Based on a previous post (it’s a FreeB), which included a breakdown of Thelonious Monk’s challenging original, “Skippy”, I finally got around to putting together a one chorus “solo style” etude, as a means to decipher ways to navigate the changes of this roller coaster ride of a tune. Monk’s only recording of “Skippy” was from the 1952 Blue Note session that was released as part of “The Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 2”, and which included an alternate take of the tune, as well. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, composing an etude for yourself can be extremely beneficial, in that … Read More
Category Archives: ii V7 Studies
This transcription of the first chorus of John Coltrane’s tenor solo on Duke Ellington’s “In a Mellow Tone”, was taken from a live (possibly radio) recording from sometime in mid 1954, when ‘Trane was on the road with Johnny Hodges’ septet. The band included Hodges’ fellow Ellingtonians, Harold “Shorty” Baker – trumpet, and Lawrence Brown on trombone. This version of “Mellotone” was originally released, to my knowledge, in on a “bootleg” vinyl in the 1970’s on the “Enigma” label. A friend of mine had it and I promptly copied it to cassette (remember those?…..OK, maybe not). Then as now, ‘Trane’s … Read More
It’s Joe Henderson time again, ladies and gents! Joe, as you should know, was one of the music’s more stylistically unique and influential tenor saxophonists and improvisers, as well as the composer of a healthy number of classic originals. His influence and legacy live on in his many recordings, made both as leader and sideman, during a career which spanned nearly four decades. Henderson’s tenor saxophone solo on one of those original compositions, an uptempo C Minor Blues entitled “Granted” (dedicated to the renowned NYC Jazz Radio personality and promoter, Alan Grant, who recently passed away at 93), is the … Read More
Judging from the title, this post is a follow up to last week’s, with some ideas on how one could apply these particular Melodic Minor 4th shapes in a ii-V7-i situation; at least in theory. What I’ve done here was to copy one of the single measure shape patterns from a particular MM scale for the ii7b5, and another one from the MM scale a minor 3rd above it for the V7alt, but not from the same identical scale degree, so that while the shape remains the same, the pattern’s interval makeup is slightly different. A common Melodic Minor device … Read More
Actually, your honor, I ain’t stole nuthin’! I just borrowed a little bit, which I’m tryin’ to return, by way of the Universe! Hey, I hadn’t even heard of Master Guitarist & Educator, John Stowell until a few months ago, when my long time buddy, Prof. Dave King of the University of Music & Performing Arts in Mannheim, Germany (see post from 5/29/2013), took part in one of John’s master classes which was given at the school and sent me some video links. Needless to say, I was intrigued by Stowell’s harmonic and scalar concepts; especially his ideas of mixing … Read More
The Augmented Scale is a symmetrical six note (hexatonic) scale. It can best be described as being formed by two augmented triads a minor 3rd apart (C aug & Eb aug) or, with different inversions, a half step apart. (C aug & C# aug). It can also be viewed as being made up of three Major triads, a Major 3rd apart. From C, the resulting hexatonic scales would be: C – Eb – E – G – G# – B (stepwise: -3, 1/2, -3, 1/2, -3), or C – C# – E – F – G# – A (1/2, -3, … Read More
Here’s a nice little fourth / pentatonic type intervalic ii-V7 pattern, a la Woody Shaw, that slipped into my fingers the other day as I was doing my saxophonic due diligence. A quick analysis of the first line reveals that on beats 3 & 4 and 1 & 2 of measures one & two respectively, there’s a brief tonality shift into B Major, or one half step below the target key, C. Beats 3 & 4 of measure two are an altered four note grouping, relative to the dominant (G7), leading back to the targeted tonic chord C minor (or … Read More