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Tasty Lines Over a Neo-Soul Vamp
Tasty Lines Over a Neo-Soul Vamp
As a general description, the term "Neo-Soul" is a broad designation given to a popular musical genre which combines elements of traditional R & B, Soul, Hip-Hop and Pop, as well as Jazz and Gospel harmony.
Coming to the forefront of popular culture in the mid-1990's, it was overwhelmingly a vocalist's music, represented by a younger, "urban" group of artists and their audience.
At the same time and with some of the same roots, its instrumental cousin - labeled "Smooth Jazz", for lack of a better term - was being dressed up, watered down and marketed to an older demographic, with its own radio format, etc.
What could be argued as being a rough cross-pollination of these two genres has, over time, yielded something definable as "instrumental Neo-Soul", or "Neo-Soul Jazz", with its own unique harmonic vibe.
Coming to the forefront of popular culture in the mid-1990's, it was overwhelmingly a vocalist's music, represented by a younger, "urban" group of artists and their audience.
At the same time and with some of the same roots, its instrumental cousin - labeled "Smooth Jazz", for lack of a better term - was being dressed up, watered down and marketed to an older demographic, with its own radio format, etc.
What could be argued as being a rough cross-pollination of these two genres has, over time, yielded something definable as "instrumental Neo-Soul", or "Neo-Soul Jazz", with its own unique harmonic vibe.
The instrumentalist who's had the single greatest impact on this particular sound, would no doubt be Robert Glasper who, while being primarily an innovative Jazz pianist has, as musician and producer, been able to seamlessly and organically blend all of the previously mentioned styles, genres and influences together - and bag four Grammys in the process.
In my attempt at understanding what makes this Neo-Soul harmonic vibe what it is, I've created several audio and notational examples (below). As a saxophonist with less than elite two-handed keyboard skills (no Robert Glasper here), the process has been slow-motion, but I think these examples are representative of the style in a basic sort of way.
Example #1 below illustrates the chords and voicings of a 4-bar vamp - over a programmed drum loop and simple bass line at 150 bpm.
Notice that each of the five chord structures is a complete minor 13th chord, containing all seven notes, with none repeated. If viewed horizontally as a scale, they would contain all seven notes of a Dorian mode - the 2nd mode of a Major scale and therefore of the Major scale itself (a whole step below the chord's letter name) as in the first measure (Bb min13 = Bb Dorian = Ab Major scale).
Part of Neo-Soul harmony's secret sauce is the use of polychords (chord over chord ), whereby a chord voicing in the right hand sits on top of one in the left. In the case of the Bb-13 in the first measure below, a C-7 (third inversion) is voiced in the right hand on top of a root position Db Maj triad in the left, and could be written as C-7/Db Maj. The fact that the bass (not shown) is sounding a Bb, is why it´s called a Bb-13 and not a Db Maj7#11. This use of polychords, together with their often non-diatonic movement (non key-based) is what gives Neo-Soul harmony its extra-dimensional sonic perception.
Check out the D-13 in measure #2. The right hand moves from a C min7 to a C Maj7, by moving two notes up by half-steps (Bb to B and Eb to E) while C an G remain as common tones, maintaining the same chordal inversion and shape. This parallel Maj - min (and vice versa) movement is a common sound which recalls elements of early Blues. Two notes in the left hand also moves up by half-steps (Db to D and Ab to A) with F staying put, forming an D min triad (C Maj7/D min = D-13).
Notice the top note of each voicing - the common tone is G, in this case. Another potent feature of Neo-Soul harmony is chordal movement underneath a common top tone, which can get considerably more complex than in this particular example.
Ex #1 - A 4-bar Neo-Soul loop at 150 bpm, using complete minor 13th chords.
In my attempt at understanding what makes this Neo-Soul harmonic vibe what it is, I've created several audio and notational examples (below). As a saxophonist with less than elite two-handed keyboard skills (no Robert Glasper here), the process has been slow-motion, but I think these examples are representative of the style in a basic sort of way.
Example #1 below illustrates the chords and voicings of a 4-bar vamp - over a programmed drum loop and simple bass line at 150 bpm.
Notice that each of the five chord structures is a complete minor 13th chord, containing all seven notes, with none repeated. If viewed horizontally as a scale, they would contain all seven notes of a Dorian mode - the 2nd mode of a Major scale and therefore of the Major scale itself (a whole step below the chord's letter name) as in the first measure (Bb min13 = Bb Dorian = Ab Major scale).
Part of Neo-Soul harmony's secret sauce is the use of polychords (chord over chord ), whereby a chord voicing in the right hand sits on top of one in the left. In the case of the Bb-13 in the first measure below, a C-7 (third inversion) is voiced in the right hand on top of a root position Db Maj triad in the left, and could be written as C-7/Db Maj. The fact that the bass (not shown) is sounding a Bb, is why it´s called a Bb-13 and not a Db Maj7#11. This use of polychords, together with their often non-diatonic movement (non key-based) is what gives Neo-Soul harmony its extra-dimensional sonic perception.
Check out the D-13 in measure #2. The right hand moves from a C min7 to a C Maj7, by moving two notes up by half-steps (Bb to B and Eb to E) while C an G remain as common tones, maintaining the same chordal inversion and shape. This parallel Maj - min (and vice versa) movement is a common sound which recalls elements of early Blues. Two notes in the left hand also moves up by half-steps (Db to D and Ab to A) with F staying put, forming an D min triad (C Maj7/D min = D-13).
