An Instrumental Approach to Jazz Singing
ANNE FARNSWORTH
JAZZ VOCAL TECHNIQUES An Instrumental Method
By Anne Farnsworth
JazzMedia Press 2461 Coolidge Ave Los Angeles, Ca 9 0 0 6 4 310.770.3015 www.jazzmediapress.com Copyright 2000
All Rights Reserved
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many thanks to my fellow faculty members at the University of Southern California Jazz Studies Department for their positive support of this project, especially Dr. Thom Mason, founding chair, who was gracious enough to answer my email questions and read pages. My voice teachers down the line - Janice McVeigh in Vocal Arts at USC Thornton School of Music, who not only improved my voice but helped me to improve the voices of my own students. At New England Conservatory, there was Bernard Barbeau on the classical side and Dominique Eade in Jazz Studies (So pretty! So talented! Alas, too nice to hate!) Prior to that, there were the countless ladies I went to in my search for whatever it was a vocalist did, including the leathery former Big Band singer who blew smoke rings in my face as she coached my singing. On piano, oh boy, what a list of luminaries - how come I’m not smarter? In reverse chronological order we have Hal Galper, Bill Cunliffe, John Clayton (‘he teaches piano?’, everyone asks. No, he teaches music), Terry Trotter (a gentleman and a gentle man). In Boston, there was George Garzone, tenor man and visionary, who kicked my butt both at the Conservatory and on the stand. Thank you, George, if it wasn’t for you I might still be pulling shifts at the Cambridge Hyatt. Jerry Bergonzi, another great tenor player (‘after all, nobody’s human’). Jeff Covell, Mike Marra, who I met while wandering the halls of Berklee one late afternoon vowing to find myself a piano teacher, and stayed with for three years. My neighbor and friend, Bruce Katz, who gave me a few pointers not only in playing but in pedagogy, and the vocalists who hired me, especially Sharon Jones, (Brown Sugar to you New Englanders), and Dick Short, two wonderful singers who taught me how you put on a show, honey. In Syracuse, in my other life as a classical pianist, there was Dr. Bishop, a wonderful lady who gave her all to her students. Before that there was Mr. Diameco, my teacher from seventh grade to twelfth, whom I also discovered with my hall wandering technique after we moved to another town. And my very first teacher, Mrs. Fuller, who, after giving me my seven A.M. lesson, would make me breakfast and drive me to school.
I
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I
INTRODUCTION 1-8 What is a Jazz Singer; Gender Issue?; Jazz in the University; Importance of Piano; Rhythm; Swing Feel; Improvisation; Repertoire; Jazz Singing and Singers;
II
INTERVALS, SCALES, & CHORDS 9-23 Intervals; Scales; Enharmonics; Triads; Progressions; Diatonic relationships; Modes; Ear training; Exercises;
III
WHERE ARE WE? 24-33 Form; Sections; Bridgeless Standards; Bossa Nova; Rhythm Changes; Twelve Bar Blues; Four Bar Phrases; Examples;
IV
DID YOU BRING YOUR CHARTS? 34-48 Sitting in; Your Book; Casuals; Fake Books; Transposing; Chord Symbols; Key Signatures; Circle of Fifths; T i m e Signatures; Signs and Terms;
V
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BLUES 49-58 Beginnings; American Folksong; Harmonic Development; Modern Blues Form; Lowered Seventh; Substitution Chords; Jazz Blues Form; Blues Variations; Minor Blues; Rock & Roll;
VI
IMPROVISATION ON THE BLUES 59-77 Common Tones; Solfege; Scat Syllables; Blues Exercises; Modes and the Blues Form; Blue Notes; Blues Scale; Motives; Passing & Approach notes; Building a Solo; II
VII HARMONY IN JAZZ STANDARDS 78-100 I-VI-II-V Progression; Turnarounds; II-V-I’ Progression; Tonal Centers; Parent Scales; Soloing over II-V-I; Analysis: Satin Doll; Lady Is A Tramp; Sub Chords i n Turnarounds; Lady Is A Tramp Bridge; Arpeggios on Lady Is A Tramp; Step Down Progression; Text-Focused Improv; S h o u t Chorus; Exercises; VIII INTROS, TAGS, AND CODAS 101-111 Intros; Rootless Voicings; Counting off a Tune; Tags; Tritone Substitution; Bossa Nova Codas; IX
ADVANCED IMPROV 112-135 Transcriptions; Vocalese; Upper Structure Chord Tones; Bebop Style; 7-3 And 9-5 Resolutions; Approach Notes; Bop Style Motives; Sideslipping; Sequences; Quotes; Using Modes; Analysis: Bossa Nova harmony; Analysis: All The Things Y o u Are;
X
ALTERED CHORDS AND SCALES 136-142 Altered Dominants; Altered Scales; Bebop Scales; Minor II-V-I; Upper Structure Piano Voicings; Altered Bop Motives; Phrasing;
XI
YOU ARE FEELING VERY RELAXED... 143-152 Relaxation Exercises; The Jaw and the Tongue; Breathing; Open Your Mouth And Say Ah; Support; Visualization; Singing Principles; Scatting Exercises;
XII
I NEED A GIG! 153-158 Where The Gigs Are; Who to Call; Equipment; GLOSSARY OF TERMS DISCOGRAPHY INDEX
159-160 161-162 163-164 III
I WHAT IS A JAZZ SINGER?
What makes a singer a Jazz singer? Is it the repertoire she chooses? Does she scat? Is it her swinging beat? A good sense of time? A Jazz singer is distinguished by all of these things. But the best are more accurately defined as Jazz musicians. Jazz musicians play Jazz - whether they do it with a trumpet, a tuba, a kazoo, or their voice. They speak a common musical language, learn the rules of theory and harmony, and, if they’re creative and far-sighted, break those rules to expand the Jazz universe for the rest of us. Is a Jazz musician born or made? You may listen to Sarah or Ella grooving on one of their masterful scat solos and tell yourself, ‘No way could I ever do that’. You may not even be sure what ‘that’ is - you just like the sound or feel of their style of music. Maybe it’s the profound passion and intimate delivery of Billie or Bessie that moves you. You relate to their strong feelings but are not sure how to express them yourself. Jazz musicians are born a n d made. Born in the sense that your cultural surroundings, aptitudes, and an attraction to music are characteristics that you land on the planet with. But that is only the beginning. The journey from there to becoming a master musician is made by you. If, when people ask you why you picked music as your vocation, you reply, ‘I didn’t pick music. Music picked me’, you are a musician. Because you will do whatever it takes to reach 1.
your goals - artistic self-expression and the joy of sharing yourself and your gifts with other musicians and the world.
GENDER ISSUE
Whether in the academic arena or out in the trenches of the performing world, we are faced with the unfortunate fact that singers are often not treated with the same level of respect that instrumentalists accord each other. And since, at least so far, the majority of singers are female and the majority of instrumentalists are male, this could be construed as a gender issue. Once again, the patriarchy keeping women down? Not exactly. Look at it this way: say a boy, maybe twelve or thirteen, picks up an instrument. He then proceeds to spend the bulk of his teen years sitting in his bedroom learning how to play. Maybe in high school he starts a band with some other guys who have been sweating it out on their instruments as well. They realize that to compete in the marketplace, that is to nab the senior prom gig, they need a singer. There’s a pretty girl who likes to sing and can carry a tune so they take her on. She memorizes the lyrics and the melody to a few of her favorite songs, cops her favorite singer’s licks, and she’s on her way. They start to rehearse and it’s not long before the guys realize that they are conversing in a musical language of which she is completely ignorant. So they talk around her, planning arrangements, choosing keys, and she become marginalized. Multiply that scenario by the thousands and you have the formative experience that ingrains in the player’s mind a prejudice, a prejudgment, that singers are not ‘real’ musicians. You guy singers out there may be given the benefit of the doubt because, well, let’s just call it a guy thing. But that benefit will only buy you about five minutes on the bandstand if you show yourself to be just another pretty voice. Today, more and more girls are stepping out of the traditionally female circle of piano, flute, or violin, picking up saxophones, trumpets, and guitars. They’re playing in high school jazz bands and heading off to college to continue their musical studies. These young women are groundbreakers, tiny islands of femininity in a deep sea of maleness and when you ladies out there look unprofessional or just not serious about what you are doing, it makes it harder for them. So it is a gender issue to some extent, but one with an easily remedied solution. How? By learning to read music and developing an understanding of
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basic theory and harmony. This allows you to step onto the bandstand as an equal partner, possessed of a musical training on a par with your colleagues.
JAZZ IN THE UNIVERSITY The average vocalist enrolling in a university level Jazz Studies program enters woefully unprepared in comparison to his/her fellow students majoring in piano, saxophone, or guitar. One exception may be drummers, who, like singers, can reach a certain level of skill and participate in a group playing situation without having to read music. Entering university as a music student without a basic working knowledge of reading and writing music is like going to college to study English literature and not being able to read and write English. How can you understand what the instructor is talking about? What they write on the blackboard? How can you do your homework? Jazz in the academic world is a relative newcomer. Most Jazz Studies Departments exist under the umbrella of a classically oriented music school or department. This ancillary status means that the Jazz major is required to study the core Classical curriculum - history, harmony, oral skills, etc., in addition to her Jazz studies. You’ll find yourself sitting next to whiz kids who have been playing their instruments and reading music for most of their lives, and the classes will move at their speed, not yours. It’s in your best interest to be prepared before you plunk down that hefty tuition payment.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PIANO
Even if you have no plans to study Jazz in an academic setting, you’ll still need to learn your craft. A lot of people studied piano when they were young. If you were one of the ‘fortunate’ kids dragged kicking and screaming to piano lessons while your friends played ball, call your parents right now and thank them! You’ve got basic music reading skills. If you’ve never taken a piano lesson in your life, start now. Sign up for private lessons or take a beginning class at your local community college or music store. Recycle grandma’s old upright, rent a spinet, or buy a used electronic keyboard. Do whatever it takes to get your hands on some keys and start practicing! 3.
You don’t need to be a great pianist. After all, your practice time is limited and your main interest is singing. You just need to be able to read melody lines in order to learn new tunes, maybe play some basic chords to accompany yourself. If your piano skills are already in place, so much the better. In a short while you could find yourself doing solo work, singing and accompanying yourself in a small club or restaurant. It’s a great way to gain experience in front of an audience while you work out arrangements and develop your own personal style. Think of it as paid practice. Most serious musicians, whether in Jazz, Classical, or Pop, play piano in addition to their primary instrument. Sarah Vaughn and Aretha Franklin played so well that they often sat down at the piano in the course of a concert to accompany themselves. Composers and arrangers write at the piano, music students use it for their harmony and ear training studies, singers use it to vocalize and learn new material. The piano is the musician’s desk; it’s where we do our work. Having the ability to practice, learn new songs or write your own charts gives you control over your musical growth. You’ll also save a lot of money by not having to hire rehearsal pianists or arrangers. We’re going to discuss theory in this book. That’s how the instrumentalists learn improv and that’s how you can, too. Don’t be afraid - if you can add, you can figure it out. But it’s one thing to understand it on the page; it’s another to be able to hear it. That’s where the piano comes in. The keyboard can guide you while you develop your ear.
RHYTHM There are two components that distinguish Jazz from other styles of music rhythm and improvisation. Jazz rhythms have the element of swing, a syncopated pulse that puts accents on the second and fourth beats of the bar, known as upbeats, rather than on the more traditional first, the d o w n b e a t1, and third beats. This accent on ‘two and four’ shifts the rhythmic base, creating a sense of forward momentum that energizes the music.
4. 1
The terms downbeat and upbeat refer to the conductor's arm movement as he describes a 2/4, 3/4 or 4/4 rhythm. The conductor swings the baton downward on beat one and back up on beat two.
Clap the accented beats while you sing the following example. How does the 'feel' of the rhythm change?
Ex. 1.1 Sing as you clap on beats one and three
Row
row
row your
boat
Gently
down the stream _________
Now clap on t w o and four
Row
row
row your
boat
Gently
down the stream____________
Don’t feel a difference? Try it at a faster tempo. SWING FEEL Put identical pieces of music in front of a jazz player and a classical player and they will play the notes of the melody with different rhythms. The classical musician will play the rhythms as written, a precise division of the beat, while the Jazz player will alter the quarter and eighth notes in a triplet/rest fashion. This rhythmic alteration is what we call swing feel, also known as jazz eighths. See next example. 5.
Ex. 1.2 Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
'Straight Eighths' - sung as written
'Jazz Eighths' Hint: Say the word "choc-o-late" slowly and evenly three times in a row. This is eighth note triplet rhythm. Now clap on the first and third syllables of "choc-o-late" in the pattern and you'll have this rhythmic figure.
REPERTOIRE The repertoire of material played by most Jazz musicians traditionally has come from outside of the jazz world. Broadway show tunes, Tin Pan Alley, even pop and rock tunes have been appropriated to become what are called J a z z standards. But once in the hands of a Jazz musician they share one commonality. They swing.
IMPROVISATION
Improvisation is the other key element that defines Jazz. In the early 20th century, when Jazz was born, no other style of music incorporated improv as an integral part of performance. In centuries past, European classical musicians
6.
learned to improvise and were expected to use that skill in their performances. Remember the famous 'cutting contest' between the young Mozart and the older Salieri in the movie "Amadeus"? Over time, that ability declined in performance in deference to the composer’s vision. Musician-composers like Bach and Mozart wrote out their improvisations under the rubric of Theme and Variations. The implicit suggestion was that the performer play the composer’s ‘solo’, and refrain from making any additions of their own. This ‘play it as written’ mentality continued into the nineteenth century when there was strong public opinion against ‘flashy’ soloists who veered off on their own flights of fancy. Thank goodness we have the outlet of Jazz with which to express ourselves. A Jazz musician is an instantaneous composer, writing on the spot and expressing the mood of the moment.
JAZZ SINGING AND SINGERS When Jazz was in its infancy, the distinct sounds created by horn players was due, in part, to the musicians’ attempts to replicate the phrasing and tones of the human voice, specifically the styles and sounds the early African Americans brought from their native lands. Blues intonations, field hollers, the church-centered testifying and shout choruses, all were incorporated into what we now identify as a jazz sound. As singers began to appear in the late ‘20s and 30s, they turned the concept of singing around by replicating the sounds of the jazz horns. Thus was born a more ‘instrumental’ style of singing. Even if they never used scat syllables, they enhanced the melody, embellishing it with new notes, throwing others away. The rhythm of the melodic line was also an area of experimentation, delaying the start of a line and catching up later. This is called singing behind the beat, a technique that Billie Holiday developed to such an extent that every singer who follows her is in her debt when they play with the rhythm in their singing. This melodic and rhythmic rephrasing of the original melody of a vocal song is called text-focused improvisation. Nat King Cole was a master of this subtle type of improvisation, as are more contemporary singers like Dianne Reeves and Diana Krall. Their smooth, swinging delivery adds excitement to the most mundane melodies and the creativity in their execution ensures that we never hear them sing the same way twice. The storytelling, conversational aspects of the Blues add another dimension to Jazz singing, creating an intimate connection with the audience. 7.
This connection comes out in ad-libbed asides such as ‘hear me tellin’ ya’, interjections that add a sharp rhythmic excitement akin to a drummer’s rim shot. Joe Williams spiked his fluid, sophisticated delivery with many such shouts and cries, and the audience responded in kind to this heightened emotionalism. Scat singing, creating a melodic line spontaneously with syllables and sounds, is more closely linked to the instrumental solo. This is called abstract improvisation2, the most challenging of vocal styles. Just as withinstrumentalists, when it’s good, it’s magic, but when it’s bad, well, better not to hear it at all! Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan are the undisputed leaders of this type of improv, forging a style that is the gold standard of scat. Betty Carter, with her driving, hard bop approach, transformed every piece of music that she cast her talents on, stretching standard intonation and opening our ears to new possibilities. Tania Maria melds her sharp, percussive piano playing with an equally percussive scatting style. Among the men, Al Jarreau’s early albums show him to be one of the modern masters of abstract improv, along with Bobby McFerrin with his unique gift of instrumental mimicry. Mark Murphy’s muscular approach is aggressively masculine yet at the same time supremely sensitive. The compendium of great Jazz singers is too long to list here, spanning as it does the breadth of the twentieth century. The important thing is for you to get hold of their albums or CDs and wear them out! If you’re not already familiar with these singers, ask for referrals from Jazz-loving friends or musicians. Use the discography in the appendix of this book as a guide. Remember, Jazz is an aurally transmitted art form. What you see on the page isn’t what comes out of the singer’s mouth and you won’t be able to speak this special language with authority without hearing the accent of the natives. A conscientious and wide-ranging study of established masters is probably the most important element of the young jazz musician’s education. You’ll get the theory, you’ll learn the tunes, and you’ll conquer your stage fright. But first, you need to get the sounds in your ears.
8. 2
The terms TEXT-FOCUSED IMPROV and ABSTRACT IMPROV were coined by Dr. Thom Mason of the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music. Of late, he has dropped abstract improv, replacing it with THROUGH-COMPOSED, a label conceived by his colleague at USC, Professor Shelton Berg.
II INTERVALS, SCALES, & CHORDS
Let’s do a quick overview of intervals, the distance between two pitches. If this is all new to you, get a basic theory book and start studying. Ask your private instructor or a musician friend to sit down with you at a piano and answer any questions you might have. The concepts are not difficult but they are easier to visualize on the keyboard. The unit of space from one key on the piano to the very next one, whether a black key or a white one, is called a half step a n d the interval is a minor second. Two adjacent keys comprise a whole step, a major second. The amount of half and/or whole steps between two pitches determines the size of the interval.
9.
Some of the intervals found within the C octave:
C to C C to D
Minor Second Major Second
1 half step 2 half steps
C to E C to E C to F C to F C to G C to G C to A
Minor Third 3 half steps Major Third 4 half steps Perfect Fourth 5 half steps Augmented Fourth 6 half steps Perfect Fifth 7 half steps Augmented Fifth 8 half steps Major Sixth 9 half steps
C to B C to B C to C
Minor Sixth Major Seventh Perfect Octave
10 half steps 11 half steps 12 half steps
Intervals smaller than an octave are called simple intervals. Intervals larger than an octave are compound intervals . For example, the interval between C and its adjacent D is a major 2nd, but between C and D above the octave C is a 9th. You can make a rough estimation of the size of an interval by counting the keys between the two notes. From C to E, for example, a major third, you count C, D, E, three notes. But B to D is a minor third (B-C -D); therefore it is important to be aware of the amount of half steps in an interval. A good rule of thumb is that major and perfect intervals are those found in the major scale and minor intervals are the minor scale. This rule does not apply to diminished and augmented intervals. But it is easy to think of a ‘diminished’ interval as being shortened by a half step. Conversely, the ‘augmentation’ of an interval involves adding one half step.
10.
Ex. 2.1 SIMPLE INTERVALS
m2
M2
m3
M3
P4
aug.4
dim.5
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
COMPOUND INTERVALS
m9
M9
m10
M10
P11
aug.11
m13
M13
SCALES
The intervals above refer to pitches that are sounded together. Intervallic relationships between two consecutive pitches work on the same principle. Scales are pitches arranged in patterns of whole and half steps in an ascending or descending order. Starting with the tonic , also known as the root, seven pitches are played and the tonic is repeated one octave away. These pitches, called degrees of the scale, are numbered 1 (root) through 8 (the root one octave above). The fourth degree of a scale is known as the sub-dominant and the fifth is the key’s dominant.
11.
Major and minor scales have fixed patterns of whole and half steps. Ex. 2.2 C Major Scale
W
W
H
W
W
W
H
C Natural Minor Scale
W
H
W
W
H
W
W
Note that the patterns of whole and half steps are different in the two scales. This difference is what gives each scale its special s o u n d . MAJOR SCALES - WWHWWWH MINOR SCALES - WHWWHWW
Play the examples on the piano. See if you can find Major and minor scales in other keys, u s i n g the same formula. If the pattern is played correctly, they should sound the same - just higher or lower depending on your starting pitch.
12.
A scale composed of half steps only is called a chromatic scale.
Ex. 2.3
C Chromatic
Scale
Scales made completely of whole steps are called whole tone scales.
Ex. 2.4
Whole Tone Scale
Other scales that Jazz musicians use are alterations of the Major and minor scales. We’ll look at some altered scales in Chapter X.
