070 Part Vii

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Part VIIA LEGO BricksApproach ToSome Core

RepertoireSearching For Patterns In Changes

The Core Repertoire

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A LEGO Br icks Approach To Some Core Reper to i r e

Part VII A LEGO Bricks Approach ToSome Core Repertoire

he best thing this book can leave you with is the ability to look at a chord sequence, instantly read itfor what it is, and remember it effortlessly. That way you can learn as much repertoire as you like.

In this section we look at how you can describe a core repertoire of some two dozen songs in LEGO brick terms. This will give you some practice at that so you can see how to do it for yourself with other

songs.

Searching For Patterns In ChangesYou may find it easier if you can learn these songs with a friend, taking it in turns to read the book aloudand relate what it says to the music. If you have to do it on your own, try to imagine the book itself as afriend talking to you about the songs.

Now is the time to learn to see every sequence you are presented with as a pattern of LEGO bricks, not as alist specific to one particular pitch for the song. The text is a discussion about each song, in no way anacademic analysis of it, and is written in a style that directly reflects many years of teaching jazz harmonyin this way to a variety of students.

Listen to LionelIf you do this to everything that is discussed as it is discussed, you will consolidate your knowledge andyour skills, and find, as Lionel Grigson says that ‘the more numbers that are learned, the easier the learning

becomes’.

If you don’t do it properly you are wasting your time (and your life). I have found people sneakily writingin the transpositions for their own instruments, and have had to say that they might as well not pretend to

be interested in improving their playing.

Grigson in his introduction says: ‘One can only improvise on a tune when one can memorise both themelody and the changes. No book, this one included, should be used as a crutch for the memory and theear’.

Take your time as you follow the discussion relative to the chord sequence: make sure you understandeverything as you go through. You are building knowledge locally, and contextually by means ofreferences to other songs, and building your skills as you try the knowledge out. The reason this book onlyhas a few songs in it is to encourage you to take the time you need in your early days as an improviser.

How do I recognise and understand what I’m looking at?Most beginners just look at roots and say things like ‘that sequence goes round the cycle’. This ismechanical and useless. We have to take the qualities and contexts into account too if we are to make acogent reading.

So look for the standard LEGO bricks, like Cadences and Turnarounds. Look for them wherever theyoccur. If the back end of the song is simple and predictable, check it out first. You don’t always have tostart from the top. What you are looking for is patterns and exceptions to patterns. You clear the decks thisway so you can look for the exceptions.

T

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A LEGO Br i cks Approach To Some Cor e R eper t o i re

For example:

Look for regular and irregular variations.

Where there are successive Cadences, see what the Joins are.

Trial Run: the bridge of CherokeeBefore we deal with a complete song, let’s practise with our old friend the bridge of Cherokee .

In concert pitch it looks like this:

C#- F#7 B ! % B- E7 A ! %

A- D7 G ! % G- C7 C- F7

We know it’s a bridge, and so straight away check to see how it ends. Is it a tension ending, or a quicklauncher. Here there is no problem, the C- F7 is a simple tension ending on a cadence to F. So the wholesixteen measures is four straight cadences, the last of which has a tension ending.

No problems so far.

What about the Joins? They are all the same, aren’t they? Each new cadence begins on the same root asthe last one ended with, the New Horizon Join. So it’s the simplest of all Joins, and every Join is the same.

This is difficult?

So we can now play the bridge of Cherokee in any key without transposing, because once we start it’s soeasy to get through it.

Q . Ah, but where do we start?A . Good question - but it’s the only thing you have to remember. The answer is that the first cadence inthe bridge of Cherokee begins on the bIII of where the ‘A’ section ended. In LEGO bricks terms, this iscalled a Cherokee Join because it is so much a part of the way Cherokee sounds, although it does occur inother songs, like Blue Bossa , as we will see.

In the core repertoire which follows, the chord sequences are presented in concert pitch for universality, but because of the Harmony with LEGO Bricks approach, you will be able to play them in any keyeasily. At the end of each discussion there are some suggestions for playalongs you might like to get tohelp you learn the song.

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I’ll Remember AprilQ. Why start with this? Isn’t it hard?

A. Well it does have a reputation. It was the tune with which the Oscar Pettiford band hoped to humiliateCannonball Adderley when he arrived in New York in 1955. But it is trivially easy in LEGO brick terms,and so makes quite a spectacular start to your learning.

G ! % % % G- % % %

A- D7 B- E7 A- D7 G ! %

C- F7 Bb ! G7 C- F7 Bb ! %

A- D7 G! % F#- B7 E ! A- D7

G ! % % % G- % % %

A- D7 B- E7 A- D7 G ! %

So it’s a three part song, ABA, with both A’s identical. All sections 16 measures.

The ‘A’ section’s first eight move from a Major Hover to a Minor Hover on the same root. Its second eightis a Pulled-Back Homer, i.e. an ordinary Straight Cadence back to where we are, but delayed by thePullBack.

Straightaway you can see that the bridge is four Straight Cadences. Note that unlike most bridges itdoesn’t have a tension ending. That is because it hasn’t arrived back at the dominant of the front. So itdoes what other songs (like Confirmation ) do in those circumstances: it uses its last bar as a quickLauncher to get back to the top of the ‘A’ section.

