back beat rather than the traditional strong downbeats one and three. Many jazz musicians set their metronome to click on two and four to simulate this accent. Try this rhythmic test. Sing the tune Hit the

Road Jack while clapping your hands. You are probably clapping on beats two and four, and not on

beats one and three. “Hit the Road (clap) Jack (clap)...”

The accented upbeats are not limited to the pulse but also effect the subdivisions of the pulse. Eighth notes will get a slight accent on the upbeat rather than the downbeat. Players will achieve this by slurring the upbeat to the downbeat. Horn players will tongue the upbeats and slur to the downbeats. Guitarists may pick the upbeat and hammer the finger or slide to the downbeat. String players must change the bow on an upbeat rather than the downbeat as they may have been accustomed.

2.5 Accented upbeats:

& c

_{œ œ}

>

_{œ œ}

>

œ œ

>

œ œ

> ˙

Ó

Many jazz lines end on an upbeat and these notes should be accented. Remember, that to accent a note it must be louder than the surrounding notes. Often this means playing the surrounding notes softer. It is

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Lines that end on short notes on the upbeat should are usually played short and accented and will often be notated with a “

^

” symbol.

2.6 End on short accent:

c œ œ œ œ

^

Œ

œ œ

do ba do DAHT do ba

œ œ

^

Œ

œ œ œ œ

^

do DAHT do ba do DAHT

Long notes on the upbeat at the end of lines should also be played with an accent. 2.7 End on long accent:

c œ œ œ œ

>

œ

œ œ

do ba do DAH do ba

œ œ

>

œ

œ œ œ œ

>

do DAH do ba do DAH

˙

Ó

Upbeat dotted quarter notes lead to a downbeat and should be accented. 2.8 Accented upbeat:

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.

DAH dot dot

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.

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b>

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dot dot do DAH

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DAHT

The upbeats of a jazz line generally get accented, but the shape of the line is the most important thing to consider when determining accents. The top notes of a line and any changes of direction call for an ac-cent. The resulting accents will often suggest another pulse and help create the polyrhythms inherent in jazz. In the following example (which is closely related to a favorite line of Charlie Parker) the top notes of the line should receive an accent. These accents create a counter-rhythm to the four quarter notes per measure. The resulting rhythm is a series of dotted quarter notes. This kind of accenting is often called “bopping the top” of the lines.

The shape of the line is the most important thing to

consider when determining accents.

2.9 “Bopping the top:”

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3

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b œ

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Many of the tunes used for jazz improvisations are show tunes, and are often written with very simple melodic rhythms. Jazz improvisers will almost never play the melody the way it is written in sheet music. Often, the first “improvements” made by a jazz improviser are to the melodic rhythms. Important notes

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which typically land on the downbeat will be moved ahead to the upbeat. The anticipation pushes the melody forward, and calls attention to the more common upbeat accents. While some notes are played earlier, others are delayed, and others may be hurried along to make up for differences.

Here is a five-note melodic idea as it may appear on sheet music.

2.10a “Square melody”

& c œ œ œ œ ˙

Ó

And here are a number of ways a jazz musician may alter the rhythms to “jazz them up.” 2.10b Delaying the first note, 2.10c Anticipating beats three and one.

anticipating the final note.

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& c œ

.

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2.10d More anticipation. 2.10e Downbeat followed by upbeats.

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& c œ

.

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2.10f 3 down, 2 up. 2.10g Starting with upbeat.

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2.10h Using a repeated note (iteration). 2.10c Delayed by a beat and the rest hurried along.

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2.10j Ending on a downbeat preceded by an accented dotted quarter.

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more prevalent in ensemble work than in improvisation and will vary in intensity depending on the en-semble.

In early baroque music, articulations and phrase markings were not included. The player was expected to know how to phrase and articulate in the style. The same is true for much of the music written for jazz bands. The jazz musicians were expected to see the notes and interpret them in a jazz style. Probably few of the earlier jazz musicians thought a great deal of exactly what things went in to making the music sound like jazz, relying on their ears to imitate and govern their decisions. In a rehearsal recently, a sea-soned professional was reluctant to provide verbal details on how to articulate certain unmarked pas-sages. He then played the passages for the younger players. He expressed surprise at playing quarter notes short and playing all the long notes forte-piano. For him this was just part of how to make it sound like jazz. Historically, this and many other aspects of jazz have been learned and passed on aurally: learning by imitating the master. This underscores another major difference in the European and African cultures. The European tradition of learning involves the written page. The African oral tradition depends on the master/apprentice approach. There are no African drumming etude books in the African drum tradition.