ENHARMONICS
Some of these intervals have two designations, because pitches can have two different names. These are called enharmonics - a term meaning same pitch, different name. For example, E flat and D sharp are the same note, as is F sharp and G flat. C to C sharp is a minor 2nd as is C to D flat. An augmented 4th (C F sharp, e.g.) sounds the same interval as a diminished 5th (C - G flat). Minor and diminished intervals are also known as flat , as in a flat(ted) 7th.
13.
Which enharmonic we use depends on the key signature - flats with flats and sharps with sharps, although, in common practice, jazz charts allow for more flexibility in this area.
TRIADS A chord’s quality refers to it’s tonality - whether it is major or minor and what, if any, extra pitches are added to the basic triad. A triad is a three note chord, containing the root, 3rd, and 5th. The root is the most important pitch and the one the chord is named for. Next in importance is the third, for it is the pitch that determines whether the chord is major or minor. So, when we talk about a triad being made up of the root, 3rd, and 5th degrees of a scale, can you see what those intervals are? Jazz chords nearly always add the 7th, as well as upper structure pitches (compound intervals) such as the 9th, 11th, and 13th. These pitches can also be flatted or sharped, further altering the chord’s quality. The pitches that make up a chord are called c h o r d t o n e s . When they are used in an improvised line, they can also be called consonant tones. The player or composer’s choice of pitches and where they place them in relation to each other is how they ‘voice’ the chord, hence a chord played in a certain way is called a ‘ v o i c i n g ’. The term derives from early classical compositions written for four to six voices. Each melodic line moved independently in a vertical direction, the voices sounding simultaneously in a pleasing manner. If you took a horizontal sweep of all the voices in one spot, the notes would constitute a chord. That assemblage of pitches is the chord’s particular voicing. You can also think of these chords as a series of major or minor thirds stacked on top of each other. A major triad is a minor third sitting on a major third; a minor triad is a minor third below a major third. Adding the 7th to the chord gives you a ‘third’ third above the triad, major or minor depending on whether the 7th is major or minor. A diminished chord is minor thirds stacked on top of each other.
Ex. 2.5 Major Triad
14.
Major 7th
Dom. 7th
Minor Triad
Minor 7th
Dim. Triad
Dim. 7 t h
PROGRESSIONS Jazz musicians often work with chord charts. Instead of the traditionally arranged piece of sheet music with a fully realized piano accompaniment, a chord chart contains only chord symbols laid out on a graph representing the measures, with or without the melody. The musician learns what kinds of chords these symbols represent, as well as hip voicings to play. The chords in a jazz chart are referred to as the changes, as in ‘the chord changes to this and then it changes to that’. A series of changes is known as a chord progression. Let’s look at a basic progression using the tonic (root), sub-dominant (4th degree), and dominant (5th degree). These changes are the foundation of all western music. Everything else is just an elaboration of this basic progression.
Play the c h ords on the piano. Memorize the sound of the root m o v e m e n t . Ex. 2.6
C:
N.B.
I
IV
V
I
We identify the intervals of a chord with Arabic n u m b e r s . When we want to number the c h ords in a progression, we use the same intervals but with Roman n u m e r a l s .
So the numbers work two ways: 1. Vertically (individual chord tones - Arabic numbers) 2. Horizontally (progression - Roman numerals). Chords in root position , which are voiced with the root at the bottom, can be awkward to execute and make the progression sound disjointed, not flowing. That is the reason we play inversions , changing the placement of the basic pitches.
15.
Here is the same progression in inversions. Ex. 2.7
C:
I
IV
V
I
Play it and compare the sound w i t h Ex. 2.6.
DIATONIC RELATIONSHIPS If you take a scale and build chords on top of each pitch without adding any sharps or flats (accidentals) you are working within the key, or diatonically. Each chord will have a specific quality that remains the same no matter what key you are in. See Ex. 2.8.
Ex. 2.8
I M7
N.B.
ii m7
iii m7
IV M7
V dom.7
vi m7
vii m7b5
Minor chords are designated with an ‘i’ and a lower case v, instead of I and V Here is a description of each c h o r d : NAME Major 7th Minor 7th Dominant 7th Minor 7 5
DESCRIPTION - Major triad with a major 7th (I, IV) - Minor triad with a minor 7th (II, III, VI) -Major triad with a minor 7th (V) -Minor triad with a lowered 5th & 7th (VII)3
16. 3
Also known as a half diminished chord.
Minor keys have another harmonic progression in accordance with the scale’s different formula of half and whole steps. When working with minor harmony, the seventh degree of the scale is raised, creating what is known as the Harmonic Minor Scale . This raised seventh is the third pitch of the five chord, making the chord a V7, rather than a v7 (minor 7).
Here’s a example in C Harmonic Minor (E , A , B is the regular key s i g n a t u r e4 ) Ex. 2.9
i m +7
ii m7-5
+III Aug7
iv m7
V dom7
VI Maj7
vii dim.7
T o n i c is the most important chord in a progression. It is the ‘home’ chord
and sounding it gives the progression a sense of completion. Dominant is the second most important, for it leads to tonic and subdominant leads us to the dominant. All of the other chords in a progression are stepping stones to or from tonic to dominant to tonic. In most styles of music, except for classical, any major triad with a minor seventh is referred to as a dominant seven because it only occurs naturally, or diatonically, on the fifth degree of the scale. These are also known as V7 chords (pronounced ‘five-seven chords’) for the same reason. They might not be the actual dominant of the key but are called dominant sevens nonetheless. Is your brain overheating? Hang on, we’re almost through.
MODES
You’ll need to be familiar with major and minor scales and their key signatures in order to use m o d e s , special kinds of scales. Often called church 17. 4
You can opt to use the flat or raised seventh in your soloing, but when writing progressions you'll want to use the raised seventh (third of the V) in your V7 chords.
modes, they were developed in the middle ages for chantsinging in the Catholic church. You can think of modes as alterations of the major and minor scales. They are used in jazz improvisation because they make a good match over different chords without the excessive use of accidentals. Using the keyboard again as a guide, think of a scale played only on white keys from D - D. That is the Dorian mode and it works perfectly over a Dm7 chord which is also only white notes. The Mixolydian mode (G - G, e.g.) is comparable to a major scale with a lowered seventh, just like a Dominant 7th chord which is a major triad with a lowered seventh. This is far easier than learning each mode’s distinct pattern of whole and half steps. See Example 2.10.
Ex. 2.10
You’ll find the seven modes and their names on page 23. My advice is to become acquainted with the modes and their names and then set them aside for now. There are easier ways to think modally and we’ll talk about that in Chapter V.
18.
EAR TRAINING
Part of a musician’s education is ear training. Although important for any style of music, it is critical for a Jazz musician to be able to identify intervals and chord qualities by ear since we do most of our playing ‘off the page’. ‘Playing by ear’ has a pejorative connotation to non-musicians, implying as it does that no real work is involved, the musician was just lucky enough to be born with the ability to play anything that they hear. Nothing could be farther from the truth, for ear training can be as much if not more difficult than musicreading skills and technical mastery of an instrument. But this in an area where you, as a singer, can shine. As a matter of fact, it’s an area where you n e e d to shine, for you don’t have the security of being able to look at your instrument and pick out by sight the pitches that you have learned to use over a particular chord. If you’re serious enough about singing to have purchased this book, you probably already possess the necessary tools a pleasing voice with good intonation and the ability to replicate pitches that you hear. Non-singing musicians study ear training diligently but their voices, unlike yours, may not be as reliable, may not respond as readily to what the musician asks it to do. Sit down at your piano and learn the intervals by playing and singing them until you have each one’s particular sound memorized. Many students use a ‘cheat sheet’ of well-known songs to help them get started. For example, the first two notes of ‘Here Comes The Bride’ constitute a perfect fourth. The signature tones of the NBC callsign are a major sixth going down a major third. You can have fun with this, finding little melodic bits of songs that you recognize as you study intervals. It won’t be long before the interval sounds like what it is, and not just the first two notes of Love Story (minor sixth). Make yourself a tape with a series of intervals and listen to it away from the piano, in your car, at the beach, wherever you can. Intervals are the basic building blocks of chords and progressions and you need to make them your best friends.
Complete the following exercises. Check your work on the piano. 19.
A.
20.
Build diatonic seventh chords over these scales. Label them with Roman numerals below and chord names above. Remember to use the accidentals found in the key.
B.
Build chords based on the Harmonic Minor scale.
NB: The raised seventh allows for a Dominant fifth chord r ather than a minor fifth c h o r d .
21.
C.
22.
Fill in the seventh chords in each progression, using the Roman numerals as a guide. Write the names of the c h o r d s (C Maj7, F7, etc.) under each one. When you have finished, play them on the piano to hear how t hey sound.
THE SEVEN MODES 1. Ionian - Identical to the major scale
2. Dorian - Natural minor with a raised 6th ( 3, 7)
3. Phrygian - Natural minor plus flatted 2nd ( 2, 6, 7)
4. Lydian - Major scale with raised 4th ( 4)
5. Mixolydian - Major scale with a flatted 7th ( 7)
6. Aeolian - Identical to the natural minor scale ( 3, 6, 7)
7. Locrian - An altered minor scale ( 2, 3, 5, 6, 7)
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III WHERE ARE WE?
Question: Answer:
How do you know when a singer is knocking at your door? Because she can’t find her key and she doesn’t know when to come in.
Ouch. That old musicians’ joke hurts - mainly because it is so often true. An improvised solo is created out of the scales and chord tones available within the harmonic framework of a song. This framework is known as the song’s form. Form is an integral part of the language of Jazz that you must learn before you join in the musical dialogue. There is an exception, called Free Jazz, but that style of playing is only done well by master musicians who have learned the rules thoroughly enough to toss them away and paint their musical pictures outside of the lines. We’ll look at improvisation in Chapter VI. First, let’s talk about form.
FORM
The length of the improvised solo can be short or long but it is governed 24.
by the form of the piece, that is the progression of chords that the composer has chosen to make up his composition. One time through a song from beginning to end (excluding any intros and/or codas which are played just once) is called a chorus. The first chorus is played with the lead instrument(s) or the vocalist stating the melody, with or without the lyrics. This is called the head. Singing or playing the melody as written is called stating the head. Subsequent c h o r u s e s minus the main melody are then repeated while the soloists take turns playing their improvisations. Then we have a final chorus, often referred to as the out chorus , where the melody is restated. Usually a coda (special ending) is added to the out chorus and the tune is finished. Think of the head or main melody choruses as bookends enclosing the solos of the participating players. You do not start or end your solo at any spot that you choose! There are few things more jarring than a perky (and clueless) vocalist jumping in and abruptly cutting short an instrumentalist just as he or she is building up a head of steam. Inadvertent as it may be, it’s as rude as interrupting someone in the middle of a sentence. Unless something different is planned, either with a written or orally agreed upon arrangement, solos begin at the ‘ t o p’, or beginning of the chorus. Their ending can be either at the bottom of the chorus or, as is common practice when the song features a vocalist, just before t h e bridge. This is a standard protocol that allows the next soloist to prepare for his or her entrance or for the head to be replayed and the tune ended.
SECTIONS Okay, where’s this bridge and how much is the toll? Most Jazz standards are written in a format called AABA or ‘song form’. This is a 32 bar (measure) chorus broken up into four eight-bar sections. Duke Ellington’s Satin Doll and Take the A Train are two classic examples. The first group of eight bars (A) contains a melody and progression identical to the second one. The lyrics are different but because of the melodic and harmonic repetition, this second section is also designated as A, often referred to as the ‘second A ’. The third section of eight bars is different both melodically and harmonically, hence the label B, or B section . This section is also referred to as the release , or less commonly, the refrain or chorus. Why chorus? Isn’t that the whole piece one time through? It is now, but when many of these tunes were written in the ‘20’s and ‘30’s, especially 25.
Broadway show tunes, there was another section that preceded the chorus. Over the years this section, the original verse of the song, was dropped and over time, forgotten. Now what was once the chorus of the longer song is considered the entire piece. Why these verses are not more popular today is a mystery, for many of them have beautiful melodies and poignant, well-crafted lyrics. One reason could be the fact that verses were often played tempo rubato , that is, at no set tempo, or just more slowly than the chorus, and didn’t set the right mood when a bandleader wanted something ‘lively’ to wake up the crowd. Also, in the case of Broadway tunes, the lyrics of the opening verses tend to be very specific to the plot of the show while the chorus relates a story or mood that is more general in nature. It’s not hard to dig up these lost verses in older anthologies or single-song sheet music and well worth the trouble. Including one or two of these fully restored songs into an evening’s performance adds a refreshing diversity to your program, and following an unfamiliar verse with a well-known chorus never fails to delight the audience.
BRIDGELESS STANDARDS
Some compositions fit the definition of a bridgeless standard in that they have, you guessed it, no bridge. Their form can be defined as being AA or AB, for example and they are often composed of two sixteen bar halves. Some wellknown bridgeless standards are My Romance, Just Friends, The Days of Wine and Roses, and Autumn Leaves.
BOSSA NOVA
Bossa Nova is a Brazilian style of music that became popular in the United States in the 1960’s. Frank Sinatra recorded many Bossa Nova songs in concert with one of the style’s main composers, Antonio Carlos Jobim. Sometime later, the saxophonist Stan Getz recorded an album, Getz a Go Go, with a Brazilian singer named Astrid Gilberto; this album cemented Bossa Nova’s popularity with the Jazz audience and Bossa Nova was immediately enfolded into the repertoire. 26.
Bossa Nova songs generally follow the standard AABA format, but often with harmonic distinctions such as chromatic and step-wise modulation (more about that later). The main characteristic of Bossa Nova is the rhythm, specifically the bassline. The term Bossa Nova means ‘new bass’ in Portuguese and it was truly a brand new thing to American ears. In Chapter I, we talked about jazz eighths, the swing feel that distinguishes Jazz from other styles of music. Bossa Nova is one of the few subgenres of Jazz, Jazz-Rock Fusion being another, that incorporate straight eighth r h y t h m s5 . You can count out the triplet feel of a swinging eighth note beat like this: 1 (e) a, 2 (e) a, 3 (e) a, 4 (e) a (“one (ee) ah, two (ee) ah” etc)6 . The basic quarter note in straight eighths is divided into four segments, sixteenth notes counted like this:
1 e & a - 2 e & a - 3 e & a - 4 e & a.
(“one ee and ah...”)
The Bossa Nova bassline centers on beats one and three, but the second ‘hit’ is anticipated, that is played on the second half of beat two, with another hit on beat four. The pitches played are the root and fifth.
Ex. 3.1 C Maj7
You are probably familiar with many Bossa Nova songs, such as The Girl From Ipanema, Meditation, and How Insensitive. Unfortunately, these wonderful songs have gotten a bad rap from overuse by lounge performers and their smooth style seems to have ingratiated themselves with the programmers of elevator music. But there are many more less overdone Bossas, Trieste, Gentle Rain, No More Blues, to name a few. Pick
27. 5
Dixieland Jazz, the first jazz style, also uses a straight eight as did some uptempo big band arrangements, such as ‘Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy’, by the Andrews Sisters.
6
Remember, the 2nd part of a triplet in jazz eighth feel is felt, not articulated.
up the Stan Getz album or one of the many recorded by Jobim and you will fall in love with the style.
RHYTHM CHANGES
Rhythm Changes refers to a group of Jazz compositions that use the
changes (chords) originally found in the old standard, I’ve Got R h y t h m. Some pieces written on rhythm changes are Oleo, a Sonny Rollins composition, and Charlie Parker’s Anthropology. The Flintstones Theme Song is also loosely based on rhythm changes. The form is AABA, but sometimes there is no melody written for the B section (O l e o is an example). That means that when playing the head of a rhythm changes song, the soloist improvises on B and goes back to the melody for the last A section. Rhythm changes tunes are popular sit-in selections for the same reason as Twelve Bar Blues; the form or progression is the same, the only variable being the key. Someone may call ‘rhythm changes in B flat’, for example, and start playing any number of heads.
TWELVE BAR BLUES
The prevailing Blues form used by Jazz musicians is the Twelve Bar Blues. Just as the name implies, a chorus is twelve bars long, significantly shorter than the AABA form. There are eight bar and sixteen bar Blues formats as well, though less common in the Jazz repertoire. A Blues piece also has a distinguishing harmonic progression that is more structured than in the AABA form. We’ll discuss the specifics of Blues harmony in Chapters V and VI. When considering the poetic form of the lyric, Twelve Bar Blues can be described as AAB. The first line, extending over four bars, is repeated in the second four bar section. The final four bars have a different line which rhymes with the first two lines. Unlike the AABA Form, which usually contains only one set of lyrics, a Blues song can have a number of verses exploring a certain situation or state of mind. Song Form, which sprang from Tin Pan Alley in the early part of the twentieth century, is a relative youngster when compared to its cousin, the Blues. Because of this long history, most Blues songs are associated with a certain singer or group, the original composer having long faded into the misty realms of the past. 28.
This makes the Blues a more fluid form compositionally speaking, with singers playing with and adding to the lyrics, passing these nuances down to t h e next generation. So, the bulk of the Jazz vocal repertoire draws from these forms: AABA, the Blues, and Rhythm Changes. But there are exceptions. S u m m e r t i m e , a popular standard from George Gershwin’s opera, Porgy and Bess, has a discrete form that is not quite AABA and not quite Twelve Bar Blues, though it bears similarities to both. The harmonic format of Here’s That Rainy Day, written by Jim Van Heusen, is ABAC. Johnny Mercer’s Autumn Leaves is AABC.
FOUR BAR PHRASES
All of these examples share a four bar foundation in their composition. Just as in Western classical music, the four bar grouping is a basic phrasing unit, a rhythmic and harmonic building block of the form. As your saxophone player heads into his thirteenth chorus you may find yourself beaming beatifically while your foot is tapping like a jackhammer and your brain is frying as you frantically count bars. That’s okay, for with practice you will soon be able to ‘feel’ four and eight bar phrases, even whole choruses. This author once played behind a singer who actually dozed off during an instrumental solo, only to have his subconscious timekeeper jerk him awake at the top of the tune! One last joke: Just before they were to begin their nightly gig, the pianist says to the vocalist: "OK, this is how we're going to do the first tune. We play the first 8 bars as usual, but add a beat on the last measure of the1st ending. On the repeat, go back to 4/4, but modulate up a minor 2nd. Skip the last bar of the second ending and go straight to the bridge in 3/4 and modulate up a minor 3rd. Modulate back down a major 2nd on the second bar and I'll take a solo. On the 5th bar of the bridge you come back with the lyrics, skip the last '8' and go directly to the coda, but only the first 3 bars. Then go back to the first 8 bars and end in the 7th bar with you singing the flat 9th on the MAJ 7th chord. But don't worry, I'll quickly change chords so you'll be singing a nice sounding note. Then end it!" The vocalist, confused, gapes at the pianist and mumbles, "That sounds complicated, I don't think I can remember all that!" "Why not?" he replies, "that's how you did it last night!" 29.
STUDY THE FORMS OF THE FOLLOWING EXAMPLES
Prom Night Barbie AABA 'Song Form'
Count out the eight measure sections. Don't forget to factor in the 1st and 2nd endings. Notice the 2nd set of lyrics in A2. Do you notice any chordal or rhythmic patterns in the 4 bar groupings?
30.
12 Bar Blues
STORMY MONDAY
Study the three 4-bar sections. What do you notice about the melody? What is the rhyming pattern of the lyrics?
31.
Hurry Up and Love Me
Copyright 1996 - JazzMedia Music All Rights Reserved
32.
33.
IV DID YOU BRING YOUR CHARTS?
Vocalists, lacking an instrumental range, often transpose the key of a song from the one it was written in, known as its standard key . Even if the range of a song rests comfortably within our reach, we may want a certain feel or tone in our presentation. This is comparable to a saxophonist picking up a tenor sax for one song and switching to soprano for another. Singing at the top of your range can sound youthful or naive, qualities that may work for a particular dramatic situation but do not always convey the image you want to create for yourself. Female vocalists, in particular, tend to sing in a lower voice these days compared to singers in the 1940s and ‘50s. On the other hand, a song placed too low in your register can sound muddy and restrict projection. So we change the key, a perfectly legitimate thing to do. The problem occurs when we expect our accompanists to do the changing for us, sometimes right there on the bandstand with a restless audience waiting to hear some music. Most Jazz musicians are comfortable transposing standards into other keys and will do it graciously. But not all musicians have this level of expertise at their disposal and so, when forced to do so may feel put upon, even angry that their ‘shortcoming’ has been revealed.
