Litany Against Fear and Nothing Personal

Ropetackle Workshops 2014-15

Week 6  05-12-14

Litany Against Fear  and  Nothing Personal

This session we focussed on Nothing Personal. I invited our lovely string section (guitarists Nick, Vic and Stuart) to show us some simple voicings for Gm7 (and later Gm∆). We then recreated these voicings with our lovely horn section. The purpose of the exercise was to get away from thinking of chord voicings just as ‘hand shapes’ and to be more aware of the actual notes contained within each voicing. See attached sheet Voicings for Gm  (voicings in 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and even 7 parts!)

For improvising purposes I suggested the following scale choices (note how the scales for chords I and IV are derived from each other, ie they contain the same notes):

chord I melodic minor  1 2 b3 4 5 6 7 8  (in concert  Gm  G A Bb C D E F# G  )

chord IV lydian dominant  1 2 3 #4 5 6 b7 8  (in concert  C7  D E F# G A Bb C D  )

chord bVI lydian dominant  1 2 3 #4 5 6 b7 8  (in concert  Eb7  Eb F G A Bb C Db Eb  )

chord V fifth mode harmonic minor  1 b2 3 4 5 b6 b7 8  (in concert  D7  D Eb F# G A Bb C D  )

or altered scale  1 b2 b3 3 #4 #5 b7 8  (in concert  D7  D Eb F F# G# Bb C D  )

We played the sequence at a modest tempo - I would like to try it faster!

OPTIONAL HOME ASSIGNMENT 1 : with a view to developing a more fluid approach to faster tempos I suggested working out a quaver line over 2 bars (ie 16 quavers in a row) followed by a long note (semibreve) plus a bar rest - this makes a 4 bar phrase!

We also spent some time on the melody of Litany Against Fear and some improvising on the first sequence - still work in progress :-)

OPTIONAL HOME ASSIGNMENT 2 : check out the chords of the second sequence (ie the guitar solo) - how many chords are there?

Next session I want to look at the second chord sequence of Litany Against Fear and also consider how to use elements of transcribed solos to develop our playing (check out Steve’s transcription of Michael Brecker soloing on Nothing Personal (in the Dropbox).

Litany Against Fear and Nothing Personal

Ropetackle Workshops 2014-15

Week 5  28-11-14

For our second block of workshops we have another two very different compositions: Litany Against Fear and Nothing Personal. Once again these pieces are from the ‘Ropetackle Archives’ (we looked at them last year - music and mp3s in Dropbox). Don’t worry if you are new to these tunes (or have forgotten them!) your fresh perspective will be great :-)

On Litany Against Fear and I tried a step-by-step strategic approach to improvising on the solo sequence (actually solo sequence 1).

1) I changed the key from concert Eb minor (Gb major) to concert D minor (F major). Next week we’ll go back to Eb minor.

2) We improvised freely (out of time) on the first 6 notes of concert F major  F G A Bb C D  (NB check out first 8 bars of Christian Scott’s solo*).

3) We improvised (in time) over the first three chords (still in concert Dm) in ‘friendly’ 4/4 :-)    |  Dm7  |  Bb∆  |  F∆  |  F∆  |   (all in the concert scale  D E F G A Bb C D )

4) We added the ‘cadence’ chord in bar 4  (still in 4/4)  |  Dm7  |  Bb∆  |  F∆  |  A7/C#  |   (NB notice how Christian Scott mostly chooses not to play in this bar!)

5) We put the sequence back into the original time frame - alternating bars of 4/4 and 3/4  (arguably in 7/4)  Look at the rhythms used in Christian Scott’s 16 bar solo*.

In the Dropbox Litany Against Fear folder, along with the lead sheets and original mp3, I have added the following items:

- backing track for solo sequence1 (concert Eb minor)

- backing track for solo sequence1 (concert D minor)

- a transcription* of Christian Scott on solo sequence1 (concert Eb minor)

- as above but in concert D minor

In all future sessions I would like to stick to the original key (concert Eb minor) but some of you may find it helpful to do some preliminary practice (!) in concert D minor …

To finish this first session I asked our rhythm section to play All Blues  - first in the normal 6/4 and then in 4/4. 

|  G7  |  G7  |  G7  |  G7  |  C7  |  C7  |  G7  |  G7  |  D7  |  Eb7 D7  |  G7  |  G7  |

Then we changed all the G7s to Gm7s and put the Eb7 in bar 9.

|  Gm7  |  Gm7  |  Gm7  |  Gm7  |  C7  |  C7  |  Gm7  |  Gm7  |  Eb7  |  D7  |  Gm7  |  Gm7  |

Finally I asked Charlie to play double time (so in effect each chord lasts twice as long)

|  Gm7  |  Gm7  |  Gm7  |  Gm7  |  Gm7  |  Gm7  |  Gm7  |  Gm7  |  C7  |  C7  |  C7  |  C7  |  Gm7  |  Gm7  |  Gm7  |  Gm7  |  Eb7  |  Eb7  |  D7  |  D7  |  Gm7  |  Gm7  |  Gm7  |  Gm7  |

This is the chord sequence for Nothing Personal.  In my lead sheet I used Gm rather than Gm7 which keeps the chord more open and of course allows for the possibility of exploring the melodic minor (in concert:  G melodic minor   G A Bb C D E F# G )

Mark Time (previous notes)

"A useful option for playing over this tune is to use a minor pentatonic over the first two chords in bars 1-8 (the minor pentatonic would be built on the root of the second chord). The same can be done with the two chords in bars 9-16, then 17-24, and 25-32. Each new pentatonic will be a minor third up from the previous one. (Notice this was the interval between the two key-centres in Priestess)."

