JAZZ HARMONY FROM THE BOTTOM UP # b 13 _ + 11 9 7 5 3 C c C H A R L E S A . M E T C A L F 2011 JAZZ HARMONY FROM THE BOTTOM UP Table of Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 3  The Defining Musical Characteristics of the American Standard Song . 3  Variation in the Interpretation of Standards .................................................... 4  The Evolution of the Harmonic Materials of the Standard Song .............. 5  Fakebooks ......................................................................................................................... 7  Memorizing Standards ................................................................................................. 8  Bass Function ................................................................................................................. 11  The Qualities of Emotion in Various Harmonies ............................................ 14  The Mathematics Underlying the Scale Systems That Shape the Harmony That Shapes the Bass Line. ................................................................. 16  The Overtone Series .......................................................................................................... 17  Just Intonation ..................................................................................................................... 17  Pythagorean Tuning, Equal Temperament, Circle of Fifths, Chromatic Scale  ................................................................................................................................................... 18  Summary of factors involved in arranging and improvising jazz bass lines: .................................................................................................................................. 19  Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 20  The Harmonic Materials (and Their Terminology) in Detail .................... 21  The Seven Scale-tone Seventh Chords ...................................................................... 22  Nature and Role of Each Modal Variant of Each Degree of the Scale in Detail ....................................................................................................................................... 23  The Five Non-Scale Tones of the Major Scale ......................................................... 30  Bass Line Paradigms From Simple to Complex .............................................. 35  The Main Modules ............................................................................................................... 36  One-Move Modules ............................................................................................................. 36  I, IV, V: The Ultimate Simplicity ................................................................................... 37  The II-V-I Cadence ............................................................................................................ 41  I-VI-II-V: The Turnaround .............................................................................................. 43  Diatonic Scalar Modules: ................................................................................................. 44  Minor Progression Modules ............................................................................................. 46 2 Moves By Steps Other than Diatonic 5ths, Fourths, Minor 2nds, and Downward Minor 3rds. ...................................................................................................... 47  Turnarounds .......................................................................................................................... 49  A Syllabus of Chord Substitutions and Alterations ...................................... 57  Nuances in the Cycle of Fifth Progression Within a Key ............................ 59  Putting Analysis to Work: Progressions, Modules, and Substitutions in the Bass Lines of Specific Standard Songs. ................................................ 60  Afterword ....................................................................................................................... 106 3 Introduction Of all of the elements of music, melody is the most resistant to theoretical analysis. Great melodies have been fashioned from sparse or unpromising materials, and great performers have elevated trite tunes to the level of high art. No one can fully explain these phenomena. In what is to follow, the melodic character of the bass lines appropriated from the rich catalog of the American Standard Song for use by jazz improvisers (as they evolved in the mid-20th century) is to be the focus of inquiry. Unlike melodies which are designed to catch and hold the listener's attention through establishing and playing with expectations, bass lines are characterized more by a rational simplicity required for their functionality as tonal and rhythmic basis for the harmonic colors, rhythmic complexity, and melodic intricacy which they support. Although this very simplicity (and subservience to other musical priorities) makes them more amenable to analysis, their success is still partially due to their melodic character. Their analysis will, therefore, often take the path into that land of mystery and magic where the secrets of melody reside. The Defining Musical Characteristics of the American Standard Song First, let’s look at the big picture. The most important relevant large musical generalities are: form, rhythm, harmony, and melody. Let's look at them in that order as they apply to the American Standard Song and the Jazz Classics which follow that model. Form: Standard songs are constructed of even multiples of bar lengths: individual melodic phrase components usually fit within 2 bars; the second 2 bar phrase echoes or continues the initial melodic phrase; the next 4 bars completes the momentum established by the first 4 bars and these 8 bars together constitute the first section (designated the "A." section) of the song. The following sections—usually 3 in number—are constructed similarly, but may be either a repeat of the A section or a new contrasting section. Most song forms are: AABA, ABAB, ABAC, ABA, ABC. Some have 4 or 16 bar sections and some have "tags" of 2 or 4 bars. Rhythm: Rhythm is usually organized within a time signature of 4/4 or 3/4, or less often, cut time, 2/4, 6/8, or 6/4. Since the genre was introduced as dance music, Standards are generally (and for our purposes, exclusively) meant