But the bridge is also symmetrical so it is easy to remember. In fact it has two kinds of symmetry, one ineach half.

In the first half, it is the symmetry of repetition : the Cadence is simply retaken, with the standard device(see also Baubles Bangles and Beads ) of using the fourth bar of the first time through as a Launcher for thesecond.

In the second half, the symmetry is the use of the same Join to start the other two Cadences. The join is aSidewinder , i.e. it starts a half step lower than the root the previous Cadence ended on.

The only remaining question is how to get in and out of the bridge.

As you can see, this is symmetrical too! You get in with a Highjump , i.e. starting one step around thecycle. And you get out with a Highjump because the Launcher to get out of the bridge also starts one step

around the cycle.

Playalong: Aebersold Volume 15, Payin’ Dues (as April ). Aebersold Volume 43 Groovin’ High . HalCrook’s Creative Comping for Improvisation Volume 2.

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Blue Bossa

C- % F- % Dø G7+9 C-!

%

Eb- Ab7 Db ! % Dø G7+9 C- ! %

Like Autumn Leaves , which we deal with below, Blue Bossa’s apparent simplicity is rich with possibilitiesfor the improviser. But the chords are simple aren’t they? Except for the hovers, all it is all cadences, andeach line ends with the same sad cadence.

Here again is the LEGO bricks ‘wall’ we met earlier.

Two measure sad hover, Highjump to another 2 measure sad hover.

Sad Backslider

Straight Cherokee

Sad Downwinder

Let’s work through the song again:

A two measure minor hover, followed by another, one step around the cycle.

Then a cadence to get us back to where we started. Still sad, like the established mood, and having to endup one back round the cycle, its a S ad Backslider .

Then a change of key and mood: a Straight Cadence to a half step up - a Cherokee .

Finally a return to the original key and mood. We have to end up sad, a semitone lower than we are now,so its a Sad Downwinder .

In summary:

Two measure sad hover, repeated one round the cycle. Sad backslider. Straight Cherokee. Saddownwinder.

Practise looking at these changes until the LEGO bricks jump out at you.

Playalong: Aebersold Volume 38 Blue Note . Hal Crook’s Creative Comping for Improvisation Volume 3.

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Tune Up

E- A7 D!

% D- G7 C!

%

C- F7 Bb ! % E- F7 Bb ! %

E- A7 D! % D- G7 C! %

C- F7 Bb ! % E- A7 D! %

You will find Tune Up played as a 32 measure chorus repeating the first 16 measures below exactly, butalso, as here with a different last four measures.

The structure is A1 A2, two almost identical halves, differing only at the end of each half.

Apart from the last 4 measures of the first 16, which we will come to in a moment, it’s all four squarestraight cadences. So what are the joins? You get into the second and third cadence of each half by newhorizons . And you get into the fourth cadence of the second half with a bauble .

The Bauble brings us back to a repeat of the first Cadence. Tune Up shares this three cadences and a bauble movement with Laura , How High the Moon , and Afternoon in Paris , among others so it’s a goodsequence to get used to. Matthew Rooke, a fine bassist, used to say that he felt the New Horizonstightening like a spring being wound, and that the Bauble back to where you started came like a life-savingrelease.

The last four measures of the first half are fascinatingly ambiguous. If you ignore the E-, it is just a repeatof the third cadence, with a launcher (A7 implying D) for going back to the top. And that is how itfunctions. The E- is what we would expect from the standard new horizons plus bauble sequence, but itsells us a dummy by moving on to F7.

Playalong: Aebersold Volume 7 Miles Davis . Aebersold Volume 65 ‘Four’ and More . Aebersold Volume John Coltrane II (with Coltrane substitutions, as Countdown ). Hal Crook’s Creative Comping for Improvisation Volume 3 (as Countdown ).

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Autumn Leaves

C- F7 Bb!

Eb!

Aø D7+9 G-!

%

C- F7 Bb ! Eb ! Aø D7+9 G- ! %

Aø D7+9 G- ! % C- F7 Bb ! Eb !

Aø D7+9 G- ! % Aø D7+9 G- ! %

What becomes apparent here is that there are only two LEGO bricks in the entire song. A straight cadencewith an overrun, and a sad cadence. The sad cadence is to the VI of the straight one (its relative minor) sothat is easy to remember.

Here again is the LEGO bricks ‘wall’ we saw earlier. Remember to think of the straight as sunshineyellow, and the sad as blue. Remember, all the straight cadences have overrun.

straight sad

straight sad

sad straight

sad sad

This simple pictorial approach is highly effective. But there is nothing to stop you seeing the song innarrative form, as a set of joins. It’s more to think about, but the subtlety it reveals is there in the song, andyou get a lot more out of it if you play it in this way. Here I’ve used the joins from the ‘real’ cadencedestination, not the literal ones from the overrun. You could do it the other way and see the literal joins atthe end of each four measures, so an overrun cadence to Bb, (overrunning to Eb) joining to a chord on A asa bauble.

straight cadence sad sidewinder

highjump sad sidewinder

sad homer highjump

sad sidewinder sad homer

This to my mind brings out all sorts of qualities in the song, and explains the proliferation of Miles Davisversions. The last two cadences are not, if you see the song this way, the same one repeated, but two ideaseach with its own function. Even if you don’t play the whole song this way, try it for just those last eight

bars and see what happens in your head.