Notice the top note of each voicing - the common tone is G, in this case. Another potent feature of Neo-Soul harmony is chordal movement underneath a common top tone, which can get considerably more complex than in this particular example.
Ex #1 - A 4-bar Neo-Soul loop at 150 bpm, using complete minor 13th chords.
In measure #3, both hands simply move down a whole step in parallel to Bb Maj7/C min = C-13, top note F, with an Eb (again not shown) in the bass.
Measure #4 is where things really get interesting. For the first two beats, in the right hand, the top tone stays on F, while the D from the previous chord moves down a whole step to C, the B to Bb and the A to Gb, resulting in a 4-2-5 Super 4 voicing - call it Eb-6 9, while the left hand sounds a fourth chord (aka 027 trichord), call it Ab sus4, resulting (again with Eb in the bass) in Eb-6 9/Ab sus4 = Eb-13.
On the "and" of beat 3, the top note of the right hand slides up a half step from F to Gb. This creates smooth voice-leading back to top-tone G in measure #1. C moves up to Eb, Bb to B and Gb to A#(Bb). This creates, enharmonically, a third inversion B Maj7 chord, with the aforementioned smooth voice leading back to measure #1, via two common tones (Bb/A# and Eb). The remaining two voices slide up a half step (B to C and Gb to G).
In the left hand, Eb nudges up to E while Ab & Db remain common, resulting in an open voiced Db min triad. The overall result becomes B Maj7/Db min = Db-13.
This open left hand voicing closes back up for the return back to measure #1, with the Db dropping down an octave, the E sliding up to F and the Ab remaining common.
Measure #4 is where things really get interesting. For the first two beats, in the right hand, the top tone stays on F, while the D from the previous chord moves down a whole step to C, the B to Bb and the A to Gb, resulting in a 4-2-5 Super 4 voicing - call it Eb-6 9, while the left hand sounds a fourth chord (aka 027 trichord), call it Ab sus4, resulting (again with Eb in the bass) in Eb-6 9/Ab sus4 = Eb-13.
On the "and" of beat 3, the top note of the right hand slides up a half step from F to Gb. This creates smooth voice-leading back to top-tone G in measure #1. C moves up to Eb, Bb to B and Gb to A#(Bb). This creates, enharmonically, a third inversion B Maj7 chord, with the aforementioned smooth voice leading back to measure #1, via two common tones (Bb/A# and Eb). The remaining two voices slide up a half step (B to C and Gb to G).
In the left hand, Eb nudges up to E while Ab & Db remain common, resulting in an open voiced Db min triad. The overall result becomes B Maj7/Db min = Db-13.
This open left hand voicing closes back up for the return back to measure #1, with the Db dropping down an octave, the E sliding up to F and the Ab remaining common.
Listen
So now that we've got some of the harmonic mystery covered, it's time to check out how one might be inclined to blow over the top of this vamp. The way I see it, there are two main approaches one could take with this:
1) The notes C, Eb, F, G & Bb are common to pretty much each of the 5 chord structures, enough so to make this choice of notes (commonly known as C Minor Pentatonic) a natural basis for melodic improvisation - with C as the key center. This is how a singer or instrumentalist might instinctively approach it, and is stylistically consistent with numerous musical genres. The fact that the bass line in this first example sounds in Bb, actually creates a hip polytonal effect against this pentatonic.
2) The second approach utilizes the full range of melodic material from each of the given minor 13th chords - including scale fragments, triads, 7th & 9th chords, etc. from the various polytonal sources. This approach requires the improviser to be familiar with this material and to be able to make seamless melodic connections between chords / modes. This is the way of the Neo-Soul Jazz Samurai!
Examples #2 thru #4 below illustrate this second approach. Notice how in almost each case, melodic voice leading between chords is by either a whole or half step.
Each example has its own unique bass line, in counterpoint to the melodic line.
Ex #2
1) The notes C, Eb, F, G & Bb are common to pretty much each of the 5 chord structures, enough so to make this choice of notes (commonly known as C Minor Pentatonic) a natural basis for melodic improvisation - with C as the key center. This is how a singer or instrumentalist might instinctively approach it, and is stylistically consistent with numerous musical genres. The fact that the bass line in this first example sounds in Bb, actually creates a hip polytonal effect against this pentatonic.
2) The second approach utilizes the full range of melodic material from each of the given minor 13th chords - including scale fragments, triads, 7th & 9th chords, etc. from the various polytonal sources. This approach requires the improviser to be familiar with this material and to be able to make seamless melodic connections between chords / modes. This is the way of the Neo-Soul Jazz Samurai!
Examples #2 thru #4 below illustrate this second approach. Notice how in almost each case, melodic voice leading between chords is by either a whole or half step.
Each example has its own unique bass line, in counterpoint to the melodic line.
Ex #2
Listen
Ex #3
Listen
Ex #4
Listen
The downloadable pdf (links below) contain five more of these examples. Check 'em out!
B. Stern
B. Stern
Oh...and while you're at it...
Create your own amazing musical lines! The following Shortbooks™ break it down and show you how. Add them to your library!
Available for immediate download!
Available for immediate download!
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