"For soloing over Mark Time the main scale options I suggested were lydian (Gb maj7 #11) and dorian (Fm11). We also discussed the possibility last session of using the minor pentatonic from the second chord (i.e. Fm11) over both these chords. A new minor pentatonic is needed every 8 bars."

You Ain't Gonna Know Me - Mongezi Feza, Mark Time Kenny Wheeler.

We will be playing this tune in the first block of the Autumn Term 2014. Here's a link to the Dedication Orchestra playing this tune. Django Bates is not on this gig so the tenor horn solo is played by Mark Charig. Not great sound quality but very listenable. Spot your favourite British (residing) muso. In the back row you can see Kenny Wheeler (Canadian of course). The other tune we will be doing in the first Autumn block will be Kenny Wheelers Mark Time. And here is a link.

Week 24 04-07-14 Chucho (re-visit)

We first looked at this piece in the autumn of 2012. I think it was originally chosen by Ash. At the bottom of this text I have included my feedback notes from 2012.

Chucho, written by Cuban saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera (a dedication to the great pianist Chucho Valdez), is all about rhythm and groove. In our Ropetackle sessions this year we have done a fair bit of work on rhythm and groove but for a while I have been looking for a good opportunity to invite Steve L to divulge some of the secrets of 'The Rhythm Tree' (based on an approach put forward by drummer Dave Wickens). 

The Rhythm Tree (if I have understood it correctly - Steve, please advise!) is a practical exercise in exploring cross rhythms and how they sound, both individually and in various combinations. A bar of 4/4 may be divided up as follows: 4 equal units (crotchets), 2 equal units (minims), 6 equal units (crotchet triplets), 3 equal units (minim triplets)*. Steve split us into 4 groups and asked us to clap one of these rhythms (one assigned to each group). This was not as easy as it seemed. It was a challenge to avoid speeding up. Steve encouraged us to try and hear all the rhythms and how they interact with each other. He would cut out various groups so as to isolate particular rhythms. The longer term aim is to be able to switch between the rhythms, passing them from group to group. Steve also pointed out that one cannot learn to do this 'overnight' but that it require regular practice to make them all really familiar. I would like to suggest incorporating some kind of practice routine for next year's Ropetackle sessions, perhaps a quick burst each week.

* NB '6 against 4' (aka '3 against 2') is minim triplets and crotchets  -  '4 against 3' is crotchets and minim triplets

Although the even quaver feel of Chucho does not explicitly feature any '6 against 4' type rhythms (for more on this see our session on Louise Elliott's Going Home ) I thought looking at some of the Rhythm Tree exercises might heighten our rhythmic senses and awareness of groove. Many thanks to Steve for leading this part of the session.

For the remainder of this session we worked on Chucho, first the melody and then improvising over the chord sequence.

We considered the importance of playing rhythmically and adding to the groove (rather than just playing over the top of it).

Harmonically Chucho is really a minor blues embellished with appropriate II V's. Notice how the II V's always resolve to the expected target:

bar 2 resolves to bar 3

bar 4 resolves to bar 5

bar 6 resolves to bar 7

bar 8 resolves to bar 9

bar 10 resolves to bar 11

bar 12 resolves back to bar 1

I suggested one could play over this sequence leaving out all of the II V's. This is a kind of harmonic generalisation.

We explored soloing in various ways, including without the chords and also without chords or bass (ie solo). We also did some duetting with bass (Terry is now holding auditions for his new duo ..!)

You will see from my original feedback notes on Chucho that I make no claims to know very much about Cuban music. Chucho is described as 'lively mambo'. For a detailed description of what constitutes 'mambo' see attached pdf taken from The Salsa Guide Book by Rebeca Mauleon (which is an in depth guide to Cuban music and all its wonderful rhythms).

So, that's it for this block and indeed for this year! I would like to thank you all for your hard work and continued support, special thanks to Terry and Charlie for their help and guidance, and a really big than you to Steve and Ash for making it all happen :-)

I have thoroughly enjoyed working with you all this year and hope to see you in the autumn.

Have a lovely summer.

Mark x

Week 23 27-06-14 The Sweet Yakity Waltz

This is another piece chosen by me. I found it in the library of the Sussex Jazz Orchestra. Ian Hamer used to work with Kenny Wheeler and acquired a number of his big band scores for the SJO (thanks to Patrick for archiving all this material). And Steve (Lawless) kindly put the Dave Holland version in the Dropbox.

Like many of Kenny Wheeler's compositions it has a simple melody (highly motivic - each phrase sits clearly in its own key centre) and a complex chord structure (often non-functional harmony).

Both the Dave Holland version and Kenny Wheeler's big band score present the melody with a single instrument playing freely, out of time ('colla voce'). The tempo is established in the last few bars of the melody statement. This can be an interesting way to start a piece. The individual playing the melody takes responsibility for setting the tempo (no one needs to do a count in). I invited some of you to do this in the session. Why not try this approach in your own group with a piece you already know well (a standard perhaps?) Check out the attached mp3 clip of Carl Fontana playing Soon - same idea, different style.

Rhythm and comping - this piece is a jazz waltz and is intended to go quite fast. During our session I encouraged our rhythm section to explore playing '1 in a bar' (= dotted minims), '2 in a bar' (= dotted crotchets), as well as walking '3 in bar' (= crotchets). I also suggested a more percussive approach to playing the chords to help the time and feel. Simplifying the sequence by missing some chords out would be possible but risky, the sequence could easily lose its shape. Stuart suggested playing simpler voicings (leaving out some of the tension notes) - more on voicings below.