to be played in strict tempo except when a vocalist requires rubato for dramatic effect. Since our focus here is on bass lines, the intricacies of the drum part will be neglected. The basic rhythmic function of the bass is to play every beat or every other beat in duple signatures and the strong beats in triple signatures. Harmony: Standards (with very rare exceptions) begin and end in the same key. They are organized around dominant seventh chord resolutions to either major or minor chords with diminished chords and other non-key chords utilized as passing chords. Chord duration is 4 rarely less than 2 beats, most often 2 or 4 beats, quite often 2 bars, occasionally 4 bars, but almost never more except in the case of "modal" songs in which they can be 8, or even 16, bars. Melody: Unlike the harmony, there is no requirement for the melody to begin and end on the same tone. The harmony is required to be congruent with the melody so that the song may be easily singable, so that in an important sense, the melody shapes the harmony. Standards are not contrapuntal, so any other melodic material is the result either of voice-leading from chord to chord or the invention of an arranger or accompanist. Bass lines, although more crucial to the articulation of the harmony than inner lines, belong in this category. As we will see later, bass lines and inner lines can sometimes be interchangeable. Variation in the Interpretation of Standards Since classical music performed from written music is expected to be performed exactly as written, why aren't Standards and Jazz Classics held to the same requirement? The most important reason is that Standards are meant to be sung and meant to be learnable by oral transmission. A second related reason is that they are meant to be realizable by widely varying accompaniments. Often these accompaniments are re-arrangements or improvisations by working musicians with the nuts-and-bolts understanding of musical composition not required of instrumentalists and vocalists performing in the classical tradition. But there are other characteristics of Standards requiring slight to extensive revision in performance stemming from the very way Standards are produced. The first (and universal) divide begins with the original sheet music. The original composer's manuscripts vary greatly from illegible palimpsests or oral instructions to detailed orchestral scores. Although many Standards were composed by Tin Pan Alley tune- smiths specifically for the pop song market, the more sophisticated ones were often conceived in a theatre orchestra, movie score, or big band context. Whatever their source, all went through the homogenizing process of being reduced to commercial sheet music that could be played by amateur or semi-professional musicians. Pop song sheet music gives two versions of the harmony: the note-for-note solo piano realization, and chord symbols. Chord symbols were originally intended as guides for plectra (guitar or banjo) so that they could be strummed continuously as quarter notes so as to do the least violence to the consonance of the rest of the ensemble, or if a solo accompaniment, support a vocalized melody. These are often at odds with, or incomplete representations of, the composer's intent which is usually more nearly realized in the piano score. Even here (since the preparation of sheet music to fit market requirements was left to others) the fine detail of the composer's original intent was often lost in translation. To add to the confusion, many songs of the era became big hits in conjunction with particular arrangements, the details of which were picked up by commercial musicians, or 5 found their way into spin-off stock band arrangements. Thus, in general, it's a fool's errand to agonize over what the "real" or "original" chords to standards are. Nevertheless, over the years these songs have all evolved a few main lines of harmonic realization that are in general use by improvising musicians who learn and interpret them in the oral tradition of jazz according to the style they're working in. Each of these harmonic patterns creates its own distinct bass line. For better or worse, the original sheet music provides the standard against which all later revisions must be measured. The needs of the jazz improviser add yet another layer to the evolution of standard's bass lines. Perhaps this is a good point to make clear that what I mean by the bass line is not the ubiquitous quarter-note walking bass characteristic of all jazz from the thirties until the introduction of Latin and rock bass patterns. That is a subject unto itself much explicated in bass methods. What I mean by the bass line is the more abstract succession of bottom notes to harmonies that change seldom more often than 2 beats, and seldom less often than 4 bars. If in improvising a walking bass line, the bassist fails to include these notes at times that make clear the succession of harmonies, then bass function has not been fulfilled. The Evolution of the Harmonic Materials of the Standard Song This is not the place for a detailed historical examination of the evolution of the harmonic devices characteristic of Standards, but a few observations will be useful to give a context to what follows. It must be understood that many exceptions can be found to the generalities contained in these observations. In the pre-WWI era, popular songs used essentially the same materials found in folk songs. Those originating in guitar environments were limited to major and minor triads except for dominant sevenths. Although major chords were most often positioned on the I, IV, and V chords they were allowed to move freely by whole steps to follow the melody. Also, V-I cadences were not a necessity—in fact, major triads sometimes moved several fifths in the opposite direction to cadential resolutions. If the song was conceived as a pianistic vehicle, cadences were the usual engine of harmonic motion, and minor seventh chords began to appear in II-V-I cadences, though often described as a IV Major 6th in the chord symbols. Songs in minor used a IV minor 6th for IV-V-I resolution. The beginnings of the post-WWI Jazz Age can be detected in some of these pre-war songs with the increasing use of dominant 7th chords in the II, III, and VI positions that became popular in barbershop quartet and "Irish" tunes. Also, melodically, fresh breezes were stirring with the occasional use of chromatics. Borrowings from the Late