Many of the reharmonization techniques of the musicians of the 1940’s centered around superimposing or substituting progressions, most commonly through the use of ii -V’s, -V’s, o!er the e"isting progressions of traditional standards# $hese traditional pop-tunes %ere predominantly composed of basic harmonies& Ma'or chords (triads), minor chords, * V chords, and contained simple chord progressions that had little harmonic motion# $he progression belo% is an e"ample of a static V chord commonly found in these traditional tunes&
+nstead of playing o!er a static V sound for t%o bars, bebop musicians %ould play a ii- chord for one bar and the V for the second bar&
r, the original V chord could be replaced %ith its tri-tone substitution&
Reharmonizing standards Replacing V7 with ii-V7 s the abo!e e"ample sho%s, it’s it’s a simple, but important concept to substitute a ii-V f or a plain old V chord (. / - .)# $his concept %or2s equally %ell %hether you’re implying it through the lines of your solo or actually reharmonizing the chords of a tune# 3cores of players since the bebop era ha!e used this technique effecti!ely o!er countless harmonies# $he e"amples belo% illustrate ho% bebop musicians utilized this ii-V reharmonization o!er the popular songs of their day to create ne% compositions& Whispering, a traditional standard %ritten %ri tten by ohn 3chonberger in 1950, is composed of mostly static
V chords# $a2e $a2e a loo2 at the first 16 bars of the chord progression&
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7izzy 8illespie based his 194 tune, Groovin’ High, on the changes to Whispering. :e did this by adding substitute chords to the static V chords, thereby creating a progression %ith more motion# elo% are the first 16 bars of Groovin’ High&
+nstead of staying on the V chords for t%o bars, he simply puts a ii- chord in the first bar and resol!es to the V chord in the second bar# ;or e"ample the < 7 < 7 < in mm# =-4 becomes < - < 7 <# $he same technique is used in mm# -> and in mm# 11-15, < V < V < becomes < ii- < V <#
Rhythm Changes
$he chord progression to 8ersh%in’s I Got Rhythm, or rhythm changes as it’s commonly referred to, has been one of the most used chord progressions in 'azz# .!er since 8eorge played the progression himself, as he does in the clip abo!e, hundreds of melodies ha!e been %ritten o!er these familiar changes#
The Eternal Triangle $his tune is from the famous record Sonny Side Up %ith 7iz, 3onny ?ollins,
and 3onny 3titt# :ere, the bridge of rhythm changes is reharmonized using the concept again of descending ii-V’s o!er a static V chord# +nstead of the standard progression of V’s on the bridge&
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n the bridge of Eternal Triangle, %e ha!e the follo%ing progression&
;or this reharm, a sequence of descending ii-V’s is used for the entire > bars of the bridge# $he progression starts a half-step abo!e the root and descends by half-step until the final #
Tri-Tone substitution nother important de!ice used by the musicians of the bebop era %as the use of tri-tone substitutions# ;requently, the V chord %as substituted %ith a V chord a tri-tone a%ay (7b instead of 8)# $his accentuates the b and b9 of the dominant chord and creates a descending bass line in the conte"t of a ii-V-+& < 7- 7b < @ <# elo% are some e"amples of tri-tone substitutions found in The Eternal Triangle and Groovin’ High# Eternal Triangle Bridge:
$a2e a loo2 at the last bar of the bridge# $he ne"t chord after this bar is b, the + chord beginning the section# Aormally, you %ould see a V or ii-V of the tonic, leading bac2 to the + chord&
=
or
ut, in Eternal Triangle the ii-V to b is substituted %ith a ii-V in ., (;B- ), a tri-tone a%ay&
Groovin’ High nother e"ample of tri-tone substitutions used in chord progression reharmonizations is the 9th bar of Groovin’ High# $he chords starting in the 9th bar of the original tune, Whispering, loo2 li2e this&
+nstead of staying on the + chord (.b) for t%o bars and mo!ing to the ii-V (;- b), a iii C V+ progression is implied o!er the static t%o bars of .b&
3imple enough, but on top of this he uses a tri-tone substitution for the V+ chord and the V chord&
$he result is a chromatically descending bass line that resol!es to the + chord, .b#
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