The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Hi all!
    Usually when I'm learning a jazz solo, I'm trying to find an intuitive theoretical explanation for the phrases I'm learning so that I can later use it as ideas for my solo. Usually, I just try to understand (and visualize) what chord tones are played in this or that phrase, or (if it is a scale passage), to understand what scale is used. Now I've started learning the Kenny Burrell solo "Satin Doll" (recorded version with Jimmy Smith's "Organ Grinder Swing"; transcribed from Jack Grassell's book). I will be glad to the any advice and explanations, because I myself have no ideas yet.
    1. In the first example, I can still understand the "Am7-idea" played over the D9, but what Kenny plays on the A13 chord and why, I don't really understand. Besides, it all sounds like one whole phrase.
    Kenny Burrel solo on Satin Doll-kenny-burrell-satin-doll_1-jpg
    2. In the second example, there is a phrase on the Db9 chord (and in the bass, in the accompaniment, I generally hear G), which I would rather regard as a blues phrase on C7. But the C major chord is only in the next measure.
    Kenny Burrel solo on Satin Doll-kenny-burrell-satin-doll_2-jpg

    I appreciate any thoughts on this. Perhaps more experienced players will be able to tell me that these are some common jazz tricks.

    Kenny's solo starts on 0:57:

    Last edited by Kmatuhin; 11-29-2022 at 09:07 AM.

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  3. #2

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    Well for a start I don't think that transcription is correct. To me the first lick just sounds like a standard A7alt downward sweep type thing (aka the 'cry me a river' lick). You can play it as follows: C on first string, little finger, then barre index finger across the 6th fret (first 3 strings) and sweep pick back down across the first 3 strings to get descending Bb, F, Db, then slur the index finger down one fret to get C on the 3rd string, then Bb on the 4th string with the little finger, and so on. At least that's how I play it. So really it's a kind of A7alt kind of sound, which is like a V chord to the D9.

    From that A7 lick he is then playing an ascending D minor arpeggio type of thing. The fact that the chord is D9 at that point doesn't really matter, you can hear that it works. Again I don't think the transcription is quite right. I hear it as ascending E, F, A, C, E. They have missed off the first E which is really important to get the feel, in my opinion. You slur the E into the F (without picking) then continue up. This is also a standard Wes Montgomery lick.

    This is why you have to get your ears working, transcriptions are often wrong!

    The second lick is just a C minor pentatonic blues type thing. He's just anticipating the C chord that follows, with a blues lick. You shouldn't get too bogged down over analysing one chord at a time. Jazz players are often thinking in longer phrases that flow across the chords, so they anticipate the harmony sometimes.

    You could also see that phrase as fitting over a G7#5 quite well too, so it could be a sort of V subbing for the Db9. Either way it sounds cool.

  4. #3

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    that's an incredibly melodic solo by KB. Not that I'm surprised, but it really is nice!

  5. #4

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    What's going on in what you call the C7 lick is an example of an unwritten solo etiquette we might call "clearing the palate". I hear it in the trumpet solos on old Coltrane records, sax players like Stanley Turrentine, Kenny Burrell and many other guitarists.
    The idea is that while soloing you may go outside or otherwise push into harmonic or rhythmic liberties, but approaching the end of the solo you down shift back to simplicity as a courtesy to the next soloist in the sense that however much you might "fold, spindle, or mutilate" the song, you hand it back all nice and neat. Probably the most common method on guitar is to finish out by inserting a descending pentatonic as a familiar grounding in the blues. Lots of jazz musicians do this by habit even when there is not a subsequent soloist.

  6. #5

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    Except that Kenny played it in the middle of his solo, not the end.

  7. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by grahambop
    Well for a start I don't think that transcription is correct. To me the first lick just sounds like a standard A7alt downward sweep type thing (aka the 'cry me a river' lick). You can play it as follows: C on first string, little finger, then barre index finger across the 6th fret (first 3 strings) and sweep pick back down across the first 3 strings to get descending Bb, F, Db, then slur the index finger down one fret to get C on the 3rd string, then Bb on the 4th string with the little finger, and so on. At least that's how I play it. So really it's a kind of A7alt kind of sound, which is like a V chord to the D9.