There is in fact a variation to the chords for this song which nearly all musicians play, and it happens wherethe last but one cadence resolves. Almost as if the floor collapses under the weight of the resolution, thechords go:

G- Gb° F- Bb7

Here, it is used as a poignant turnaround, with the Bb7 leading back down to the Aø. We have met it before, as the approach chords to a rainy cadence. You will also find it at the end of the A section of How

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Deep is the Ocean . That section uses on-off-on, then backslides to another on-off-on. Except that the last‘on’ is this ‘collapse’ leading to a tension ending at the beginning of the B section.

Playalong: Aebersold Volume 20 Jimmy Rainey (as Autumn ). Aebersold Volume 44 Autumn Leaves . Jazz

Workshop Volume 3 Classic Standards . Aebersold Volume 54 Maiden Voyage . Hal Crook’s CreativeComping for Improvisation Volume 2. Peter Ind Your Friendly Neighborhood Rhythm Section .

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Hot House

Gø C7+9 F-!

% D- G7 C!

%

Gø C7+9 F- ! % D- G7 C ! %

C- F7 Bb ! % Ab7+4 % G7+4 %

Gø C7+9 F- ! % D- G7 C ! %

The structure is AABA.

As you can see, the 'A' section consists simply of two cadences, a sad cadence followed by a straight

backslider .The bridge starts with a straight new horizon , and then does a variation of a slow launcher. Like Scrapple

from the Apple , the A section doesn’t start resolved, so, as with that song, the slow launcher is not to the beginning of the ‘A’ section, but to the end. The variant, as you can see by the fact that there is adownward chromatic movement, involves a substitution. What we would expect in a slow launcher is

D7 % D- G7

But by using Ab7 for D7 there is no necessity to break the G7 down into D- G7. And the thing is mademore delicious by using lydian dominants.

So all you have to remember is that after the new horizon, you go down a whole step to start the launcher,

and that the note on which you end the launcher is the start of the sad cadence with which you begin thelast eight bars.

Playalong: Aebersold Volume 15 Payin’ Dues (as What is This ). Aebersold Volume 41 Body & Soul . HalCrook’s Creative Comping for Improvisation Volume 1.

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Cherokee

Bb!

% F- Bb7 Eb!

% Ab7+4 %

Bb ! % C7 % C- % % F7+9

Bb ! % F- Bb7 Eb ! % Ab7+4 %

Bb ! % C7 % C- F7 Bb ! %

C#- F#7 B! % B- E7 A! %

A- D7 G! % G- C7 C- F7

Bb ! % F- Bb7 Eb ! % Ab7+4 %

Bb ! % C7 % C- F7 Bb ! %

At the beginning of this section, we analysed the bridge of Cherokee , so there is no need to repeat that, andits general characteristics were discussed in the Case Study in Part II: Perspectives and Polemics .

That just leaves the front strain.

The first eight measures are just a IV ‘n’ Back . The only slightly unconventional thing is that the back isvia a lydian dominant chord one step around the cycle from the IV. This then functions as a yardbirdsubstitution to move a whole step up back to the I.

Leaving aside the turnaround at the end of the first A for a moment, we can see the definitive form of thesequence from the other two A’s, and what they turn out to be is a Donna Lee front . That turnaroundsimply stretches the minor seventh on the II for three measures, before moving on to the V7 we expect.

Playalong: Aebersold Volume 15 Payin Dues (as Share-a-Key ). Aebersold Volume 61 Burnin’ (in allkeys).

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On Green Dolphin Street

Eb!

% Eb- % F!

___Eb pedal

E!

___Eb pedal

Eb!

G- C7

F- Bb7 Eb ! % Ab- Db7 Gb ! F- Bb7

Eb ! % Eb- % F! ___Eb

E ! ___Eb

Eb ! G- C7

F- Dø G7+9 C- ! Aø D7+9 G- C7 F- Bb7 Eb ! %

There are strong resemblances between this song and Invitation (which was written by the same composerBronislav Kaper) and also with I’ll Remember April .

The structure is ABAC.

The A part resembles the first 16 bars of I’ll Remember April in that it hovers over major, then minor, thencadences home. As with April , this part of the song is often played over a Latin-American rhythm. Unlike

April , Green Dolphin Street accomplishes the trip in half the space . This means that there is no time for aPullBack, just a cadence. The cadence is a GDS cadence, with a dropback at the end.

The B section is a homer followed by a highjump . This gets to a remote place, so the last measure is alauncher, in fact a sidewinder launcher.

The C section starts with a II- as if it were the B section, and ends with a long cadence . So the only thingto look at is how does it get from the II- to the beginning of the long cadence.

The answer is two sad backsliders . Not much of a surprise really, is it? To get from F to G, you go backwards round the cycle. That’s what backsliders do. These are compact, and there is only the slightesthint of ‘cheating’ when we don’t settle on the III-, (G-), we treat it as the beginning of the final cadence.

Playalong: Aebersold Volume 34 Jam Session . Aebersold Volume 59 Invitation . Hal Crook’s CreativeComping for Improvisation Volume 2.

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Invitation

C-!