34.
Let’s look at it another way: you’ve been called up to the stage by a friend in the band to sit in, that is to sing something impromptu and unrehearsed. You give the band your selection and the pianist asks you for a key. So far, so good. You mumble something about not being sure. The pianist, nice guy that he is, runs the first couple of bars of the tune in a few different keys so you can judge which one is best for your voice. You settle on one and, crisis averted, you turn to face the audience and start the tune. What do you think is going on in the minds of the musicians behind you as they play? Maybe the pianist is thinking, ‘boy, I had to memorize the melody, the chords, the form, and be able to play it in several different keys. All she had to do was learn the melody, the lyrics, and a letter in the alphabet from A to G so she could give us a key’. You have given them an estimation of your abilities and commitment before you even opened your mouth to sing a note. ‘But I sing well’, you may counter, ‘people like to listen to me’. That’s great and the musicians may truly enjoy listening to you sing. But all that means, in their minds, is you are someone with a nice voice who knows a few songs. You are not a dedicated musician who deserves respect and honor for all the hard work you have put into your craft. If you are young, they’ll cut you some slack, if you’re pretty or handsome, ditto, but don’t expect to be treated as an equal. You won’t be called for future gigs because you don’t have a repertoire, charts, and experience. Believe it or not, these are some of the things said by singers to instrumentalists as they step up to the stage, and the instrumentalists’ (silent) replies: “What key do I sing in?” (You’re asking me? I’ve never seen you before in my life!) “I sing in C.” (Every song in the world? You sing them all in C?) “Here’s my key - [sings] la, la, la, la....” (Oh, brother...) Sound silly, don’t they? Silly or not, they’ve been said countless times to countless instrumentalists over the years. It may be unfair but you can see why you have to work hard to counter the prejudgments of instrumentalists toward you.
35.
SITTING IN The bandstand is not some happy, flower-strewn land where everybody loves each other all the time. But it can be, and when it is, it’s the most wonderful place to be on earth. Quite often though, especially at ‘jam sessions’ and sit-in situations, it’s a battlefield. Among instrumentalists, complicated tunes are called at breakneck tempos to test the mettle of the ‘new guy’ brave enough to step into the fray. As a singer, you have a bit more control, for you would generally be choosing the song and the tempo at which it would be performed. But the same attitude of checking out your wares, so to speak, prevails. Believe me, you want to be well armed and well prepared. So, what do I do, you ask, quit before I even get started? Not at all! You’re learning more about music every day and you don’t have to wait until you’ve gotten everything together before you sing with a band. There are a few techniques you can use to make your debut with your friendly neighborhood combo smooth and hassle free. Think of the golden rule, or a variation of it: don’t ask anyone to do what you can’t do yourself, or could but just haven’t taken the time. In other words, don’t make them do your job (unless you’re paying them to help you). If you’ve figured out a good key for a song at home by plunking out the changes or the roots on your piano, you’ve done some preparation. Now you can give them the right key with confidence. If it is a key that is used often, there shouldn’t be a problem. For example, Misty has a standard key of E . You need to lower it a little. Do you pick D ? Why, when C is so much more familiar to most musicians? Blues in G ? F is only a half step away and a more traditional key for Blues than G . Now the musicians know that you know enough to choose commonly used keys. I don’t like to get into terms like ‘hard’ and ‘easy’ keys, let’s just say more familiar or less commonly used. After all, you’re asking the players to step outside of their comfort zone by changing the key in the first place. Why not make it as easy for them as possible? Nobody wants to look bad on the bandstand and anything you can do to make them sound better makes you sound better, too. Sitting in with a band at a club or restaurant is the best way to get yourself known in your area. You may find a few ads in music-oriented newspapers but you’re going to have to audition for those jobs as well. And getting acquainted with working professionals, people who already have gigs, is a better bet than throwing your lot in with a guy just getting himself together and advertising for players. The working band may have a wedding gig next
36.
week and need a singer. Wouldn’t you like to fill the bill? There are a number of things you can do to make sitting in a positive experience. If you don’t have charts yet, and truthfully, no one expects you to carry music around with you when you’re out for the evening, you can have a few songs prepared that don’t require charts. As mentioned earlier, some of those songs could be well-known standards that you can sing in standard key or can be transposed into an equally familiar key. Just by acknowledging that you are asking for something that not all musicians are capable of doing, rather than simply expecting it, gives the accompanists their due for the hours they’ve spent honing that special skill. Do some investigating to find those songs that you can sing comfortably in the standard or ‘book’ key. Here is where the guys have it a little easier, more standards seem to fit their range than they do for the ladies. But there are some out there. Another great option is having a few Blues heads in your repertoire. Asking for a twelve bar Blues in F or C or B , to name a few common Blues keys, is perfectly acceptable. Musicians do it all the time. You just need to know the melody and the verses, count out a tempo, and you’re on your way.
YOUR BOOK
So you’re getting experience in the evenings interacting with a band and performing in front of an audience. What are you doing with your free time during the day? Writing your charts and building your book. A singer’s book is a collection of charts written out in her key. They can be elaborately arranged or just basic chord charts, the melody with chord symbols, also known as lead sheets. Simple or complex, your book shows that you’ve done your homework and are committed to making the experience as effortless and enjoyable as possible for all concerned. Unless you are part of a start-up band, you probably won’t get a lot, if any, time to rehearse for an upcoming gig unless you want to pay the bandmembers for their time. Local jazz gigs, called club dates, are usually done ‘off the cuff’, that is either by playing standards that everyone knows or working from charts for vocal pieces or original instrumental compositions. The nature of a Jazz musician’s study, learning the standard repertoire, chord symbols, voicings, developing the ability to sightread and transpose, enables him or her to be performance ready with little or no rehearsal. As you book more engagements for yourself and your band, the ensemble 37.
playing will begin to gel and arrangements will develop over time. This is why your book is so important. The more charts you have, the more versatile you can be in planning your sets. But even if you are calling the same guys for your gigs and really getting comfortable with them, you must be prepared for the unavailability of a certain player or last minute substitutions. Unlike many up and coming rock or pop groups who play together exclusively and sometimes even share living quarters, jazz musicians do not generally throw their lot in with one band; there’s just not enough work in the jazz arena to sustain them. A good player is going to be in demand and you will find yourself calling your favorite sidemen first, but often working down your list to fill out the date. Having your music charted out is essential.
CASUALS
Another good reason to have your book together is the always available bread and butter work playing weddings, private parties, and other one-time special events. Called casuals on the West Coast, general business (or more commonly, “GeeBee”) in Boston and New York, outside gigs in Philadelphia, they are commonly booked by special music agents called contractors , who put players together for a performance. A contractor can range from a musician who hustles casual work for his or her own band to a corporate entity booking hundreds of musicians over the course of a busy weekend. Getting yourself on the roster of some or all of the contractors in your area is a great source of steady income as well as a venue for gaining invaluable experience working in impromptu situations in front of a live audience. You’ll meet new musicians at each date and learn to follow various bandleaders’ cues. Although playing casuals is not a stated career goal for any ‘serious’ musician, even the most mundane wedding gig can garner you a couple of hundred bucks and dinner for a few hours work. If you live in or near a large city, you may find yourself playing art gallery openings, movie premiere parties, and other high profile gatherings full of interesting people and possible professional contacts. Many casual musicians can earn a week’s income over the course of a weekend, leaving them plenty of free time with which to pursue their loftier musical goals. When presenting yourself as a prospective employee to a contractor, the first thing they will ask is how versatile you are, for casual work can range from jazz standards to pop and rock tunes in the course of a single performance. The 38.
second thing they will ask to see is a songlist and your book.
FAKE BOOKS
You’ll need some reference material to find copies of the tunes you would like to perform. Fake books are compendiums of jazz compositions written out with the melody and the chord changes. You’ll want to get a vocal fake book so you can get the lyrics as well. Although not perfect, some of the changes are wrong, the Real Vocal Book (fake book - real book, get it?) is the first one you should start with. You can purchase it at most music stores that sell sheet music. Another good one is the New Real Book (Sher Music). Of course, the best way to get charts is to do a transcription from records. We’ll talk about transcribing in Chapter IX. Once you have selected a song, you’ll need to transpose it into your key.
TRANSPOSING
How do you transpose keys? It’s easy. In Chapter II, we looked at intervals and how they relate to chord progressions (the horizontal relationship of the harmony). Transposing is taking the music that you want to chart out, figuring out the intervallic relationships of the harmony and just moving those relationships to a new key. You can do it by figuring out the Roman numerals of the original progression (i.e. II - V - I) or just make the transition from letter to letter using your piano to help you. Remember, Jazz musicians only need chord charts to make music, that is the melody with chord symbols. You won’t need to write out basslines for the bassist to play or chord voicings for the pianist. Though you may find the process slow going at first, it will become easier with practice.
39.
Here’s an example: Ex. 4.1 C Ma7
Dm7
Em7
I
ii
iii
A7
VI7
Dm7
ii
G7
V
C Ma7
I
Fill in the chords of the progression in the new key of F Major
I
ii
iii
VI7
ii
V
I
If you don’t want to use Roman N u m e r als you can t r a n s p o s e the chords directly. The next example is the first eight bars o f Autumn Leaves in E minor. Try taking them down a whole s t e p to D minor. Be sure to check your work on the piano .
Ex. 4.2
40.
Autumn Leaves
Write in the chords in the new key.
Autumn Leaves
Do you want to transpose the melody as well? Move t h e notes down a major second just as you did with the chords.
Ex. 4.3
41.
Autumn Leaves
CHORD SYMBOLS
The symbols we use to designate the different types of chords do not have a precise methodology at this time. Jazz theory and the conventions that apply to this young style of music are still in a state of growth and flux. You’ll need to become familiar with several different ways of writing a particular chord’s symbol. In your own charts, it is recommended that you use one type of chord designation to maintain consistency.
Here are some commonly used chord symbols: Major 7 Dom. 7 Minor 7 Minor 7 5 Dim. 7
: : : : :
C, CM7, C Maj7, Cs,C6 C7, C dom7, C9, C11, C 1 3 Cm7, C min, C-7 Cm7-5, C - 7 5, Cî C dim7, C í 7
Note the two chords, C6 and C13. One asks you to add the sixth to the chord and the other asks for the thirteenth. If you’ve been studying your intervals you know that the sixth and thirteen degrees of the scale in C are both A - an octave apart from each other. So, why the difference? If you see a C6, it is telling you to add an A to a Major seventh chord. If the chord is named C13, you add the A to a Dominant seventh chord. Like figured bass, it is a situation where more information is being conveyed than meets the eye. Another example is C2 and C9, both asking for a D to be added. C2 is often a pop tune chord symbol used with an arpeggiated no-frills triad or block chord (a triad with the root doubled on the top). A general rule would be the higher numbers added to the chord indicate a flatted seventh (9, 11, 13) while the lower numbers ask for a major seven or a triad (2, 4, 6). The designation ‘Diminished 7’ is clouded in confusion, for there are conflicting theories on exactly what it signifies. A true diminished chord is composed of stacked minor thirds, resulting in Root, 3, 5, 7. The ‘ ’ is called ‘double flat’ and refers to a pitch being lowered two half steps instead of one. Therefore, a C diminished 7th chord would spell as C, E , G , and B , B double flat being the enharmonic of A. This is a true or fully diminished chord. Another school of thought asserts that since C dim. is a fully diminished triad,
42.
adding the 7 instructs the player to sound a regular 7. This is also known as a ‘half diminished', as in only half of the chord is diminished, signified by a circle with a line through it. Other strict fundamentalists (the musical kind, not the religious kind) insist that a Cm7 5, which describes exactly what the chord is, is not a real chord, whatever that means. So beware, be clear, and be consistent in your choice of symbols. Another troublesome area is the use of the delta after a letter to designate a Major 7th chord. It is common practice but not recommended. If written by hand, it can look like a 7 or a circle, which of course will change the chord. This is also true with the use of a minus sign to write a Minor 7th chord. You can use the common large ‘M’ or small ‘m’ to show Major or Minor but, again, your manuscript must be very legible or problems can occur. The abbreviations Maj., Min., and Dim. are your best bet. Keep in mind that many times you will be throwing a chart in front of your accompanists with little or no practice. It is in your best interest to have the symbols clearly written and unambiguous. Sightreading is challenging enough without having to figure out what you want played and not all potential disasters (also known as ‘train wrecks’) can be anticipated. This author once wrote out her charts in festive red ink only to have them disappear into a blank white page under the red stagelights at that evening’s performance! As you become more experienced at writing your charts you may want to purchase a computer music writing program. The charts in this book were written with the Overture program but there are several on the market. Once you become familiar with the application, it is fast, convenient, and as clean and easy to read as commercially printed music. And transposition into other keys is readily accomplished with just a few clicks of the mouse.
KEY SIGNATURES
If you are writing a simple chord chart without the melody you don’t need to use a key signature. But as you become more adept at this practice, you will want to use the melody and its corresponding key signature. There are twelve key signatures for the twelve Major and Minor keys. Each Major key has a corresponding Minor key which share the same key signature. They’re ‘relatives’, harmonically speaking, and that’s just what we call them. G Major, which has an F in its key signature is the relative major of E Minor. A Minor, with no sharps or flats, is the relative minor of C Major. 43.
For organizational purposes, the twelve keys are classified into a circle of fifths . Looking at the keyboard again, start at C (no sharps or flats). Move up a perfect fifth to G with one sharp (F) in its key signature. A fifth up from G is D which has two sharps (F,C) in its key signature. As you continue around the circle you will keep adding a sharp to each key signature until you get to F (6 sharps) where you can switch to its enharmonic, G , which has six flats. Continuing on in the flat keys, you now remove one flat with each key until you are back to C. The Minor keys also can be grouped in this fashion, starting with A Minor and moving around the circle.
CIRCLE OF FIFTHS
Ex. 4.4
C Maj (no sharps or flats) A Min F Maj (B ) D Min
G Maj (F ) E Min
B Maj (B , E ) G Min
D Maj (F , C ) B Min
E Maj (B , E , A ) C Min
A Maj (F , C , G ) F Min
A Maj (B , E , A , D ) F Min D Maj (B , E , A , D , G ) B Min
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E Maj (F , C , G , D ) C Min
F Maj (F , C , G , D , A , E ) D Min (enharmonic) G Maj/E Min (B , E , A , D , G , C )
B Maj (F , C , G , D , A ) G Min
N.B. The keys of G and D are more commonly used i n Jazz compositions than their enharmonics, F and C . One interesting thing to note, as you move up from C Major the 7th degree of the scale is raised, adding a sharp to each successive key. As we round the bend into the flat keys, the 7th degree is again raised, naturalizing one flat each time as we work our way back to C Major. The sharps and flats are organized on the staff in a diagonal pattern in the order that they appear in the circle of fifths sequence. In other words, writing a key signature in A Major (3 sharps), you first put the F , then the C , followed by the G . With the flats you can work backwards, which is a circle of fourths, starting from the key of F Major - B , then E , then A , and so forth.
Ex. 4.5
When discussing keys with other musicians, it is perfectly acceptable to refer to them by the number of sharps or flats that they contain rather than their name. Designating D Major as ‘two sharps’ or G minor as ‘two flats’ is economical and efficient, most musicians know whether a particular standard is written in a major or minor key. In some cases, it can be preferable, for it saves
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confusion in calling tunes that fluctuate between a Major key and its relative minor, such as Autumn Leaves or All The Things You Are.
TIME SIGNATURES
You will also want to put a time signature at the head of your first staff. Even if you are only charting chords without the melody, a time signature helps the musicians identify the meter immediately. If nothing is marked, the assumption would be that the piece is in 4/4 time, also known as common time. The use of a large C to represent 4/4 time is common practice. The first or upper number in a time signature refers to the amount of beats in a measure. The second or lower number tells us what note gets one beat. So in 3/4 time, also known as waltz time, there are three beats in a measure and the quarter note gets one beat. Waltz time with a swing feel is called jazz waltz. ‘Six-eight ’ time is six beats per measure with the eighth note getting one beat. Another helpful addition to your charts is a note regarding the rhythmic feel or style of the piece. In the upper left hand corner you could write ‘Bossa Nova’ , ‘Uptempo Swing’, or ‘Ballad’, whatever the case may be. You can also use descriptive terms such as ‘airy’ or ‘dark’, whatever you think best describes the mood you had in mind for the arrangement. Anything you can add to your chart to help your accompanists understand what you want is a plus, especially in unrehearsed playing situations. The perfect chart would be one that you place on the music stand with no explanation needed, just count it out and you’re off and running. If you are fielding a lot of questions from the musicians regarding your chart or the arrangement, you may need to look at it again.
SIGNS AND TERMS
Were you one of those singers who followed the form of the song by reading the lyrics? Now you won’t have to. The repeat sign is a double barline with two dots to one side. Repeats enable you to save space on your chart when one identical section follows another. They come in pairs, often with first and second endings. The two dots 46.
go inside the repeated section, that is, the first repeat has the dots on the right of the barline and the second has the dots on the left. If there is no other indication, you only repeat sections once. You can request more than one repeat by writing a large X with the number of times to be played just below the repeated section - such as 3X. First and second endings allow us to repeat a section that has a variation at the end of the progression, used often for A sections in AABA form.
Ex. 4.6 REPEATS
These four bars would be played twice
Ex. 4.7 FIRST AND SECOND ENDINGS The first time through, stop at the repeat sign. This is the first ending . The second time, skip the first ending and play the second ending. If there is no repeat sign at the second ending, continue on to the next section.
The following are some other common symbols, signs and terms found in charts: Da Signe al Coda means ‘from the sign to the ending’. It is often
abbreviated as D.S. al Coda. When you see D.S. al Coda at the end of a chorus, instead of going back to the first bar, you go to the bar with the sign and play from there. The sign looks like this:
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A coda is a special ending. It only happens once. The sign that alerts you to jump down to the coda (at the outchorus, or end of the tune) looks like this: The coda section can be marked with this sign:
Da Capo al Signe tells you to go back to the first bar for your repeat and
continue until you reach the signe, or sign. Why all the Italian terminology? The first musical printing press was created in Italy in the early part of the sixteenth century. For a brief while, every piece of printed sheet music in Europe came from Italy. Any directives on that music were given in Italian. It wasn’t long before the rest of the continent figured out how to print their music but by then the use of the Italian language for guides such as ritardo (slow down), forte, (loud), or Da Capo al Signe (from the head to the sign), had become a tradition. We will look at options for codas and intros in Chapter VIII. For now, you have all the tools you need to write some basic, solid charts. Check your work carefully on the piano, making sure that the chords have the same roots and qualities as in the original key. When the chart is error-free, copy it out neatly and put it in your book. Give it a number as well as a title. It’s easier to call a number on the bandstand than its title. You’re on your way!
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V A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BLUES
Blues, a musical genre, a style of performance, as well as a discrete harmonic form, not only predates Jazz, it is a major component of the Jazz idiom. No study of Jazz can be complete without a recognition of the Blues’ importance and a familiarity with its sound and style. The Blues genre evolved from an amalgamation of European and African folksong tradition. As is the manner of folkways, the history and exact dating of this uniquely American music is a matter of conjecture based on the study of early published compositions and the recordings and recollections of its first practitioners and their listeners. For Europeans of the Middle Ages, mostly illiterate, tucked away in small farming villages or laboring on noble estates, the traveling bard, or minstrel, was their main source of information on current events taking place outside of their isolated environment. Along with the musical stories of kings and battles, songs of love and hardship mirrored the day to day travails of the working class. The early settlers brought this musical tradition to America. Historic accompanying instruments like the lute and the fife gave way to the banjo, guitar, and violin. The age-old stories of love and hardship conveyed with a full-throated and emotionally sincere style became the roots of Bluegrass,
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Country and Western, and the modern folk music that we hear today. The African griot, or master musician, fulfilled a similar function as the European minstrel, being the vessel of historic memory for the tribe. Some were independent, others were attached to the tribal chieftain or a king’s court and, like the European court composers, wrote and performed music for official celebrations. Historian Eileen Southern, (The Music of Black Americans7 ) recounts the observations of a seventeenth century English sea captain, Richard Jobson, on the similarities of the independent African griot and what he calls an ‘Irish Rimer... sitting in the same manner upon the ... ground, somewhat remote from the company’8 , relating the adventures of kings and celebrated warriors or spontaneously composing songs to praise members of the company or highlight the purpose of the gathering. The itinerant nature of the early African American Bluesmen followed the peripatetic tradition of the European and African traveling musicians. The performance arenas were usually public gathering places; rail stations, fairs, and street corners. The Bluesman sang of misfortune, tribulations, and love lost, as well as political realities that translated into personal hardship for the African American community. When performers moved indoors around the turn of the twentieth century, it was to the honky tonks and bordellos; the Blues was not a favored entertainment of the Black bourgeoisie. Southern’s book contains a wonderful, well researched history of the African foundations of American Blues and Jazz. Another great resource is Gunther Schuller’s Early Jazz - Its Roots and Musical Development9 .
