This section is planned to be much improved. Please check back often.
Section I
Section II
Note:
These books were originally created as a work book for the use in my classes. There are many details that were missing from the book because they were intended to be explained live.
Is it improvisation? Certainly not, because improvisation isn't new. Aside from folk music worldwide, most of the pipe organ performances in church service were improvised by the organist back in Early Music era. Their improvisation was similar to what we do in jazz improvisation. There is a chord progression, whether preplanned or improvised, then improvised melodies on top of it.
The most important thing in jazz music that sets apart from other kind of music is its groove. While other type of groove oriented music asks for tightness, jazz music calls for time feel against each other.
On top of the beat
On the beat
Behind the beat
For example, Erroll Garner's left hand is on the beat, while his right hand is always behind the beat, and that grooves. Drummer like Philly Joe Jones plays extremely laid-back ride cymbal while playing hi-hat on top of the beat. Then you bring monster bass players to it. Ray Brown, Ron Carter, they are all on top of the beat, way ahead of drummer, that drives the band. This is the thrills in jazz time feel, that makes jazz so unique.
Unfortunately it is often misunderstood if improvising is the most important thing in jazz music. It is only the second important thing. Still we want to play cool improvisation. Unless you are a genius, knowledge becomes important.
タイム感がジャズのすべて
Swing Jazz
Before "what is jazz today" was established
今日言われるところの「ジャズ」の定義が確立する以前のジャズ。皮肉な事に「スィング・ジャズ」は現代の定義されるジャズではなかった。
Louis Armstrong: Before WWII era, Laid back time feel isolated to solo performer, while the rest of the band is on the beat
サッチモ:大戦以前の時代、ジャズ特有のレイドバックするタイム感はソロイストに限られ、バックバンドはオン・ザ・ビートで演奏していた。
Count Basie Orchestra - Corner Pocket (1962): Base and drums on the beat together
カウント・ベーシー・オーケストラ:ベースとドラムはオン・ザ・ビートでぴったり合った演奏。
Erroll Garner Plays Fly Me to the Moon: His left hand on the beat, while the right hand behind the beat
エロール・ガーナーの演奏に注目。左手がオン・ザ・ビートなのに対し、右手はビハインド・ザ・ビートだ。
Be Bop
Charlie Parker and his Be Bops style establishes bass on top of the beat and drums behind the beat to give wider beat space for the soloist who can then play the mix of on top of the beat and behind the beat to create the speed and the thrill
チャーリー・パーカーが始めたバップのスタイルが今日のジャズを定義した。それはベースがオン・トップ・オブ・ザ・ビートでバンドをドライブし、それに対しドラムがビハインド・オブ・ザ・ビートで空間のある幅の広いビート感を作り出し、ソロイストはその空間を自在にオン・トップ・オブ・ザ・ビートとビハインド・ザ・ビートを混ぜてスリルのあるタイム感を醸し出す。
Miles Davis
The birth of the cool jazz style: less notes, more groove with bass on top of the beat and drums behind the beat
マイルスのもたらしたクール・ジャズはバップの音の洪水から脱し、音数少なく、ベースがオン・トップ・オブ・ザ・ビートでドラムがビハインド・ザ・ビートのグルーヴをさらに発展させた。
Tony Williams who can switch between behind the beat and on top of the beat, while Ron Carter who can be on top of Tony's on top of the beat
トニー・ウイリアムスは自在にオン・トップ・オブ・ザ・ビートとビハインド・ザ・ビートをスイッチ出来る恐ろしいドラマーだったが、ロン・カーターはトニーのオン・トップ・オブ・ザ・ビートより更にオン・トップ・オブ・ザ・ビートでバンドを引っ張っていたのが驚異的である。
Aggressive Time Feel
攻撃的なタイム感
Kenny Burrell plays on top of the beat, while his drummer, Sherman Furgason gives funk music like wide beat feeling
ケニー・バレルというギタリストは特異で、恐ろしくオン・トップ・オブ・ザ・ビートで演奏するが、それに対しドラマーのシャーマン・ファーガソンはファンクのようなビート感の広い演奏でサポートしていた。
Pat Martino (before who lost his memory) played incredibly meticulous behind the beat
記憶をなくす以前のパット・マルティーノは機械の様な正確さでビハインド・ザ・ビートを演奏する。
Learn to listen to bass and drums to understand the jazz groove. Grooving jazz is always bass on top the beat even when there is no drummer. Bass has to drive the group, and there is a definit difference between on top of the beat and rushing. Rushing won't groove. On top of the beat means digging down the beat.
