Someone says "Let's just do a blues" ....

[Christian Miller]

Those are the chords in the Charlie Parker Omnibook, with a couple of minor (or actually dominant) differences, i.e., Bbm7-Eb7 in the 6th measure, and Abm-Db7 in the 8th measure, plus F7 rather than F6 in bar 11.

But why is II-V "silly nonsense" acceptable in bars II & IV but not in bars VI, VIII or XII? Is there an esoteric silly nonsense rule we should know about?

Some people do seem to think that every IIm7 chord needs a V7 chaperone to keep it in line.

Haha yes, for ages I thought this is what Blues for Alice was because this is the way I saw it in charts.

Fmaj7 | Em7 A7 | Dm7 G7 | Cm7 F7 |
Bb7 | Bb-7 Eb7 | A-7 D7 | Ab-7 Db7 |
G-7 | C7 | Fmaj7 | G-7 C7 |

Which is not what they play

There IS a pedagogical reason to have it this way. If you have learned to improvise by transposing II V licks and are good at recognising II V’s it’s logical. A lot of post Real Book charts are like this because this is how they taught/teach. Stella is an obvious example.

The omnibook changes by and large are not too bad. I do have my quibbles though. Iirc he has Em7b5 in the head which doesn’t fit the melody? That’s something the Real book gets right. The comping changes and soloing changes will vary slightly chorus to chorus on the recording because of course they aren’t nerds and Bird will sub all over the place. OTOH Aebersold’s solo changes don’t seem sure if they are representing the overall harmony or what bird is playing. (I would argue that you need to choose between the basic changes of the song and the substitutes bird is playing, because Birds subs aren't always based on vertical chord-of-the-moment thinking.)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mick-7]

The omnibook changes by and large are not too bad. I do have my quibbles though. Iirc he has Em7b5 in the head which doesn’t fit the melody? That’s something the Real book gets right.

The comping changes and soloing changes will vary slightly chorus to chorus. They aren’t nerds.

Re The silly II V stuff - ok for ages I thought thought if this is what Blues for Alice was because this is the way I saw it in charts.

Fmaj7 | Em7 A7 | Dm7 G7 | Cm7 F7 |
Bb7 | Bb-7 Eb7 | A-7 D7 | Ab-7 Db7 |
G-7 | C7 | Fmaj7 | G-7 C7 |

Which is not what they play. It’s the classic thing of charts being over complicated

Now there is in fact a pedagogical reason to have it this way. If you have learned to improvise by transposing II V licks and are good at recognising II V’s it’s logical. A lot of post Real Book charts are like this because this is how they taught/teach.

"I do have my quibbles though. Iirc he has Em7b5 in the head which doesn’t fit the melody?"

Yes, a B natural in the melody, going to Bb over the A7 chord, so it does sound like habitual chord/scale thinking (Em7b5 > A7b9), gotta watch out for that.

[Christian Miller]

"I do have my quibbles though. Iirc he has Em7b5 in the head which doesn’t fit the melody?"

Yes, a B natural in the melody, going to Bb over the A7 chord, so it does sound like habitual chord/scale thinking (Em7b5 > A7b9), gotta watch out for that.

Bird does the II-7 into V7b9 quite a lot. I keep forgetting to practice that stuff myself! It's so easy to always play II-7b5, but there's no reason to. The II-7 is part of the minor key too.

In fact, sometimes the Real Guys just play the V as if it were major key anyway.

[Mick-7]

Bird does the II-7 into V7b9 quite a lot. I keep forgetting to practice that stuff myself! It's so easy to always play II-7b5, but there's no reason to. The II-7 is part of the minor key too.

In fact, sometimes people just play the V as if it were major key anyway.

Em7b5 is of course diatonic to F Major but as you said, the I chord is F6/F7, not F^7.

Em7 makes more sense....

but this is easier to think/play:

|| 0-7-8-7-8-0 | > || 0-7-8-6-8-0 |

Than:

|| 0-7-9-7-8-0 | > || 0-7-8-6-8-0 |

[jamiehenderson1993]

Maybe worth noting why blueses are so common and matter of fact that they're called this way:

1. they're a massive chunk of the repertoire. No idea, but like ... a quarter of the tunes in the classic jazz catalog are blues and rhythm changes? Not sure, but I'd be surprised if it weren't more than that.

2. they're so common and relatively simple, that you can expect even a relative beginner to know them. That's really the bar at which even a chill beginner-friendly jam session is usually comfortable holding the line. A little tough love to show a kid that they really need to come with a couple blueses.

3. they're so common that everyone on the bandstand will probably sound good.

4. the tunes are so common that it's a great opportunity to play something off the beaten track without risking it going off the rails. Along the same lines, the changes are so malleable that everyone can be pretty creative and make an individual musical statement without derailing the vibe.

5. because they're so common and well-known, they tend to swing really hard, they tend to shred, the audience often is vaguely familiar with the tunes, and if they aren't, they're so familiar with the form that the way the whole thing comes off just kind of vibes familiar to them.

Bottom line.

Play more blueses.

As always man - Great comment!