Improvising -  the task of improvising over this chord sequence is challenging. There are times for 'jumping in' and 'having a go' (particularly if it's on a gig and you have no other choice!) but at other times you may wish to take a more organised approach. If so, you should consider all the elements that make the task challenging:

1 the time signature is 3/4 (which may be less familiar than 4/4) -  try playing on the chord sequence in 4/4

2 the tempo is quite fast - try playing at a slower tempo

3 the harmonic rhythm is quite fast (ie chords change each bar) - make the chords last longer (2 or even 4 bars per chord)

4 some of the chords may be unfamiliar (or there may be an usual scale you wish to explore) - work on just the one chord or scale, perhaps playing out of time to begin with

5 some sequences of chords may be unfamiliar - improvise on shorter sections, perhaps as a loop (as we did in our session on the first 2 bars of this piece)

Harmony and melody - these elements are seamlessly combined in this piece but to create new melodies over such a complex chord sequence is a challenge. Harmony is a vertical element, melody is a horizontal element. 'Ear players' work horizontally, trying to create good melodic lines (sometimes at the expense of chordal detail). Chordal players (piano, guitar etc) have to think vertically in order to create voicings. Finding good voicings for a piece like this is very important.

A voicing for a chord is usually created using the chord tones (root, third, fifth, seven) plus tension notes (eg ninth, eleventh, thirteenth). Tension notes may be specified or implied by the chord symbol, or they may be chosen in addition to the notated information just because 'they sound good'. A chord voicing does not usually have all the chord tones and all the tension notes as it sounds too dense (a seven note voicing will sound very thick). It is common to leave some notes out. Generally the third and seventh need to be included (but not always!)

Another way of creating a voicing is to work from a scale (usually seven notes) which must be chosen for the given chord. There are many factors which may determine this choice - the melody, the prevailing key centre, surrounding chords, style of the composition, style of the composer, and the final arbiter should be your ear. More on this another week ...

Some scales contain notes which are not always suitable for voicings. The scale of C major ( C D E F G A B C ) might be chosen for the chord C∆. Any notes from the scale could be used to make a voicing but the fourth note (F ) can make the chord sound 'wrong' (or not like C∆ ). Such notes are called 'avoid' notes (I prefer to call them 'be careful' notes). They are fine when used melodically but may be unsuitable when used harmonically.

The major scale and many of its modes contain 'avoid' notes (although jazz theoreticians hotly dispute some of them!) More on this another month …

By contrast, in the melodic minor and all of its modes there are no 'avoid' notes. These means any notes from these scales can be used to create voicings.

Kenny Wheeler often uses melodic minor harmony in his compositions as well as other scale sources.

Below is my own scale analysis of the chords in The Sweet Yakity Waltz. Where there are a number of choices I have tried to offer the most likely or stylistically appropriate.

The attached pdfs called "SYW Voicings" (in C, Bb and Eb) have typical voicings for these chords and they are all derived from the scale choices below.

SCALE ANALYSIS of The Sweet Yakity Waltz

bar1 Gm∆ G melodic minor

bar2 Em7b5 E locrian natural2 (6th mode of G melodic minor)

bar3 Fm9/Bb Bb mixolydian (5th mode of Eb major)

bar4 A7#5b9 A altered (7th mode of Bb melodic minor)

bar5 Dm13 D dorian (2nd mode of C major)

bar6 Bm11 B dorian (2nd mode of A major)

bar7 Am∆ A melodic minor

bar8 Am9/G A dorian (2nd mode of G major)

(I've ignored bass note in this context)

bar9 F#m7b5 F# locrian natural2 (6th mode of A melodic minor)

bar10 F∆#11 F lydian (4th mode of C major)

bar11 Em∆#11 E melodic minor #4 (4th mode of B harmonic major*)

(or E lydian b3!)

bar12 Dm11 D dorian (2nd mode of C major)

Why not have a go on your own at the remaining bars? Or sit back and enjoy a nice glass of wine like I'm doing right now . . .

* B harmonic major is  B  C#  D#  E  F#  G  A#  B

      fifth mode is  E  F#  G  A#  B  C#  D#  E

The harmonic major is constructed as follows:  1  2  3  4  5  b6  7  8   (ie major scale with a flat six). Like the other 'parent' scales (namely: major, melodic minor and harmonic minor) the harmonic major has a further 6 modes. So, we now have four parent scales which form a symmetric pattern (or paradigm) - check out the third and sixth of each scale.

                          major (3  6) | melodic minor   (b3  6)         

                  harmonic major (3 b6) | harmonic minor (b3 b6)

This gives us a grand total of 28 scales (4 x 7). All of these scales contain 7 notes and while some have 2 and others 3 semitone intervals, these are always separated by larger intervals (ie 2 semitones never occur next to each other within a scale). The matter of the semitones is particular significant when creating voicings. More on this in another lifetime ...

Week 21 13-06-14 Armando's Rhumba

Just before we started this session Charlie was talking to me about some of these traditional rhythms. I had lots of questions for him ...

Q: When is a rhumba not a rhumba? A: When it's a bolero (Charlie described the groove he was playing on Armando's Rhumba as a bolero).

Q: What happens when you play a bolero rhythm speeded up? A: It turns into a merengue.

I pulled the following snippets off wikipedia - I shall expect you all to write an essay (no more than 10,000 words) on this topic!

Rumba is a family of percussive rhythms, song and ballroom dance that originated in Cuba as a combination of various musical traditions. The name derives from the Cuban Spanish word rumbo which means "party" or "spree". The term spread in the 1930s and 1940s to the faster popular music of Cuba (the "Peanut Vendor" was a classic), where it was used as a catch-all term, rather like salsa today. Also, the term is used in the international Latin-American dance syllabus, but in reference to a slower dance based on the bolero-son. Ballroom rumba, or rhumba, is essentially son as opposed to the older folkloric rumba.