% % % C- F7 Bb7+4 %

Eb- ! % % % Eb- Ab7 Db7+4 %

C#- F#7 B- ! % B- E7 A- ! %

A- D7 G- ! % Eb7 % D7 Dø G7+9

C- ! % % % C- F7 Bb7+4 %

Eb- ! % B7+4 % Fø Bb7+9 Eb- ! Dø G7+9

This is the second of three Bronislav Kaper songs in this core repertoire. Enduringly interesting togenerations of musicians, it works at any tempo from ballad (as Coltrane played it) upwards. Itscombination of various forms of symmetry makes it fascinating, and even more than most songs, it repayswriting out the head so that they appear. If you do this, write out the first 16 measures 8 measures to a line,and the bridge 4 measures to a line.

The first and second 8 measures are exactly alike, and even have the same melody. The pattern is to hoverover a minor chord for 4 measures, and then make the chord into a minor seventh on the same root, to starta straight cadence . Except that the straight cadence doesn't end normally, it has a supertension ending .The second line follows the motion implicit in the first supertension by beginning one step round the cycle.

The bridge is another Tune Up sequence, three cadences joined by new horizons (and in this case entered by one too). (The melody for each of the three is the same, relative to the chords). The only unusual thing

is the surprise sad ending on each. So as each new horizon goes by, by switching from a minor major to aminor seventh, you echo what happened in the middle of the first eight.

You might think that it would do the usual thing and bauble back to the start in the fourth cadence. ButKaper wants to get back to (as written here) C, not B. Equally you can’t keep new horizoning for ever, sohe chucks logic out of the window and goes for a nowhere (a dominant seventh chord on the bVI of whereyou are), which is sat on for two measures, before the chords move down a semitone and become a sadslow launcher for the reprise of the A section.

This final section starts as if it is going to be like the first sixteen. But after two measures of its secondline, Kaper nowheres again to a lydian dominant. As lydian dominants tend to do, it seems to suspend themotion for a couple of measures. The song resolves with a sad bauble from there, which brings us backhome.

Playalong: Aebersold Volume 34 Jam Session . Aebersold Volume 59 Invitation .

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You Stepped Out Of A Dream

C!

% Db!

% Bb- Eb7 Ab!

%

G- C7 F! % A- D7 Eb- Ab7 D- G7

C ! % Db ! % Bb- Eb7 Cø F7+9

Bb7 Bb° C ! A7 D- G7 C ! %

This is an A B A1 C song.

It is characterised by the hovers in its first four bars, and these are often played, as are the hovers in other

songs, over a latin american rhythm.In the first A section the second hover is a half step up from the first, and is followed by a straightbackslider .

The B section is a sidewinder followed by a variant of the expected slow launcher . The variation is twothings. First the breakdown of the II7. Two measures of D7 become one measure each of A- D7. Then,the II- V7 part of the launcher is modified to become the approach chords to a stablemates cadence . (Thisyou will remember has the II substituted by its tritone, and both chords broken down).

The second A section starts as if it is going to be like the first, except that it suspends the expectedresolution in the last two measures, with sad chords.

Following on from that ‘suspension’, we follow through to the C section, one step around the cycle, andfind we have a modified pennies ending . Normally these would start on the IV. Here it starts on the bVII.

But it gets back to the I via a diminished a half step up.Playalong: Aebersold Volume 34 Jam Session . Aebersold Volume 38 Blue Note (as Chick’s Tune ).Aebersold Volume 59 Invitation . Peter Ind Your Friendly Neighborhood Rhythm Section .

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Here’s That Rainy Day

G- Gb° F- Bb7 Eb ! Ab ! A- D7 G ! D- G7

C- F7 Bb ! Eb ! A- D7 B- E7 A-D7

G- Gb° F- Bb7 Eb ! Ab ! A- D7 G ! D- G7

C! A- D7 B- E7 A7 Bb° B- Bb° A- D7 G ! E- A- D7

The structure is clearly an ABAC. The C part is broadly pennies ending- like in that it starts on the IV,comes back, and then ends with a cadence.

Can you see what we have here? Again, it is predominantly cadences.

The A section starts with a rainy cadence with an overrun, then downwinds . A bootstrap launches the B

section.The B section is a straight overrun , which baubles , but with a SPOT where you expect the resolution.Just like the ordinary end of an AABA song.

The C section contrasts with the B section because although it starts on the same root as the B, it is a majorchord ( the only line in the song which doesn’t start minor ), held for a whole measure, just like thisformat of song usually deploys. It then spends three measures getting ready to deliver the final straightcadence back to the key.

It starts a backslider , then another, and uses the single measure resolution to move chromatically up, readyto finish the song with another rainy cadence .

Playalong: Aebersold Volume 23 One Dozen Standards .

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Ornithology (How High The Moon)

G!

% G- C7 F!

% F- Bb7

Eb ! Aø D7+9 G- ! % B- E7 A- D7

G ! % G- C7 F! % F- Bb7

Eb ! Aø D7+9 G ! % B- E7 A- D7 G ! %

The structure is ABAC, and the main movement through both the AB and the AC sections is the Tune Up one of new horizoning down to the bVI, then baubling back to the starting point.