AMERICAN FOLKSONG
T h e chordal outline of the Celtic folksong that became the basis for the Twelve Bar Blues form had a slow harmonic rhythm, relying on tonic and subdominant for the most part, with a brief change to the dominant. Frankie and Johnnie, an American descendant of the Celtic model, is a good example of this early form. See Example 5.1.
50. 7
W.W.Norton & Co., 1981, New York
8
Ibid, p. 9
9
Oxford University Press, 1968, New York
Ex. 5.1
The increases 1-3 gives at which
Ex. 5.2
FRANKIE AND JOHNNY
tradition of multiple verses repeated over the same f o r m the repetition of tonic. Following measures 11- 12 w i t h us six measures of C; a very slow harmonic rhythm, the rate chords change.
FRANKIE AND JOHNNY
N.B. The C7 in measure 4 leads us to the IV chord. C Dom7 is the V of IV ("five of four"). 51.
HARMONIC DEVELOPMENT As the Blues progressed, the harmonies became more complex with the addition of chord changes that enhanced the progression without changing its basic nature. In the case of Frankie and Johnny, one change was the introduction of the dominant to lead into the tonic in measures 1, 3, and 7.
Ex. 5.3
FRANKIE AND JOHNNY
THE MODERN BLUES FORM Let’s go back to the original progression of Frankie and Johnny.
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Innovations such as the addition of the subdominant in measures 2 and 10 and the I - VI change in measures 7-8 improved the somewhat plodding harmony of six measures of tonic followed by three measures of sub-dominant. Also, in measure 12, the dominant is added to the repeated verses to lead us back to the I chord at the top of the chorus.
Ex. 5.4
LOWERED SEVENTH Lowering the seventh on all of the Major chords is the most important step toward the modern Blues form, giving it the distinctive sound that is the foundation of the genre. So distinctive, in fact, that lowering the seventh of Major chords in any type of song gives it a ‘bluesy’ sound. The flat seventh is an African American contribution, based on African modality.
Ex. 5.5
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SUBSTITUTION CHORDS
Jazz musicians like the challenge and creative opportunities of a faster harmonic rhythm (more chord changes) to improvise upon. One of the most common ways to speed up the rhythm is the insertion of substitution chords. As the name implies, a substitution chord is a chord that replaces all or part of another chord’s space in a progression. A substitution chord (commonly referred to as sub chord) must comply with at least two criteria to be placed correctly in a progression. 1. 2.
The sub chord must share at least two common pitches with the original c h o r d . The progression’s basic sound and outcome must not be altered.
JAZZ BLUES FORM In the case of the Blues form adapted and adopted into the Jazz repertoire, substitutes such as the II-V progression in place of the V, and a I-VIII-V turnaround at the end of the chorus add harmonic variety. In Chapter VII, we’ll look more closely at the whys and wherefores of these ‘mini’ progressions.
Play the progressions, with chords or just the root, in Examples 5.5 and 5.6. Compare the difference in their s o u n d s . Ex. 5.6
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In measure 4, a G minor 7 is substituting for two beats of C7. This wo r k s for two reasons - firstly, a II7 chord can be inserted as a lead-in to its corresponding V7 chord. Also, G min.7 and C7 are the II-V of the F found in the next bar, therefore functioning as a ‘II-V of IV’.
BLUES VARIATIONS There are many alterations of the Twelve Bar form. Charlie Parker’s uptempo Bebop classic, Now’s The Time, uses a diminished chord (B dim.), an inversion (F7/C), and a II-V (Am-D7) to G minor to embellish the basic progression.
Ex. 5.7
NOW'S THE TIME
An example of an eight bar Blues is a ballad, Tell me Where To Scratch, written by the great Blues singer Joe Williams; recorded on the album, “Joe Williams Live” in 1973 for Fantasy Records. See Example 5.8.
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Ex. 5.8
TELL ME WHERE TO SCRATCH
(You’ll have to buy the record to find out what all the scratching is about.)
MINOR BLUES Blues compositions don’t always have to be in major keys. A minor Blues would have a minor chord as its tonic and use minor scale pitches as the basis of its head. Stolen Moments, by Oliver Nelson, is a sixteen bar Blues in C minor. The only difference between this particular sixteen bar blues and a twelve bar progression is the last four bars have been repeated, harmonically speaking.
Ex. 5.9
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STOLEN MOMENTS
The head contains some interesting sub chords in mms 8 - 16, but soloing is done over the standard minor twelve bar Blues progression.
Ex. 5.10
C MINOR BLUES
There are lyrics to this song and nobody sings them better than Mark Murphy, who has recorded it several times (see discography in the index).
ROCK AND ROLL When Bluesmen traded in their acoustic guitars for electric models and sped up the tempos, they invented something called Rock and Roll. Johnny B. Goode, written by Chuck Berry and recorded in 1951 for Chess Records, is a lively Twelve Bar Blues that exemplifies the exuberance of early Rock and Roll. See Example 5.11.
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Ex. 5.11
JOHNNY B. GOODE
And the Blueswomen? Big Mama Thornton recorded a song called H o u n d d o g in 1953. Three years later, a young white man named Elvis Presley was so profoundly influenced by not only the song but Big Mama’s spirited delivery that he recorded it himself. Interfacing the raw emotional energy of the Bluesmen he idolized with the heartfelt sincerity of the Country and Western singers he grew up with, he forged a personal style that made him a worldwide phenomena. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys are just a few of the early Rock and Roll artists who used the Blues as the basis for much of their repertoire, as did later rock artists like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Bruce Springsteen. And the Blues itself, the granddaddy of twentieth century popular music, remains a viable and popular genre, with festivals, radio shows, and nightclubs dedicated to its performance and preservation.
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VI IMPROVISATION ON THE BLUES
We have looked at the basics of music theory, studied various harmonic forms, and learned how to transpose and write charts. You probably purchased this book because you wanted to figure out that mysterious thing known as scatting. When do we get to that? Let’s start now. Many beginning improvisers, unable to hear the chord tones that make up the changes in a progression, use their ear to find a few common tones pitches that can be found in more than one chord. Thus limited, they sing a tentative melodic line that if graphed out would look nearly horizontal. Common tones are not a bad thing; on the contrary, they are an integral part of the Blues style. The problem occurs when common tones are used exclusive of any other pitches to create a solo. The way to overcome this is to get vertical - what we call digging into or outlining the changes. We do that by learning t he chord tones and scales. But you can’t hear a chord tone unless you can first hear the root of the chord. If you can hear the root and you know the chord’s quality, you can find any note available in the chord or its corresponding scale. Chord tones are the focal points of your solo, pearls hung on a string of
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scales and approach notes . We emphasize chord tones by singing them on strong beats, sometimes holding them longer than we do other notes.
SOLFEGE You may be wondering what syllables to use when singing the exercises in this chapter. You could use solfege syllables as you learn the triad and arpeggio exercises. Solfege is a good tool when you want to look at where a particular pitch places on different chords. For example, C in C7 is the root (do) but relative to the IV chord, F7, it is the fifth (sol). This system is called ‘ movable Do ’ and means that Do is whatever the root of a particular chord is. Most Jazz curriculums use movable Do. Another component of movable Do is the alteration of the basic solfege syllables - do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti - to represent sharps and flats on the pitches. A raised do, for example, is called di (pronounced ‘dee’), la would be li, and so on. A flatted la is le (pronounced ‘lay’).
Ex. 6.1
In this system a C Major 7 chord would be spelled do, mi, sol, ti, but a C minor 7 would be do, me, sol, te. ‘ Fixed Do ’ is a system where Do is always C, no matter what chord you are sounding or what key you are in. There are no alterations of the syllables with fixed Do, the pitches are observed diatonically. That means if you are in the key of A Major, for example, do is C sharp, not C natural. Another difference is the use of the European si instead of ti for the seventh degree of the scale. Fixed Do is standard in classical sightsinging and is a good system for reading orchestral scores. Singing numbers is another good learning tool. Singing ‘1, 3, 5, 7’ on the root, 3rd, 5th, and 7th pitches while keeping the root of the chord in your ear will help you to learn these important intervals. 60.
SCAT SYLLABLES
Students are often bewildered when it comes to choosing scat syllables. The anguished cry, ‘But what do I sing?’, sails out of teaching studios across the land as struggling Jazz vocalists rack their brains trying to come up with clever and original scat. Here is my advice - stop thinking so hard. As a matter of fact, stop thinking, period. When a small child playing in her backyard hears a wailing fire truck pass by she doesn’t stop and ponder, ‘hmm, what syllables would best represent the sound of a fire truck siren?’ No, she doesn’t think about it at all. She just imitates the sound, ‘rrao, rrao’ and goes back to what she was doing. This technique is also successfully used for barking dogs, honking horns, and motor boat engines. Eavesdrop on a group of boys playing together - bombs fall from the sky, machine guns rat-a-tat, trucks roar down a miniature highway. Did they hold a meeting or conduct a symposium on proper sound effect technique before they started? No, they are simply vocalizing to enhance whatever game they are creating for themselves. Most likely, they are not even aware they are doing it. The soundtrack becomes part of the scenario. Remember, scatting is the imitation of instruments. Listen to horn players and sing along, reproducing the various sounds and articulations that they make. How do they sound on legato (connected) notes? What about fast, clipped phrases? Is it a crying tone or does it bite? Is their approach aggressive and high energy or muted and introspective? Are they mournful or bursting with joy? If you have been singing the arpeggio exercises on Do only, you’re probably sounding more like Homer Simpson than John Coltrane. To sing a legato phrase like those in Examples 6.9-10, you can use vowel sounds, ah, ooh, ee, oh. Some or all of them could be preceded by a consonant to clarify and separate the pitches - dee, or bee, or wee, for example. Mix up your vowels and consonants - Do, bee, ah, dwee, or Do, bah, dah, wa - and focus on the appropriate articulation for the phrase. Listen to your favorite scatting Jazz artists and copy their sounds. Believe me, just like the little girl imitating the fire siren, Ella Fitzgerald did not stop to choose what consonant-vowel combinations to use before scatting a phrase of music, whether stating the head or improvising. Like any instrumentalist, she simply chose what kind of sound she wanted for her solo and made it happen.
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Arpeggios with sample scat syllables over the C Blues. They look sort of silly written out but you get the idea .
Ex. 6.2
You’ll notice in Ex. 6.2 that some of the arpeggios a r e inverted (see inversions p. 15) in order to facilitate a smooth transition from one chord change to the other. But it’s critical that you hear the roots of each c h o r d .
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Let’s start our practice with a Twelve Bar Blu e s . Ex. 6.3
BASIC TWELVE BAR BLUES
* The chords with an asterisk are non-diatonic. The V chord in bar 4 is minor, creating a II-V of the IV chord that follows in bar 5. The VI chord in bars 8 and 11 is traditionally played as a dominant 7 chord rather than the diatonic minor.
N.B. The slashes are used to delineate the beats in each
measure. When you have two or more chords in a bar you want to show exactly on which beats the chords fall.
Now let’s look at this progression in the key of C Major with the roots placed in the treble clef to facilitate singing. Play them on the piano and sing along, keeping a steady four beat count. See Ex. 6.4
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You can sing the solfege syllable Do. Ex. 6.4
C Blues - Roots
Did you notice all of the chords are Dominant Sevenths with the exception of the two minor chords? Remember, the exclusive use of Dominant Seventh chords is another quality that defines the Blues (in major keys), giving it its own special sound. When you’ve learned the roots and can sing them easily, add the chord tones that form the triad: the 3rd and the 5th. Sing the pitches in the rhythm as written. Don’t forget to swing!
You can use the scat syllables “Dut doo wha”. Ex. 6.5
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Triads Over C Blues
Now sing them in reverse.
Ex. 6.6
Triads Reversed
Sing the root, 2nd, and 3rd of each c h o r d . Ex. 6.7
Do you notice that you are singing a partial scale when moving from C7 to F7 or Dm7 to G7? That’s the concept of modes. 65.
Ex. 6.8
Try improvising using only these pitches, both the triads and the first three notes of each scale. When you feel comfortable with these exercises and can hear and sing the pitches, go to Ex. 6.9 where the 7th degree of each chord has been added. These ‘broken’ chords are called arpeggios.
Ex. 6.9
Arpeggios
Over C Blues
Sing them in reverse while you accompany yourself on the piano playing the roots or shell voicings.
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A shell voicing is a chord made up of the root and 7th only. You could also get a play-along CD, Jamey Aebersold has one just for Blues, and sing along to a slow or medium tempo Blues. N.B.
Ex. 6.10
Arpeggios
in Reverse
MODES AND THE BLUES FORM
Let’s expand a bit on the modal idea. There are two types of chords in the Twelve Bar Blues exercise, a Dominant seventh and a minor seventh. Since a Dominant seventh chord is simply a major chord with a lowered seventh, we could sing a Mixolydian mode over it, that mode being also a major scale with a lowered seventh. The two minor seventh chords in the progression would coordinate with the Dorian mode for both are altered from the natural minor scale by flatting the third and the seventh only, leaving the sixth natural.
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Start by singing the scale up to the fifth.
Ex. 6.11
Blues Modes - Root To Fifth
Fitting all of the pitches over the chords is a challenge; just keep the tempo slow and steady. A fast tempo isn’t as important at this point as keeping the harmonic rhythm correct. Remember, harmonic rhythm is the rate at which the chords change in relation to the measures. In other words, you need to make sure that the scales in the measures with two chords are sung twice as fast as the scales in the bars with one chord. Right now our priority is training the ear. Vocal dexterity will come with practice.
The next step is the entire mode over t h e changes. Sing the progression very slowly. Your focus should be hitting each pitch r i g h t on target. See Ex. 6.12
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Ex. 6.12
Blues Mode - One Octave
Okay, what happened to G minor’s scale in bar 4? This is where modal theory comes in. The G Dorian mode has one flat, B , just like the G minor chord. C Mixolydian also has a B . They are the same scale with different starting points. So we can sing C Mixolydian over both chords. The same rule applies for the D minor - G7 chords. Both D Dorian and G Mixolydian have no sharps or flats.
Ex. 6.13
69.
When you have a measure of II-V, you can sing the scale or mode that works over the V chord. But what about measure 11? C7 and A7 are both dominant chords that use Mixolydian modes. C Mixolydian and A Mixolydian a r e different scales. This is a situation where you can alter the scale to fit the harmonic situation. I’ve chosen the C Mixolydian, over an A7 chord it contains the altered chord tones 9 ( 3 ), 9 (C natural) and 13 (F natural). It’s not perfect but it works for our purposes right now. We’ll take a closer look at these altered pitches in Chapter X.
BLUE NOTES The pitches we call Blue Notes are the 3, 7, and less commonly, 5, of a scale played over a major chord. They have an unstable tonality, which is a fancy way of saying that the scale pitches are not as fixed, or permanently placed, as we are accustomed to hearing. The fundamental unit of the half step that we use is based on a European methodology passed down from the Greeks. Other cultures, notably those of ancient India and Africa, have their own systems using intervals differently sized than our European model. One theory of the origin of Blue notes is that they derive from the African scale which contains pitches located between our 3 - 3 and 7 - 7. Early African Americans found that by overleafing their traditional scale onto the European Major scale they were able to approximate the tone of their indigenous music. Sliding from 3 to 3, for example, would give us the pitch between those two notes. This is one of the hallmarks of a ‘bluesy’ sound. On string or wind instruments, as well as with the voice, this slide can be accomplished easily. A pianist or organist, with their fixed pitch instruments, must slip from the 3 key to the 3 or play them simultaneously.
BLUES SCALE There are several variations of the Blues scale but they all contain the blue notes 3, 7. A Blues scale that contains all of the intervals in the major scale as well as the Blue notes can be broken up into two tetrachords. A tetrachord is the building block of our major and minor scales and spans a
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Perfect fourth. The octave divides equally into two perfect fourths. Note that both tetrachords in Ex. 6.14 use the same pattern of whole and half steps.
Ex. 6.14
BLUES SCALE
In practice, the Blues scale contains less pitches than those in Ex. 6.14. There are several variations. Ex. 6.15 is one of the most common types.
Ex. 6.15
Because of the unique tonal qualities of Blues h a r m o n y , the C Blues scale works over the entire 12 bar f o r m . Ex. 6.16
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Here is the same scale transposed for each individual Blues Dom. 7 chord.
Ex. 6.17
Blues Scale Over C Blues
Try the scales over the progression. Sing them slowly with accompaniment. You can drop or raise octaves if any of the scales are out of your r a n g e . Ex. 6.18
Individual Blues Scale Over C Blues
Note that in measure 9, the scale is placed over a D min.7 chord. It works because the Blues scale is neither major nor minor but a combination of both. Playing this scale with its flatted three over a dominant seven chord with a major third gives us that sliding or unstable tonality of 3 - 3 played together. In measures 11 and 12 you’ll find the first half of each scale to fit the two chords/measure harmonic rhythm. 72.
Sing Ex. 6.18 in reverse. We don’t sing all of our improvised lines from low to high and we shouldn’t limit our practice of scales to one direction either.
Ex. 6.19
Blues Scale Reversed
At this point, you have the roots, arpeggios, and two types of scales in your arsenal. Go back to Ex. 6.4 and try putting them together into an improvised solo. Keep it simple and don’t feel that you need to fill up every beat with notes. Space, in music called a rest, is just as effective as the lines you fill it with.
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A solo utilizing some of the concepts we’ve discussed:
Ex. 6.20
Sample Solo
MOTIVES The solo begins with a motive, or short melodic p h r a s e . Ex. 6.21
N.B.
The part of a melody that begins before t h e first downbeat of the form is called a pickup.
This opening motive, built on the root, third, and fifth of C Major, is expanded as the improvisation progresses. 74.
Return t o Example 6.20 and label all of the roots, thirds, and fifths in C major, writing R, 3, 5, a b o v e the staff. Note how the three original c o m p o n e n t s of the opening motive are modified and e x p a n d e d .
PASSING AND APPROACH NOTES Any pitches that fall outside of a chord’s tonality, that is, are neither chord tones nor found in the chord’s mode, can be labeled ‘A’ for approach or ‘P’ for passing tone. An approach note10 is a pitch that leads to a target note , a chord tone played on a strong beat. The D sharp grace note in the pickup is an approach note. A passing tone is an approach note situated between two target notes, connecting them either chromatically (by half step) or in a s t e p - w i s e m a n n e r (within the scale).
Measures 9 - 10 contain several passing tones. Ex. 6.22
11
P
3
5
9
P
R
5
11
9
P
3
R
13
Study Ex. 6.20, analyzing the pitches in relation t o their underlying chord. Identify the pitches y o u haven’t already analyzed by number - 1, 3, 5, 7, e.g., placing the number under the staff as in Ex. 6.22. Don’t forget the upper structure chord tones.
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10
Also known as auxiliary tones or grace notes.
BUILDING A SOLO The repetition of a short melodic line is an integral part of the Blues style. These repeated lines, whether in the melody or improvised, are called riffs. In Blues heads, the first and second phrases are identical, mirroring the repetition in the lyric, with a different melody for the third line.
Here’s an example of a traditional Blues head: Ex. 6.23
The main theme in Ex. 6.23 contains common tones that work over most or all of the changes. Also, the melodic lines end on tonic, the home pitch, which is another facet of the blues style.
Using the melody in Ex. 6.23 as a starting p o i n t , sing a few choruses of improv, developing and expanding the lines with rhythmic a n d melodic variations.
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When a player works and reworks themes in the course of his solo he is drawing on the stylistic traditions of the Blues. As the solo progresses, the opening motives are elaborated by adding passing tones, scales, and approach notes, creating a sense of growing excitement. The need for a faster rhythm to accommodate the denser melodic lines further adds to the excitement. This is the arc of a good solo, opening with a relaxed statement and developing it as far afield as your taste and ears will take you. The vocal song Twisted, originally a recorded saxophone solo by Wardell Gray on a C Blues, is a great example. This technique is also used for non-blues tunes, giving them what we call a ‘bluesy’ or down home sound. You can present a great improvised solo without using a lot of notes or singing at a dazzling rate of speed. The tastiest solos are often the simplest, built around basic bluesy motives sung with conviction and a smooth swinging feel.