Bolero is a genre of slow-tempo Latin music and its associated dance. There are Spanish and Cuban forms which are both significant and which have separate origins.

Merengue is a type of music and dance originating in the Dominican Republic which has become one of the most popular genres throughout Latin America and major cities in the United States.[2] The etymology of its name is much disputed. It may derive from the French dessert meringue, but it is also likely to be related to similar West African words related to dance and music.

I had better leave this subject area for now before it all turns into an Eton Mess ...

Rhythm:

Listening to some of the many recordings of this piece, they all have a strong '2 feel' (even the slower versions). I think the piece works pretty well at a more modest tempo.

The groove Charlie played (bolero as discussed above) sounded great to me and I thought together with Stuart and Terry we had an extremely cohesive rhythm section.

The melody exploits a mixture of even quavers and crotchet triplets. The rhythm in bars 3 and 4 is particularly challenging.

Harmony:

The harmony in this piece is all highly functional (and possibly quite 'classical'?)

Lots of  V7  Imin  cadences. As we discussed, the V7  chords typically work well with a flat9  ( V7b9 ).

Bars 9 - 14 offer pairs of chords rising in tones  (in concert  C7  Fm  |  D7  Gm  |  E7  Am  ).

By using the third on each of the dominant chords a chromatically rising bass line is created (in concert  C7/E  Fm  |  D7/F#  Gm  |  E7/G#  Am  ).

Bars 15-16 takes us to the relative major (concert Eb ) but the chord has the fifth in the bass (in classical terminology this is called a 2nd inversion).

Bars 17-18 remain on the same bass note as 15-16 (concert Bb ) so we have a pedal point for 4 bars.

This chord has various names (in concert  Abm/Bb or Bb7b9sus4 ). It is functioning here as chord V in the relative major (which is logical in view of the following information).

Bar 18 last two chords - my lead sheet was based largely on the printed Real Book version and I should have noticed their notated chords were wrong (or at least at odds with both the Dropbox recordings). Top marks to Stuart for correctly identifying these chords, in concert  Bb13b9  Eb , or the tritone option E7#9  Eb .

For a more detailed look at these two chords see my separate sheet "final cadence examples".

Improvising:

This sequence offers lots of opportunities for creating guide tone lines (often chromatic, going up or down).

The opening 8 bars may also lend themselves to blues scale (in concert C blues) - I forgot to mention this in our session.

We practised the chords in bars 9-14 (also discussed above) by playing simple arpeggios up and down the chords (NB on dominants 3rd 5th b7th b9th and then on minors 5th b3rd root )

I usually try to avoid undue discussion about scale choices on tunes like this. However, I will mention that all the V7b9  chords in this piece (bars 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 13 ) could take mixolydian b9b13 (harmonic minor starting on fifth - see my notes from Week 20 for more on this).

The chord in bar 17 would usually take phrygian (from the bass note: in concert  Bb  Cb  Db  Eb  F  Gb  Ab  Bb ). More on this subject another time - remind me!

Enjoy the weekend (and indeed the following week … )

Cheers Mark x

mark@markbassey.com

Week 20 16-05-14 Old Delhi (re-visit)

To finish this block we re-visited the Henri Texier piece Old Delhi. 

Rhythm:

The piece is in a fast 4/4 but with a strong '2 feel'. The trombone and baritone solos are over a '4 feel' with a fast walking bass ('time no changes') and the alto solo goes into a '6 over 4 feel' - the '2' pulse (where you would naturally tap your foot) remains the same throughout. We have looked at this topic before (last year 15-03-13 on Louise Elliott's composition Going Home - my notes and info sheet are duplicated below). '6 over 4' is a wonderful rhythm and Steve has agreed to go over the Dave Wickens 'rhythm tree' with the group at some point in the near future.

The section at letter E featured a 2 bar rhythmic 'call' inviting a 4 bar 'response'. There are two challenges here: 1) the soloist should be able to keep a strong sense of the time in what they play; 2) the rest of the ensemble should be able to keep the pulse going in their head regardless of what the soloist plays OR to listen and interpret the implied time from the soloist (experienced players do this often - I still find it slightly scary!*) 

* The classic situation for this is counting through (and at the same time 'interpreting') a drum solo where the drummer is really stretching out - do you just count? do you just listen? I won't mention any names but from time to time I get to play with a brilliant Brighton-based drummer (clue: a good tune for him to play would be The Preacher) and I still find coming in after one of his solos very challenging.

Harmony:

The harmony in this piece is modal, centred around concert D phrygian (sections A and C) and concert G phrygian (section B). Later in the piece the various soloists often refer to mixolydian b9 b13 (aka fifth mode of harmonic minor) - see below for more information on this. 

D phrygian 1  b2  b3   4   5  b6  b7   8

D mixolydian b9b13   1  b2   3   4   5  b6  b7   8   (= G harmonic minor)

G phrygian 1  b2  b3   4   5  b6  b7   8

G mixolydian b9b13   1  b2   3   4   5  b6  b7   8   (= C harmonic minor)

Improvising:

Improvising over 'time no changes' can be great fun. As there are no chords the soloist is free to play anything they wish (arguably this is also the case when playing WITH chords.) Some players love this format while others find the lack of harmonic structure a challenge. Playing 'time no changes' does not preclude the soloist from using a structure of their own devising (made up on the spot or pre-planned). Rhythmically, playing in 4 and 8 bar phrases is often desirable; harmonically, having a pre-agreed tonal centre or pedal point is a common device.

If you look at my transcription of the opening few bars of the baritone solo you will see that the bass starts out from a concert G tonality and the soloist uses the blues scale  1  b3  4  #4  5  b7  8  (in concert: G blues scale = G  Bb  C  C#  D  F  G ). The bass line however, does not stick with the G sound for long but explores a wonderful rising chromatic line, weaving about most ambiguously - this is a big feature of 'time no changes' (over to Terry for more on this … ) I would like to explore more of this type of improvisation in the future.

