Lego Bricks: Green Dolphin Street

[AllanAllen]

When I’m comping, I can do things 2 ways. Rote memorization of changes or navigating by chord patterns (Lego bricks, as Christian reconnects from some book he didn’t read

Analyzing Green Dolphin Street.



Bars 1-4: Cmaj to C minor standard bridge move plugged someplace unusual

Bars 5-7: turnaround back to Cmajor

Bars 8-12: VI7 ii Valt and then a long I

Bars 13-15: turnaround to major bIIII (weird non diatonic part, I don’t know the term for this, maybe it’s just a key change)

Bar 16: turnaround to C major (going home)

17-24: same as 1-12

Bar 25: movement on ii? Seems isolated from bar 26 to me

Bar 26-27: ii V to A-

Bar 28: leading ii V to E-

bars 29-31: iii VI ii V I

Bar 32: ii V going back home

Anyone see things differently?

[kris]

A lot of musicians play this tune in the key of Eb major.

[Mick-7]

Bars 13-15: turnaround to major bIIII (weird non diatonic part, I don’t know the term for this, maybe it’s just a key change)

Cm is the relative minor of Eb, Eb^7 = Cm9 (no root), so it's a variation on the C^7 >> Cm7 in the first 4 bars.

Bar 25: movement on ii? Seems isolated from bar 26 to me

It goes to Bm7b5 (= G9 no root) & E7b9 = G7b9 (both without roots), but resolves to VIm7 rather than I^7. Then a cycle of IIm7/V7's down in whole steps. I agree with the rest of your analysis.

1. The 'Db#11' chord that's in the graphic is played this way: X-8-10-11-X-X (I don't know how to name this chord correctly.)

There is no such chord as Db#11, it's not a #11th unless the 7th (major or b7th) is included. Db-F-Ab-G, would be named Bbm13 or Eb11 (sans roots). Also, the chord you spelled out is: F-C-Gb.

Here's a Barry Harris transcription:
https://jazzpianopracticesessions.com/barry-harris-on-green-dolphin-street.pdf

[Mick-7]

I meant to spell it this way:

X (1st string)
8 (G)
10 (F)
11 (Db)
X
X (6th string)

o.k. but that's not Db#11, could be Bbm6 or Eb9 or A7#5 (no roots).

So your G >Db#11 could be Em7 >A7#5, which is what the common lead sheet has in the previous bar.

[pamosmusic]

Bar 25: movement on ii? Seems isolated from bar 26 to me

Bar 26-27: ii V to A-

Bar 28: leading ii V to E-

This is where the Lego bricks framework can be super useful … this move shows up in a lot of stuff. Time After Time, My Romance, and I Could Write a Book jump to mind.

So you can try to recognize that slightly larger pattern and then give it a name so that it’s easier to spot in the future.

Also there are some spots you call turnarounds that are better described as cadences.

Turnarounds start at home and end at home (C A7 Dm G7) … so they’re ways of embellishing a long I chord.

Cadences start somewhere else and then the move back home starts usually on that ii chord (Eb —— Dm G7 C)

[Christian Miller]

Yeah probably I’d have bigger chunks/Lego bricks

The first section of the last 8

Dm —> Am —> Em

Dm Dm/C B-7b5 E7 Am Am/G F#-7b5 B7 Em

(Elided into a 3-6-2-5 turnaround)

Is a chunk in itself - go and have a look at the A section of whisper not

But the walk down to the -7b5 is a move you see a lot

Am Am/G F#-7b5


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[pamosmusic]

But the walk down to the -7b5 is a move you see a lot

Am Am/G F#-7b5


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So often that the first half of the big chunk is fhe same thing up a fourth

[AllanAllen]

Turnarounds start at home and end at home (C A7 Dm G7) … so they’re ways of embellishing a long I chord.

Cadences start somewhere else and then the move back home starts usually on that ii chord (Eb —— Dm G7 C)

Can the Eb be a Tritone for A7 and then you’re in a turnaround?

[AllanAllen]

The original changes are so different from the ireal or RB which I feel robs the song of its character. (I wrote about it here and here, too.)

This puts me in a pickle. Do I start writing lead sheets for my group and build a repertoire book, or keep relying on the real book to get through the gigs.

It would tickle me to have an Allan Book…

Like Elvis sang, I wish there were more than 24 hours in a day.

[pamosmusic]

Can the Eb be a Tritone for A7 and then you’re in a turnaround?

Nah. Typically in a turnaround your tonic or a sub therefore (usually iii) comes first, but either way the categories are more about understanding the purpose of the chords rather than being particular about which chords are in it:

In this particular case I guess I grabbed that from bars 7-8 of the B section. So the Eb is the resting place for that phrase and the D- sets you in motion to a new one (actually Cork would call that quick ii-V at the end of a phrase the “launcher” which makes sense).

So the purpose of the turnaround is not to go somewhere but to make staying put feel interesting. Canonical example is the first four of rhythm changes. It’s just a big I chord and it’s been said many times on this forum that a lot of great improvisers treat it that way, ignoring those rapid fire I VI ii Vs. It’s not because they’re pulling a fast one, it’s because they know what those chords are doing.

I usually tell people for a cadence, you’re at the grocery store, and you get in the car and drive home.

For a turnaround, you spend all day at home but you don’t just sit on the couch. You walk down to check the mail box, you do the laundry, you take a shower. So you’re moving but you’re not meaningfully going anywhere.

[pamosmusic]

Honestly the original book is $20 well spent. I think you’d really like it.

