Minor Leaps - Jonathan Kreisberg

Here's another one from Jonathan Kreisberg, this one off the album Unearth with Aaron Goldberg on keys. As the title suggests, the tune is based on Coltrane's "Giant Steps" but in a minor tonality. All of the maj7 chords are now minor chords. Another addition is a 16 bar interlude (Dmaj7 to Gb7) which begins the song and also is incorporated into the form - two cycles through the "Giant Steps" changes then interlude. So kind of an AAB form. The melody is full of lines outlining arpeggios and chromatic ideas for navigating the many changes. Very good for practicing some fast playing over lots of keys.

I'll Remember April - Marcus Printup

I'll Remember April Solo Mp3

This first chorus of Marcus Printup's version of the standard "I'll Remember April" comes from his 1994 album Song for the Beautiful Woman and features a young Reuben Rogers on bass. Structurally, "I'll Remember April" is in ABA form and each section is 12 bars long. The A sections begin with 4 bars of G major and then modulates to the parallel minor, G minor, for another 4. The final 8 bars use a couple ii V's to bring us back to G major. The bridge contains three non-related ii V's. The first 8 is two cycles through a ii V I in Bb. Then 4 bars of ii V I in G major, 4 bars of ii V I in E major and a final ii V in the eighth bar to bring us back to the tonic, G major. The final A is the same as the first.

Marcus takes a musically concise approach to his solo. Each phrase says exactly what needs to be said with no extraneous notes. His phrasing uses lots of space between ideas and each idea covers a precise harmonic area. It's also interesting to note how he begins his phrases, many of which start on the first beat of the measure or the fourth beat of the end of the preceding harmonic phrase. This solo is thematically all about phrasing. There are no fast lines or fancy theory and none is needed because his phrasing is so strong.

The Beatles - In My Life solo

So here's something a little different. This is the piano solo from "In My Life" by the Beatles from the album Rubber Soul. I was listening to this the other day got the solo stuck in my head. It's a very catchy and clever little solo that, according to Wikipedia, was actually played by producer George Martin at half speed and an octave lower and then sped up to match the tempo and pitch of the song. Pretty simple chords, all in the key of A with the exception of the A7 in bar 2 that tonicizes the D and the D minor in bar three which is a pretty standard device creating closer voice-leading to the A chord. Well there you have it.

II V's and Their Most Common Substitutions

It's no secret that the chord progression II V is the foundation of jazz. Like John Scofield says in the previous post, "you got to II V." However, I've found that there is less emphasis on the different types of II V's and how they function. These three examples use the same melodic structure built around a minor triad transposed to different II V's. The first is the basic II V, completely diatonic. The line resolves to the tonic, C.

The second progression is a flat fifth away from the diatonic II V, or in other words a flat five substitution and the V chord resolves down a half step to the C maj7. In this case, the line resolves to a G, the fifth of the chord. The flat five II V can be seen in tunes like Satin Doll.

The third progression is a II V a minor third up from the diatonic II V and the V chord resolves up a whole step to the tonic chord. This progression occurs on multiple instances in Stella By Starlight. Here, the line resolves to an E, the third of the chord. The key to understanding these different II V uses is getting a good sense of how they each resolve to the tonic and how they differ in sound. Now here's the bonus. They can all be interchangeable in the right circumstances. Using the flat five substitution is one of the defining traits of bebop. A prime example of this is in All The Things You Are where an Em7 A7 is often subbed for the Bbm7 Eb7. Identifying these different II V functions is crucial to understanding the vocabulary of jazz.

John Scofield - Master Class ii V's

Here's a little transcription of John Scofield running through some ii V changes from a clinic I stumbled upon on YouTube. He's playing over ii V progressions descending in a circle of fifths resolving on B flat major. It's essentially just a sequence of ii V's a whole step apart. In the first measure, Scofield begins with an Ebm7b5 arpeggio and continues playing through the changes in a very straight forward way emphasizing the important leading tones. He also uses several other important concepts in the jazz vocabulary. The first is the chromatic walk up to the major third of a V chord. He plays this in measures 2, 4, the end of 9, the end of 19, and 23 on the Bbmaj. Two other good vocab ideas come in measures 11 and 13-14 with the triplet figure over the Dm7b5 and the interval of fourths in minor thirds over the F7 which comes from F diminished scale. Overall, a nice exercise on basic jazz vocabulary.

Moment's Notice - John Coltrane

So here is John Coltrane's solo on "Moment's Notice" from his classic album Blue Train. This is one of those tunes that gets put up there with "Giant Steps" for challenging an improviser's prowess. Unlike that other infamous piece whose intervalic leaps, both in minor and major thirds, make it a task to learn, "Moment's Notice" in essentially only made up of very standard though often unrelated ii V's separated by small intervals usually half steps. It's form is also at first unfamiliar but boils down to an ABAC where the A is 12 bars, the B is 4 bars, and the C is 10 bars. Though that section of 10 bars might be a bit confusing on paper the ending 8 bar vamp makes sense in context and serves as a prominent marking of the end of the form.