Ropetackle Archive 15-03-13

Going Home – is it 6 of one or 4 of the other? This African / Township inspired piece by Louise Elliott offers another chance to explore 3 over 2 (aka 6 over 4). I think the ‘two’ pulse (or ‘four’) is usually the underlying feel and the ‘three’ pulse (or ‘six’) is secondary. However, both pulses are important – they need each other to create this wonderful cross rhythm.

The question of writing down these rhythms is a tricky one. Should you favour the ‘two’ pulse (aka ‘four’) as I have done, or the ‘three’ pulse (aka ‘six’)? The crucial factor is the ‘feel’ (or underlying groove) – in other words: which pulse would you dance (or tap your foot) to?

Even having chosen the ‘two’ or the ‘three’ pulse there are still a number of notation possibilities. If you have a look at the handout entitled 6 Against 4 you will see three options for notating Going Home (all based on the ‘two’ pulse).

Hope you have a good break and for those of you who are up for some more musical madness and mayhem (!) I look forward to seeing you on June 13th when we shall be looking at the Chick Corea composition Armundo's Rhumba (parts will be available in due course).

Cheers Mark

Week 19 09-05-14 Ups And Downs

So this week a new piece (chosen by me) - Ups And Downs by Carla Bley. What did you make of it? Hilary commented shortly after the class: "what a weird tune". Discuss (with her … )

I wanted to do another Carla Bley piece and I thought this one was quite interesting melodically, (compositionally), and harmonically. I would describe the melody as very 'pianistic' - the wide intervals can be played easily on the piano (although Andy Sheppard gets round it pretty well on tenor - see the YouTube clip). The development of the A section is a perfect example of using octave displacements to create a new melodic line. I believe Carla Bley's writing is heavily influenced by Thelonius Monk - angular lines and repeating motifs often using large intervals (cf Misterioso).

The harmony in this piece is not as complex as it first looks. The A section uses a two bar pattern of four chords which repeats down a tone and then another tone before resolving to a minor chord in bar 7 (more on bars 7 & 8 below). In concert key the basic chords are  | Am7  Gb7  | F7  D7  |  Notice how the second chord in bar 1 which is a dominant seventh resolves down a semitone - it is a tritone substitution (for C7). Also notice how the second chord in bar 2 resolves down a fifth (or up a fourth) into the next set of chords (i.e. D7 to Gm7 ). The sequence could be thought of like this:

|  Am7  C7  |  F7  D7  | Gm7 etc

The implication of the above is as follows: Am7  stands alone, then C7 and F7 work together, and D7 and Gm7 work together. So there are actually only three bits to think about and not five - hooray!

The chords in bars 7 and 8  (in concert: Ebm7  Ab7 ) also work together and may be thought of as a 'non-resolving II V '. This sound is used in many groove tunes (eg Oye Como Va). In this piece 

the harmony in bars 7 and 8 is relatively static providing a brief respite from the busy harmonic movement in bars 1 to 6. This change of pace is emphasised (and nicely balanced) by the use of a '2 feel' in bars 1-6 and then a '4 feel' in 7-8. Also note that the final chord in bar 8 (in concert: Ab7 ) is actually another tritone substitution, resolving down a semitone to the first chord at A again (in concert: Am7 ). Structurally, this piece is very well put together (in my opinion … ) 

In the session I gave out a sheet showing some possible chord voicings. This is the method I used to build these 5 note structures (there are of course other ways of creating voicings).

> start with the root at the bottom (later on we can leave this out which will give us a 'rootless' voicing)

> above the root insert: either the third and then the seventh, or the seventh and then the third (the chord symbol will tell you whether to use major or minor thirds / sevenths)

> the voicing so far has three notes (from the bottom up, either  root  third  seventh  or  root  seventh  third ) this gives the basic sound of the chord

> now you can add two more notes, one from each of the following selections: selection 1 [ root, flat 9, natural 9, sharp 9 ] ; selection 2 [ sharp 4, natural 5, sharp 5, 6 = 13 ]

> if your basic voicing is  root  third  seventh  then chose a note from selection 1 followed by a note from selection 2, or ...

> if your basic voicing is  root  seventh  third  then use selection 2 followed by selection 1 (this is to avoid the voicing being too spread out) 

> all the voicings in my example sheet were created using this technique

This technique is widely used by pianists, guitarists and arrangers. It always yields good sounding results (but as with all such techniques, the 'rules' may be broken at any time!)

I would encourage all our non-pianists to try building at least some 3 note chords at the keyboard (from the bottom up, either  root  third  seventh  or  root  seventh  third ). Test next week :-)

Next week (apart from the test!) we will re-visit the Henri Texier piece Old Delhi. I will endeavour to send a little more information about this piece before Friday :-)

Cheers Mark

mark@markbassey.com

Week 18 02-05-14 Search For Peace (re-visit)

The plan for the next few sessions is to re-visit various 'old favourites' mixed in with some new choices. We first looked at McCoy Tyner's Search For Peace back in 2012. At that time Annie wrote some beautiful lyrics and I thought this would be a good opportunity to hear them again in a traditional large ensemble (aka big band) setting. I scored out a vocal arrangement for our session using some of the elements from the instrumental version I wrote two years ago. At Annie's suggestion I raised the key (by a major third) and I also decided to include a counter-melody (played by the brass). The new score is attached below.