    From that A7 lick he is then playing an ascending D minor arpeggio type of thing. The fact that the chord is D9 at that point doesn't really matter, you can hear that it works. Again I don't think the transcription is quite right. I hear it as ascending E, F, A, C, E. They have missed off the first E which is really important to get the feel, in my opinion. You slur the E into the F (without picking) then continue up. This is also a standard Wes Montgomery lick.

    This is why you have to get your ears working, transcriptions are often wrong!

    The second lick is just a C minor pentatonic blues type thing. He's just anticipating the C chord that follows, with a blues lick. You shouldn't get too bogged down over analysing one chord at a time. Jazz players are often thinking in longer phrases that flow across the chords, so they anticipate the harmony sometimes.

    You could also see that phrase as fitting over a G7#5 quite well too, so it could be a sort of V subbing for the Db9. Either way it sounds cool.
    Excellent post.

    I think you're right about the sweep. It might be of interest to point out that Warren Nunes played that lick by starting with the third finger on C, pulling off to the Bb while he repositioned the pick, and then picked the F on the G string, picked the Bb on the G string, slid to the C and picked the Bb on the D string. The lick can be played very fast and very clean that way. It avoids the three consecutive notes on three different strings with the pick moving towards the ceiling.

    The putative C7 lick looks funny against a Db9. Less funny, as you point out, if you think of it as a G7b9b13. I'd also suggest thinking of it, perhaps, as an F7 lick. F7 to Cmajor. Is that called a plagal cadence? In any case, it's bluesy and it resolves to Cmajor. He plays it with such force that the ear goes with it, maybe appreciating the bitonality with the Db9 and it's resolution to the Cmajor is so powerful that the listener cheerfully accepts it.

  8. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by grahambop
    Except that Kenny played it in the middle of his solo, not the end.
    Yeah, sometimes one likes to clear the palate within a solo for one's own benefit or as a marker between parts of the solo.

  9. #8

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    I think an important thing to pull from this solo two is how many consecutive bars of 8th notes Kenny blows.

    None.
    Last edited by mr. beaumont; 11-29-2022 at 04:31 PM.

  10. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar
    The putative C7 lick looks funny against a Db9. Less funny, as you point out, if you think of it as a G7b9b13. I'd also suggest thinking of it, perhaps, as an F7 lick. F7 to Cmajor. Is that called a plagal cadence? In any case, it's bluesy and it resolves to Cmajor. He plays it with such force that the ear goes with it, maybe appreciating the bitonality with the Db9 and it's resolution to the Cmajor is so powerful that the listener cheerfully accepts it.
    The anticipatory C lick sounds right with both altered G chords and their tritone-subs (Db chords), all pressing strong resolution to C.
    The G chord as a major sixth could be G6/F, or maybe better Gaug/F if you hear the move as F to C. The C lick's great with Gaug/F!

  11. #10
    Thanks everyone! I didn't expect so much to be extracted from these small pieces of solos.
    To me the first lick just sounds like a standard A7alt downward sweep type thing (aka the 'cry me a river' lick). You can play it as follows: C on first string, little finger, then barre index finger across the 6th fret (first 3 strings) and sweep pick back down across the first 3 strings to get descending Bb, F, Db, then slur the index finger down one fret to get C on the 3rd string, then Bb on the 4th string with the little finger, and so on. At least that's how I play it. So really it's a kind of A7alt kind of sound, which is like a V chord to the D9.
    It's really closer to the original solo and looks more logical. (True, in his book Jack Grassell "Jazz Guitar Classic", the author somewhere makes a reservation that he played and made transcriptions of his solos for educational purposes, which are similar to the original ones, but not 100%. And at first I listened to the recording that is attached to the book , not Burell's solo)

    that's an incredibly melodic solo by KB. Not that I'm surprised, but it really is nice!
    And by the way, i listened out the whole album - i really liked it.. KB's solos are not too long (because he's still not the leader on the album), but that's just what I like. And the guitar sound is interesting, slightly overdriven, which is rare in mainstream jazz, I think.