Take it to the Bridge...
Getting an Angle on "The Eternal Triangle"
Getting an Angle on "The Eternal Triangle"
Ok, folks! Are you ready to take it to the bridge? Brooklyn? GW? Golden Gate? London Bridge?
Nope. I'm talking about the "The Eternal Triangle" bridge - from the classic Dizzy Gillespie album "Sonny Side Up" - featuring both Theodore "Sonny" Rollins and Edward "Sonny" Stitt (the tune's composer). Two Samurai swordsmen battling it out on the bridge (the whole tune actually) with tenor saxophones as their musical swords of choice. And then, of course - there's Dizzy! Not to be forsaken!
Despite the high winds created by the tune's rapid tempo, crossing this bridge might not be as treacherous as it might initially seem.
Nope. I'm talking about the "The Eternal Triangle" bridge - from the classic Dizzy Gillespie album "Sonny Side Up" - featuring both Theodore "Sonny" Rollins and Edward "Sonny" Stitt (the tune's composer). Two Samurai swordsmen battling it out on the bridge (the whole tune actually) with tenor saxophones as their musical swords of choice. And then, of course - there's Dizzy! Not to be forsaken!
Despite the high winds created by the tune's rapid tempo, crossing this bridge might not be as treacherous as it might initially seem.
The “bridge”, as it's commonly known, normally refers to the “middle” eight bars of a typical 32-bar standard American song form. This form – also referred to as A-A-B-A – consists of four eight bar sections, with the “B-Section” (typically bars 17 thru 24) being the bridge.
Possibly the most representative example of an AABA tune is George Gershwin's “I Got Rhythm”, aka "Rhythm Changes", upon which “The Eternal Triangle” (and literally hundreds of other tunes) is harmonically based . What makes “The Eternal Triangle” stand out from the rest, is Sonny Stitt's reharmonization of the bridge.
Bridge (B-Section) “Rhythm Changes (key of Bb Concert):
| D7 | D7 | G7 | G7 |
| C7 | C7 | F7 | F7 ||
Bridge (B-Section) “The Eternal Triangle” (key of Bb Concert):
| B-7 | E7 | Bb-7 | Eb7 |
| A-7 D7 | Ab-7 Db7 | G-7 C7 | F#-7 B7 ||
Looking first at the original, we see that this basic version starts on the III7 (D7 in Bb) and descends as dominant 7th chords around the Cycle of 5ths, each chord lasting two bars, with the final F7 resolving to the toniic - Bb the first chord of each A-Section (not shown).
Composer Stitt starts his modified bridge of “The Eternal Triangle” on the ii chord of the bV7 (B-7 | E7 in Bb), each chord lasting a bar apiece. He moves that ii-V down a half step (Bb-7 | Eb7) for the net two bars. Then the fun really begins, as chromatically descending ii-Vs, lasting a measure apiece, take us back home to Bb.
An important thing to recognize here is that the Chromatic Cycle and the Cycle of 5ths are related through their common tritones. Ignoring all the ii chords for the moment, we're left with:
E7–Eb7–D7–Db7–C7- B7(bII7). Replacing every other descending V7 with its tritone sub looks like:
E7– A7– D7– G7– C7- F7(V7) = The Cycle of 5ths.(partial)
For example, the dominant 7th chords Eb7 (Eb-G-Bb-Db) and it's tritone sub A7 (A-C#-E-G) share the same tritone (G & Db or C#), formed by the 3rd and the 7th of each chord - the order of which becomes reversed.
Once this tritone relationship is understood,"Tthe Eternal Triangle" bridge becomes easier to navigate, even at a rapid tempo, as possibilities open up for creating lines containing chromatically descending tritones.
Having touched on that, the examples below illustrate several different approaches. These lines are not transcribed from Rollins' or Stitt's solos, but are composed and conceived at a considerably slower tempo than the original (210 vs. ca. 300 bpm). It should be noted that the only example that actually uses an altered Eb7 melodically in bar #4 is Ex. 3 The rest are all unaltered.
Ex. 1 features a descending / ascending arpeggiated figure that repeats, more or less, and transposes with each chord change. By adding rests and triplets, rhythmic variety is achieved.
