Table Of ContentJAZZ HARMONY FROM THE BOTTOM UP
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
