The Jazz Sax & Improvisation Blog of Saxophonist Bobby Stern

More...SUPER 4!

8/27/2022

More...SUPER 4!

More SUPER 4? OK, You got it!

Since the release last month of "The SUPER 4" Shortbook™ and blogpost, I've subsequently come across a few additional interesting and potentially useful musical relationships between aspects of this "super" 4-note grouping, known technically as a tetratonic.

Specifically, I've been checking out the effect of expressing them in intervals of a minor 3rd, which divides the octave into four equal parts - forming the diminished cycle.

As mentioned, the results proved to be quite interesting - and musically useful to boot.

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The SUPER 4 - A 4-Note Swiss Army Knife

7/27/2022

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New Shortbook™ : "The SUPER 4"
A 4-Note Swiss Army Knife For Improvisers

The “Super 4” is a collection of four tetratonic (4-note) structures, bound together by a consistent set of intervals and their inversions, resulting in a handy, streamlined tool with which to create colorful melodic lines over multiple chord types, while at the same time avoiding some of the more time-worn cliches.

Originating from a set of well known piano voicings, these structures form a quartet of unique 4-note “scales”. Due in large part to the presence of the intervals of a minor 2nd and tritone, they offer a good deal of “bite”.

This harmonic and melodic tension was first fully appreciated by such innovators as Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, et al in the early 1960s and beyond.

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The SUPER 4 - A 4-Note Swiss Army Knife

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