Most contemporary music published for jazz ensembles includes all articulation markings, in part due to the large education market. While this might insure a more accurate performance of the composer’s ideas, there is still no substitute for listening to the style and imitating. One disadvantage to reading charts with all articulations written in is the students never develop the critical skills to make the appro-priate articulations and phrasing decisions themselves. There is no substitute for the aural experience.

There is no substitute for the aural experience.

RHYTHMIC ROLES

For a basketball, baseball or soccer team to be successful, each member must understand their role and its relationship to the rest of the team. This is also true in the African drum ensemble and the jazz rhythm section. What follows is some general guidelines for the roles and responsibilities within the jazz rhythm section. With any jazz performance, depending on the players, the historical period and the time of night, these lines of demarcation may be clear or deliberately obscured. Determining the basic roles will help in understanding the foundation and help to understand the deviations from the norm. The pulse is generated from two parts of the rhythm section: the ride cymbal and the bass. The ride cymbal pattern can be many variations of quarter and eighth note combinations, but fundamentally has to supply the quarter note pulse. Without the solid pulse as a foundation there can be no subdivision of that pulse. The bass player locks in to that quarter note pulse and “walks” a quarter note accompani-ment. The backbeat is emphasized by the drummer’s hi-hat closing on beats two and four. The bass player may slightly emphasize the backbeat by accenting two and four with the hi-hat. Once these roles are established, the subdivisions can be easily felt.

The drummer may add a pair of eighth notes on the back beats creating what is generally considered the jazz “ride” pattern. This may be only a point of departure for many great jazz drummers. The pair of eighth notes may shift and in doing so imply time signatures other than 4₄. Within an eight measure phrase you may hear:

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2.11 Ride cymbal pattern implying multiple mixed meters:

c œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

œ œ œ

œ œ œ œ œ

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

œ

The bass player adds to this by playing subdivisions between his quarter notes. Often these notes are muffled or ghosted. These little spit notes have more importance as rhythm than pitch.

2.12 Bass line with ghosted “spit” notes:

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b ¿ œn

œ

3

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b

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b

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In a rock beat, the bass drum has the role of providing the pulse while the snare has the backbeat. In a swing feel, the pulse is played by the ride cymbal while the hi-hat plays the backbeat. That leaves the snare drum to accent other rhythmic figures. Some possible snare drum combinations include:

2.13 “Charleston” rhythm:

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.

J

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Anticipation of beats one and three:

2.14 Anticipated accompaniment rhythm:

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A combination of “Charleston” rhythm displaced and on the beat: 2.15 Combination accompaniment rhythm:

c ‰

J

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‰

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The guitarist and pianist can reinforce the snare drum rhythms shown in 2.13-2.15. The use of combina-tions of quarter note and dotted quarter rhythms add to the polyrhythmic character. Listen to some of

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Joe Jones on drums, Paul Chambers on bass, and either Red Garland or Wynton Kelly on piano provide excellent listening models. Ex. 2.16 represents possible accompaniment figures which could be played by the guitarist or pianist and maybe also the snare drum using rhythms from ex. 2.13-2.15. It is unlikely that all would decide to play the same figures without prior planning. The structural places in a piece will usually be anticipated with an upbeat of four accent. In the blues, this may occur at the end of four mea-sure phrases as shown below.

2.16 Possible “comping” patterns for Blues:

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There are times when long streams of dotted quarter notes may be superimposed over the common time groove. Listen particularly to the rhythm sections of the John Coltrane Quartet where Elvin Jones on drums and McCoy Tyner on piano play streams of dotted quarter rhythms over the steady common time bass lines. Ex. 2.17 illustrates the dotted quarter rhythm over the last four measure of the blues.