On close examination Coltrane's solo is almost entirely "inside." There are only two occasions where he plays any notes that are outside the appropriate major scale. The most ear-catching begins in measure 74 where he plays a Bb7 diminished scale pattern over the vamp. This is the classic Coltrane diminished riff. It's made up of a whole tone pattern repeated in minor thirds. Once you get that pattern in your ears you hear Coltrane play it or variations on it constantly. The second instance where he plays "outside" happens occasionally over a V7 chord, such as the Bb7 in measure 21, where he outlines a flat V substitution, (in this case it would be an Fb7, or just E natural 7). There are also instances where he uses chromatic passing tones or leading notes, but I often consider these just applications on the major scale. Because this tune contains so many ii V's and Coltrane's solo follows those changes in such a straight forward manner it makes a great exercise on ii V patterns as well as changing between unrelated scales.

Ask Me Now - Jonathan Kreisberg

Ask Me Now Mp3

Jonathan Kreisberg's version of the Thelonious Monk tune "Ask Me Now," is off his 2005 album New for Now. For anyone not familiar with Kreisberg, I suggest you check him out. A very talented younger guitar player. Anyway, he takes the first A of the head with a nicely arranged traditional chord melody solo. He takes a one chorus solo that has some great examples of both chromatic playing and large intervalic ideas. Hopefully, I'll get some analysis on the juicier licks up there soon.

Just in Time - Sonny Rollins

Sonny's solo Mp3

Sonny's version of the standard "Just in Time" appears on his 1957 album The Sound of Sonny.
More to come on Sonny's improv style.

Jazz Crimes - Joshua Redman solo

Jazz Crimes solo Mp3

This very interesting song comes from Redman’s electric trio album, Elastic. Though the album on the whole is compositionally an incredible record, without “Jazz Crimes” it wouldn’t have near the same impact. This song instantly grabs your attention as soon as the rhythmic hits begin and carries it until the drum solo and final melody of this powerhouse tune. Redman’s crafts his solo with orchestrated perfection each phrase logically following the prior. Not only is this a difficult key to play in, but Redman easily incorporates his tremendous range into this solo.

The transcription begins as the band leaves the groove section and transitions into the hits of the melody. Redman plays four times through the hit form of 8 bars each then going into the chords of the chorus. He takes the chorus two times making another 32 bars. The harmonic structure of the hit section essentially stays in F#7 the entire time with a ii V in bar 8 of the progression. The changing chords act more as a rhythmic device than harmonic. Redman takes this cue and structures this half of the solo around the rhythmic hits. Harmonically he builds the solo using mostly an F# blues scale and chromaticism. In bar 9, Redman plays an F# triad and follows it in bar 10 with a blues lick straight from the minor pentatonic scale. In bar 17 he begins a 4 bar chromatic lick around an F# tonality. It starts with a F# second inversion triad (c#, f#, a#, c#), then chromatically walks up to the seventh, e. It continues it chromatic ascension repeating several sections with the triplets. After a long purely chromatic run ending in bar 20, Redman plays a lick only from the blues scale incorporating the flat five scale degree (c natural). Bars 25 though 32 use the blues scale almost exclusively with some outlining of a G natural chord in both triad and minor pentatonic form, and a few uses of the major third (a#).

The bridge chords are a series of ii V’s moved around like a melodic line. The first phrase of 8 bars ends on a ii V altered (F#m7 B7alt) that leads back to the Em7 that begins the next phrase. The second 8 bar phrase ends with a ii V (G#m7 C#7) that leads back to the tonic of F#. Redman handles these ii V’s in various ways. The first (Em7 A7) in bar 33 he simply stays on the ninth (f natural) of the Em7. This note becomes the minor third of the D#m7 chord that follows. On the chords in bars 35 and 36, Redman plays an extended F#maj7 arpeggio and uses several leading tones. This arpeggio acts as a substitution in the key for the D#m7 and hits its minor third, fifth, flat seventh, ninth, and eleventh, and then begins to repeat in the next octave topping out at the e# and then descending the scale. On the F7b9 he plays a descending F diminished scale ending in a chromatic line and lower neighbor note of the third of the Bb7 (d natural). He then continues up the Bb diminished scale then outlines the F#m7 in bar 39 and ends on a chromatic line down to the flat sixth of the B7alt chord in bar 40. In bars 41 and 42, Redman plays a Em9 arpeggio (g, b, e, f#) over the Em7 and A7, then takes this same melodic shape and adjusts it up basically playing a G#7 arpeggio (g#, c, g#, f#) over the D#m7 G#7. After playing purely chromatic over the ii V’s in bars 45-48, he takes the next two in bars 49-52 entirely in their respective keys with only one chromatic passing tone (e natural) in the triplet in bar 52. In bar 53, he again treats the F7b9 as a diminished chord and plays a diminished arpeggio over it resolving to the third of the Bb7. For the remainder of the solo Redman plays a variation of the bridge melody ending on the F# minor pentatonic riff over its V chord, C#7.