However, unlike Tune Up etc., it starts resolved (i.e. as though the first cadence had finished) and newhorizons from there. This means that the sequence is substantially offset rather than foursquare .

That said however, whereas the Tune Up pattern takes 16 measures to get back home again, Ornithology ,aided by starting without the first set of approach chords contrives to get back home in 12 measures. Itdoes this by switching the third cadence from offset to foursquare. The first measure of this four is whatwe would expect, but the second measure isn’t the same. It starts the expected bauble then (although to oursurprise it’s a sad one), but packs the approach chords into one bar, so that the resolution can occupy thesecond two.

The difference between the first halves of the B and C sections is that while the B section sticks with themood of the sad bauble when it resolves, the C section drops the sad mood and comes up with a surprisestraight ending .

The last four measures of the B and C sections perform as expected: the song ends on a cadence, although along one, and the end of the B section prefigures this movement by spreading the approach chords for it outin slow motion, a measure at a time, so as to aim at resolve on the first two bars of the second A.

Playalong: Aebersold Volume 6 All Bird .

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Ladybird

C!

% F- Bb7 C!

% Bb- Eb7

Ab ! % A- D7 D- G7 C! Eb7 Ab ! Db7

A deceptively simple looking short sequence, which is regularly played with no fewer than three melodiesin every performance. Like the Swedish Blues sequence, the turnaround at the end is an integral part of thesong, so that performances usually end on the first beat of a chorus that never happens.

The first half starts with an on-off-on , where the off is to the bVII, which, when it is broken down meansthat we have a yardbird homer . After the on is resumed the song half nelsons , so the resolution of that isthe beginning of the second line.

The last four measures are a cadence to where we started, with the slightly quirky sound of a ladybirdturnaround at the end.

The only thing to remember here then is how we get from a resolution on the bVI (Ab here) to start ahoming cadence (on D- here). The melody helps us here, because for the second two bars of the secondhalf, it repeats itself a half step higher, so it is easy to remember that you move up a half step from theresolved chord. Its a minor-to-dominant pair which then doglegs like a slow launcher would into theanticipated cadence.

Playalong: Aebersold Volume 36 Bebop & Beyond . New Real Book PlayAlong Volume 1. Hal Crook’sCreative Comping for Improvisation Volume 2.

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Donna Lee

Ab!

C- F7 Bb7 % Bb- Eb7 Ab!

Eb- Ab7

Db ! Db- Ab ! F7 Bb7 % Bb- Eb7

Ab ! C- F7 Bb7 % Gø C7+9 F- ! Gø C7+9

F- ! Gø C7+9 F- ! B° C- F7 Bb- Eb7 Ab ! F7 Bb- Eb7

The structure is A1 B A2 C.

I’ve shown a slight difference in this Donna Lee front from songs like Exactly Like You . Instead ofstaying on the first chord for two measures, I have ‘dipped' after one measure so that the beginning of theslow launcher is preceded by its logical minor to dominant pair.

The B section is bootstrap launched to start on the IV. The basic pattern is that we have here a IV n Back which drops back to precipitate a completely standard slow launcher . How you get back from the IV is

partly a matter of taste. I like to turn the IV into a IV minor, Grigson likes to use the Yardbird cadence movement and get back to the I via a bVII.

The second A starts like the first, but then abandons and does a sad backslider . The last measure of theresolution is a compact sad homer , to launch the C section.

The C section does the same thing again, but just as you think it might get boring, with the third timethrough those sad approach chords upcoming, it is thrown into the air with a diminished chord, on thetritone of where we were. This moves up a half step to become a long cadence home.

Playalong: Aebersold Volume 6 All Bird . Aebersold Volume 61 Burnin’ (as Indiana ). Peter Ind Time for Improvisation (as Indiana ).

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All The Things You Are

F- Bb- Eb7 Ab!

Db!

D- G7 C!

%

C- F- Bb7 Eb ! Ab ! A- D7 G! %

A- D7 G! % F#- B7 E! C7+9

F- Bb- Eb7 Ab ! Db ! Db- C- F7

Bb- Eb7 Ab ! Gø C7+9

The structure is ABCA1, all sections eight measures long except the last which is twelve. There is at least

one chord on all of the twelve possible roots, making this what Brian Priestley once called the ‘ultimate’song for cycle-based harmony.

As with Invitation , the first eight measures is exactly paralleled by the second, although not in the samerelationship.

The first four measures are a long cadence which overruns to start the second four, before downwinding to a conventional cadence end.

The second eight measures is entered via a new horizon and follows exactly the same pattern.

The bridge is two cadences, a homer followed by a sidewinder . This gets the song into a really remotekey, as here, E when the song as a whole is in Ab. What Jerome Kern does is pretty rare in popular song,he uses a sustained tune note to launch the reprise of the A section. The III of the resolution of thesidewinder (G# here) is sustained across the next bar, a dropback with an altered dominant, and thus

becomes the III of the first chord in the repeated A (so G# has become Ab).The final (A1) section gets as far as the overrun but then seems to run out of steam, and decide to gohome. So, with the overrun having got us to the IV of the song’s key, we get a variant of a penniesending . The only difference is that instead of the I (the expected Ab) it is suspended, a III- (C-). But it’sstill a pennies ending, and takes eight measures to work itself out, and so the A1 is twelve measures not theusual eight.