2.17 Last four measures of Blues:

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The Miles Davis Quintet rhythm sections of the early 1960’s with Ron Carter on bass, Tony Williams on drums and Herbie Hancock on piano stretched the boundaries of polyrhythms more than ever before, creating great waves of rhythmic dissonance between the drums and piano and the steady pulse from the bass. This group has recorded some trio and quintet material together in the 1970’s and 1980’s. When listening to them stretch rhythmic boundaries, note how often the eight measure phrase served as a guidepost for resolving rhythmic dissonances.

The bass drum in contemporary jazz is usually used to accent major structural points or strong accents in the music. It is rare in modern playing to hear the bass drum play the “four on the floor” four beats per measure on a swing feel.

The jazz improviser, as the improviser in the African drum ensemble, plays a variety of rhythms over the top of the rhythm section. The basic rhythmic currency for swing improvisation is the swing eighth, but rhythmic variety is created in a number of ways. Accent groupings of two eighth notes correspond to the quarter pulse while accent groupings of three eighth notes refers to the secondary dotted quarter

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pulse. A jazz improviser, having established the eighth note, will use any combination of other subdivi-sions and rhythmic units.

I often ask, when standing in front of a student band, “Who keeps the time in the band.” Almost every-one in the band will point at the drummer. It is everyevery-one’s job to keep the time. A drummer cannot fix the bad time played by one, much less sixteen other musicians. When I was a young novice player, I sat in with an outstanding bass player and drummer. They did not swing nearly as well when I played with them. It was clearly not them, but me. It was a valuable learning experience. A saxophone student in an improvisation class once complained that the rhythm section was not keeping good time and would oc-casionally play wrong chords. The next time through the tune I stopped the rhythm section and allowed the saxophone to play an unaccompanied chorus. He could not keep the time or the changes by him-self. It pointed out something to all of the class: keeping time and the chords was everyone’s responsibil-ity. We practiced a drill for a few rehearsals to gain control of these elements. Every one played one chorus with accompaniment and one without until we all could make it through the form keeping the time and playing the chord changes convincingly. Drummers learned to play the tune and keep the form on their solos.

HARMONIC RHYTHM in JAZZ PERFORMANCE

Harmonic rhythm is the rhythm of the harmonic changes. If chords change every two beats, the har-monic rhythm is half-notes. If chords change every four beats, the harhar-monic rhythm is whole notes. There is a variety of harmonic rhythm in jazz performances and not all of it corresponds to the meter or to where it is written on the page.

If there is one chord per measure in 4₄, we expect the bass to play the root of the chord on beat one, corresponding to where the chord symbol is notated on the page. The pianist or guitarist may anticipate each chord symbol playing the changes on the upbeat of four. This is part of the polyrhythmic energy of a jazz rhythm section. The melody or improvised solo may play with the bass, with the accompani-ment instruaccompani-ments, anticipate the changes even more, or delay the resolution into the next measure. It is important to remember this when analyzing written solos. We confine the written notes of a line to mea-sures for reading ease, but the harmonic implications are not always confined to those meamea-sures. The vertical alignment of notes may often seem senseless, but when viewed in the larger harmonic scheme the soloists may have anticipated or suspended the melodic material of one chord over another chord. This is not unique to jazz; church hymnals and music from all style periods are full of suspensions and anticipations. Jazz suspensions may involve several notes. Do not fall into the trap of labeling everything by its vertical arrangement. Music is heard and conceived in a linear manner and should be studied in the same way.

Music is heard and conceived in a linear manner and

should be studied in the same way.

Below is an example of how different harmonic rhythms may be suggested in a jazz performance. The discrepancy created by the different players making the chord changes occur at different times is a large part of what makes the jazz performance interesting. The rhythmic and melodic pieces sometimes agree and sometimes clash, creating waves of consonance and dissonance.

A chord chart may show the harmonic rhythm as whole notes: Dm7 for four beats, G7 for four beats and C major 7 for eight beats. The bass player may directly follow the chord chart playing the roots of the chords on the downbeats as shown. The pianist or guitarist may anticipate or delay the changes. In the example below, the pianist anticipates the Dm7, delays the G7, and anticipates the C major 7. A soloist has more freedom and may anticipate or delay a great deal when creating his lines. The trumpet line

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line spills into the next measure before coming to rest on the C major, a half note later than the chord chart suggests. Being aware that all music is experienced in linear time will help in understanding the necessity of linear and not strictly vertical analysis of music.

