'Making the changes' on short forms, part 1: Liza Jane

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‘Liza Jane’ is a North American folk tune that is a standard in the repertoire of New Orleans jazz.  It has been performed by musicians from pianist Ramsey Lewis to trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.  It is an example o […]

'Making the changes' on short forms, part 2: Polly Wolly Doodle (a musical cousin of Iko Iko)

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I was going to make this a post about the New Orleans standard tune ‘Iko Iko’, but then realized it is a copyrighted tune, so I decided to go with ‘Polly Wolly Doodle’, which uses the same chord progression and is […]

'Making the changes' on short forms, Part 3: When The Saints Go Marching In

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This arrangement is inspired by Louis Armstrong’s 1938 version of the tune.  It can be practiced along with that recording by listening to the spoken introduction (in which Armstrong introduces himself as […]

Terry Town Line (or, could I write a countermelody about Clark Terry?)

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‘Terry Town Line’ is a bop line I composed based on the changes to ‘I Could Write A Book’ by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.  The tune is dedicated in part to my mother, Roddy O’Neil Cleary, who for a number o […]

Talking and taking the words away: a visit from Stefon Harris (The State of the Blues, Part 2)

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In a recent master class with my students at UVM, Stefon Harris talked about the connection between language and melody in an improvised solo.  While discussing the performance of a student group, he said: ‘The de […]

Harmonic Moss, Part 5: The 'B' form voicing of the minor ii-V-i progression

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The voicing which Phil Degreg calls the ‘B form’ of the minor ii V i progression starts with a clear demonstration of why Thelonious Monk referred to the minor 7 flat five chord as a ‘minor sixth chord with the s […]

Harmonic Moss, Part 4: the 'A' form voicing of the minor ii-V-i progression

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The previous posts in the ‘Harmonic Moss’ series dealt with various voicings, scale outlines and various melodic patterns for the major ii-V-I progression. Although I have another post, ‘What Is This Scale Calle […]

Simple Paris Dancers: a bop-style rhythm changes

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‘Simple Paris Dancers’ is a through-composed bebop-style melody line on the ‘Rhythm Changes’ progression. ‘Rhythm Changes’ refers to the chord changes from the George and Ira Gershwin tune ‘I Got Rhythm’, whic […]

Everybody's Inside Blues: 'making the changes' in a blues line

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‘Everybody’s Inside Blues’ is a through-composed melody line on the twelve-bar ‘jazz blues’ progression.  A concert chart for the tune is below; here’s a link to a recording of it from a gig I played with guitari […]

You Are Here: a melodic study on 'All The Things You Are'

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‘You Are Here’ is a tune I composed based on the chord changes of the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein tune ‘All The Things You Are’.  (Recordings and charts for it are below.)   One of the ways I use this tune is as […]

Harmonic Moss, Part 2: The 'B form' voicing of the major ii-V-I (including a scale outline and various melodic patterns)

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The ‘B form’ voicing of the major ii-V-I prominently features the 9th degree of the minor 7th chord which functions as the ii.  I find it a useful exercise to apply this voicing to tunes which both use major […]

Harmonic Moss, Part 1: The 'A form' voicing of the major ii-V-I (including a scale outline and related melodic patterns)

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This series of blog posts is titled ‘Harmonic Moss’ as it deals with rootless chord voicings, and moss is sometimes referred to as a rootless plant.  This is not the first time I’ve come across moss in reference […]

'Now What?': a modal melody collage

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My improvisation class at UVM begins by studying tunes and chord progressions that were common in the swing and bebop eras, including the blues (in the form of the Charlie Parker tune ‘Billie’s Bounce’), ‘Stompin […]

Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Part 1: the seventh scale, the circle of fifths, melodic patterns from rootless dominant 7th voicings (featuring 'October Blues')

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An essential skill for all improvisers is being able to play the seventh scale (Barry Harris’ term for the major scale with a flatted seventh) through all twelve keys with steady tempo and a sense of swing.  […]

Root systems, part 4 / Elijah's Bounce

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To conclude this series of posts on root position voicings of the major ii-V-I progression, here’s a tune I composed called ‘Elijah’s Bounce’.  I borrowed the chord progression from the Charlie Parker tune ‘My […]

Root systems, part 3: Give it up for the root (position pattern)s! - Melodic patterns based on root position voicings

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The name of this post is a variation on the phrase, ‘Give it up for The Roots!’, that Jimmy Fallon often uses to introduce his house band on his late night show. (I made an appearance on the show in 2010 dur […]

Root systems, part 2 / outlining the ii-V and ii-V-I progressions with 7-up scales

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Once you have become familiar with playing ii-V-I progressions in all keys in at least one voicing using your list of six tunes from the first post in this series, a possible next step is to practice the 7th scale […]

Pairings, part three - Hand-some conversation: Two-handed melodic conversations by J.S. Bach and Oscar Peterson

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This is the third post in the ‘pairings’ series. The two previous posts, on left hand walking bass with right hand melodic lines and left hand walking bass with right hand comping, each examine a particular […]

Root systems, part 1 / Take three at a time: an approach to learning major scales and ii-V-I progressions in all keys along with tunes from The Real Book (Volume I, sixth edition)

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This post is in response to questions often asked by my students.  ‘What tunes should I practice during my summer break from lessons?’, they ask. Or: ‘How can I get better at learning tunes from a fake book chart […]

Pairings, part two: left hand walking bass with right hand chordal comping by Kenny Barron, John Coates Jr. and G.F. Handel (or, Spring Comping Trip)

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The piano, more than any other instrument, has the capacity to evoke the sound of a group of players.  In the Dave McKenna version of ‘C Jam Blues’ that I transcribed in the last post, it could be argued that his […]