ジャズのグルーヴを知るためにベースとドラムを注意して聴くのが大切。グルーヴするジャズグループは必ずベースがオン・ザ・ビートで、たとえドラムレスでもベースひとりでバンドをドライブしている。ここで気をつけなくてはいけないのは、オン・ザ・ビートと走っているのとは違うことだ。ただ走っているのではグルーヴはしない。オン・トップ・オブ・ザ・ビートはビートを掘り進んで行くというようなイメージだと思う。
Funk Music: Tightly behind the beat between bass and drums
ジャズと違いファンク音楽に於いてはベースとドラムがタイトにビハインド・ザ・ビートを演奏してグルーヴする。
Go Go style: same as Funk but more hop
ヒップホップの原型であるゴーゴー音楽はファンク同様のビート感だが、ファンクよりホップする(立ち上がり感)
Brazilian Time Feel
ブラジル音楽のタイム感はビハインド・ザ・ビート
Latin Music Time Feel
ラテン音楽のタイム感はオン・トップ・オブ・ザ・ビート
Reggae: Caribbean music is on the beat, yet it grooves hard
レゲーやカリブ音楽はオン・ザ・ビートなのにグルーヴ感がすごい
The simplified explanation of the difference between Japanese and/or Asian groove and the rest
日本やアジアの音楽がどう違うのかを簡略して説明する。
The beat that is thrown away from the drum
日本やアジアのビートは打ち下ろすのではなく投げ飛ばすのである。
The beat that is struck down to the drum
打ち下ろすビートとはこう
Jazz music theory certainly isn't the most important thing to play jazz music. Most of the times it even doesn't help playing since you don't have enough time to think theory when you are sight reading the chart on stage.
Set your idol, and try to imitate them. In my case, Miles is my God and I even don't try to study him but just warship him instead. Once upon a time, I listened to his 1964 Lincoln Center recordings for one year, over and over, try to memorize everything what's on that two disk sets.
I had quite a few idols, not at once, but one by one. For performance, there were Wes Montgomery, George Garzone, Eddie Gomez, Pat Metheny, Michael Brecker. I transcribed them in my early days a lot. For composition, George Russell and György Ligeti.
Unless you are a genius and can play absolutely anything by ear, not to mention photographic memory to memorize everything in one path as Wes Montgomery was, you need certain theoretical skills.
With this information above, you construct your improvised melody with Root, 2nd/9th, 3rd, 5th, and 7th, A Coltrane approach . If you are grooving, you are all set.
Deep understanding of jazz theory is very much needed once you wish to write your own piece. This is not like classical music which others just read notes you wrote. A composition that is badly notated with improper theoretical background only makes other players play your music badly.
Besides, as explained in my Jazz Theory Workbook, figuring out the correct scale in the tonal context isn't easy for sight-reading. Here is something I came up with when I am in that situation, and it works well.
Read on…
The one of the most important 20th Century composers, Arnold Schöenberg notes a diminished 7th chord is an extension of a dominant chord with lowered 9th and omitted root (p.348 "Theory of Harmony" ISBN 0-520-04944-6).
Let's take a look at what is being talked here.
When a C#dim7 chord appears in the key of C Major, followed by a D-7 chord, it is a diatonic functioning diminished chord, I#dim7"
. The theoretically correct chord scale would be as follow:
This C#dim7 chord can be understood as an A7(b9) without root, functioning as V7(b9)/II
, and the expected chord scale is a perfect match.
When you see a diminished chord, and if you could identify it as a diatonic functioning diminished chord quick enough on your sight reading, all what you need to do is to call up your cool Dominant 7th b9 lick on the Major 3rd below the root of the diminished chord.