2.18 Harmonic rhythm discrepancies in jazz performance:

Trumpet Piano Bass

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J

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Dm 7

‰ J

Dm7

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Dm 7

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œ œ

b

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G7

‰

J

Û Œ

Û

.

J

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G7 Cm aj7

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b

œ

G7

œ œ œ œ# ˙

Cm aj7

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œ

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˙

Cmaj7

THE LARGER VIEW: FORM as RHYTHMIC STRUCTURE

Many music theory books include a rhythmic subdivision chart showing the whole note subdivided into two halves, the halves into quarters, and so on down to sixteenths or maybe thirty-second notes. It is bet-ter to begin with something larger than the whole note for an overview of rhythmic subdivision. A whole note is a small unit of time in relationship to the entire piece, so a better place to begin may be with the entire piece.

The first line (1.) of the graph below, represents entire piece from beginning to end, Imagine that the entire piece represents one unit of time, which will be five minutes for the sake of this discussion. The second line (2.) shows the piece divided into five choruses or repetitions of an AABA form. Each chorus represents a subdivision of the original time unit. Most of the jazz standard tunes used as vehicles for improvisation fall into one of the following forms:

BLUES: usually 12 measures, sometimes 16 or 24 measures.

AABA: all usually 8 measures in length. The second and last A section may be slightly different than the first. The second A may lead to the B, and the last A provides some closing mate-rial. (Example AABA tune: I Got Rhythm)

ABAB1_{: all usually 8 measures in length. The second B may be slightly different than the first.}

The first B leads back down to the second A, where the second B provides some closing ma-terial. (Example ABAB tune: Just Friends)

(More will be discussed regarding form and its relationship to harmonic analysis in a later chapter.)

By zooming in on one chorus (3.), a subdivision of the original unit, its own subdivision is revealed. Each chorus is further subdivided into four eight measure phrases labeled AABA. Zooming in another power at (4.) reveals the A section further subdivided into eight different measures. This eight measure phrase can be heard as four two measure phrases or two four measure phrases. It is important to be able to hear and respond musically within these larger units of time, not just the smaller units of note values within a measure.

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2.19 Large form rhythmic subdivision:

ENTIRE PIECE

A

8 measure phrase

A

8 measure phrase

B

8 measure phrase

A

8 measure phrase

2 measure phrase 2 measure phrase 4 measure phrase

CHORUS I (AABA form) CHORUS II (AABA form) CHORUS III (AABA form) CHORUS IV (AABA form) CHORUS V (AABA form) 1. 2. 3. 4.

The eight measure fragment (4.) from the previous graph can be divided into one-measure segments. The single measure is represented by the whole note in the graph below. This single measure in 2.20 must be viewed in the larger scope as a subdivision of an eight measure phrase (4.) which is a part of a thirty-two measure AABA form (3.) which may repeat several times to create the entire piece (1. & 2.) With this larger perspective, the discussion of the whole note chart showing the note values and rela-tionships is appropriate.

2.20 Single measure rhythmic subdivision

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3

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3

œ œ œ

3

œ œ œ

3

œ œ œ

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

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Seasoned improvisers and composers sense and feel larger units of time. An improviser learns to feel an entire thirty two measure form. Sometimes a musician will improvise several times through the form, sensing one hundred and twenty eight measures, building his ideas to a logical conclusion. A improviser may learn to feel a thirty-two measure form as one unit of a four-chorus improvisation. Within each form, the eight measure phrase is shaped by all members of the band. In fact, just as a beginning musi-cian can tell the difference between beats one and four, an experienced jazz musimusi-cian senses the differ-ence between the first A and the last A of an AABA form. With this perspective knowing where beat three is in a measure is analogous to knowing where the B section is in an AABA form. The B is the third beat of the form, the form being an augmentation of the measure. This takes some time to master, as any beginning improviser who has lost the form will attest.

