Originally Posted by
MarkRhodes
In the book, Joe stresses that the chord symbols above the lines are for analysis, not for comping. He also says that the main thing is to get the SOUNDS of the lines in one's ears. Also, in the lines written in straight eighths, part of the goal is to get away from playing licks. You have to figure out how to fill up the space between changes and then make the changes on a strong note. (Mimi Fox studied with Joe and she also stresses the value of creating lines in straight eighths as an exercise.) Ideally, one makes up one's own exercises until it becomes second nature. (Not there yet.)
Joe also says that he thinks of chords as major, minor, or dominant. He doesn't care about the alterations (as given in a chord chart). For him, augmented and diminished chords fall under the umbrella term dominant chord. So above when he has E7+5+9 (b9), that's just E7 to him, but he's alerting the student to the use of those alterations in that measure.
So the answer to the question in the OP, why does he do this? is this: he likes the sound.
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