But things might not be that simple when you are sight reading on stage. What if you see a Bb dim7 chord, which you couldn't tell if diatonic functioning? The Major 3 blow is Gb. What if you are not comfortable with Gb(b9) lick?
Read on..
This is an example of a non diatonic functioning diminished chord in another well known standard song, As Time Goes By, starting at its bridge:
Whether the changes are correct or not, you are facing this onstage, sight reading. There is no way the A diminished chord is acting as a diatonic functioning chord, since it is not followed by a half step or the same root. See my workbook.
You must be able to see the chord tone of A dim7. Seeing a chord tone right away is essential to improvisation. Once you see a chord tone, you should see four dominant chords:
The note on the A dim7 chord which does not appear in those four dominant chords becomes tension. Let's examine.
Any one of them will work. You pick one that you like, and blow away.
Let's step back. Here is the summary of the steps, which you need to process in a split second on the stage when sight reading:
Since we are accustomed to adding the b13th when we blow such phrase, would it work in this situation? It works most of the time, as I did on the D7 to A dim7 example. On the other hand, b13th of Ab7 is F-flat, and it will take away from the context. In any case, improvising live does not need to be theoretically correct, while it is still important to know what you are doing.
End of this subject.
Here is an except from Someday My Prince Will Come, bar 9 - 12:
The Db diminished 7th chord appears as a tonal functioning diminished chord, bIII diminished 7th, that is, analyzed as passing from III-7 to II-7. The non chord tones of the tonal functioning diminish chord are determined by the Key of the Moment, B flat, in this case.
The theoretically correct scale will be as follow:
Note that parenthesized numbers indicate avoid notes.
A lot of double-flats. As we discussed in the Workbook, we can respell the Db diminished scale to the C# diminished scale for conveniences. After all, theoretical correctness is not required when you are on stage and blowing hard.
Note that parenthesized numbers indicate avoid notes.
A diminished 7th chord is built with two tri-tones, which means it could represent four dominant chords:
Let's try to fit these chords to the key of B-flat, which is the key of the moment of this song, Someday My Prince Will Come. This is not a theoretical analysis since we are not considering what chord might follow.
Which one of them has all the chord tones of C#dim7? The answer is A7(b9,b13).
Let's compare the scale:
If you add C natural, which is a #9th of A7, and often added when the b9th is used, the resulting scale is identical. Coming up with a cool phrase on A7(b9,b13) is a lot easier than sight reading C#dim7 and trying to figure out the non chord tones according to the key of the moment.
While 6th note of Dorian and 4th note of Mixo has special reasons in their avoid note (refer to my workbook page 12), generally avoid note is a note that produces b9th interval against the chord of the moment (this includes anticipation in jazz style). The effect of b9th interval is that it destroys the tonality. As soon as you hear this interval, you looses the sense of unity. This is in human nature. Of course, knowing this, you can intentionally create b9th interval for your creativity. John Scofield does it all the time. The important point of this is you must know what you are doing.
Here is the rule of avoid note you want to repeat until you have it in your body:
There is one more rule. Read on…
When note moves in the interval more than 2nd, human ear catches it as structure rather than passing note within a phrase. If the last note before the jump or first note after the jump is an avoid note, it stands out and destroys tonality. Slower the tempo, worse the effect.
Here is an example of V-I phrase:
Here is an example when avoid note S4 sticks out and bothers the tonality:
However, if avoid note is followed by a valid note in half-step, the avoid note will act as an approach note. While it still catches ear, the unity of the tonality won't be destroyed as bad:
Low Interval Limit is a concept that defines the lowest pitches at which intervals can be clearly perceived without sounding muddy or indistinct. The Low Interval Limit shown below is not an absolute rule. However, placing the interval lower than this guide line is a real risk that the resulting sound will not work well due to overtone corrosion within a normal harmonic context.
Click to enlarge.
Trumpet Range
Trombone Range
Alto Sax Range
Tenor Sax Range
Baritone Sax Range
You will need to read this Notes PDF Document while watching the PPT presentation.
Note that Google Doc doesn't support embeded audio/video files. You will need to download these files below if you chose to view in Google Doc Presentation instead of PPT package.