To continue this example, say the jazz performance of this piece lasts for five minutes (the Entire Piece). The band plays the melody of the song for the first minute (Chorus I: AABA). The alto sax improvises over the form for a minute (Chorus II), followed by the trumpet (Chorus III), and the piano (Chorus IV). The band plays the melody again at the end (Chorus V). The entire piece being subdivided into five parts makes the jazz performance very much like the five paragraph paper form as shown below:

Jazz Performance Five Paragraph Paper

Statement of the melody: Introduces the form and themes on which the band will improvise.

Introductory paragraph: Tell them what you are going to tell them.

Alto solo: The alto player expresses his version of the melody and harmony.

Paragraph One: Discuss one aspect of the subject. Trumpet solo: The trumpet player expresses his

version of the melody and harmony.

Paragraph Two: Discuss another aspect of the sub-ject.

Piano solo: The piano player expresses his ver-sion of the melody and harmony.

Paragraph Three: Discuss another aspect of the subject.

Restatement of the melody: Reminds the listener of original themes.

Closing paragraph: Tell them what you told them.

PLACEMENT of the NOTES

One deficiency of the standard notation system is its inability to show minute variances in placement of individual notes. A simple line composed of eighth notes can be played in different ways depending on the placement of those notes in relationship to the pulse. Different players will, in varied musical set-tings, play slightly ahead of, right on top of, or slightly behind the actual pulse. These variances in the hands of mature players give life to the performance. In younger players it may be an underdeveloped sense of time, and they actually may be rushing or dragging the pulse.

There are some players who consistently play slightly ahead of the beat which can give the music a for-ward drive. They are not necessarily rushing the beat, but just pushing it ahead by playing “on top” of the beat. There are other players who, no matter how the rhythm section is playing around them seem to play their notes squarely in the middle of the pulse. Others can artfully play just behind the band, creating at once a laid-back feeling and a tension from the pull created by the rhythmic discrepancy be-tween the soloist and the rest of the band. Anyone who has heard music created on computers and quantized to “perfect” rhythmic units knows how inhuman perfection sounds. The push-pull inaccuracies are part of the life-blood of the music. But do not throw your metronomes away quite yet. Mature play-ers gain a great sense of where the pulse is and adapt to musical situations. They can shift from playing ahead to playing behind, always knowing where the actual pulse is. To be able to play around the pulse effectively and convincingly, one has to know where that pulse is. A beginning improviser should prac-tice playing with a metronome and develop a strong sense of pulse before attempting to play around that pulse.

Jazz Theory Resources - Volume 1 & 2

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ...

vi

I.

REVIEW of BASIC THEORY MATERIALS...

1

II.

RHYTHM ...

14

III.

BASIC TONALITY ...

60

IV.

TRIADIC GENERALIZATION...

77

V.

DIATONIC HARMONY...

103

VI.

HARMONIC PROGRESSION...

116

VII.

HARMONIC ANALYSIS ...

147

VIII.

HARMONIC SUBSTITUTIONS & TURNAROUNDS...

167

IX.

HARMONIC SPECIFICITY...

195

X .

COMMON MELODIC OUTLINES...

240

XI.

HARMONY: OVERVIEW of VOICINGS ...

280

XII.

MODES & MODAL FRAMEWORKS ...

319

XIII.

QUARTAL HARMONY...

341

XIV.

OTHER SCALES & COLORS ...

349

XV.

EXTENDED TERTIAN STRUCTURES & TRIADIC SUPERIMPOSITION...

389

XVI.

PENTATONIC APPLICATIONS ...

407

XVII.

COLORING “OUTSIDE” the LINES

& BEYOND...

413

XVIII.

ANALYSIS: the BIG PICTURE...

424

XIX.

EXPANDING HARMONIC VOCABULARY ...

460

XX.

CODA...

474

Appendix I: Reference for Chord/Scale Relationships ...

475

Appendix II: Elaborations of Static Harmony ...

486

Appendix III: Endings...

492

Appendix IV: Composing Tips ...

500

INTRODUCTION

PURPOSE

ORGANIZATION

LANGUAGE & MUSIC

& c Ó

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