Playalong: Aebersold Volume 36 Bebop and Beyond (as Prince Albert ). Aebersold Volume 55 Yesterdays .Hal Crook’s Creative Comping for Improvisation Volume 2. Peter Ind Time for Improvisation .

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Rhythm Changes

Bb B° C- C#° D- G7 C- F7 Bb!

Bb7 Eb7 E° D- G7 C- F7

Bb B° C- C#° D- G7 C- F7 Bb ! Bb7 Eb7 E° Bb ! %

A- D7 D- G7 G- C7 C- F7

Bb B° C- C#° D- G7 C- F7 Bb ! Bb7 Eb7 E° Bb ! %

Apart from the blues, more songs are based on rhythm changes than any other chord sequence. Andrhythm changes themselves are a heavily reworked version of the changes to George Gershwin’s I Got

Rhythm .

Also there are many variations to the sequence (Jamey Aebersold has a whole playalong devoted to them,which not only shows you them but takes you through all keys).

This is a ‘generic’ version, so that you will recognise and be able to cope with other versions, whethersimpler or more complex.

Although the final A section of the original song has a tag to it, in general musicians now play rhythmchanges as a normal AABA pattern.

If you look at the second and last eight measures, you will see that the A part is three differentturnarounds , followed by a rest. The only difference with the first eight is that, as you expect from anAABA song, there isn’t a rest at the end, there is a SPOT (Suspended Plain Old Turnaround).

Variations on the A part of rhythm changes consist usually of different turnarounds: that is, they still

preserve the three turnarounds and a rest.Here the turnarounds are rhythm turnaround, SPOT , and IV 'n'back . In every case , turning around theone note, which is where it finally stops.

The bridge is simply dog-leg around the cycle, entered with a sidewinder.

So despite the fact that this song has many bars where there is a chord change every two beats , meaningthat there is plenty to do, especially at some of the tempos it gets called at, by using LEGO bricks, there isalmost nothing to remember , whatever key you happen to be in.

Playalong: Aebersold Volume 6 Charlie Parker (as Thriving On a Riff ). Aebersold Volume 7 Miles Davis(as The Theme ). Aebersold Volume 8 Sonny Rollins (as Oleo ). Aebersold Volume 16 Turnarounds Cyclesand II/V7s (as Rhythm Changes. Four choruses at walking pace - great!). Aebersold Volume 20 Jimmy

Raney (as Rhythm in Bb ). Aebersold Volume 47 I Got Rhythm (in all keys!). Aebersold Volume 51 Night

and Day . Aebersold Volume 65 ‘Four’ and More (as Oleo ). New Real Book PlayAlong Volume 1 (as Anthropology ). Fred Lipsius’s Blues and Rhythm Changes . Doubtless lots more!

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Scrapple From The Apple

G- C7 G- C7 F!

F7 Bb7 B° A- D7 G- C7

G- C7 G- C7 F! F7 Bb7 B° F! %

E- A7 A- D7 D- G7 G- C7

G- C7 G- C7 F! F7 Bb7 B° F! %

I’ve put this song next to rhythm changes because its a sort of blood brother to it. The only difference is inthe first four measures of the front, which are a two-goes aimed at the first note of the fifth measure. This

builds up a tension, requiring something to happen, just as the pair of turnarounds in the first four bars ofrhythm changes does. The IV n Back solves that problem beautifully, since, although it is a turnaround, italso goes somewhere.

Aebersold Volume 6 Charlie Parker .

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I Can’t Get Started

This is an AABA song which looks at first as though it has loads of changes, but which is in fact verysimple, built from turnarounds in its front, and cadences in its bridge.

C ! A- D- G7 B- E7

Bb- Eb7

A- D7

Ab- Db7

C ! A- D- G7 E- A7 D- G7

C ! A- D- G7 B- E7

Bb- Eb7

A- D7

Ab- Db7

C ! A- D- G7 C ! Bb7 C !

E- A7 E- A7 D ! % D- G7 D- G7 C ! Eb7 Ab ! Db7

C ! A- D- G7 B- E7

Bb- Eb7

A- D7

Ab- Db7

C ! A- D- G7 C ! Bb7 C !

Just like rhythm changes, the A section is three turnarounds (all around the same root) and a rest. The firstA varies the rest in a standard way by using a SPOT.

The ending of the other A sections has a small variation in that it uses an on-off-on , with the ‘off’ a wholestep down. The first and third turnarounds are POTs , so that just leaves the second one, which we wouldexpect to be a SPOT. And indeed it is, except that it is one which has been worked over by DizzyGillespie. It is the multi-subbed turnaround we saw in our complete LEGO bricks kit.

The bridge is two cadences, both of which are two goes . It starts with a woody , and follows with a newhorizon . This brings it back, not to the V of the A section, but to its I! So it needs a turnaround to get tothe reprise of the A. cadence two-goes straight cadence unusual only in that it starts on the III of whereyou ended before entering it. It then has a new horizon two-goes which of course brings it back homeagain. So to get back for the reprise of the 'A' section, it doesn't need a launcher, it needs a turnaround!Many people use a POT here, but I agree with Grigson (in the blue edition). The slightly unusualcircumstances make a ladybird turnaround preferable.