Ex. 1)
Possibly the most representative example of an AABA tune is George Gershwin's “I Got Rhythm”, aka "Rhythm Changes", upon which “The Eternal Triangle” (and literally hundreds of other tunes) is harmonically based . What makes “The Eternal Triangle” stand out from the rest, is Sonny Stitt's reharmonization of the bridge.
Bridge (B-Section) “Rhythm Changes (key of Bb Concert):
| D7 | D7 | G7 | G7 |
| C7 | C7 | F7 | F7 ||
Bridge (B-Section) “The Eternal Triangle” (key of Bb Concert):
| B-7 | E7 | Bb-7 | Eb7 |
| A-7 D7 | Ab-7 Db7 | G-7 C7 | F#-7 B7 ||
Looking first at the original, we see that this basic version starts on the III7 (D7 in Bb) and descends as dominant 7th chords around the Cycle of 5ths, each chord lasting two bars, with the final F7 resolving to the toniic - Bb the first chord of each A-Section (not shown).
Composer Stitt starts his modified bridge of “The Eternal Triangle” on the ii chord of the bV7 (B-7 | E7 in Bb), each chord lasting a bar apiece. He moves that ii-V down a half step (Bb-7 | Eb7) for the net two bars. Then the fun really begins, as chromatically descending ii-Vs, lasting a measure apiece, take us back home to Bb.
An important thing to recognize here is that the Chromatic Cycle and the Cycle of 5ths are related through their common tritones. Ignoring all the ii chords for the moment, we're left with:
E7–Eb7–D7–Db7–C7- B7(bII7). Replacing every other descending V7 with its tritone sub looks like:
E7– A7– D7– G7– C7- F7(V7) = The Cycle of 5ths.(partial)
For example, the dominant 7th chords Eb7 (Eb-G-Bb-Db) and it's tritone sub A7 (A-C#-E-G) share the same tritone (G & Db or C#), formed by the 3rd and the 7th of each chord - the order of which becomes reversed.
Once this tritone relationship is understood,"Tthe Eternal Triangle" bridge becomes easier to navigate, even at a rapid tempo, as possibilities open up for creating lines containing chromatically descending tritones.
Having touched on that, the examples below illustrate several different approaches. These lines are not transcribed from Rollins' or Stitt's solos, but are composed and conceived at a considerably slower tempo than the original (210 vs. ca. 300 bpm). It should be noted that the only example that actually uses an altered Eb7 melodically in bar #4 is Ex. 3 The rest are all unaltered.
Ex. 1 features a descending / ascending arpeggiated figure that repeats, more or less, and transposes with each chord change. By adding rests and triplets, rhythmic variety is achieved.
Ex. 1)
Listen
Ex. 2 employs an enclosure around the 3rd of the dominant 7th chords in measures #1, 5, 6 and 7.
Ex. 2)
Ex. 2)
Listen
Ex. 3 is the most asymmetrical of these first three examples. It's also the only one that actually employs altered scale material on the designated Eb7alt in measure #4.
Ex. 3)
Ex. 3)
Listen
Ex. 4 utilizes a 4-2-4-3 Mixolydian scale pattern in measures #11, 4, 5, 6 and 7, outlining ii-V harmonic movement in each case.
Ex. 4)
Ex. 4)
Listen
Ex. 5 makes use of 4ths (Perfect and Augmented) and Pentatonics as the primary material which give the line a wider intervallic contour.
Ex. 5)
Ex. 5)
Listen
Ex. 6 - Triad pairs form the basic melodic premise in this example. Mixed with scalar material, this is one more effective way to negotiate these chord changes.
Ex. 6)
Ex. 6)
Listen
Hopefully, these examples (plus an additional pair included in the pdfs) will give you some ideas, concepts and insights into "the bridge" of this classic recordiing. Transcriptions of Sonny S., Sonny R. & Co. can be found online by searching - or transcribe them yourself. The YouTube vid is below.
Wishing you a Sonny old time in "The Triangle".
B. Stern
Wishing you a Sonny old time in "The Triangle".
B. Stern
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Sonny Luuuv! (Yo dudes, get a room!)
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