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VII HARMONY IN JAZZ STANDARDS
In the last two chapters we focused on the Blues Form. Now let’s look at some progressions commonly found in the Song Form. These compositions, though longer and more harmonically complex than the Blues progression are usually based on short four bar segments combined in a set pattern to make up the whole of the piece. Becoming familiar with these progressions makes it easy to learn tunes and sing improvisation over the changes. As noted in Chapter II, all styles of European based music, from Classical to Country and Western are at heart variations and elaborations of the basic IV-I progression: tonic-dominant-tonic.
I-VI-II-V PROGRESSION Even Heart and children at the melody 78.
if you never studied piano as a child, you are probably familiar with Soul, written by Hoagy Carmichael, often performed as a duet by two the piano, one playing the progression while the other plinks out on top. This progression is I-VI-II-V. See Example 7.1.
Heart and Soul Ex. 7.1
Play it a few times on the piano. Sound familiar? You probably recognize this progression from countless pop songs and Jazz standards. The A section of Stormy Weather is a good example of a I-VI-II-V progression in a standard with a sharp I diminished chord substituting for the VI chord1 1 in measures 2 and 4.
Ex. 7.2
Stormy Weather
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F# dim. and D7 (the VI chord in the key of F) share the common tones F#, A, and C. T h e substitution of #I dim. does not alter the basic progression, but enhances the root movement F, F#, G.
TURNAROUNDS
The I-VI-II-V progression is an example of what Jazz musicians call a turnaround because harmonically it turns itself around to where it started, in this case the I chord, or tonic. A turnaround repeated over and over is called a vamp. Turnaround vamps are used for intros (think Vegas lounge singer patter with the band vamping in the background), codas, and open sections (vamping on one or two chords for extended soloing). The great thing about turnaround vamps is the flexibility they provide, for they are ended on a cue from the soloist. This allows the soloist to adapt the arrangement of a song to fit the mood of the moment - both hers and the audience’. If the first four bars of a song constitute a turnaround, they can be used as an intro. Using a turnaround as an intro gives a singer a little time to prepare; she can jump into the song when she’s ready, provided she comes in at the top of the turnaround, or on tonic.
II-V-I PROGRESSION The II-V-I progression is the basic building block of many Jazz standards.
Here it is in the key of C major: Ex. 7.3
C Major:
ii
V7
I
Play Ex. 7.3, singing the roots as you play. Pay close attention to the sound of the root m o v e m e n t .
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The II-V-I progression is diatonic. In other words, each chord shares the same key signature. In Ex. 7.3, the key is C major2 . You’ll want to recognize II-V-I and it’s shorter version, II-V, any time you hear it in a composition so you can use key centered scales or motives over the progression. You’ll be able to do this by learning what the root movement sounds like, in other words, their intervallic relationships. II and V are a fourth or fifth apart, depending on the direction you take. Combining that knowledge with the sound of the chords’ quality - minor 7, dominant 7, major 7, is an easier way to learn tunes than memorizing each tune’s specific chord in a specific key. Think of II-V-I’s as members of a family, harmonic cousins, sharing a common background - their key signature.
Ex. 7.4
Bb Major:
D Major:
ii
ii
V7
I
V7
I
N.B. People often think of C major and A minor as having no key signature, unlike the other eleven major and minor keys. The key signature of C major and A minor is ‘no sharps or flats’.
When deciding which scales or modes to use over a II-V-I progression, we again use the key signature. Look at the progression in C major once more, this time with the appropriate modes over each chord (See Ex. 7.5) . 81.
D minor 7 chord and it’s corresponding mode D Dorian, have no sharps or flats, as does G Dominant 7 (G Mixolydian mode), and C Major 7 (C Major scale).
Ex. 7.5
D Dorian
G Mixolydian
C Major (Ionian)
Play and sing the modes with chords o r the root for accompaniment.
TONAL CENTERS When II-V-I’s are found in various keys in one composition they are called are called temporary tonal centers, temporary key centers, or just tonal centers. Why temporary? Because most songs are written in one key and therefore there is only one true II, V, and I chord in a composition. Any other II-V-I’s or IIV’s are ‘temporary’. Classical theory is a bit more specific, every V7 chord in a composition must be classified in relation to its ‘tonic’ and are called Secondary Dominants or Non-resolving Dominants . For example, a C7 in the key of C major would be called a V of IV, or ‘five of four’ because C7 is diatonically the five chord of F major.
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PARENT SCALES As you learned in Chapter II, modes are simply major scales beginning on pitches other than the tonic of the parent scale. The three modes in Ex. 7.5 are variations of the C major scale. Here is the parent scale over the three chords:
Ex. 7.6
SOLOING OVER II-V-I Basing your improv on a single scale over a progression gives your lines a coherent arc, what we call singing over the changes. It’s easier to think one scale or one key signature as you move over chord changes, even if it’s only two chords in a single measure. This is why, when we introduced modes in Chapter II, it was suggested that you learn the general concept without worrying too much about every individual mode. As you become familiar with the most commonly used modes, you may start to think of D Dorian, for example, as a D minor scale. G Mixolydian could be called a G7 scale.
Here’s a sample solo line over II-V-I in C m a j o r using chord tones - all found in the C major scale. Ex. 7.7
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It’s a bit dry because there are no approach, neighbor, or passing tones, nor rhythmic diversity. Using supplementary pitches and altering rhythms makes your improv line more interesting.
Ex. 7.8
N.B. Augmenting the pitches found in the scale (diatonic pitches) with those outside of the scale is called chromaticism, a hallmark of modern Jazz improvisation that came to the forefront in the Bebop era of the late 1940’s. We’ll take a closer look at Bebop and chromaticism in Chapter IX.
ANALYSIS - SATIN DOLL Let’s look at Duke Ellington’s Satin Doll, to analyze the tonal centers. Here are the first four measures of the A section:
Ex. 7.9
The first two measures are in the key of C major, the main key of the song. Measures 3-4 are II-V in D major.
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Ex. 7.10
Measure 5 is G major, followed by one measure of G flat. Measure 7 returns to tonic with a turnaround in D in measure 8. Placing Mixolydian modes over the II-V changes, and a Major scale over bar 7, looks like this:
Ex. 7.11
Sing the scales slowly, accompanying yourself with chords or root in the left h a n d .
Why choose Mixolydian for the II chord as well as the V7? Remember, the parent chord is the same for Dorian and Mixolydian if they share the same key signature and the ‘target’ chord in a II-V progression is the V chord. You could also use Dorian mode (the II chord’s scale) or the parent chord of each diatonic group. It’s all about choices and the choice is yours to make.
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Many AABA type standards go to the IV chord in the bridge and Satin Doll is no exception.
Ex. 7.12
The first four bars of this section sets us squarely in F major, with II-V-IIV-I. The following two bars modulates the II-V progression up to G major without going to G major’s I chord. Then we modulate back to II-V in C major which leads us back into the last A section. Going from a major chord, whether Major seven or Dominant seven, to the same root’s minor chord is a common way for composers to modulate through several key centers in a composition. The term for this is Step-Down Progression. And the modes or scales? We can use Mixolydian again over the II-V’s and a major scale and Dorian mode over the major seven and minor seven chords. See Ex. 7.13.
Ex. 7.13
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You’re wondering what happened to the flat 9 in the Mixolydian mode over the G7 9 chord? You’re getting smarter with this stuff. Adding the altered pitches found in a chord to a scale gives us what we call altered scales. Makes sense, huh? The ninth of G (same as the second) is A and a flat nine is A . Try singing the G7 scale with an A , it make’s an interesting change. We’ll look at some altered scales in Chapter X.
THE LADY IS A TRAMP
The Lady Is A Tramp, written by Rodgers and Hart and popularized by both Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, feels like a thirty-two bar AABA type tune, but the first two A sections are sixteen bars long rather than eight, while the B section and the last A are eight bars each. So, the form is more specifically AAB, each section consisting of sixteen bars for a total of forty-eight. If you’re not familiar with this composition, find a recording and get to know it. The analysis is not going to be of any use to you if you don’t know the song. The Lady Is A Tramp doesn’t modulate around tonal centers like the sprightly Satin Doll, remaining solidly in its home key of C major. But there are some interesting quirks that liven up the harmony. The opening progression is a variation of I-VI-II-V, with a III dom.7 substituting for the VI chord. E 7 doesn’t strictly share chord tones with Am71 2 but it doesn’t alter the progression’s I-VI-II-V nature.
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If pressed, we could go way out and align the chord tones of E 7 with the altered tones of Am ( 5,
9).
N.B. The following examples contain the root of the chord. Play and/or sing the roots to familiarize yourself with the progression.
Ex. 7.14
The use of a flat III dominant 7 chord instead of the VI creates a pleasant sounding root movement - E down a half step to D. Also, the addition of a ‘foreign’ V7 chord (E being the V7 of A and therefore sharing A ’s key signature of four flats) gives the progression a harmonic kick, a little variety to spice up our improv.
Ex. 7.15
This progression is repeated in bars 5 - 9, followed by a II-V of the IV chord - F Major.
Ex. 7.16
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Remember, modulating from a major chord to its corresponding minor (in other words, the same root) is a common way to move a progression around to different key centers. In this case, tonic (C major) changed to a dominant seven chord (C7 - mm 10) to get us to the subdominant (F major) which then modulates to an F minor (mm 12) to lead us back to tonic. How does F minor lead us back to C major? With a commonly used harmonic technique we could call a descending cadence, a chromatic progression.
Ex. 7.17
If you play the chords of bars 12 - 15, you will hear the descent of the progression: F major to F minor to E minor, followed by E - A, D - G, then C: III-VI -II-V-I.
Ex. 7.18
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Since minor III is a common substitute for major I, you can see that bars 13-15 are just our old friend I-VI-II-V again, repeated in bars 15-16 as a turnaround back to the top.
SUB CHORDS IN TURNAROUNDS III-VI-II-V can be varied in several ways. One possibility is to substitute the VI chord in measure 13 with a III (either a minor or major III works).
Ex. 7.19
If you want a completely chromatic progression, that is descending in half steps, you can substitute a flat II for the V chord in measure 14.
Ex. 7.20
Get a lead sheet for this song and experiment with different sub chords in measures 13-15 while singing the melody. Mixing and matching substitutions can be a fun and creative way to personalize your own arrangements.
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LADY IS A TRAMP BRIDGE Now, how about the bridge? It’s fairly straightforward, harmonically speaking, with a little added sparkle in measure 34 in the form of a diminished sharp IV.
Ex. 7.21
You’ll remember from Stormy Weather (Ex. 7.2) that a I diminished chord can substitute for a VI chord (F dim. for D7). The rest of the bridge is III-VI-IIV in C major, with variations in the harmonic rhythm. You could play the E min.7 chord in mm. 35 with a G in the bass (the 3rd of E min.) which would give you a bassline of F - F - G - A in measures 33-36.
The last eight bars of the bridge, a recap of the A section, also contain an F diminished chord in measure 44. But since we are back in tonic, C major, the F is a raised fourth, also known as a tritone. The tritone of a chord can be used as a substitute for the purpose of modifying or prolonging a progression. This practice is called tritone substitution and the substituted chord is called a tritone sub.
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Ex. 7.22
In measure 48, the last bar of the song, a II-V has been placed in parentheses. This is because the actual chord of this measure is C major but in general practice a turnaround is played for all repeated choruses. You write your turnaround chords in parentheses to acknowledge that they are a change from the original composition. You can also leave the measure empty, for an experienced musician will automatically play a turnaround when going back to the top of the tune. This is fine if the first chord of the piece is the I chord, but many times it isn’t (Satin Doll for example). Writing in your preferred turnaround insures that you will hear what you expect to hear at that particular place in the form.
ARPEGGIOS ON LADY IS A TRAMP
Take a deep breath (you’ll need it for singing) and go over the chord tones of the changes in the form of arpeggios as illustrated in the next example. Sing slowly, aiming for accuracy rather than speed. Outlining or spelling the changes in this manner helps you to hear the pitches that you will want to use in your improv and familiarize yourself with the harmonic rhythm of the form. See Ex. 7.23 92.
Ex. 7.23
LADY IS A TRAMP ARPEGGIOS
It's not very creative, musically speaking. But it is an important part of the preparation for improv. 93.
Here’s a sample solo on the A section, u s i n g arpeggios, scales, and approach notes. Ex. 7.24
The B section:
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STEP DOWN PROGRESSION A step down progression is a series of II-V-I’s where the I chord turns to a minor 7th or II chord, leading us down one step to a new tonic. Examples of step down progressions can be found in How High The Moon, I’ll Remember April, and the bridge of Cherokee.
TEXT-FOCUSED IMPROV Now, after all that would you believe that you don’t have to scat on any of these songs to be considered a Jazz singer? You can use your creativity improvising on the melody. But that doesn’t mean you don’t need to be familiar with the harmonic form in your songs, for you must be able to hear where you are and what your back-up musicians are playing. And text-focused improv is not done well without a solid familiarity with the chord changes. Check out Ella Fitzgerald’s rendition of Lady Is A Tramp on Ella In Berlin (Verve). It’s exciting, creative, and swinging, all without the scatting improv of which she was an absolute master. She plays with the melody and even changes the lyrics, transforming the song into a personal statement. Think of the songs that you approach as if they are people - some are straightforward, easy to get to know, while others are full of subtle complexities it can take a lifetime to fully understand. Learning the lyrics, the melody, and the form of a song is just the beginning. Finding the song’s core, its special uniqueness, and melding that uniqueness with your own is the key to creating an individual style of expression. And that is the cornerstone of Jazz - having a distinctive voice or sound that is exclusively yours.
SHOUT CHORUS
Another Jazz technique inherited from the Blues is the shout chorus. A shout chorus is defined as replacing the melody in uptempo tunes with higher placed common tones, usually altered pitches or blue notes, which creates excitement and a sense of heightened emotionalism. It’s a great method to use in performance, if not used too frequently. 95.
Once again, depending on your own personal style, you may choose not to sing shout choruses. An intimate, laid-back vocalist like Peggy Lee or Diana Krall would probably never use this technique. It’s an aggressive style of singing (and playing - Blues based horn players like Cannonball Adderly used it all the time) that, if applied at all, works best as a flavoring - not the main course. It is most effective when used toward the end of the last chorus or just for the coda, for once you ‘go up’, racheting up the mood and the passion in your delivery, you can’t come down again.
Here’s the first verse of Stormy M o n d a y a traditional Blues head, as the m e l ody is commonly s u n g . Ex. 7.25
The same verse with a shout-type melody. As you can see the rhythms have been simplified along with the melodic line:
Ex. 7.26
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This technique could be used during the last eight bars of Lady Is A T r a m p.
Ex. 7.27
Why the repetition of the last line? We’ll discuss that in the next Chapter when we look at intros and codas.
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EXERCISES Fill in the seventh chords of a II-V-I progression in each of the keys i n the manner illustrated below. Don’t forget to add the p r o p e r accidentals. You can refer to the chart on page 44 for key signatures.
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Analyze the following songs for sections (A, B, etc.), tonal centers, and turnarounds. Define the tonal centers with Roman n u m e r a l s .
TAKE A TRANE
Purchase a copy of Duke Ellington's "Take The A Train" for the melody and lyrics. Legend has it that Billy Strayhorn wrote the lyrics after Ellington gave him directions to his house.
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FALL FOLIAGE
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VIII INTROS, TAGS, AND CODAS
Satin Doll has a unique intro and a popular t a g , or coda. If you are not familiar with it, listen to one of the many vocal or instrumental recordings of this song made over the years. I’m not going to give it to you here because digging up recordings and doing the listening is an important part of your preparation work as a Jazz musician.
INTROS
Often, in casual playing situations, the band will vamp on a I-VI-II-V progression in a medium or uptempo song’s key for an intro. It’s an easy set-up and, after the last chapter, you should be able to recognize that progression in your sleep! All you have to do is get comfortable and come in at the top of the progression, on the I chord. Better yet, when sitting in, you can specify what intro you’d like to hear. Even if all you can think of is our old standby, I-VI-II-V, asking for it shows that you speak the language and avoids confusion, both yours and the band’s. Better still, if you’re using charts, is to write out the changes for the intro, again even if its the old saw, I-VI-II-V. No confusion equals no problem.
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Often, when vamping on a I-VI-II-V, a minor III will be substituted for the I chord as the progression is repeated. In the key of C major, that would mean E minor.
Ex. 8.1
You can see in these root position chords that C m a j o r and E minor share the common pitches E, G, and B.
ROOTLESS VOICINGS Jazz pianists voice their chords in a certain way to facilitate a smooth movement from one change to another. They also often leave out the root in their voicings, leaving the root to either the bass player or to played with the pianists’ left hand. These are called rootless voicings . Leaving out the root also frees up a finger to play extra pitches in the voicing, such as the 9th, giving the chord a full ‘jazzy’ sound that you’ll want to be able to recognize as well as you do the chords in root position.
Ex. 8.2
Play these voicings, comparing the sound w i t h those in Ex. 8.1. 102.
N.B:
When in doubt, listen to the bass player. He will be playing the roots of the chords, anchoring the harmony, as well as laying down the rhythm.
Another standard intro format is to play the last four or even eight bars of the composition. This is an intro that you wouldn’t necessarily have to write out on the chart - you could just request it before counting out the tune. Autumn Leaves is a good choice in which to use the last eight bars for an intro. The distinctive progression lets the audience know what song you are about to begin, and the changes bring you solidly around to the top of the tune. Tunes that start on chords other than tonic, the II chord or the IV chord, for example, usually have an intro that ends with the V7 of whatever is the first chord of the form. For Twelve Bar Blues tunes, a whole chorus is usually played as an intro. You give the count, setting the tempo, and let the band play the form one time through before you come in. The special rhythm of Bossa Nova works well with a I chord to a flat II dominant 7 (or its enharmonic - sharp I) introduction. Here’s a common intro for The Girl From Ipanema, similar to the last four bars of the song.
Ex. 8.3
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This progression also works for other types of tunes; for example, a slow swing tune like Peel Me A Grape, written by Dave Frishberg.
Ex. 8.4
PEEL ME A GRAPE
I - II7 intro is also a turnaround vamp, because it turns back to tonic and can be played for an unspecified amount of bars. To intro into ballads, the band might play a II-V, or just the V chord with a fermata (pause), leaving you to take the pick-up into the tune, with the tempo starting on the first full measure.
Ex. 8.5
MISTY
N.B. Fermata is commonly called ‘bird’s eye ’ because of the way the mark looks.
Another way to start ballads is what we call ‘right on and the soloist begin together on beat one, with no intro. would count out one measure and boom, the song begins. your note first! It’s a common mistake with young singers. 104.
it’, meaning the band
You or the bandleader Don’t forget to get See Ex. 8.6.
Ex. 8.6
BODY AND SOUL
Starting a tune ‘right on it’ is also common for fast tempos, also known as ‘bright’ tempos. When you begin a fast tune in this manner, it creates excitement right away, sort of like going from zero to sixty in a race car. Many melodies have a pick-up, and rather than intro with a turnaround, you may want to ‘take the pick-up’, meaning you will sing the pick-up without accompaniment, and have the band come in on beat one of the first full bar. It’s a tricky thing to do, counting out the tempo and taking the pick-up but, with practice, you can learn to do it smoothly and discreetly. An alternative would be to have one of the bandmembers make the count for you, leaving you to come in at the appropriate moment with the pick-up.
COUNTING OFF A TUNE While we are on the subject, a few words about counting off a tune. A tune’s tempo is counted off so that everyone begins the song at the same speed. Before you count off, you’ll want to make sure everyone knows what type of tune it is, ballad, swing, Bossa, etc. There may be a need to describe the feel of the tune as well. This could mean explaining that a slow tune has a ‘rock ballad’ feel, or ‘12/8’, which means the quarter note is divided into triplets, common with ‘50’s type ballads like You Send Me. Medium tempo rock-type tunes might have a shuffle feel, comparable to a boogie woogie piano style. You might want to experiment and do a song normally done in one feel but changing to another, like doing Body and Soul, a ballad, as a Bossa Nova. You’ll want to be sure that everyone is aware of your change. So, the feel is set and now all you have to do is count it out. You’ll want to go over a few bars of the tune in your head to remind yourself of the tempo and feel that you like to sing it with. The tempo of the quarter note is what you want to convey to the band. When you’ve got the tempo set in your mind, you count it out loud. 105.