Playalong: Aebersold Volume 25 17 All-Time Standards .

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Basic Bebop Blues‘medium tempo blues is a staple of life’ Pepper Adams.

F!

F7 Bb7 B° F!

C- F7

Bb ! B° F! A- D7

G- C7 F! D- G- C7

Not only is the blues the most commonly played form, it is also the one with the most variations. In this book I offer two versions, one generic, and one specific.

The generic one here has reliable changes and will set you up properly both in playing them and inunderstanding and using the many variations you will meet. (Barry Harris told me that this was the only

book he had seen which had the first two measures right. He is free to say that, but I couldn’t possibly

comment).At the global level, each of the three lines ends with 2 measures on the key you happen to be in. So theonly question is, how do you get to the key? The first line starts on the key, the second starts on the IV,and the third line is a cadence to the key.

Here, the first line starts with a IV n Back . The last bar of the first line bootstraps so that the 2nd linestarts on the IV. This uses a slow IV n Back to get back down to the key. The last bar is a dropback tokick off the final cadence.

On the last chorus, this cadence would end normally. Here we show it with a POT, to launch the nextchorus.

The blues is an idiomatic affair. You won’t sound any good by just playing the chords, you have to knowthe idiom. You can realise just how true this is if you think that as harmony the last eight measures are astraight pennies ending like in so many ABAC songs. But they don’t sound like it do they, so how muchgood would it do you to play them like it?

Playalong: Aebersold Volume 6 Charlie Parker ( as Billie’s Bounce / Now’s The Time ). Aebersold Volume7 Miles Davis (as Vierd Blues ). Aebersold Volume 42 Blues in All Keys . Fred Lipsius’s Blues and RhythmChanges . Peter Ind Time for Improvisation . Peter Ind Your Friendly Neighborhood Rhythm Section . Andmany more.

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Swedish Blues

F! Eø A7 D- G7 C- F7

Bb ! Bb- Eb7 A- D7 Ab- Db7

G- C7 A- D7 G- A7

This is the usual name for a set of blues changes invented by the pianist Jimmy Bunn, who was on Bird’snotorious Loverman session. It is sometimes known as Round the Clock Blues , and there are manymelodies for it, of which Blues For Alice is perhaps the best known.

It conforms to the standard blues shape insofar as the beginning of each line is the same as with a standard blues. But the first two lines are concerned with how they get to the beginning of the next one.

Both start with a whole measure on the appropriate chord, to establish where they are.The first line then aims directly at the IV, 2 changes to the measure. So what we have is an offset starlightcadence , although not in sad mood. You start it with a sidewinder . (If you are wondering why it startswith a half-diminished when none of the rest is minor, the answer is that it sounds better that way. Tryyourself, play it both as a half diminished and as a minor seventh. They both work, but the latter is better,

possibly because that bV is also present (as the IV) in the major scale we just left).

The second line is aiming at the G (in this key) which begins the third line, and it gets there with minor todominant pairs, going down in half steps, two changes to the measure, with the first minor on the same rootthat started the line.

The third line changes the harmonic rhythm - you can really feel the relaxation as that G- lasts a wholemeasure, but the cadence doesn’t resolve within the chorus, it ends with a SPOT . So these changes feel as

if they can keep going forever. It is because of this that tunes, solos and performances of this sequenceoften end on a resolution on the first beat of the ‘next’ chorus.

Playalong: Aebersold Volume 2 Nothin’ But Blues (as Bird Blues ). Aebersold Volume 65 ‘Four’ and More (as Blues for Alice ).

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Out Of Nowhere

G!

% Eb7 % G!

% B- E7

A- Bø E7+9 A- % Eb7 % A- D7

G ! % Bb- Eb7 G! % B- E7

A- Bø E7+9 A- C- B- Bb° A- D7 G! %

Written by John Green, who wrote Body and Soul amongst other fine songs, this is an ABAC song whichhas been played by every generation of jazz musicians and had many alternative melodies for it.

The A section is a standard issue on-off-on plus dropback . With this sort of song, you only have to lookto see where the off goes to. In this case it is to the bVI - a nowhere . This is where the name ‘nowhere’for the bVI came from, and it surely can’t be a coincidence that the lyrics say ‘nowhere’ at just that point.

The B section begins as you would expect, where the dropback was pointing. It turns into a sad homer. (Ifyou think about it, a homer is a sort of on-off-on). The expected slow launcher would have new horizonedinto its two measures of dominant. Instead, we bauble to a tritone substitution for it. Gratifyingly, it is areplica of the nowhere ‘off’.

The C section starts like the b section, but uses the last measure of the sad homer to jump up a bIII , so asto be able to descend a half step into a rainy cadence .

Playalong: Aebersold Volume 20 Jimmy Raney (as Nowhere ). Aebersold Volume 22 13 FavoriteStandards . Aebersold Volume 59 Invitation . Hal Crook’s Creative Comping for Improvisation Volume 3.Peter Ind Time for Improvisation .

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Groovin High

Eb!

% A- D7 Eb!

% G- C7

F7 % F- Bb7 G- Gb7 F- Bb7

Eb ! % A- D7 Eb ! % G- C7

F7 % F- Bb7 F- Ab- Db7 Eb !