Romantics of the 19th century and the early French Impressionists introduced the augmented triad and ninth chords as extra romantic juice to love songs. The Jazz Age of the 1920's not only furthered these borrowings from the European Classical oeuvre, but added the indigenous devices of the Blues which turned the I-IV-V chords all to dominant 7ths, even allowing the final I chord to remain a 7th. In polite circles of the time, this was considered barbaric. In the course of the decade, the French 6 Impressionist harmonies gradually won out over the German and Italian operatic influence, except for the increasing use of diminished chords as passing chords and constituents of dominant seventh flat 9ths. By the 30's the transition had mostly been made to a musical language that superceded triads as the basic harmonic language and enriched them with tetrachordal 7th chord formations. Whereas, pre-WWI pop song melodies clung to the tones of their supporting triad, or if not, sought that position on their next move, by the 30's non-chordal scale tones became target tones and became more frequently supported by upper-structure 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths. The extensive use of the dominant seventh, often with a melody on the 9th, became a hallmark of the 30's, and was heard then as an emblem of modernity. The big bands that became popular in the Swing Era gave composers and arrangers a platform for ever more sophisticated harmonic invention. A host of composers responded to this challenge, with geniuses like Ellington, Gershwin, and Porter leading the way. With Swing for a rhythmic basis, and newfound harmonic resources, the Bebop pioneers of the 40's—Parker, Gillespie, Monk, Powell, Pettiford, and others—created a new melodic language that served as both a style of improvisation, and a resource for the creation of new melodies grafted onto the chords of well-known Standards. Finally, jazz made the leap into a self-referential style. The flatted fifth—the tone most distant from the tonic—became the talisman of the Bebop style. The newfound harmonic freedom was expressed in the bass line by extensive use of the II-V-I cadence and the chromatic bII-I (tri-tone substitution) cadence. Parallel chromatic minor 7th chord changes abounded. Although the use of simple triads was almost entirely abandoned, the blues scale and other elements of the blues were retained. Before Bebop, the bassist doubled the pianist's left hand. Led by the example of the Basie band, the bebop pianists adopted the sparser shell-style left hand which gave bassists freedom to construct varied interpretations of the bass line. By the '50's, the re-worked bass-lines which functioned best were recognized and became a language shared by members of the rhythm section. Although the pianist and bassist didn't know exactly what each other were going to play, they did have a limited range of related options which enabled them to make intelligent guesses as they learned each other's stylistic particularities. Within generally understood limits, bass lines became mutable. It's my purpose here to make the unspoken criteria by which bass lines are shaped through this interaction yield to theoretical analysis. Instruction materials in harmony for pianists, and walking bass for bassists, abound. The interaction of the two is less often dealt with, not only because opinions and practices vary, but because the strict codification of the interaction would tend to rein in its improvisatory character. I don't propose to create a rule-book, only to list and relate the underlying materials and limitations which shape the jazz bass line. 7 Since the emergence of jazz education programs, student rhythm-section instrumentalists are learning their craft in the context of big bands and vocal accompaniment. In that context, the character of the bass line is pre-determined by the chart in use. In improvising their accompaniment, the players are each required to interact with the printed page—not with each other. Even if they have developed an insight on how to interact creatively (and get together to play as a combo), the crucible of nightly gigs required to hone their craft no longer exists. If the present effort succeeds, bassists and pianists should be able to hear and understand each other's musical statements better. Fakebooks When I first became aware of them at the mid-point of the previous century, fakebooks were little 5 by 8 pamphlets with a dozen or so pages with three or four standard tunes on a page. The information contained in them was confined to song titles and chord changes separated by bar lines. The original copies given to the print-shop were written out by hand, or with a typewriter, by anonymous musicians seeking to make a buck by engaging in an illegal activity. They filled the need of pianists, guitarists, and bassists in bands where it was assumed that a singer or horn-player knew the melody to the song. If it was a trio gig, the pianist would usually bring along a briefcase of original sheet music to the songs that might be requested that he didn’t know. For bands featuring improvised jazz solos, fakebooks that could be stuffed in horn cases served as guides for horn-players, as well. With the proliferation of originals written as instrumentals by jazz musicians in the 1960s, the needs of local jazz musicians changed. Published sheet music of these songs was usually not available. Their increased melodic and harmonic complexity made transcription more difficult and unreliable. Also, the burgeoning jazz education movement created a market for accurate complete transcriptions. Thus was born the first “Realbook” wherein the melody and chord changes were displayed on a conventional staff with one or two songs to an 8½ X 11 page. Gone was the pamphlet, replaced by a tome of such heft that wire music stands collapsed under its weight. Although apparently produced by authors having a connection to an educational institution, the first “Realbook was not without its flaws. Some of the songs were not transcribed, but were copied from the composer’s manuscripts to which the authors had access. These were, by definition, authoritative. But many of those that were transcribed—although generally melodically accurate—had serious errors in the chord changes. Due to widespread distribution, two of the most egregious examples, Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage”, and Miles Davis’ “Four” have caused confusion on the bandstand that persists to this day. In addition, versions of Standards taken from transcriptions of recordings sometimes canonized a particular arrangement, either over-simplified or over-elaborated the harmony, or were simply in error. 