For ballads, it is pretty simple. You could just count out the quarter notes in one measure (see Ex. 8.6). Another common way is a count with ‘two bars up front’, that is a two measure lead-in to the top of the tune, whether with an intro or right on it. On the first bar of the count, you count half notes, “1...2...”, then you count quarter notes, “1, 2, 3, 4”.
Ex. 8.7
Bossa Novas also can be counted off in this manner, just remember to keep your count ‘straight’, to accommodate the straight eighths of the Bossa Nova feel. When counting off uptempo swing tunes, because of their faster tempo, four bars are given ‘up front’.
Ex. 8.8
Usually, your verbal count is accompanied with a finger snap. You snap your fingers on beats two and four as you count. Please don’t snap on one and three - it’s a dead giveaway that somebody is “L 7” (a ‘square’ to you L 7’s out there).
TAGS
Tags are also fairly codified, making the transition to ending a tune in casual or sit-in situations sound like the band had rehearsed it for hours. Once
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again the final tonic is often replaced with a minor III chord and the last four bars are repeated once, twice, or many times in the case of a shout chorus type of ending. The harmonic rhythm is often doubled in ballads or swing tunes, in other words two measures of III-VI | II-V | before the tonic would double to four measures: III | VI | II | V |.
Here is a tag o n Centerpiece, a popular Twelve Bar Blues. Ex. 8.9
An extra eight bars have been added to the 12 bar form. Tonic (F7) in bars 11-12 has been replaced with the III-VI progression, A minor to D7. The last line (‘nothing’s any good...’) is repeated two times after the original end of the form. The III-VI-II-V progression is also repeated. Often in the final I chord of a tag, a melody line is added that originally came from Take The A Train. You’ve probably heard it many times. It’s an easy out but a bit overused.
Ex. 8.10
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Let’s go back to Lady Is A Tramp and analyze another typical tag to an uptempo swing tune.
Ex. 8.11
Lady Is A Tramp Tag
As in Centerpiece, the tonic in bar 48 has been replaced with the III chord, E minor. The III-VI-II-V progression is repeated as is the last line of the lyric two more times, once again adding eight bars to the original form. You’ll notice that a tritone sub progression has been placed at the very end of the tag, echoing the progression found in measures 45-47 of the form.
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TRITONE SUBSTITUTION As we noted in the last chapter, tritone substitution is substituting a sharp IV diminished chord for tonic, followed by a descending cadence down to tonic.
Ex. 8.12
As you can see in measures 56-59 in Ex. 8.11, a tritone substitution in the key of C leads to a progression of | F dim7 F7 | Em7 A7 | Dm7 G7| C |. You can alter the substitution chords as we did in Ex. 7.19 in the last chapter.
Ex. 8.13
Using a tritone substitution as a tag is a nice touch, especially in ballads, as long as it is not done too many times in the course of one evening’s performance. I Thought About You, written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Mercer, often opens with a tritone sub, creating a haunting and wistful mood. Here it is in the key of Bb major.
Ex. 8.14
Note that although the usual opening tonic chord has been replaced by the tritone sub, tonic is spelled out in the first four notes of the melody: B , D, F, A. 109.
Compare this with the song’s original I chord as an opener.
Ex. 8.15
A tritone sub used as a coda in a ballad like Here’s That Rainy Day would work like this:
Ex. 8.16
BOSSA NOVA CODAS
You can use the same I - II7 progression for the coda of Bossa Nova tunes as in their intros. The progression lends itself well to an improvised vamp over the two changes. You can sing the I chord (major) scale over both chords, making F major an altered scale over G 7 .
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Ex. 8.17
Don’t believe it? Here’s a solo line using the F major scale.
Ex. 8.18
You could go on and on with this two chord vamp, adding extra pitches, using your ears to work off the changes as well as injecting altered scales like the ones we’ll look at in Chapter X. This subject is one more reason why you should be wearing the grooves out of your old Jazz records. There are a finite number of interesting and creative intros and codas for standard tunes and most of them have already been done. But you can recycle old ideas and make them new again, sometimes just by changing the forum. There is a great and unique intro to Star Eyes that you can find on a Cannonball Adderly record called The Best Of Cannonball Adderly, recorded on the Riverside label. Some years later, Betty Carter recorded a vocal version of Star Eyes, improvising over the same intro. An old treat but with a new package. Jazz is learning from and building on the past, making it new again, laced with your own personal creative style. Isn’t Jazz fun?
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IX ADVANCED IMPROV
The preceding chapters have given you a lot of information to assimilate and it can seem overwhelming. But, music isn’t a race, it’s a journey. Take your time. All the book learning in the world can’t give you what you can get from careful and enthusiastic listening to live and recorded Jazz. Each and every one of the great Jazz musicians who moved this style of music from its infancy to the sophisticated art form that it is today have something to teach you. The massive accumulation of Jazz recordings produced over the course of the twentieth century is a great big gift wrapped up and delivered to you. Each track is full of passion and skill and deep, measured reflection, the end product of years of honing a specialized craft. You can absorb every ounce of their experience and ingenuity with the artists’ blessing. All you have to do is open your mind and listen.
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TRANSCRIPTIONS
A Jazz musician does a lot of transcribing in the course of his or her studies. Transcribing, in the musical sense, is the act of writing out recorded music. The notes are written down on staff paper with the correct rhythmic notation, whether a single melodic line of a horn solo or an entire big band arrangement. Every good teacher assigns transcriptions to his or her students and they are an important part of the curriculum of university Jazz Studies programs. Great musicians do them all of their lives, for they know the value of the process to their growth as artists. There are a lot of commercially available transcriptions, like the Charlie Parker Omnibook, published by Atlantic, that you can purchase in any music store. Using these books as a guide while you learn transcribing can be a positive thing. But if you use them in place of doing your own work, you won’t be doing yourself any favors. It’s the process that makes you a better musician, not the big pile of transcriptions in your folder. Transcribing takes a lot of repeated listening and mental conce n t r a t i o n that can be very difficult at first. But the rewards are a finely tuned ear, a welldeveloped memory, great musical ideas, and an ability to speak the language of Jazz like a native. Needless to say, you’ll have to be able to read and write musical notes to do transcriptions. But even if you are just learning to read now, you can still learn solos by heart. As a matter of fact, it’s the best way to do them. Jazz is traditionally an aurally transmitted art form and that should be the heart of your studies. You may be a whiz at taking down transcriptions, but if you can’t sing them without reading the music, you haven’t really learned them. Start small, with a simple Blues line or a vocal rendition of a song that you are already familiar with. Although you know the melody, you may even be performing it at gigs, there is always something to learn from a great artist’s interpretation. An improvised line here, a little rhythmic change there; tone, delivery, and feel, are all subtle aspects of a performance that can be gleaned from countless listenings. And there will be countless listenings. Make a cassette recording of the solo you wish to transcribe and listen to it everywhere - in the car, at the beach, on your morning jog. Sit at the piano and stop and start the tape until you have figured out each and every note and can sing along with the record like a ghostly double.
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The importance of listening to and transcribing Jazz cannot be overemphasized. And it’s so easy for us compared with the Jazz musicians of the past who didn’t have cassette recording equipment, Walkmans, or the high tech stereo systems available to us today. They did their listening on old victrolas without stop and start playback, no half speed functions. And they listened to live music nearly every night, going out to the clubs to hear their idols and to make their mark at the jam sessions. They grew ‘big ears’ from all that careful listening and you can, too. And, after all that listening, if someone tells you that you have ‘big ears’ too, say thank you to the compliment, and thank yourself for all the time you put it on your transcriptions.
VOCALESE
Vocalese is a transcribed instrumental solo with original lyrics added and
performed by a vocalist. Probably the most well known vocalese is Twisted, based on a C Blues solo by the saxophonist Wardell Gray with lyrics written by Annie Ross. She recorded it with her group, Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross, but there have also been interesting renditions recorded by Joni Mitchell and Bette Midler. Moody’s Mood For Love, written by King Pleasure and based on a trumpet solo played on I’m In The Mood For Love, by James Moody, is another popular vocalese. Eddie Jefferson was one of most prolific jazz vocalists who wrote and sang vocalese. His area was hard bop and his voice, while not traditionally pretty, was fluent, pitch perfect, with a rock solid sense of swing. The vocal group Manhattan Transfer did a number of wonderful vocaleses, most notably Weather Report’s Birdland, in which the vocalists sing all of the instrumental parts, with lyrics. Vocalese lyrics, due the stricture of setting them to an instrumental solo line, run the gamut from the truly inspired to the simply goofy. The real attraction is in the skill required to sing lines created by an instrument with its much larger range and percussive abilities. This special style is arguably the most important vocal contribution to the Jazz repertoire. Every musical genre, be it pop, rock, or classical, has vocalists. But only Jazz has vocalese. It’s fun to sing as well as a challenging venue for a vocalist to express herself creatively as a lyricist. And, because it is performed so rarely, audiences eat it up.
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UPPER STRUCTURE CHORD TONES
There is an important aspect that defines Jazz from other styles of music; the use of not only the root, 3rd, 5th, and 7th, of a chord but the upper structure chord tones13 as well - that is pitches that are found above the octave: the 9th, 11th, and 13th. These upper chord tones are often altered by raising or lowering a half step; most commonly 9, 9, 11, and 13, dissonant sounds that are an integral part of the Jazz lexicon. The 11 on minor chords is usually left natural.
Here are the main tones in three types of C chords dominant seventh, minor seventh, and major seventh. Ex. 9.1
Play the chord tones on the piano one at a time with a root or chord in the left h a n d .
As you can see, the upper structure pitches spell triads of other chords D major over the C7 and C major7 chords and D minor over the C minor. Placing a chord over another one, rather than just over a different bass note is called polychordalism, also known as polyharmony. Polychordalism isn’t only a Jazz technique, it is one of the qualities that shaped the sound of twentieth century Classical music as well. Ex. 9.2 shows the superimposed triads that can be found in the upper structure pitches over the chords in a C Blues. 115. 13
Also known as extensions.
Ex. 9.2
C7
F7
A7
Dm
G
Play the shell voicing with the left hand, h o l d i n g down the keys to let the pitches ring. With the right hand, starting with the 9th, play one note at a time, listening carefully and noting how each p itch sounds against the chord in the bass clef. Over each voicing write the name of triad and the parent c h o r d .
N.B. Chords with a bass note different from the root are written with the chord name followed by a slash and the bass note (C7/E, for example). Polychords are written with the two chords stacked vertically and a straight line dividing them: C E Think of tonic as a planet and the chord tones satellites that revolve around that home base. The farther you fly away from tonic, the more outside you are playing. Most musicians use these tones sparingly, spices added to the meat of their solo. Improvising solely on outside tones is one of the hallmarks of the Free Jazz style, an acquired taste not to every listener’s or performer’s liking. And for singers, there is a thin line between singing ‘out’ and just plain singing out of tune. Staying within the octave in your soloing style, that is utilizing mostly the root, 3rd, 5th, and 7th, is called playing inside. Either style is valid, it’s just a matter of your personal taste. Let’s go back to the arpeggios over C Blues that we looked at in Chapter VI. 116.
Ex. 9.3
Here are arpeggios on the third through the ninth. Notice that the VI chord, A7, uses the flat 9. Sing them slowly. As you can see, Upper Structure does not necessarily mean high pitched .
Ex. 9.4
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Shall we continue on to the outer orbits? Here are the chord tones up to the eleventh.
Ex. 9.5
Let’s go all the way up to the thirteenth. Now we are for the most part totally in the upper structure of the chords.
Ex. 9.6
Crazy sounds, huh? These upper pitches turn the harmony inside out, making us aware of different possibilities and combinations of chords. John Coltrane made extensive use of upper structure pitches to reharmonize standards, giving them a unique new sound. 118.
Listening to people like Coltrane and practicing these exercises will open y ou ears. You can’t sing something that you don’t hear. What do upper structure chord tones sound like in a solo?
Here’s a sample:
Ex. 9.7
BEBOP STYLE
Bebop is a genre of Jazz that emerged in the 1940’s spearheaded by New York based musicians like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Hallmarks of the Bebop style of improvisation are chromaticism, fast tempos, and sharp, a n g u l a r1 4 melodic lines. Lines start and end in unusual places, i.e. starting a half beat before a barline and/or ending between two beats. Starting and ending phrases on off-beats adds energy and excitement to the sound. A Bebop line is usually made of eighth notes and eighth note triplets, with short off-beat rests defining the phrase. There is also extensive use of substitution chords which results in rapid harmonic rhythms. 119. 14
Angularity is defined as the use of uncommonly
wide intervals.
Bebop lines have a Baroque quality, in that they turn around on themselves, moving up a scale in steps or skips and then changing direction. Upper structure chord tones were brought into the forefront in the Bebop solo, resulting in a new sonority that permanently changed the sound of Jazz. All of the styles of Jazz that grew out its the early days are still popular today, to greater and lesser degrees. Big bands still play their lush swing arrangements, though the genre is kept alive for the most part in high schools and universities. Blues and Dixieland, or traditional Jazz, have its fans and preservationist societies. Jazz-rock fusion, Latin Jazz, all are alive and well in the clubs and concert halls. But it is Bebop that has attracted and held the greatest amount of fans and players. At first glance, a transcription of a Charlie Parker solo would seem to be just a random aggregate of notes spilling over the staff. But there is a method to the melodic line, and precise practices. One of these practices is the 7-3 and 9-5 resolution.
7-3 AND 9-5 RESOLUTIONS
Pitch resolution is the act of moving from a non or lesser chordal tone to
an important chord tone, or a chromatic or step-wise neighbor tone placed on a weak beat moving up or down to a chord tone on a strong beat. One of the most commonly used resolutions in Jazz improv is the 7-3 and 9-5 resolution. That is to say the seventh degree of one chord change moves down a half step to the third degree of the next change. The same thing occurs with ninth movement down to fifth. 7-3 and 9-5 resolutions are an integral part of the sound of modern Jazz improvisation. This application usually occurs on II-V progressions.
Ex. 9.8
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When you do your transcriptions, analyze them to f i n d the 7-3 and 9-5 resolutions. You should find quite a few.
APPROACH NOTES
We looked at approach notes in the Blues solo in Chapter V. Like the 7-3 and 9-5 resolutions, approach notes highlight and resolve to important pitches on strong beats, called target notes . There are several types of approach notes. Stepwise approach means approaching the target note diatonically, within the scale, which would be either by whole step or half step. Chromatic approach is an approach by half step. You can approach your target note from below or from above.
Ex. 9.9
A double chromatic approach is two half steps from above or below.
Ex. 9.10
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Combination approach notes approach the target note from above and
below. One commonly used combination is stepwise from above and chromatic from below.
Ex. 9.11
Combination Approach From Above And Below
This is chromaticism, going outside of the scale, that we touched on in the last chapter. Adding these tonal expansions to your improvised line gives it the harmonic complexity and circular, Baroque type movement that is integral to the Bebop sound.
BOP STYLE MOTIVES Practicing some Bop type motives can give you a feel for this type of improvised line. These motives work over a dominant seven chord, G7 in this case.
Pick out one at a time to practice and analyze.
Ex. 9.12
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BOP STYLE MOTIVES OVER G7
You can plug them into this cycle of dominant 7th chords.
Ex. 9.13
Want some more? Here are some over C7.
Ex. 9.14
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BOP STYLE MOTIVES OVER C7
SIDESLIPPING Sideslipping , an improv technique common in Bebop playing, is where you
move chromatically up or down a half step to repeat a motive. You are temporarily ‘slipping’ outside of the key center.
Ex. 9.15
Because the chromaticism creates altered tones, sideslipping adds interesting colors to your solo line, but is best used sparingly and at faster tempos.
SEQUENCES
A sequence is similar to sideslipping in that a motive is repeated. But the sequence usually fits diatonically with the changes, and is repeated several times. The use of Pentatonic Scales, that is a scale of five notes in the pattern of 1-2-3-5 in Major keys and 1- 3-4-5 in minor keys, is an example of sequencing.
QUOTES
Quotes are snippets of well known melodies that a soloist inserts in his or
her improvised line. The first phrase of songs like Take The A Train or I Love Y o u , are two commonly used quotes. Just like sideslipping, quotes are whimsical and fun when used sparingly, but overuse can sound a bit too precious.
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USING MODES
In the last chapter we looked at tonal, or key centers. Working from key centers doesn’t mean that you will never think modally or use them in your improv. On the contrary, modal playing adds a unique aspect to the sound of your solo. There was a modal movement in Jazz in the 1950’s and ‘60s that based entire compositions on this practice.
Contrast the sounds of these three different modes over a C Maj. 7 c h o r d .
Ex. 9.16
Do you understand the concept of modes more clearly now? Depending on your choice, and Jazz improvisation is all about choices, you can alter the flavor of your solo by choosing different modes. Modal playing and key centered playing are both great approaches and not mutually exclusive of each other. You can mix and match according to your personal inclinations. They are useful devices to have in your ‘bag of licks’. Thinking modally can make it easier to improvise over large sections of songs. Let’s look at a Bossa Nova-type progression. See Ex. 9.17.
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Ex. 9.17
126.
Zen Thought
Sing an A Major scale (Ionian mode) over the e n t i r e A section.
Ex. 9.18
One scale works beautifully over all of the changes. Of course we would expect the parent scale to work over the diatonic changes - II, V, I. But the scale works over the chromatic changes, G7, B dim., G , because the pitches in the A major scale are altered pitches on these chord changes, 9, 13, etc.
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Here is a sample solo using only A m a j o r . Ex. 9.19
Not bad for one little scale, wouldn’t you say? Zen Thought’s bridge is a little more complicated. In Ex. 9.20, you’ll find some scales that you could use over the changes.
Ex. 9.20
The first four bars of the bridge have different chords but the last four bars, the turnaround, find us back in A . 128.
A sample solo:
Ex. 9.21
What about the four bar coda? You can choose some scales for t h a t yourself. An A major scale over a G7 chord is a type of altered G7 scale. We’ll look at some more altered scales in the next chapter.
TONAL CENTERS
We explored tonal centers in an earlier chapter. Now, let’s look at how we can break down a harmonically complex song into its tonal centers.
129.
Ex. 9.22
Chord Progression of "All The Things You Are"
Please purchase the sheet music for the melody and lyrics. 130.
ANALYSIS - ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE
At first glance, you can see patterns and sequences in both the melody and the harmony. Also, you’ll note that it starts in a minor key (F) and ends up in its relative Major (A ). But the progression takes a lot of modulatory detours along the way. Thanks to the composer’s brilliance, all of the twists and turns make sense and they all work beautifully. If you try to improvise over the changes in this song by memorizing the root movement only, you’re going to have a harder time of it than you would breaking up the entire progression into its smaller components, the temporary key centers. Let’s do the breakdown: The first chord of the progression is F minor. Since the key signature is four flats and songs often begin on the I chord, we could think of it as tonic modulating quickly to its relative major, but we can forgo the modulation by analyzing F minor as the VI chord of A . F minor moves to B minor, up a perfect fourth. This works for two reasons. First, B minor is the diatonic IV chord in the key of F minor, so our ear readily accepts that chord change. But B minor is also the II chord in the key of A , and following it with A ’s V7 chord puts us unequivocally in the song’s major key tonic. A ’s IV chord, D , moves to G7, a tritone substitution for D , which leads the temporary key of C Major.
Ex. 9.23
A
Maj:
VI
II
IV C Maj:
VII7 (tri. sub.) V7
V7
I
I
NB: In traditional analysis, modulations are illustrated by starting the new key on the next line down, with the transitional chord(s) having two numeric designations. 131.
Here are some parent scales and modes over these first eight bars. A Major works with the first five measures, making the scale over D a Lydian mode, a commonly used Jazz scale. G Mixolydian fits over the G7, followed by a C Major scale.
Ex. 9.24
C Major moves to C minor and the opening sequence is repeated (VI-II-V-I-IV), effecting a modulation to E . Then another tritone substitution moves the key center to G Major.
Ex. 9.25
A Maj: III E Maj: VI
VI II
IV G Maj:
VII7 (tri. sub.) V7
V7
I
I
I
E Major parent scale works over the first four measures and the tonic scale can be used over A . Following the pattern of the previous eight bars, D Mixolydian is placed in measure six with a G Major scale in the last two measures. 132.