Though very challenging and harmonically complex, Redman’s improvisational ideas remain reasonably straightforward. It’s his execution and for lack of a better word, soul, that really make his solo come alive. It’s also a great study in playing over a vamp and offers a different approach than usual for taking ii V’s as they are not in a “normal” jazz context. And if anyone in interested in learning the head for this song, I recommend transcribing it yourself. Though they at first seem difficult, the rhythms are actually pretty traditional and there are some great chromatic and diminished scale ideas in there.

On the Sunny Side of the Street - Sonny Stitt solo

Sonny's Solo Mp3

This solo by Sonny Stitt comes from the great 1957 album Sonny Side Up, featuring Stitt and Sonny Rollins on tenor saxes, led by Dizzy Gillespie. All three horn players are in top form constantly pushing each other to new heights. The whole album is an amazing lesson in bebop. Stitt's solo on the first song, "On the Sunny Side of the Street," sets the pace for the rest of the album with his soulful touch and quick double time playing.

First, let me begin by talking through the harmony of this song. It is a fairly simple 32 bar AABA form in C major. The A section consists of an 8 bar phrase that eventually moves to the VI (Am7) and then returns to the tonic. The E7 in bar two is out of the key by one note, its major third, g sharp. This note acts as a leading tone to the third (a) of the F major 7 in the next bar. Bar 4 contains a ii V progression that tonicizes the VI chord (Am7) in the key of C major. The D7 in bar 6 and the Am7 before it act as the ii V of the V chord (G7) in C major. Bar 7 contains the ii V that returns the progression to the tonic, C. In the first A section, bar 8 uses a III VI II V turnaround to land on the C major that begins the second A section. The bridge essentially consists of three ii V's. The first is in F major, the second modulates up a whole step to G major, but instead of landing on the G like it did the F, the third ii V comes in leading to the C major that begins the last A section.

Stitt begins his solo by playing entirely within the key of C for the first 5 bars. As these first chords are all in that key, it allows him to develop a melodic idea over a straightforward harmony. However, in bar 6 the D7 changes the key center slightly and f natural becomes an f sharp. Stitt follows the harmony here with a scalar run in D mixolydian. Sitt handles the following ii V with a standard chromatic run using two of the most common tension notes, the minor third (e flat) and flat five (g flat). On the turnaround in bar 8, he bases his line almost exclusively on the arpeggios of the chord beginning after the Em7 on the third of the A7 and going down a Dmaj7 arpeggio ending with a leading tone to the Dm7 which he starts on the root, then moves to G7 starting on the third and ending on the nine (b, d, f, a) and then to a C major 7 arpeggio also beginning on the third. Each of these arpeggios uses a leading tone down a half step from its first note.

Stitt treats the E7 in bar 10 almost like a ii V leading to Am7 (Bm7b5, E7). First, he plays a lick that ends in a chromatic walk up to the b outlining it from a half-step above. Then he plays an E7 arpeggio (g#, b, d) ending on the e after outlining it in half-steps above and below. In bar 12 where the actual ii V to Am7 is, he simply plays an E7 arpeggio (e, g#, b, d). He mostly disregards the D7 instead beginning a Dm7 arpeggio descending form the 7 (c, a, f, d) and then ends the A section on the c.

The bridge, he takes double time first tonicizing the Gm7 by incorporating the leading tone f sharp and a D arpeggio. He moves to the C7 by walking up to its major third and continuing up the C mixolydian scale (same as F major). He arrives on the F major by way of its flat sixth, d flat. He then begins a pattern on an f major arpeggio taking each note, f, a, c, f, a, and approaching it by its immediate upper note in the scale and its leading tone beneath. He ends this pattern with another interesting patter based on the F major triad. Over the Am7, he uses a pattern that emphasizes a line walking chromatically down to the third of the D7, (a, g#, g, f#). In bar 24 over the G7 he creates tension before resolving to the C by using two notes from the G7 altered scale, (a flat, b flat). The most distinctive feature of the last A section comes in bars 27 and 28 where Stitt plays a straight F maj7 arpeggio down and up and continues that to the ninth (g) and then to what would be the minor third (a flat) of the F major but has now become the leading tone to the Am7 chord.

I hope you enjoyed my transcription and analysis of Stitt's solo. This is a great bebop solo that follows the chord changes in a relatively understandable way and is great to get a grasp on many important concepts in jazz improvisation. I'll try to get the Sonny Rollins solo on this song up soon. His interpretation is a good contrast to Stitt's and he takes a more abstract approach to the harmony.