8 The “Realbook” achieved national distribution, but it was still illegal. However, that didn’t prevent others from trying to emulate its success. Finally, Chuck Sher decided to embark on his series of legal fakebooks. He hired pianists with reputations for good ears and good taste to make transcriptions and vetted these with the composers when possible. Also, Jamie Aeborsold’s transcriptions of the compositions of major jazz artists are authoritative. In addition, musicians with personal connections to two of the most challenging genius’s of modern jazz, Thelonius Monk and Charles Mingus, have produced compilations of their compositions taken from original sources. Due to these efforts we now have a library of generally authoritative written music that encompasses the Standards era and the so-called Jazz Classics that is of great utility in educating ourselves and our students. The question remains, what is the proper utilization of this material on the bandstand? Total dependence on the Sher series, requires the transportation and deployment of a library of Talmudic bulk. Sifting through these tomes between tunes in search of the next one can take momentum-killing time and produce discord. “No that’s not in Volume Three, it’s in All-Jazz.” Whatever source is used, there must be several copies of it on the bandstand so that all musicians are on the same page. My main concern is that exclusive dependence on written music in performance discourages memorization, and that without memorization, discourages the internalization that lofts the most inspired improvisations. Mental energy tracking the printed page is mental energy that’s unavailable to the imagination and group cohesion. Memorizing Standards During the era when Standards were the popular music of the day, working musicians would learn tunes simply by hearing them a lot and then playing them on gigs. Many musicians learned a wide repertoire without ever seeing the music to the songs they "knew". Today, young musicians must make a conscious effort to memorize Standards. Unless, of course, you are one of those very rare musicians like Charlie Parker, Mile Davis, Milt Jackson, and Stan Getz (all of whom had photographic memory), in which case you can safely ignore this section. Typically, there's little incentive to memorize tunes unless gigs require it, and very few do. But the ones that do are the ones where the soul of mainstream jazz has the best chance to survive. Here are some tips to make the effort more productive and pleasurable. First, be organized. Start by making a tune-list. Begin by listing the songs that you recognize well enough to name when you hear them. Locate them by leafing through your fake books and CDs. You will be surprised how many you can at least recognize. Standards were originally written as popular songs. A song doesn't become popular (except perhaps with jazz musicians) unless the melody is appealing and memorable. 9 Next listen to the song enough times over a great enough span of time that you are able to sing or play the melody at will. If you have no recording of it, you will have to play it. When you play it, take your eyes off the music as soon as you can. As soon as you know the melody to a song by heart, you are entitled to pat yourself on the back and say, "I know this song." Conversely, if you know only the "changes" to a song, you don't truly know that song. At this point in your memorization process, you can safely ignore the dictum often heard that you don't truly know a Standard until you know the lyrics. Standard songs, like baseball statistics, make a perfect subject for an obsessive personality. For those with this tendency, the composer, date of copyright, musical or movie in which it was first performed, etc., etc. will all be of grave importance. Although memorization of the lyrics is not a necessity for the instrumental musician, you will find that in certain cases the lyrics will help you to more precisely remember the melody in those phrases (of which there are many) where similarity to other songs renders them undistinctive. In any case, you can now make a column to the right of your list of song titles in which you can place check-marks to indicate which melodies you have memorized. But what about the changes? If you truly know the melody, a semi-conscious impression of its harmonization and attendant bass-line comes with that knowledge. In other words, even if you couldn't call out the changes, if someone were to play that song with a wildly different harmonization, you would know instantly that something was amiss. At this stage, you are like the guy who said, "I wish I understood everything I know." But if you go about learning the chords one at a time from written music, not only is it tedious, but the link to the melody can be lost and the chord pattern will degrade in your memory over time. Unless the song is very simple (or you're one of that other rare breed with absolute pitch) you will have to invest some time and effort to bring your first impression of the harmonic structure to full consciousness. If you think you "hear" it, and have a recording of it, try picking out the bass notes of each chord by ear as the recording plays. If you are successful on the first pass (and secure in your ability to differentiate chord qualities), chances are good that you have a workable beginning conception of the song that will survive into long-term memory. If not, don't be discouraged; follow the advice below. Each song you learn will make the next one easier. To facilitate accurate and enduring chord-pattern memorization, analyze and generalize. You will find that you will be able to adequately memorize a song with a half-dozen or so key "facts" rather than the thirty-something separate chords found on the sheet music. Fact #1: What is the form? It will be: AABA, ABAC, ABA, ABC, or ABCD. Each of the sections will be 4, 8, or 16 bars. There will be variations, of course, particularly first and second endings and tags; but your firm knowledge of the melody will remind you of these as they occur. Fact #2: What degree of the scale does the first chord of the A section fall on? Fact #3: What degree of the scale does the first chord of the B section fall on?