Ex. 9.26
E
A
Major Scale
Major Scale
D Mixolydian
G Major Scale
Now on to the third eight bar grouping. The first four measures stay in G Major, a change in progression consistent with a B section. The progression then modulates to E Major. Stretching traditional analysis a bit, we could call the transition chord, F minor, the seven chord of G Major, although the diatonic seven chord of a key is a half diminished rather than a minor 7th ( 5 added to a minor 7th). Putting a C aug.7 chord in the E Major progression is a chromatic rather than diatonic progression. It’s a dissonant modulation similar to the tritone substitutions we saw earlier and puts us back in the home key - C7 being the V7 chord of F minor. The augmentation of the 5th in the C7 (G / A ), beside being the melody pitch, aids the transition to F minor. See Ex. 9.27.
Ex. 9.27
G Maj: II
G Maj: E Maj: 133.
V7
VII II
I
V7
I
I
VI aug.
By now, you can probably figure out the parent scales for this section yourself. Note that an altered scale has been placed over the C Aug. 7, tailored to the requirements of the chord. This is ‘kitchen sink’ analysis, part of the creativity of Jazz improvisation.
Ex. 9.28
G Major Scale
E Major Scale
C Aug. 7 ( 6
7)
The last section of the song is twelve bars long consisting of a recap of the opening progression followed by a descending cadence and a four bar II-V-I ending.
Ex. 9.29
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And the parent scales over the chords? The usual suspects, except for the B dim.7 over which we can use an alteration of the A parent scale - a scale we’ll discuss in Chapter X.
Ex. 9.30
We’ve gone through the entire composition section by section and now, after some practice, you should be able to improvise intelligently over the entire progression. This is as complicated as it gets. Any song can be broken down and absorbed in this manner. Don’t be intimidated by a complex piece full of chromatic modulations and other harmonic twists. Once you’ve learned the root movement and the chords’ harmonic relationships, you can focus on the fun part - choosing which scales to use and expressing yourself with confidence. Remember, all of the technical information in the world won’t give you an authentic sound without listening to the music. What is swing? How much swing do you use? At what point does the tempo become so rapid that swing eighths become straight eighths? You can pick up all sorts of method books and get opinions on everything. But in the end, they are just words. Jazz needs to be heard to be properly understood. Don’t get too caught up in intellectual pronouncements and theoretical fervor. Listen, imitate, practice, and get out there and sing. 135.
X ALTERED SCALES AND CHORDS
Major and natural minor scales are the meat and potatoes of melodic improvisation. But, like the culinary artists who have devised hundreds of ways to serve up this basic fare, there are countless variations of these two scales. We’ll look at a few of them in this chapter, along with the altered chords that they work over.
ALTERED DOMINANTS
Any scale or chord that has pitches found outside of its key signature is referred to as being a ltered. Minor chords sometimes have major sevenths, and major chords can contain so many raised and lowered pitches as to become barely recognizable. The most commonly altered chord is the dominant seventh and one of the most common altered dominant is what we call a sharp nine chord. See Ex. 10.1. 136.
Ex. 10.1
The sharp nine chord is blues-based, containing as it does both a major third and a minor third (the enharmonic of the raised ninth). As you remember from Chapter V, the sliding between major and minor third sounds a tonality between the two pitches, sonority associated with African based American Blues. This chord probably developed in the playing of Blues influenced Jazz musicians and then, as is the usual procedure in all types of music, the theory guys came running up behind the players and gave it a name. They couldn’t call it a major/minor chord, that would be too ambiguous for music theorists, who rival taxonomists in their fervent desire to bring order and classification to the messy fluctuations that occur with an ever evolving art form. Another commonly used altered dominant is the ‘flat 9 - flat 13 chord’. Sometimes referred to in lead sheets simply as ‘alt.’, as in G alt., or C7 alt.
Ex.10.2
137.
ALTERED SCALES An altered mixolydian mode works over altered dominant chords. It is composed of an alternating series of half and whole steps and is called a Half Diminished scale.
Ex. 10.3
C Half Diminished
The half diminished scale has eight pitches (not counting the octave), with both a major third and a minor third, similar to the blues scale. There is also a flat 9 (enharmonic of a 2) and a sharp 11 ( 4 ) . The Whole Diminished scale is also a series of alternating whole and half steps, this time beginning with a whole step. It is used over a diminished chord - root, 3, 5, and 7, or 6.
Ex. 10.4
C Whole Diminished
BEBOP SCALES Adding an extra note to a basic seven note scale aligns the consonant pitches metrically. An example would be to place a 5 between the 5 and 6 pitches in a Major scale. In a Dorian mode, you could add a major 3rd between the 3 and 4. In a Mixolydian, or Dominant 7 scale, you could add the major 7th. See Ex. 10.5.
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Ex. 10.5
Here are some variations:
Ex. 10.6
Ex. 10.7
Jazz Melodic Minor
Ex. 10.8
Bebop Dominant
MINOR II-V-I In minor keys, tonic is a minor chord. Therefore, the chords in a minor progression must be altered in order to be diatonically compatible. The II chord in a minor key has a flatted 5th and the V chord has a flatted 9th and 13th. 139.
Ex. 10.9
C minor’s key signature is three flats - B , E , and A . The flat 5 of the II chord (A ) is the same pitch as the 9 of the V chord. The modal concept, or parent scale, is the same in minor keys. You can think key signature or use altered scales over the chords. A half diminished scale works over the altered dominant.
Ex. 10.10
UPPER STRUCTURE PIANO VOICINGS Jazz musicians who play chordal instruments, piano, guitar, vibes, use upper structure chord tones in their voicings. As mentioned earlier, they often voice their chords without the root, leaving them ten fingers with which to place all kinds of colors in their chords. If you are working on your piano skills and want to play some hipper, fuller chords, try the voicings in the next example. They are given in a II-V-I progression because it is such a common format for organizing these chords in Jazz standards. Here’s one way to voice II-V-I chords. Call them ‘A Form’ voicings. 140.
A Form Voicings
Ex. 10.11
C:
II
V
I
With roots in the left hand or played by the bassplayer, we have four note chords in the voicing. The minor 9 chord has, from bottom to top, the 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th. The dominant 13 chord contains the 7th, 9th, 3rd, and 13th. And lastly, the major 6 chord has the 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 9th.
Here is another way to voice the same pitches. Call it ‘B Form’.
B Form Voicings
Ex. 10.12
C:
II
I
B Form In Minor Key
Ex. 10.13
Cm:
V
II
V
I
N.B. Remember from Chapter IV 13 chords imply a lowered seventh. 141.
ALTERED MOTIVES Some Bop-style motives to play over altered II-V’s. Ex. 10.14
PHRASING
We’ve covered a lot of ground in the last ten chapters. This theoretical knowledge, acquired through long hours of study and practice, is a challenge that rewards the vocalist with the ability to hold his or her own as an equal partner on the bandstand with an unlimited freedom expression. And when it comes to relating to the audience, the singer has a built-in advantage over the instrumentalist - words. Words tell a story and draw us in, crossing the gap between performer and listener that no melody, no matter how thrilling or heartbreakingly beautiful, can never completely close. The challenge for the vocalist is to find that happy medium between pure emotion and studied intellect, forging a personal style that is a unique statement of her own experience. Keep your presentation personal, informal. Whether scatting or singing lyrics, you want to express yourself in a conversational manner. You are telling a story. Think about the best storytellers you know. They draw you in, slowly, like gently playing a fishing line. You’ll hook your audience if you give them a chance to become interested in what you have to say. Don’t hit them over the head with your brilliance. Lay back. Stay relaxed. Invite them to share in your delicious secret. 142.
XI YOU ARE FEELING VERY RELAXED...
Most of you are already familiar with the technical aspects of vocal production, the concepts of support and placement. If not, get yourself to a qualified instructor right away! Books are a great supplement to private lessons in the theoretical areas but there is no substitute for personal coaching in vocal production. The instructor doesn’t have to be a Jazz singer. On the contrary, a classical or ‘legit’ teacher may be your best bet when it comes to developing the right technique and avoiding the pitfall of struggling to unlearn bad habits. Having said that, if there’s one thing that bears a word or two it is the importance of relaxation in the upper part of the body when singing specifically the shoulders, neck, lower jaw, lips, and tongue. This is especially important because the mental concentration required for a person learning to improvise, not to mention doing it in front of an audience, can create tension in the body. It is critical that you refrain from tightening or holding in these areas.
143.
The muscles of the larynx are divided into two groups: (a) those inside the larynx which directly control phonation (intrinsic). (b) those which move the larynx as a whole and keep it suspended in the neck (extrinsic). If you can keep the outer voluntary muscles relaxed, the inner ones will follow suit.
RELAXATION EXERCISES
The following are some exercises that can be used before starting your singing practice to relax these important muscles:
1) Starting at the hairline and working down to the lower neck, gently massage the muscles with your fingertips. Allow the face to fall into as limp a condition as possible. Rub the fingers over your closed eyes. Slacken the jaw. 2) Allow the tongue to hang limply over the top of your lower front teeth as if you were unconscious. This means hang, do not push it. 3) The ‘swallowing muscles’ are attached to the mandible (jawbone) from the base to the tip, converging upon the hyoid bone at the top of the larynx. Using the fingertips of both hands, gently press the soft part of the throat on either side of the larynx, starting at the hinge of the jaw and working under the chin and down to the neck. Massage until the muscles are soft and pliable. 4) Closing your hand into a fist, press it upwards against the bottom of the jaw while pushing the jaw down in an isometric type of resistance. Continue until you feel a stretch in the muscles at the joints of your jawbone. You will find that the jaw opens more freely with a wider range of movement after doing this exercise. 5) Take the chin between the thumb and forefinger and move it up and down. There may be resistance at first, with the muscles of the jaw either 144.
fighting the movement or making it happen. Not until you are able to perform this exercise successfully will the jaw be completely relaxed. 6) Finish with neck and shoulder rolls and stay loose!
THE JAW AND THE TONGUE
The jaw is a critical tool in vocal production and is one of the most difficult areas to relax in the body. Aside from the fact that the muscles of the jaw are extremely powerful, exerting some five hundred pounds of pressure in the act of chewing food, they are also postural muscles like those of the back, constantly working against gravity. And, as in the back, we tend to hold the tension and stresses of everyday living in the muscles of the jaw. Why do we need to relax the jaw? Firstly, because that is the aperture of our instrument and it is a lot easier to push air out of a large opening than a small one. Check out your album covers and you will see that the best singers often have the biggest mouths! We also want our tone to resonate and sound resonates more readily through soft tissue, that is relaxed muscles, than it does through the denser material of bone, cartilage, and tightened muscles. Remember how it feels when you’ve just had a cavity filled, before the novocaine has worn off? That ‘stupid look’ where you jaw and tongue just kind of hang there is actually perfect for singing. Another way to get this feeling is to imagine that small weights are attached to your lower jaw, pulling it down gently. The tongue is the second strongest muscle in the body after the heart, and it extends down to the middle of the neck where it is attached to a clump of muscles in the throat. It takes a lot of practice and concentration to keep it relaxed, especially when producing the varied colors and tones that are used by Jazz singers. A good way to check it is to place a thumb directly under the chin. It should feel soft and pliant. Now start to sing. Has it suddenly become a brick wall? You need to keep practicing until you are singing everything with a relaxed tongue.
145.
BREATHING
After a lesson spent vocalizing with a good teacher, you may find yourself floating out of the door as if on a cloud. It’s easy to see why, you’ve just passed an hour doing something you love with someone who cares about singing as deeply as you do. But you’ve also energized your body with a concentrated session of deep breathing. Most people don’t give much thought to breathing, after all it is something that happens naturally. But singers, like all wind players, power their instruments with their breath and therefore are more aware of minor daily fluctuations in lung capacity. Factors outside of our control such as infection, stress, allergies, and smog, can be mitigated with conscious breathing. Conscious breathing does much more than refresh the oxygen supply in our bodies, it uses the energy of air flow to do the work of singing for us. In India, this energy is called prana , a metaphysical concept that encompasses much more than simply air moving in and out of the lungs. Prana is the vital force that animates our souls. It is literally the breath of life. We singers are fortunate in that we get to make full use of the energizing and cleansing aspects of deep breathing in the course of our work. When we learn how to breath properly for singing, the technique becomes a natural part of our existence and improves every aspect of our lives - physical, mental, and emotional.
SUPPORT
All sorts of hazy concepts such as ‘using the diaphragm’ and ‘breathing from the stomach’ are tossed about when singing is discussed. Let’s make a quick tour of the basics of respiration. The diaphragm is a thin sheet of muscles that separates the thorax or chest cavity from the abdominal region. When the brain is alerted that carbon dioxide must be expelled and oxygen replenished, it sends a signal to the diaphragm. The diaphragm stretches downward, pulling the lungs with it and creating a vacuum inside the lungs. Air rushes in to fill up this empty space. To create the deep breath and correspondingly deep release needed for singing we need to stretch the diaphragm to its utmost capacity. We do that by utilizing the abdominal muscles. 146.
If you expand your chest when taking a breath, you are not using the full potential of your diaphragm. Also, holding air in the upper part of your lungs creates tension in the chest and shoulders and we’ve already learned that tension in the upper body constricts vocal production. It can a challenge to retrain our bodies out of life-long habits, especially when faced with cultural pressures that adhere to a certain standard of posture. Watch a baby in her crib and you will see proper breathing technique, her tiny stomach moving in and out with each breath. As children we breathed properly, only to become stifled as we matured by the admonitions of adults advocating the ‘military stance’ - shoulders back, chest out, stomach in, and so forth. You may find it nearly impossible to expand the abdominals to facilitate the breath after years of ‘holding in your gut’ and thousands of crunches at the gym. Don’t worry, flexing these muscles in a convex manner will only increase their tone. A good way to practice is by lying down on your back on the floor and breathing deeply. You’ll feel a greater expansion in the abdominals as it is difficult to lift the chest in this position. While still on the floor, try singing something. You’ll be surprised at how easy it is. Part of that ease is because the floor is supporting your head which allows the neck and shoulder muscles to relax. But the main reason is that you are breathing deeply. When you stand up, you’ll have to consciously expand the abdominals as you breathe to replicate what occurred naturally on the floor. Put a hand on your stomach and push it out as you take a breath. Another trick is to imagine an opening in your lower back where the air rushes in as you inhale. It won’t be long before you are breathing this way as a matter of course, not only when singing but all of the time. Another aspect of the support mechanism is the use of the lowe r intercostals, the muscles surrounding the ribcage. Right around your natural waistline, push outward with these muscles, holding that expansion as you take a few breaths. Try this exercise to access the intercostals: breath out in a ‘sssst’ fashion, like air leaking from a hole in a bicycle tire. Continue until you are completely out of air. You will feel the intercostals tense and expand as they fight the natural tendency to collapse the ribcage as you reach the end of your breath. The intercostals help us, especially in the higher register of our voice, by powering the sound into the upper parts of the head where it needs to resonate. All this talk of holding and tensing seems antithetical to the relaxation advised in the beginning of this chapter. You need to mentally separate the upper and lower half of your body and relate to them in two different modes. Everything above the diaphragm should be completely relaxed, just open space where the air and the sound it carries can flow unimpeded. But from the waist 147.
down you are a powerhouse - sturdy and strong. This ‘fighting stance’ literally starts from the ground up, where you grip the floor with your toes, balancing your weight evenly between your two feet. The legs are strong, knees slightly bent, the pelvis opened to accommodate the movement of the abdominals. If you’ve ever studied ballet or karate you are already familiar with this posture. Stand tall, as if a string were pulling you up from the top of your head without losing the natural S curve of your back. Now you’re ready to sing.
VISUALIZATION
Carrying your instrument around in your body can have its drawbacks. A pianist can have a bad cold, but when he or she sits down to play, the piano won’t have laryngitis. Its tone will sound as clearly as on any other day. But we have advantages. Just like any other part of our body, our minds can exert a certain amount of control over our voice. This is where visualization comes into play. You can conjure what kind of sound you want by focusing on the qualities that best describe the tone and timbre that you desire. Think lush, velvety, warm round tones, honey dripping from every rounded vowel. Or maybe you hear your sound ringing out - clear, direct, and clean. Imagine your range stretching lower and higher. As the philosophers say, we are only limited by the boundaries of our imagination. Visualizing how you want to sound is the first step toward developing your own style, the special qualities that distinguish you from everyone else.
OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND SAY AH
It may seem like a no-brainer to say you need to open your mouth to sing. But you really need to open your mouth wider for singing than you are accustomed to for speaking. It’s a lot harder to push sound through a small hole than a larger one. Look in the mirror and sing something. Can you see space between your upper and lower teeth? If not, pull your jaw back, not down. 148.
Pulling your jaw down will distort the vowels you are singing. Remem b e r , we only sing vowels. Consonants make us able to be understood, but we close our mouths or aspirate to make them, so you are really only singing (that is, holding a sound) on the vowel sounds in a phrase. For example:
‘A foggy day in London town’ sung is pronounced:
‘uh (ff)ah( g )e e(d)a-ee ee(n) (L)u h( n ) ( d ) u(n)
(t)a - o h(n)’
So it is important that you keep your vowels true, as in properly pronounced. It not only affects the clarity of what you sing, but keeps you on the correct pitch as well. Listen to yourself as you sing. It’s amazing how little we actually listen to our sound, as we are almost always focusing on other things - the lyrics, our delivery, the audience when we are performing. Keeping your vowels ‘forward’ in the mouth is an important component to good sound production. The ‘ee” vowel is a naturally forward vowel. due to the shape the tongue makes when forming it. But ‘ah’, ‘eh’, ‘oh’, and ‘oo’ have a flat tongue and can be placed toward the back of the throat if we don’t consciously focus it toward the front of the mouth. Keeping energy in the cheeks and upper lip when forming vowels will help in this forward placement.
SINGING PRINCIPLES
Put an ALWAYS before each of these singing principles: 1. Have a clear concept of the pure vowel before you sing it. 2. Think the vowel sound as you sustain the tone. 3.
Pronounce vowels in a forward manner.
4. Release each vowel externally. (No holding inside)
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5.
Release the tongue.
6.
Keep the back of the tongue high and w i d e. (Touching the upper molars)
7.
Rest tip of the tongue against lower front teeth for vowels.
8.
Maintain h i g h cheeks.
9.
Release the lower jaw.
10. Swing jaw down and back when opening. (Do not pull straight down) 11. Think of the cheeks bouncing up when opening mouth. 12. Keep a space between the back molars when singing vowels. 13. Release the throat muscles. 14. Allow the larynx to maintain a resting position. 15. As pitches rise, allow more space in the jaw and think a stretch in the nasal pharynx. 16. Reinforce body support as pitches rise. 17. Think high resonance. 18. Allow resonance response to adjust for vowel and pitches changes. (Resonance cannot be put in one spot - each vowel and pitch feels differ e n t ) 19. Make sure tones feels floaty. 20. Maintain proper body alignment. 21. Breathe expansively and deeply. 22. Maintain body expansion and high ribs throughout. 23. Release upper abdominal muscles.
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24. Think notes on one level. 25. Begin ascending phrases with a concept of height. 26. Let the jaw and lips adjust for vowel and pitch changes - not the tongue and the larynx. 27. Release the throat, tongue, and jaw on inhalation. 28. Prepare your p h r a s e . 29. Warm up the vocal system gently. 30. Let the brain and the breathe do your work.
SCATTING EXERCISES
There are some exercises you can do to open yourself up mentally to the free fall of improvisation. They are fun, especially when done in a classroom setting or with a partner. They’ll build trust and confidence in your individual performance and help to release the natural inhibitions that we all feel. Try the following drills on a Twelve Bar Blues, using a slow playalong CD or accompanying yourself on the piano: 1. Ugly/Beautiful First, sing a chorus of the worst sounding solo you can muster. Then, sing a chorus of the most beautiful sounding one. Your thought process is what is important here, not your performance. 2. Create/Imitate Get a friend or your instructor to trade ‘twos’ (alternating two bars each) with you. Copy and improvise on each other’s ideas. 3. Talk/Play Say something for two bars and then sing for two bars, alternating through the chorus. Talk about what’s going on in your life, talk about your cat. 151.
4. Bragging Session “Brag on yourself’ for one chorus, telling the class or your partner how great you are, and then scat one chorus. 5. Verbose/Laconic Sing one chorus using as many notes as possible. chorus with as few notes as possible.
