Theory – The Woodshed | Jazz Improvisation

An Improviser’s Tour de Fourths

Back in the late 60’s and 70’s, fourths were the hippest thing since sliced bread. Jazz entered the age of treble-heavy bass and electric fusion, and musicians were overlaying fresh-sounding (at the time) intervallic fourth patterns over all sorts of funky modal groove tunes.

But fourths are so much more than just a few licks to plug in. Let’s explore the harmonic and intervallic possibilities the fourth creates. I hope to open your mind, your practice routine, and your playing. After all, it’s called a perfect fourth for a reason!

Let’s start from the beginning and work our way up.

What is a fourth?

Let’s take 10 seconds and cover the extreme basics. The fourth is an interval. In the key of C, moving from C to F is moving from 1 to 4 if you number each note sequentially: ...read more

Roy Hargrove: Playing “Out”

Say what you will about Roy Hargrove’s current lifestyle choices; the man has blown some serious trumpet in his day. Roy’s ability to effortlessly glide between playing “in” (playing notes that fit the harmony) and “out” (creating tension by playing notes that don’t fit) has always impressed me, so I recently decided to pick a few lines to analyze his various harmonic devices.

Although he released a slew of post bop material throughout the 90’s, I reached for his more groove-oriented stuff in order to cut to the core of his soulful harmonic concept. His solo over Rich Man’s Welfare off RH Factor’s “Strength” fit the bill nicely.

But First, A Few Observations

Before getting into the meat of the analysis, I want to note a few keys to Hargrove’s playing in this era that made it all work. His time is impeccable, he shapes his lines with clean, clear articulations, and his style is…well he really swings. ...read more

Playing Over Half-Diminished

When I was first exposed to the half-diminished chord, I was told to simply play the major scale a half-step up, thus giving me the proper chord-scale relationship. After giving a number of other approaches a shot in between with mixed success…

I’ve started thinking about the half-diminished chord in a new way that really opened up my playing: think about simply playing the dorian minor starting on the third of the root

(i.e. for Emin7b5, play your G-dorian). You will give weight to the proper chord tones and start feeling more free over this complex-sounding harmony. More explanation down below.

Hold Up, What’s a Half Diminished?

Don’t feel bad if you have no clue what I’m talking about. In traditional jazz harmony, minor and major tonalities are tonicised (made sound like the key / landing point) with specific cadences (one or two chords that lead to the root). Take C-major. The standard cadence leading to it is a ii-V7-I (Dmin – G7 – Cmaj), where you can just move up and down the white keys to find the different modes of the major scale that fit each chord. ...read more

A Transcriber’s Evolution: Your Routine Should Grow With You

In case you didn’t already notice, this is a blog, thus I’m going to try to use an infographic to communicate an idea. Read below the graphic for more information.

As a saxophone player I’ve transcribed many, many saxophone solos. When you’re starting to learn jazz, transcription is one of the first pieces of advice you’ll receive: “Just transcribe a bunch of solos!” says random Joe jazz mentor/teacher.

But why do we transcribe?

And what is the best process? It can be tedious, but is the payoff to build your vocabulary, give your ear and notation skills a good workout, emulate the sound/style of one of your idols, to just figure out what the hell somebody is playing? Yes to all these things, but I’d argue that the value of transcription evolves as you develop as an improviser. ...read more

Practice Ideas, Not Just Licks

I’ve been obsessed with harmony lately. Those of you who read my last analytical post on harmonic discipline might have guessed as much (yes, I still owe a follow-up to that post, and it’s coming soon!). Specifically, I’ve been experimenting with ways to expand my harmonic vocabulary.

Transcription: a place to start

You know those points in a solo where one of your idols plays an interesting line, something a little unexpected (out), and you think to yourself, “that was cool, but what was it?!” Maybe you’ll go and transcribe that lick; motivated students of the music will probably learn it in all 12 keys, and now you have something cool and new to add to your improvisatory arsenal.

But are you really learning the idea or just the lick?

There’s a critical distinction between plugging in a line and going for an idea. ...read more

Harmonic Discipline and the Subtleties of Dominant Chords

It’s been a whirlwind of a summer. I almost moved to London, but then I heard the burritos over there are terrible, so last week my girlfriend and I moved into a new apartment together instead. So, the posts stopped for a while, but it’s time to get back on the horse!

I’ve been thinking a lot about harmony and come to believe that the difference between today’s best jazz musicians and the rest of us is their masterful command over the minutia of harmony.

I realized that I don’t have as a good a grasp of the plethora of dominant alterations out there as I should.

Why Harmonic Mastery is ESSENTIAL

Those of you with some degree of jazz exposure may be thinking…

…I know what a dominant chord is, and I know what a b9 and #9 sound like. It’s not rocket science.

Fine. But are you sure you aren’t just blindly applying alterations regardless of each particular context? Do you REALLY know when the piano player is hitting a #11 or b13, or are you just thinking… ...read more