The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26

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    Quote Originally Posted by Christian Miller
    yeah I dunno really

    GASB songs use functional harmony. But GASB songs were not by and large written by jazz musicians.

    Do jazz musicians need to know functional harmony like a classical composer? Not so much. Jazz is constrained by tight, repetitive form - it comes around every 32 bars try as we might to escape it…. You don’t need to improvise or compose a symphony…. And as far as voice leading goes, that’s less important. Otoh I know a lot of excellent jazz players - most in fact - who I not would describe as having a deep understanding of western harmony. They know what they need to.

    (there’s also part of me that thinks ‘functional harmony’ is a bit of fairy story invented by Germans who didn’t want to get laughed out of the academy anyway.)

    Jazz players need to identify types of chord progressions so they can organise idiomatic vocabulary and material and develop a lexicon of interesting and stylish things they can sub for common progressions. Jazz theory, including CST, is geared around that which is why it doesn’t really look that much like classical theory.

    Some improvisers have always taken a modal or melodic approach to soloing on changes. Prez was one; Miles another. As guitarists I think we don’t take that route because we are chord people. That’s not really how bebop language works either, but it is a rich vein of jazz improv history.

    there’s also melodic pathways that are very well trodden over a given progression - not all chord tone lines are equally used. A well known example are the guide tones on a cycle4 prog. Another might be the use of the 3rds and b9s on the dominants of a VI7 ii V7 I - the ‘butter notes’ perhaps. (to be fair both examples are commonly used in classical/baroque counterpoint.)

    As we go beyond GASB we encounter a new challenge. While theres a fairly narrow selection of moves that make up around 90% of GASB standards - most famously ii V and ii V I - when we start with the Joe and Wayne stuff we run into a much wider sea of possibilities for one chord to go to the next

    The most commonly used of these is CST - which works best when chords stick around. Herbie does this for instance, and most jazz theorists are piano players, so they set the syllabus. This stuff is obvious on piano. You end up playing these shimmering clouds of colour.

    But it seems to me Wayne had his own way of doing things which often involves paraphrasing the melody and playing blues. He used his melodies as the ‘well trodden pathways.’

    If you like, Herbie played the chords (even while soloing) while Wayne played the song. Which is what you’d expect I guess… (And there’s a lot of harmony in those melodies are built; take for instance the A of speak no evil.)

    As I get better I become less and less interested in the sort of typical idea of freedom and improvisation in music (expressed as a free choice from pitch sets) and more interested in uncovering and teasing things out from the tune. it’s significant that the melody on the D7 and Eb7 chords in All Blues are not the obvious night train ones for example; and that melody will inform your harmonic choices. It seems to be something I like; perhaps I’m not crazy about free choice as a representation of freedom - I think there’s a deeper meaning of freedom and improvisation.

    I started hearing about this from Peter Bernstein and think Monk and Wayne are great teachers for that. Miles too. And this for me is as useful with standards as it is with Joe or Wayne’s music. Kenny Wheeler too actually. But it only works for music that has been written this way….

    It is not so helpful when someone hands you four chords to solo on in the middle of a fusion chart haha. At that point you become a composer from the chords.

    The thing is the way we teach people from day 1, a lot of people think that’s the only thing there is!
    Great post.

    My most influential teacher told me over and over again that "the tune gives you everything you need to know about playing it." I'm finally starting to realize how true that is.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #27

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    Well I'm no expert but I see it a bit differently.

    1. Modal started with "Classical" music, not Jazz.
    2. Miles is known for Bebop, Cool Jazz, Post-Bop, and "Jazz/Rock" Fusion.
    3. Kind of Blue was about the Blues, not Modal. It was called "Kind of Blue", not "Kind of Modal", lol.
    4. Freddie Freeloader and All Blues were undeniably blues tunes. So What hung out on two Mi7 chords, not three Dom7 chords. OMG, we have to use the Dorian Mode! It's Moooodal!


    I always understood Mile's point to be that improv needed to expand, and virtuosos needed to have the freedeom to stretch out, and not be tethered to fast moving changes through shifting key centers. Too constraining/confining, and resulting in shorter ideas and phrases in a lot of cases (i.e. not stretching out).

    So, what better vehicle than the blues for jazz musicians to pursue that objective, and maybe the blues with some different harmonic twists than those chosen by Bird.