Like Out of Nowhere , this is an ABAC song where the A section is an on-off-on plus dropback . Here‘off’ isn’t a nowhere, it is a nearby off, like in Heartaches and Dream . A half step down from the ‘on’,which, if you play the off broken down means you start the minor-to-dominant pair on the bV of where youare.

The first half of the B section follows through as you would expect, from the dropback, but is straightaway into a slow launcher four bars earlier than is normal. Instead of resolving, this goes into thevariation of a SPOT , which I call a Groovin turnaround , which is nothing more than a slow version ofthe approach chords to a rainy cadence .

The first half of the C section is identical to the first half of the B section. Then the song abruptly has to bring itself to a conclusion, so i t replays the first of the approach chords, as if it is going to be a straightcadence , but then uses a Yardbird substitution to get back home. If you play the Yardbird broken down,you start the minor-to-dominant pair on the bIII of where you are. This is a another great way to rememberwhat a yardbird cadence sounds like. Just think of the last part of this song.

Playalong: Aebersold Volume 43 Groovin’ High .

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Little Willie Leaps

A- D7 G- C7 A- D7 G- C7 A- D7 G- C7 Aø D7+9

Bø E7+9 A- D7 G- C7 F! Eø A7+9 D- ! G7+4 C7+4

A- D7 G- C7 A- D7 G- C7 A- D7 G- C7 Aø D7+9

Bø E7+9 A- D7 G- C7 F! G7+4 C7+4 F ! %

In case you think this is an obscure song for a core repertoire, consider the number of good songs using thesame changes. Starting life as All God’s Chillun Got Rhythm by Bronislav Kaper (the third song by him inthis book), Miles wrote Little Willie Leaps (and Sheila Jordan later put characteristically witty words to that

line) and Horace Silver wrote Mayreh over the same changes. This is quite apart from musicians likeWarne Marsh who frequently used the chord sequence, with and without specially written heads. (Refer

back to New Bottle Old Wine for the hilarious story about Warne Marsh’s album Back Home ). Suburban Eyes , by Ike Quebec, recorded by Monk in 1947 is also on these changes .

The structure is ABAC

If ever a song was in a key, this one is. It is all about trying to get home, as written here, to F.

It starts with three goes at the approach chords of a long cadence to it, and instead of arriving resolved,arrives suspended , but with at least the two changes to a measure slowed down.

The resolution never happens, because the B section, starting a bIII lower, we go directly into a starlightcadence . Instead of a slow launcher, there is a compact sad backslider , which moves on around the cyclein (lydian dominants) pointing at the eventual resolution to F. So at least the section end is conventional.

The SPOT is abandoned half way through, and starting on the VI of its second half goes all the waythrough a (straight tonality) starlight cadence. Home at last! It prepares for the second A section with aquick sad backslider and then comes back to the dominant of the key, round the cycle, not with a minor todominant pair, but with two lydian dominants!

The C section starts like the B section, with a starlight cadence. It then comes insouciantly back homewith a homer that uses lydian dominants on the approach chords instead of the normal minor-to-dominant

pair.

Playalong: Aebersold Volume 18 Horace Silver II (as Mayreh ).

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Stella By Starlight

Eø A7+9 C- F7 F- Bb7 Eb!

Ab7+4

Bb ! Eø A7+9 D- Bb- Eb7 F! D- G- C7 Aø D7+9

G7+9 % C- ! % Ab7+4 % Bb ! %

Eø A7+9 Dø A7+9 Cø F7+9 Bb ! %

Undoubtedly one of the definitive songs in any core repertoire, it is one of many curious omissions fromAlec Wilder's book American Popular Song . (Other omissions include Cherokee , even though Ray Noblehimself is in there, and Bronislav Kaper).

This is an ABCD thirty two measure song.

The A section begins with the approach chords to a sad cadence . (Note that the D section begins withthe same two measures). But it switches tack abruptly after two measures, starting a bIII up it begins astraight cadence , but once again only with the approach chords . If you can get over these first fourmeasures, you are OK. The second half of the A very comfortably new horizons into a straight cadencewith overrun . (The overrun is a lydian dominant ).

The B section uses that previous chord as a yardbird dominant to start resolved. Just for one measure, thena compact sad bauble . This stellas into a yardbird cadence . The resolution of this is a POT , in normalrhythm, but ending suspended , with the harmonic rhythm slowed down by half.

The C section is a cyclical movement, with the harmonic rhythm slowed down by half again , i.e. twomeasures to each chord. What looks like the exception to the cyclic movement (here the Ab chord) is just a

routine yardbird substitution , although in context you may prefer to play it as a nowhere . The chordqualities are written as complex and mainly sad, rather than simple dominants, and this is because themelody notes are long and strong over these hovering changes, so they colour your perception.

The D section is just a starlight homer . Except for a starlight to come home, you start on the bV not theII. And like Woody’n’You it has sad approach chords with a surprise straight ending.

Playalong: Aebersold Volume 15 Payin’ Dues (as Stella ). Aebersold Volume 22 13 Favorite Standards .Aebersold Volume 59 Invitation . Hal Crook’s Creative Comping for Improvisation Volume 3. JazzWorkshop Series Volume 7 I Hear a Rhapsody .

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