Deconstructing Barney Kessel's Autum Leaves

[RickyHolden]

Good afternoon.

I've been working on learning Barney Kessel's quite frankly glorious rendition of Autumn Leaves, with a view to gaining technical and theoretical inspiration.
I'm no jazz pro or jazz theory expert, so thought I'd join this forum and see if any of you people can answer my questions.

Key is C minor, here's a bit of reference material.

Notes of C minor scale
C, D, E?, F, G, A?, B?

C minor Scale Tone 7th Chords
i – C minor, C minor seventh (Cmin, Cmin7)
iidim – D diminished, D minor seventh flat five (Ddim, Dm7b5)
III – E flat major, E flat major seventh (Ebmaj, Ebmaj7)
iv – F minor, F minor seventh (Fmin, Fmin7)
v – G minor, G minor seventh (Gmin, Gmin7)
VI – A flat major, A flat major seventh (Abmaj, Abmaj7)
VII – B flat major, B flat dominant seventh (Bbmaj, Bb7)

this is what I'm working off:

So first question, skip to 0.12s. Last bar, top line on screen.

I'm seeing a run of chords up to a Fmin7, resolving to a bFlat7 at the start of the next bar.
I'm seeing the top note of those chords as a Cminor scale run, G, Ab, Bb, C, Eb resolving to the D ( 3rd of the Bb7). This makes perfect sense.

But what of the chords under that scale run, particularly under the G, Ab, Bb and C? Can anyone explain what and why with those?

Many thanks for any help.

[bluenote61]

Welcome,
Its a nice project what you are working on.
Regarding your question:
I see this run in that bar as a chordial scale run from Fm7 to Bb7 to fill the 'empty space' in the melody in that bar.
The first chord (open E, D, g) might be a chromatic passing chord on the upbeat to the second chord which is the Fm7 of that bar. Third is a Gm7 which is in the scale, again a passing chord to the remaing two chords which are inversions of the Fm7. With the last Fm7 chord you have on the E and G string nice approach tones down to the Bb7.
That’s my interpretation. There may be other explanations as well but that movement sounds pretty well anyhow.
You can find such movement also in a similar way on other tunes.

[RickyHolden]

Welcome,
Its a nice project what you are working on.
Regarding your question:
I see this run in that bar as a chordial scale run from Fm7 to Bb7 to fill the 'empty space' in the melody in that bar.
The first chord (open E, D, g) might be a chromatic passing chord on the upbeat to the second chord which is the Fm7 of that bar. Third is a Gm7 which is in the scale, again a passing chord to the remaing two chords which are inversions of the Fm7. With the last Fm7 chord you have on the E and G string nice approach tones down to the Bb7.
That’s my interpretation. There may be other explanations as well but that movement sounds pretty well anyhow.
You can find such movement also in a similar way on other tunes.

This is great, so many thanks, yep the first chord, an Em7, doesn't fit the key, so a chromatic passing chord, yep I buy that, makes sense.
All else you say makes sense.

The chord with the root on the Aflat. You call it a passing chord. Notes are Ab, F, G. I'm happy with this chord, all the notes are in the Cmin scale, it makes sense then in the context as a AbMaj7added6 chord.

Is this how Jazzers would call this chord? AbMaj7Added6 sounds clunky. I'm sure that in Jazz there is a more concise way to name such chords, e.g. Amaj6... where the maj7th is implied?

Oh yes, you are right its an interesting project. I'm quite amazed at Kessel's work here. I've done most of the tune and figured out maybe 95% of it, he uses substitutions and chord fragments in a really nice way. The point of this thread is to try to fill the gaps in my understanding of his theory and chord choices.

[arnie65]

It is a beautiful arrangement, specially the intro. Here it is, enjoy.

Cheers,
Arnie..

[ragman1]

But what of the chords under that scale run, particularly under the G, Ab, Bb and C? Can anyone explain what and why with those?

Honestly? Because they sound okay, they do the trick.

Don't forget he's just playing more or less impromptu and making things fit. Don't expect everything a solo jazz guitarist does to conform to the 'correct' rules of harmony and all that. It often doesn't. And, if you think of it, it would sound rather too perfect if it did.

To be straight, that's the trouble with trying to analyse a lot of jazz, and solo jazz in particular. It would be nice if it all fell into simple recognisable scales, chords, and all that, but it frequently doesn't. It's something one has to live with.

(There is an upside to it. When it comes to our own arrangements THEY don't have to conform all the time either )

[bluenote61]

The chord with the root on the Aflat. You call it a passing chord. Notes are Ab, F, G. I'm happy with this chord, all the notes are in the Cmin scale, it makes sense then in the context as a AbMaj7added6 chord.

For clarification, what I wanted to say is that the Gm7 chord works as a passing chord up to the chord with the Ab in the bass. This chord is a Fm/Ab, i.e. an inversion of the Fm with the b3 in the bass.
The notes are Ab, F and C.

[RickyHolden]

Honestly? Because they sound okay, they do the trick.

Don't forget he's just playing more or less impromptu and making things fit. Don't expect everything a solo jazz guitarist does to conform to the 'correct' rules of harmony and all that. It often doesn't. And, if you think of it, it would sound rather too perfect if it did.

To be straight, that's the trouble with trying to analyse a lot of jazz, and solo jazz in particular. It would be nice if it all fell into simple recognisable scales, chords, and all that, but it frequently doesn't. It's something one has to live with.

(There is an upside to it. When it comes to our own arrangements THEY don't have to conform all the time either )

Hi,

Yes this is what I am thinking, perhaps the question to ask when analysing a tune like this is not:

- how can I make this fit my knowledge of theory?

But rather:

- what was Kessel thinking when he did that?

I just want to understand the thought processes he had to arrive at all the cool bits, so I can get the same thought processes in my head and come up with my own cool bits.

[RickyHolden]

For clarification, what I wanted to say is that the Gm7 chord works as a passing chord up to the chord with the Ab in the bass. This chord is a Fm/Ab, i.e. an inversion of the Fm with the b3 in the bass.
The notes are Ab, F and C.

Yep, course it is. Didn't spot that, thanks for this.

[ragman1]

not:

- how can I make this fit my knowledge of theory?

But rather:

- what was Kessel thinking when he did that?

Exactly, very well put.

I knew somebody once who could do this, play all the tunes with chords. Whatever the tune he seemed to be able to just harmonise them instantly, and it worked.

I asked him once how he did it and he looked at me with complete sincerity and said 'I don't know'.

There's a poster here called nevershouldhavesoldit. He can do it. Maybe send him a PM and see what he says.

[Jimmy Smith]

what was Kessel thinking when he did that?

He's playing modally within C minor. Notice how there are no accidentals except a b natural which is in C melodic/harmonic minor. All he's doing is moving a shape through the key. Shape meaning intervals between each note in the chord. This is a main device for chord melody. You don't plan out each chord, that would be ridiculous. Although you can do that and have some chords be more purposeful or functional, such as tritone subs or BH.

[ragman1]

Er, you might want to check the context of that quote in its original post, Jimmy :-)

[Jimmy Smith]

Thx. Result is the same.