The first half of our session was spent working on this arrangement. The harmony in this composition is rich and the chord progression is not always obvious - it takes a while for the ears to really tune in. I wouldn't normally devote so much time to rehearsing a piece in this way but on this occasion I thought it was worth it - I hope you enjoyed the exercise. Thanks for your patience. I am attaching an mp3 of our final run through. I think there is some lovely ensemble playing here and Annie, you sound great, soaring above the orchestra singing your lyrics.

In the second half of our session we focussed on soloing, specifically over the first 4 bars - a minor II V resolving to a dominant 7 sus chord (we reverted to the original key, so in concert:  Am7b5 D7alt G7sus). I primed everyone with two scales (both melodic minor modes), namely locrian natural 9  for chord IIm7b5  ( 1  2  b3  4  b5 b6  b7  8 ) and altered  for chord V7alt  ( 1  b2  b3  3  #4  #5  b7  8 ). There are of course other possible scales but I chose these for this particular exercise. I then asked you to create a quaver line using four notes chosen from the first scale followed by four notes from the second, and finally resolving on to a suitable long note for the dominant seventh sus chord (any note from mixolydian  1  2  3  4  5  6  b7  8 ). The idea of this was to create a good phrase to play over the first two bars (and again over the next two bars). I was delighted with the lines everyone came up with and pleased that you were able to play them in a convincing melodic ballad fashion.

Other aspects of the chord sequence are covered in my feedback notes from Nov 2012 which are still in the Dropbox (and you will also find below).

Week 17 25-04-14 You Ain't Gonna Know Me 'Cause You Think You Know Me - Feedback

The title alone probably deserves some discussion … It appears this piece was actually written by Mongezi Feza but appears on the album Spirits Rejoice (1978) featuring the Louis Moholo Octet. 

Very much in the tradition of South African Township music this tune has a simple diatonic melody and the harmony is built around chords I  IV  and  V  (with a sneaky VI in bar 3). Less usual is the length, it could easily have been an 8 bar sequence but the piece is given a twist by having only 7 bars. I think once you've heard it a few times this becomes less noticeable - what do you think?

We began this session by practising the major scale (concert Ab). To get away from the idea of always playing a scale from root to root I suggested going up from root to 5th and back down and then continuing on down to the low 5th and finally back up to the root. Many melodies use this pitch range. Some examples in major: Happy Birthday To You, Amazing Grace, My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean, My Little Suede Shoes (A section). What about some similar examples in minor? What about some tunes which use an octave pitch range from toot to root? (Here are a couple to start you off: The First Noel, Doe A Deer - sorry, but an obvious choice!)

Next we attempted to lay by ear some well known simple diatonic melodies (as per above Happy Birthday To You, Amazing Grace). I know how many people find this challenging (and sometimes embarrassing when you get notes wrong) but I can't stress how valuable an exercise this is (and you have to get over the embarrassment and be prepared to play a few bum notes now and again!)

Then we learnt this week's tune You Ain't Gonna Know Me by ear. I tried to play it to you in short sections to begin with. This is how I like to learn a tune (I don't find it helpful to hear the whole tune going round and round in a loop - in the hope that it will go in eventually!) If you are learning from a recording you need to find a convenient means of playing it where you can start and stop the recording easily (lifting a needle off the record is always a bit tricky ..!)

Having learnt this melody we then played it in various other keys (concert Bb and C) but we prepared ourselves for each new key by running up and down the major scale for the new key.Once again I believe this is an invaluable exercise. If you have the time and the patience, go through all 12 keys (I recommend going up in semitones, that way you mix up the so called 'harder' keys with the 'easier' keys).

After our break I brought out the sheet music for the piece. Some of you may have preferred to continue working by ear. To remember lots of different harmony lines and an overall arrangement is hard (but can be immensely rewarding of course - imagine never having to carry a music stand again!) We tried various soloing options (including a three bar send off followed by a four bar response).

Ash asked about how to find 'nice notes' on this sequence and he suggested using blues scale built on relative minor (minor third below i.e. concert F blues scale). I would suggest virtually any style or language could be used: regular blues built on major root (i.e. concert Ab blues scale), pentatonic (concert Ab major or F minor), simple major scale improv, bebop type scales (on Ab major it would be Ab Bb C Db Eb E F G Ab, on Eb7 it would be Eb F G Ab Bb C Db D Eb), inside-outside playing, free playing, jumping up and down and shouting … (have I missed anything out here?)

I would also like to mention briefly about the harmony in this piece. Peter R pointed out that on the recorded version the chords are often played as seventh chords (Abmaj7 or Ab7, Db7, Eb7, Fm7). My transcription deliberately left these out to offer the simplest possible starting point. There is a wonderful challenge (opportunity?) for the rhythm section here deciding what to add, and when to add it - I guess listening to each other is a very important part of this process.

Don't Mess with Miss T - Week 16 28-03-14

A lively number from the Norwegian group Jazzmob.

For those of you interested in exploring different ways to arrange a piece there are lots of ideas here - opening riff from the horns, rhythm section come in later, straight in to first solo (no build up as such), back to riff briefly, finally main melody comes in - quite an unusual structure. Does it work? Do you like it?

In our improvising this session I suggested using some simple pentatonic language (concert C minor pentatonic  C  Eb  F  G  Bb  C  ) and interspersing it with some bold 'out of key' notes (not as fleeting passing notes but sustaining them to maximise their effect!) The choice of when and where (and indeed whether) to use such notes is very personal but I think it is useful to have it as a potential resource in soloing. And so, like all the other techniques, it needs to be practised.

Many thanks to Ash for doing such a great job on bass and of course to Charlie for his fine drumming as ever (I hope you are all signed up to the Sussex Jazz Mag now!) Good work from everyone this term.