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Follow that with a
XII I NEED A GIG!
After all the hard work spent learning your craft, you want to get out there and put it into practice. And that’s just what you should be doing. There is no book you can read to prepare you for actual performance situations, no pill you can take to cure stage fright. The only way to learn how to perform is on the job. Another thing to ponder is the fact that singers are rarely sidemen, musicians hired by a bandleader for a specific date. Young instrumentalists learn the ropes as sidemen; they keep a low profile, watch and listen. They see how tunes are counted out, learn the common keys and tempos, hand signals, and body language - all the components of a live, unrehearsed playing situation. It would be worth the extra money to hire an experienced pro to function as your bandleader. It will make the engagement run more smoothly, which makes for happier musicians, and you can watch and learn from him or her. Perhaps you were a theater or music person in high school and have already done some time under the footlights. All the better, for you may be 153.
beyond that mind-numbing, fever-inducing, heart-palpitating physiological response called stage fright. But there is a big difference between lighthearted school productions and professional playing situations, not to mention the added pressure of leading a band, or at the very least, as the vocalist, being the center of attention. You can’t hide behind your drumset like that guy way in the back, or ease off the piano when you are not sure of the changes. You’re out there, babe, right in the front and when things go awry, guess who gets the strange looks from the audience? It’s something that every vocalist needs to confront at some point, better now that two years from now. Don’t think you are ready? You’ll never think you’re ready so don’t let that stop you. You can spend the rest of your life singing to your cat in your living room but it’s not as much fun as sharing yourself with other musicians and an enthusiastic audience. Find a place to play and some musicians to play with. Because Jazz is a communal process, you need to find a community. This is one of the side benefits of going to college for Jazz Studies or just music in general. You’re seeing other aspiring musicians every day; friendships and professional alliances grow easily out of that milieu of common goals and aspirations. Many well known groups are composed of musicians who started playing together in college. If you are not in school, you’ll have to be proactive in order to find kindred souls. Do you like to go out at night? Hopefully you do, for you’ll need to become a fixture in the local Jazz clubs. ‘Making the scene’ is, for better or worse, a part of the process when you’re starting out. If your spouse, significant other, or best friend is into Jazz you’ve hit the jackpot, for checking out the scene can be as much of a social occasion as a serious work search. Don’t be shy. Walk up to musicians and introduce yourself (just not while they’re playing!). They may not be in the mood to talk but the majority of times you will find a welcoming response. Jazz musicians appreciate people who are into Jazz - there are so few of them out there. When the musician asks you if you are a player, tell them that you are learning to sing Jazz. Depending on the type of show they are doing, there’s a chance they may ask you to sit in. Jump on it! As the old saw goes, ‘success is preparation meeting opportunity’. You’ve been practicing and have learned a few good sit-in selections. Why not? You are going to need at least one accompanist if you don’t feel comfortable accompanying yourself on piano or guitar. When you meet guys who are receptive and friendly, feel them out as potential collaborators. If they are just starting out as you are, they may be interested in getting together informally to work up some tunes. 154.
Professional players, on the other hand, may not be so open to getting together without some financial remuneration. Pay them for their time - it’s worth it. Hiring a pianist to rehearse with you is as vital to your development as is paying your voice teacher for your weekly lessons. An old hand can help you with keys, intros and tags, writing out charts for your book, as well as just being a goldmine of practical information on music and the business. Musicians are generous people when it comes to sharing their knowledge and love for Jazz. Your pianist may ‘take you under his wing’, giving you contacts and other help to get you started.
WHERE THE GIGS ARE
Perhaps making the club scene doesn’t gibe with your lifestyle. You may have small children or you may be a morning person who can’t stay awake after sundown. There are still some performing outlets available to you. Check into a vocal jazz choir at your local community college. Chances are they have one. With an audition and for a low tuition fee you could be singing in rehearsals once or twice a week. You’d be meeting other vocalists, building up your c h o p s (the actual physical part of your craft), and improving your reading skills. These groups generally give a couple of performances each semester, both on campus and off. Being part of a group is a great low pressure way to ease into the act of performing in front of an audience. If you are a Christian, find a church that features hip music, there are quite a few of them these days, and join. Many of the larger churches pay professional singers every week or at special holidays to sing at their services. You could be one of those professionals. If you are Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindi, Pagan, or otherwise; you don’t need to be a member of a church to sing there (but it probably helps). Christmas is a busy season for musicians of all types. Beside church, there are singers that get together only at this time of the year to form caroling groups, both professionally and just for fun. Early birds can also find daytime work doing casuals. Weddings are often held on weekend days or early evenings. Brides-to-be hire singers for both the ceremony and of course in bands for the reception. Some restaurants hold Jazz jams during brunch on Sunday mornings.
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You night owls out there have even more options. There are small restaurants and cafes that would hire a singer/pianist duo. Larger restaurants and clubs feature trios and quartets. If you like to sing other types of music as well as Jazz, you could find work in a pop or dance band that plays the local bars, clubs, or hotels.
WHO TO CALL
That little cafe or restaurant around the corner could use some live music to perk up the atmosphere; they just don’t know it yet! They need you to enlighten them. Being a freelance musician, and all musicians are freelancers, means you are a business concern with one boss, one employee, and a sales force of one - you. This is not an occupation for the shy and retiring. And getting yourself gigs can sometimes take as much time as practicing and rehearsing. Patronize that little restaurant or cafe and check out the scene. Maybe they already have live music. Is it the same band every week or do they rotate several groups? What kind of music do they play? Beside you getting to know the lay of the land, owners and managers are much more responsive to pitches from people they’ve seen before. Once you’ve scoped out the situation, approach the manager or owner and offer your services. If they are interested, the first thing they will want to know is where else you have performed. Be honest, but it’s all right to put a little spin on your resume. If you got up and sang with the band at cousin Lucy’s wedding because your mother insisted, well, that’s a place where you have performed and you don’t need to mention Lucy or mom. Most likely you’ll be asked to audition or at least proffer an audio tape of your performance. This means doing some preparation with the accompanist you have already been working with. You can make a good tape in your living room with some professional sound equipment and a DAT machine. If you don’t mind spending some money, you could make a really good tape at a small recording studio. Don’t let a wily club owner talk you into ‘auditioning’ for the enti r e evening. Doing an hour or so is fine, perhaps you can offer a trade of music for some food or drink. Unless you’ve hooked up with a fellow novice, you’ll probably have to pay your accompanist - most pros wouldn’t get too excited at the prospect of hauling equipment and playing for dinner.
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Make one place your focus until you get an outcome - either a gig or a definite ‘never going to happen’. Then set your sights on another possible venue. Even if you have secured a gig, engagements don’t last forever. You’ll want to get something else lined up. And it’s easier to get jobs when you are already performing somewhere. You can record your performances or invite future employers to come and see you. Getting into the casual scene is also a matter of introducing yourself to people. If you have met some musicians who do casuals, ask them who the contractor is and call him or her. Once you get yourself into a scene there is a snowball effect and your name will start to circulate. Then the phone will start ringing. You won’t have to sell yourself, your talent and competent work will do the selling for you. Check the bulletin boards at the local music stores, some bands put up notices when they are looking for personnel. And then there are the classified sections in local alternative newspapers. Larger cities often have musician referral services although you will have to pay a fee to access their lists or have your name added to the roster.
EQUIPMENT
Hopefully you have a piano or keyboard at home now to practice with. What about the places that you are checking out? Do they have a piano? A sound system? If not, you will have to provide the equipment yourself. If a club doesn’t have a piano, your accompanist should have one and an amplifier to support it. You’ll have to pay him or her more to bring their own equipment, though. The best place to play when you are starting out is someplace that has all the equipment you need, that way you just bring a microphone and the pianist just brings him or herself. Speaking of microphones, that is something you should have at the very least. You’ll be acquiring sound reinforcement equipment (called a P.A.) as you start to work professionally, start with a microphone and cord. Many people use the Shure SM-58 brand of microphones. They are relatively inexpensive, you can buy a new one for under a hundred dollars, and they are practically indestructible. Used SM-58’s can be picked up for half that amount. The cord, or cable that you use with it should have an SLR connection, that is a three prong connection to accommodate most P.A. mixing boards. You should also get a ‘quarter inch’ adaptor for use with older sound systems or small guitar amps. 157.
You could also use a portable guitar type of amp for rehearsals or gigs at smaller venues. The sound isn’t great for vocals but if you need to lug something to a rehearsal, it’s good enough. Music schools don’t always provide amps and sound systems for everyone and you could find yourself trying to shout over your assigned combo. It’s more fun to sing rather than shout and more respectable to be able to handle your own sound reinforcement needs. Once you have acquired a mic and an amp, do some practicing with it at home. Microphone technique opens up new possibilities of timbre and tone depending on how closely you hold it to your mouth. Also, you’ll want to acquaint yourself with the range of the microphone so you learn where to set the speaker(s) to prevent feedback. As you become more involved in performing, you’ll want to have your own sound system. House systems in clubs can range from fabulous to prehistoric and you want to present yourself in the best light possible. Musicians who play electric instruments take great care selecting their equipment. You should, too. Your microphone, mixing board, and speakers are as much a part of your sound as your voice. Go to the music stores that cater to pros and do some research. If you can’t shell out the money for all new equipment, check the want ads after you’ve decided on what you need. You’ll be upgrading your system as you become more experienced. Start with the basics for now; a mic, mic stand, cables, a mixing board with reverb, amplifier (they could be one unit) and two speakers. As time goes by and you start to make some money playing music, you may want to add items such as a stand alone reverb unit or a better grade of microphone and board. You’ll have to transport this equipment so think portable or make arrangements to hire a cartage guy to get your equipment to the gigs. Casual gigs will usually have a sound system provided by one of the players who is paid an extra fee for his trouble, all you’ll need to bring is a mic, cable, mic stand, music stand, and your book. You are embarking on a wonderful new phase to your life, full of frustrations tempered with sweet victories. Think big, stay focused, and don’t sweat the obstacles; bulldoze them out of your way. Is that your face on the new CD in the record store?
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GLOSSARY OF TERMS A Section Abstract Improvisation Altered Dominant Altered Scales Altered Pitches Angularity Approach Notes Arc Arpeggios Auxiliary Tones B Section Behind The Beat Bird’s Eye Block Chord Blue Notes Book Bridge Bridgeless Standard Bright Casuals Changes Chops Chord Charts Chord Tones Chorus Chromatic Approach Chromatic Scale Chromaticism Circle of Fifths Club Dates Coda Comb. Approach Notes Common Time Common Tones Compound Intervals Consonant Tones Contractors Da Capo Al Signe Da Signe Al Coda 159.
25 8 136 102 136 119 75 77 66 75 25 7 104 52 70 37 25 26 124 38 15 184 15 14 25 121 15 99 44 37 25 122 46 59 10 14 38 48 47
Descending Cadence Degrees Diatonically Dominant Dominant Seven Downbeat Downbeats Enharmonics Extensions Fake Books Feel Fermata First Ending Five of Four Fixed Do Flatted Intervals Form Free Jazz General Business Grace Notes Half Diminished Scale Half Step Harmonic Minor Scale Harmonic Rhythm Head Intercostals Intervallic Relationships Intervals Inversions Jazz Eighths Jazz Standards Jazz Waltz Lead Sheets Legato Modes Motive Movable Do Non-Resolving Dominants Open Sections
89 11 16 11 17 74 4 16 147 39 105 104 58 97 60 13 24 24 38 75 138 11 17 68 25 147 81 9 15 5 6 46 37 61 20 74 60 82 80
Out Chorus Outlining the Changes Outside Outside Gigs Parent Scale Passing Tone Pentatonic Scales Pickup Pitch Resolution Polychordalism Polyharmony Prana Progression Quality Quotes Refrain Reharmonize Relative Major Relative Minor Release Repeat Sign Rest Riffs Right On It Root Position Chords Rootless Voicings Rhythm Changes Second A Second Ending Secondary Dominants Sequence Sharp Nine Chord Shell Voicings Shout Chorus Shuffle Feel Sidemen Sideslipping Simple Intervals Singing Over Changes Sit In Six-eight Time Slashes 160.
25 59 138 38 83 75 147 74 120 115 115 146 15 14 124 25 118 44 44 25 46 73 76 104 15 102 28 25 58 82 124 136 81 95 105 153 124 10 83 43 46 63
Standard Key Stating The Head Step-down Progression Step-wise Step-wise Approach Straight Eighths Sub-dominant Substitution Chords Superimposed Triads Swing Feel Tag Take The Pickup Target Note Tempo Rub a t o Temporary Key Centers Temporary Tonal Centers Tetrachords Text-focused Improv. Tonal Centers Tonic Top Transcribing Transpose Triad Tritone Tritone Substitution Turnaround Twelve Bar Blues Two Bars Up Front Upbeats Upper Structure Pitches Vamp Vamping Vocalese Voicing Waltz Time Whole Diminished Scale Whole Step Whole Tone Scale
34 25 86 75 121 31 11 54 115 5 101 105 75 30 82 82 85 7 82 17 25 113 39 14 91 91 80 28 106 4 14 80 80 114 14 46 138 11 13
Sample Discography Cannonball Adderly The Best Of Cannonball Adderly Louis Armstrong Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines Betty Carter Inside Betty C a r t e r Now It’s My T u r n Betty C a r t e r John Coltrane Giant Steps My Favorite Things Blue Train Miles Davis Kind of Blue Milestones Round About Midnight Someday My Pricnce Will Come Ursula Dudziak Midnight Rain Duke Ellington Duke Ellington - 1 9 4 0 Bill Evans The Second Trio Spring Leaves The Tony Bennett Bill Evans A l b u m The Village Vanguard Sessions Ella Fitzgerald Ella In Berlin The Duke Ellington Songbook Fine And Mellow More Ella Fitzgerald Aretha Franklin Ten Years Of Gold Herbie Hancock Maiden Voyage Round Midnight (Soundtrack) Barry Harris Tokyo - 1 9 7 6 Coleman Hawkins Cool Groove Billie Holiday The Billie Holiday Story Billie’s Blues More Billie Holiday
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Riverside Smithsonian Capitol Roulette Bet-Car Atlantic Atlantic Blue Note Columbia Columbia Columbia Columbia Arista Smithsonian Milestone Milestone Fantasy Milestone Verve Verve Pablo Priceless Atlantic Blue Note Warner Bros Zanadu Drive Archive Columbia Columbia Priceless
Freddie Hubbard The Body And Soul Straight Life Al Jarreau Look To The Rainbow Eddie Jefferson The Jazz Singer The Main M a n Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross The Best Of Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross Tania Maria The Real Tania Maria:Wild! Carmen McCrae I’m Coming Home Again Bette Midler Bette Midler Thelonius Monk Thelonius Monk’s Greatest Hits Mark Murphy Stolen ... And Other M o m e n t s Anita O’Day Wave Charlie Parker Bird/ The Savoy Recordings Charlie Parker/The Verve Years ( 1 9 5 2 - 5 4 ) Bird On Verve (Vol. 8) Bird At St. Nick’s King Pleasure T h e Source The Pointer Sisters Pointer Sisters Live At The Opera House Bud Powell The Amazing Bud Powell (Vol 2 ) Flora Purim 500 Miles High Open Your Eyes, You Can Fly Sonny Rollins Saxophone Collossus Joshua Redman Moodswing Mel Torme Live At The Maisonette Sarah Vaughan Crazy And Mixed U p Sarah Vaughan and Count Basie The Sarah Vaughan Years Dinah Washington The Jazz Sides Joe Williams Joe Williams Best Of Count Basie Joe Williams Live
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Impulse! CTI Records Warner Bros. Inner City Inner City Columbia Picante MCA Atlantic Columbia 32 JAZZ Castle Savoy Verve Verve Fantasy Prestige Blue Thumb Blue Note Milestone Milestone Prestige Warner Bros. Atlantic Pablo T o d a y Roulette Roulette EMS Verve Fantasy
INDEX 7-3, 9-5 Resolutions I-VI-II-V progression Intros II-V-I progression Soloing o v e r Minor II-V-I V of IV Abstract improvisation All The Things You A r e - anal. Altered D o m i n a n t s Altered Bop motives Altered scales American Folksong Approach n o t e s
120-1 78-9 101-2 80-2 83-4 139-40 82 8 130-35 136-7 142 138-9 50-52 75, 1 2 1 - 2 2
Bebop style 119-20 Bop-style motives 122-3, 1 4 2 Scales 138-9 Behind the b e a t 7 Blue notes 70 Blues Arpeggios 66-7, 1 1 7 - 1 8 Blues scale 70-3 Building a solo 76-7 Derivation of folksong 50-2 Harmonic d e v e l o p m e n t 52-4 History 49-53 Jazz Blues f o r m 54-6 Lowered s e v e n t h 53 Minor Blues 56-7 Modes 65-6, 6 7 - 7 0 Motives 74-5 Scales 70-73 Substitution c h o r d s 54 Twelve Bar F o r m 28-9, 53, 6 3 - 7 Upper struct. chord tones 1 1 5 - 1 9 Variations 55-6 Bridgeless S t a n d a r d s 26 Body And Soul - i n t r o 105 Book 37-8 Bossa Nova 26-7 Analysis 126-29 Codas 110-11 Intros 103 Breathing 146 Bridge 25-6
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Casuals Centerpiece - tag Changes Chord c h a r t s Chord symbols Chord t o n e s Upper s t r u c t u r e
38-9, 1 5 7 107 15 15,37 42-5 14 115-19
Chords, descriptions Circle of fifths Common t o n e s Compound intervals Counting off a tune
16 44 59 10-11 105-6
Diatonic relationships Dominant Dominant s e v e n
16-17 11 17
Ear training Endings, first and s e c o n d Enharmonics Equipment
19 47-8 13-14 157-8
Fall Foliage Fake b o o k s Form Four bar p h r a s e s Frankie and J o h n n i e Free Jazz Gender issue Gigs, finding Girl From Ipanema I n t r o
100 39 24-5 29 50-2 24 2-3 153-7 103
Half Diminished scale Half s t e p s Harmonic minor scale Harmonic r h y t h m Here’s That Rainy D a y Coda Hurry Up And Love M e
138 9 17 68 110 32-3
I Thought About Y o u - i n t r o Improvisation Intervals Intros Inversions
109 6-7 9-11 101-11 15-16
Jaw and t o n g u e
145
Johnny B. Goode
58
Key signatures
43-6
Lady Is A T r a m p A nalysis Tag
87-94 108
Misty - i n t r o Modes Using
104 17-18, 2 3 82, 1 2 5 - 2 9
Now’s The T i m e
55
Passing t o n e s Parent scales Peel Me A Grape - intro Phrasing Piano Importance of Jazz voicings Upper structure voicings Polychordalism Progressions I-VI-II-V II-V-I Soloing on II-V-I Prom Night Barbie
75 83 104 142 3 102-3 140-1 115-16 15-16 78-9 80-84 83-4 30
Quotes
124
Relaxation Repeats Repertoire Rhythm Rhythm Changes Rock and Roll Root position c h o r d s Rootless voicings
143-5 47 6 4-5 28 57-8 15 102
Satin Doll analysis Scales Scatting syllables exercises Sections Sequences Sharp nine c h o r d Shout c h o r u s Sideslipping Sidemen
84-7 11-13
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61-2 151-2 25-6 124 136-7 95-7 124 153
Signs and t e r m s Simple intervals Singers, Jazz Singing Principles Sitting I n Solfege Standard k e y Standards Step-Down Progression Stolen M o m e n t s Stormy M o n d a y Stormy Weather (A section) Subdominant Substitution C h o r d s Superimposed t r i a d s Support
46-8 10-11 7-8 149-51 36-7 60 34-5 6 95 56 31, 96-97 79 11 54 115-16 146-8
Tags Take A Trane Tell Me Where To Scratch Text-focused Improvisation Time signatures Tonal c e n t e r s Tonic Transcriptions Transposing Triads Tritone substitution Turnarounds Sub chords in Twelve Bar Blues
106-8 99 56 6, 9 5 46 82, 8 4 - 7 17 113-14 39-41 14 91, 1 0 9 - 1 0 80 90 28, 63-83
University, Jazz in Upper structure chord t o n e s Visualizati o n Vowels Vocalese
3 115-18 148 148-9 114
Whole Diminished scale Whole s t e p s
138 9
Zen T h o u g h t
126
