Questions for you Barry Harris disciples / players steeped in the bebop tradition

[brent.h]

1. How often did the 40s beboppers (Bird et al) use the Family of Dominants?

2. Do you play the ii chord while comping?

3. Do you prefer transcribing/using lines from beboppers or using Barry's 'bebop lego' to construct your own lines?

I think that's all I have for now.

[pamosmusic]

1. How often did the 40s beboppers (Bird et al) use the Family of Dominants?

2. Do you play the ii chord while comping?

3. Do you prefer transcribing/using lines from beboppers or using Barry's 'bebop lego' to construct your own lines?

I think that's all I have for now.

I don’t think I qualify as steeped, but …

1. not sure. Back door over the minor ii-V is all over, even on later guys. Was transcribing Ed Bickert the other day on I Should Care and he went straight down a C7 no alterations on the minor cadence to Dm. Tritone sub and tritone minor are quite common in small snatches too.

2. yes. Far as I’m aware, Barry would have the pianist in his rhythm section do this during the workshops too. You can hear him say it on the YouTube stuff and in the workshop video. The real ones can tell you how common that was in the wild

3. dunno. Both. More Lego blocks for me lately.

[Christian Miller]

1. How often did the 40s beboppers (Bird et al) use the Family of Dominants?

They used all of them. They mostly used V7 bVII7 and bII7 as a way of playing into the I chord, in roughly that order of popularity. III7 is rarer and mostly used as a way into relative minor (see the head of Blues for Alice, which is a major dominant/mixolydian III7 sound going into Dm)

2. Do you play the ii chord while comping?

Yes. Surprisingly rare before the bop era, super common after.

3. Do you prefer transcribing/using lines from beboppers or using Barry's 'bebop lego' to construct your own lines?

I like to do both. Transcription these days less about swiping licks for me, and more about being able to hear the music better.

Transcription should ideally be a very quick affair if you know the language. It should be like repeating stuff back at tempo. That's what Barry expected in his class and it was a roast.

I'm not at that level haha, but I'm not bad. That might sound like a crazy goal, but remember Bebop is relatively small room compared to contemporary jazz, where frequently I just can't hear the line until I listen to it a zillion times. I can usually sing back a bop line quickly if it's at a reasonable speed.

Barry himself didn't talk much about trasncription, never when I went to his sessions, although he obviously knew all the Bird and Bud stuff extremely well. According to Charles McPherson, he prioritised students learning heads, which makes sense. The language is all there, and you have something to play on gigs. Ever the practical angle.

In a way people who talk about "transcription" probably don't have that sort of relationship with it yet, because they have to have a special name for it and think of it as a specific activity (like at college). I think for that generation it was called 'learning music' and was the default way to do it.

[AllanAllen]

OP,

I found this podcast interesting, Chris Parks discusses what the method is and isn't.

[pamosmusic]

OP,

I found this podcast interesting, Chris Parks discusses what the method is and isn't.

Man I keep trying to listen to this but the audio quality is unlistenable

[brent.h]

Man I keep trying to listen to this but the audio quality is unlistenable

the closed captions are super helpful

[GuyBoden]

For single lines, the BH Chromatic Scale used with different skip intervals, frequently changing from descending to ascending visa versa, sounds good to my ears, especially if mixed with pivots, arps etc.

Very simple BH Chromatic scale lick below.

[AllanAllen]

Man I keep trying to listen to this but the audio quality is unlistenable

They did repost on Apple Podcasts with fixed audio. It’s how I heard it. I assumed they would have fixed YouTube as well.

[Mick-7]

2. Do you play the ii chord while comping?

What is this in reference to? (Why would one not play it, is it a sin?)

[pamosmusic]

What is this in reference to? (Why would one not play it, is it a sin?)

Barry doesn’t really pay much mind to a ii chord. When he’s referring to single note improvising, it doesn’t exist.

When he’s refers to comping, it’s a little less clear it seems.

[Mick-7]

Barry doesn’t really pay much mind to a ii chord. When he’s referring to single note improvising, it doesn’t exist.

When he’s refers to comping, it’s a little less clear it seems.

I presume you mean that when it's associated with a V7 chord (as it usually is) he thinks only in terms of the V7 chord?

[Christian Miller]

Barry doesn’t really pay much mind to a ii chord. When he’s referring to single note improvising, it doesn’t exist.

When he’s refers to comping, it’s a little less clear it seems.

The II chord is the suspension of the V chord is what he said. The II chord is present in the dominant scale so we play it (it’s the important minor) but conceptually we think V

You no doubt know all this, just wanted to be clear.


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[sgcim]