 

Mark

mark@markbassey.com

 

Opportunities from Mark

a course I'm teaching at the City Lit weekend after next (12th-13th April)

http://www.citylit.ac.uk/courses/music/Musicianship/Mark_Bassey's_original_tunes

charity fund raising event 100 Saxophones Rides Again  Sunday 25th May, Unitarian Church, Brighton

http://www.saxshop.org/100-saxophones.html

Ropetackle Workshops 2013-14 - So Nice

Week 15  14-03-14

It was time for a ballad: So Nice by Tomasz Stanko.

When I began transcribing this piece I was tempted to notate it without any bar lines at all but the rhythmic entries from the bass persuaded me to write it in 5 (at least for the first section). 

Most of the improvising in this piece is very diatonic (generally in F aeolian). The piano introduction sounds quite 'classical' (rather a vague description -  obviously from someone who knows very little about 'classical' music!)

I took this session as an opportunity to explore playing in one mode (F aeolian, or Ab major if you prefer). We did a few exercises playing this scale in broken thirds, fourths and fifths (sixths, sevenths, octaves, ninths etc could also be useful). Familiarity with all these intervals, within a scale, can give the improviser more melodic possibilities (it is also useful for creating voicings for comping or horn arranging). Later on, we played through the diatonic seventh chords which come out of the F aeolian scale ( Fm7 Gm7b5 Ab∆ Bbm Cm7 Db∆ Eb7  notice these all occur in Ab major). Again, knowledge of these chord shapes can be useful both in soloing and in comping.

I also suggested looking to make the most of the semitones which occur in the scale (there are two semitones in F aeolian: between G and Ab and between C and Db). Any two notes a semitone apart can be rearranged to create an interval of a major seventh, or a flat ninth. All these intervals are dissonant. The flat ninth is generally regarded as the most dissonant (try using it in a voicing), it can also sound very beautiful used in a melody (such as the first two notes of Stanko's So Nice.)

If you are interested to explore the idea of dissonance a little further you might like the following project:

1) how many semitones occur in the major scale ?  (answer is 2 semitones - see above)

2) how many semitones occur in the melodic minor scale?

3) how many semitones occur in the harmonic minor scale?

4) how many semitones occur in the diminished scale (half-whole or whole-half)?

5) how many semitones occur in the whole tone scale?

Pick one of these scales and try creating some really dissonant voicings using the semitone intervals you have found (ideally, work at a piano or keyboard). Hours of fun …

Next session is this coming Friday 28th March when we will be looking at a lively number called Don't Mess With Miss T. by the Norwegian group Jazzmob.

Cheers Mark

mark@markbassey.com

Jazzmob

Jazzmob was founded in 1998 by saxophonist Jon Klette and they released their first cd called "The truth" on their own label "beboporbedead rec" back in 1999. The album which was a double live cd recieved very good reviewes in the Norwegian musicpress but had no proper distribution and only sold about 350 copies in local music stores and by Jon Klette at concerts. Jazzmob performed two concerts at Molde International Jazzfestival in 2000, and has since then been active on the music scene in Oslo, Norway.

Don't Mess With Miss T is from their 4th highly reviewed album, Flashback. 

Week 14 07-03-14 The Saloon (Life Is Just A Game)

This week's 'European block' piece was The Saloon by French saxophonist Julien Lourau.

Once again (like Million Faces) the composition is basically an 8 bar melody (unless you write it out double length, like Ash did, to avoid the semiquavers) with just a few chords. Chord I is treated as dorian on the recording (Bbm6 or Bbm7) and chord IV (Ebm6) would also be dorian. The passing chords at the end of bars 4 and 8 are really inversions of each other. In other words IVm7b5 (Ebm7b5) has the same notes as bVIm6 (Gbm6 or F#m6 if you prefer). A good scale for IVm7b5 in this context would be locrian natural 2 ( 1   2  b3   4  b5  b6  b7  8 ) or for bVIm6 it would be melodic minor ( 1   2  b3   4   5   6   7   8 ). These scales are modes of each other (they will contain the same notes). They are also the same notes as the altered scale built on chord V (ie F7alt). This means that both of these passing chords are really just substitutions for chord V (so it is not surprising that they lead back to chord I so smoothly).

In our improvising session I suggested focussing on chord tones rather than trying to play scale by scale (both approaches can yield musical results). We also undertook some further explorations into solo building. I think we should continue to pursue this topic. Also, Terry mentioned to me that we might look at some ideas on how the rhythm section can raise the level of intensity in their comping to help spur on the soloist. More on this in due course.

This composition The Saloon also has a sporadic bridge (or maybe we should call it an interlude?) which is very short, has an irregular metre and is arrived at via a very subtle change of tempo (namely, one and a half times as fast). No sooner have you entered this section then you are suddenly thrown back into the first section again. The two tempos are related. Moving from one tempo to another related tempo is known as metric modulation. Doubling or halving the tempo are simpler examples of this. The modulation required for this piece is described in the following worksheet (pdf). See what you make of it!

Next week we shall look at a piece by Tomasz Stanko called So Nice. The copies I gave out sadly have some mistakes in them (bars 2 & 3 need removing, they don't make sense any way!) and the Eb and bass clef copies appear to have transposed themselves a tone higher than required! These are of course highly strategic teaching devices intended to encourage you to question all new information!!

Anyway, you would probably be better off discarding the first set of parts and use these new amended versions I am attaching below (if you trust them) :-)

Cheers Mark

mark@markbassey.com

Million Faces Feedback

Million Faces is a modal composition based around three chords, all drawn from the aeolian mode (1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 8 - see week 9). The melody is only 8 bars but with many variations all overlaid (each variation following the same rhythm but exploring different melodic contours). It is impossible to tell where the composed material finishes and the improvisation starts - the transition is seamless.