First of all, the dude is just salty and talks smack about all kinds of stuff and it’s just a fun read.

Also he explicitly writes as much of it as possible to be completely free of theoretical terminology, which is both practical in that it engages your ear and is a different way of looking at stuff, and just funny because you end up analyzing tunes with terms like “this sad cadence, bootstrapped to a straight rainy day.”

[Christian Miller]

Honestly the original book is $20 well spent. I think you’d really like it.

First of all, the dude is just salty and talks smack about all kinds of stuff and it’s just a fun read.

Also he explicitly writes as much of it as possible to be completely free of theoretical terminology, which is both practical in that it engages your ear and is a different way of looking at stuff, and just funny because you end up analyzing tunes with terms like “this sad cadence, bootstrapped to a straight rainy day.”

Salty? I mean people on the internet are salty. I feel that doesn’t really do him justice.

The articles are my favourite bit. I think they've shaped a lot of my perception about jazz.

But even if I didn’t agree with 90% of what he says, I’d be impressed. IMO Cork is one of the few people with a coherent philosophy ever to write a how-to jazz book, and it’s clear he had done a lot of thinking about it. He is vastly opinionated, but his opinions are interesting, original and supportable from the evidence he provides, and he has a perspective beyond music too - which is something all too rare in music.

I wish there were more people like him writing the literature.

A lot of jazz musicians come out with stuff as fact and you think 'and that is based on what exactly?’ Some contradict themselves continually while simultaneously laying down the law. With Cork, it feels like he builds an argument instead of regurgitating received wisdom or spouting specious generalisations. He even does some honest to god scholarship on sources which makes him pretty unusual. You could have debated him on this stuff.

I’m not saying merely passing helpful info along isn’t useful, but it’s great to have had someone who had a broader sensibility and given how pretentious so many of these mass market books are in their aims, it’s great to read someone with the cojones to back it up.

[Mick-7]

Yeah probably I’d have bigger chunks/Lego bricks

The first section of the last 8

Dm —> Am —> Em

Dm Dm/C B-7b5 E7 Am Am/G F#-7b5 B7 Em

(Elided into a 3-6-2-5 turnaround)

Is a chunk in itself - go and have a look at the A section of whisper not

But the walk down to the -7b5 is a move you see a lot

Am Am/G F#-7b5

"—&gt" means what?

Anyone use the Roman numeral method of memorizing tunes? That is, translating the chord names to their functional symbols, IIm7, V7 etc. Translation is difficult with tunes like this.

[Christian Miller]

"—&gt" means what?

Anyone use the Roman numeral method of memorizing tunes? That is, translating the chord names to their functional symbols, IIm7, V7 etc. Translation is difficult with tunes like this.

I think there might be something going on with your browser. I’m not seeing that character string.

Yeah the numeral thing is a bit tricky with this situation. I could give them all relative to C major, but really what we have here is Dm followed by a tonicisation of Am and then a tonicisation of Em.

Or IIm move to IVm and then to IIIm.

I tend to think of II V’s relative to their diatonic targets. II V for example… the way secondary dominants are handled in (American?) functional theory. You know, V/V and so on.

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[PickingMyEars]

Just a moment...

Roni teaches Green Dolphin Street in C here, but I learned it in Eb. He makes interesting points about interchangeable turn arounds, like the II bIIMAJ I at the top of the form. Works with the lego idea. The end has that Benny Golson progression that’s fun to play over. Just passing along.

[pamosmusic]

I think there might be something going on with your browser. I’m not seeing that character string.

Yeah the numeral thing is a bit tricky with this situation. I could give them all relative to C major, but really what we have here is Dm followed by a tonicisation of Am and then a tonicisation of Em.

Or IIm move to IVm and then to IIIm.

I tend to think of II V’s relative to their diatonic targets. II V for example… the way secondary dominants are handled in (American?) functional theory. You know, V/V and so on.

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I think that book is maybe a work of genius but also my dude is definitely salty

[AllanAllen]

Okay, Miles did it in Eb. The real book has it in C. The Tommy Dorsey original is in A. I’ve done that bit. I can play it anywhere, that’s not the subject.

I chose C to match the real book and because it’s easier to talk about music in C.

[AllanAllen]

Honestly the original book is $20 well spent. I think you’d really like it.

I will not be spending $20 on the pdf. I don’t care how good it is, I know myself. I will never read a book on a screen.

[pamosmusic]

I will not be spending $20 on the pdf. I don’t care how good it is, I know myself. I will never read a book on a screen.

I’m right there with you but this one is worth printing out honestly

[AllanAllen]

I’m right there with you but this one is worth printing out honestly

I wonder if staples can bind it for me.

What about the other one, insights into jazz? Also great?

[GuyBoden]

I wonder if staples can bind it for me.

What about the other one, insights into jazz? Also great?

"Insights in Jazz" is a better book, if you only want the Chord charts (IMHO). I have both.

[pamosmusic]

I wonder if staples can bind it for me.

What about the other one, insights into jazz? Also great?

Less interesting to read but as Guy says, maybe more practical. Not sure I’d get just that one. Lego Bricks has all the interesting philosophical stuff. How to listen etc

[AllanAllen]

I was going to Lego bricks or both. Staples offers booklet service.

[Mick-7]

"Insights in Jazz" is a better book, if you only want the Chord charts (IMHO). I have both.

Sounds like it was written by an aviator, do songs end on a helipad?

[garybaldy]

"Insights in Jazz" is a better book, if you only want the Chord charts (IMHO). I have both.

That has to be an April fool!