I used this session to explore some ideas on 'how to build a solo' (Hilary, amongst others, has been asking about this subject). To do it justice I felt we needed to focus on just a few soloists. I hope the exercise was useful and of interest to everyone.

There is no one way to build a solo but a typical shape is to start at a low level of intensity and gradually increase it to a peak (somewhere past the halfway mark) and then allow it to come down again in readiness for the next solo. (There are of course many other ways of shaping a solo - perhaps more on this another time).

So how do we control the intensity level in a solo? The main elements are (in no particular order): 

>  volume start quiet, get louder (be aware of your own dynamic capabilities and use them carefully)

>  range start low, go higher (work within your comfortable range, have a playable top note in mind)

>  density start with just a few notes (lots of space), use more notes (less space), play as busily as you can (little or no space)

>  harmonic relevance start with notes that fit the harmony, then add notes that don't fit the harmony 

Other ideas to consider might be tonal variation (not necessarily directly connected with levels of intensity) and motivic playing, intensity can be increased by repeating a motif a number of times.

All of the above techniques can be combined in different ways. In a performance situation this is usually desirable. However, when practising it may be useful to focus on just one (or two) at a time. Try playing over a sequence you know well and feel comfortable with. Plan the length of your solo (eg 3 choruses) and see if you can engineer a peak towards the end but allow time to bring the intensity down again at the end. Record yourself doing this.

Next week we shall look at The Saloon. This is another 8 bar form but it is not entirely modal (check out the chords in bars 4 and 8 - are they related?) There is also a sneaky little bridge (which involves a metric modulation!)

Cheers Mark

mark@markbassey.com

Julien Lourau - The Saloon

More about the album that this tune comes from (The Rise) here. Interesting to see that Lourau has performed in Henri Texiers bands and that Texier plays bass on this album.

Million Faces - Contemporary Noise Quintet

The first of our European block. CNQ is a Polish band. They create a a great tune out of a simple riff repeated. It's all about the ensemble and the way that it is arranged. This tune is from the Pig Inside the Gentleman album. More info here:

Some of the bands / tunes in this block will be North European in origin. Possibly because of the language barriers and difficulty in pronouncing, let alone remembering, the names means that we overlook this great pool of talent and the new perspectives that their different musical traditions bring. Jan Garbarek is only a well known name here because of his work with Keith Jarrett. The same could be said of other better known North European jazz musicians, that their international status has only been confirmed by working with American artists. It is therefore great to see that the fabulous Finish trumpeter Verneri Pohjola, has been signed to Edition Records. Check out some of his work on Soundcloud.

Week 12 14-02-14 Gato

harmony

The opening section of Gato uses just two chords rocking back and forth, typically described as Im7 bIImaj7  (in concert  Em7  Fmaj7).

In our session I suggested various options for soloing over these chords:

option 1)  minor pentatonic  1  b3  4  5  b7  8  built from root of minor seventh chord  (in concert  E  G  A  B  D  E  )

The minor pentatonic fits the first chord minor seventh very closely (ie 1 b3  4  5  b7  8 ) and played against the second chord major seventh gives lovely extensions, aka colour notes (ie major 7, 9, 3, #4, 6 and back to major 7 ).

Within the minor pentatonic we explored both step-wise movement and broken thirds/fourths.

Jim also mentioned the idea of 'thinking about' the relative major, built from the minor third  1  2  3  5  6  8  (in concert  G  A  B  D E  G ).  Same notes, but  different starting point.

option 2)  phrygian scale 1  b2  b3  4  5  b6  b7  8  built from root of minor seventh chord  (in concert  E  F  G  A  B  C  D  E )

The phrygian scale is the third mode of the major scale  (in concert E phrygian is the third mode of C major ). This scale can also be played over the second chord major seventh where it becomes the lydian scale  1  2  3  #4  5  6  7  8  (in concert F  G  A  B  C  D  E  F ). The lydian scale is the forth mode of the major scale (in concert F lydian is the fourth mode of C major ). Although knowledge of both scales is useful it is perfectly possible to improvise using just one (if you know they can be related to each other). In principle you could use either the phrygian scale, or the lydian scale, or indeed the related major scale (sometimes called 'parent scale'). Just thinking about one scale for both chords can help with melodic playing (THIS IS A GOOD THING!)

option 3)  changing scales for each chord

We didn't get on to this in our session. However, another way of playing over these chords would be to use different scales for each chord. The first chord minor seventh could be played with the aeolian scale  1  2  b3  4  5  b6  b7  8 .  This scale has a natural 2 (rather than a b2 as in the phrygian scale). The second chord major seventh would normally be played with lydian scale as above (Ash asked about using a regular major scale  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  but I think the 4 will sound 'odd' whereas the #4 will sound more appropriate - always subjective though!)

  rhythm - groove

Rhythmically this piece draws on a variety of 'latin music' elements (particular Cuban) with the crotchet anticipations in the bass (bars 2, 4 etc) and also the two quaver hits at the end of bar 16. I thought our rhythm section made a thoroughly fine job of this in our session :-)

I have just noticed a mistake in bar 21, please remove the tie between quaver and the following crotchet.

form

In all fairness to Finn Peters I should acknowledge the fact that I blatantly disregarded a whole section of his composition - a beautiful set of chord changes which give this piece yet another dimension. It is in fact over these chords that the soloing takes place (and not the intro chords as we did). Steve mentioned this (and quite rightly so). If anyone is interested to look at these chords then why not have a go at working them out yourself. I will also have a look at them and we can, if you wish, compare notes in a couple of weeks. 

Excellent work from everyone during this block - well done.

No session next week but we resume with our next block of four on Feb 28th (then March 7th, 14th, miss a week, finish on March 28th). Info about the tunes to follow soon!

Cheers Mark

mark@markbassey.com