The State of The Blues (solos on blues progressions)
- The State of The Blues, Part One: Helen Sung’s solo on C Jam Blues
- Talking and taking the words away: a visit from Stefon Harris (The State of the Blues, Part 2)
- State of The Blues, part 3: Joe Davidian’s solo on ‘Straight, No Chaser’
- A message from the future of jazz: Camille Thurman and her solo on ‘Sassy’s Blues’ (The State of the Blues, part four)
- An excerpt from Shirley Horn’s solo on ‘What Would A Woman Do?’ (The State of the Blues, part 5)
- The State of The Blues, Part Six: Gabrielle Stravelli’s solo on ‘Karma Medley’
- An excerpt from Harvey Diamond’s solo on ‘Tenor Madness’ (State of the Blues, Part 7)
- ‘Sideslipping’ in clave: Arturo O’Farrill’s solo on ‘Blue State Blues’ (State of the Blues, part 8)
- ‘You have to take a breath’: Bertha Hope’s inspired internal conversation (State of the Blues, part 9)
- Leading with the left: Blues solos by Tommy Flanagan and Wynton Kelly that use hand-to-hand conversation (State of the Blues, part 10)
Emulate, Assimilate, Innovate
- Emulate, Assimilate, Innovate part 1 – stepwise patterns time-traveling through music history: Mozart, Haydn and Ella Fitzgerald
- Emulate, Assimilate, Innovate, Part 2: Bud Powell and Wynton Kelly
- Emulate, Assimilate, Innovate, Part 3: echoes of Billy Strayhorn’s ‘Rain Check’
- Emulate, Assimilate, Innovate, part 4: Taking the fifth – melodic phrases using perfect 5ths
Original tunes on changes of Vermont All State Jazz Ensemble audition tunes
Harmonic Moss (rootless voicings of the ii-V and ii-V-I)
- Harmonic Moss, Part 1: The ‘A form’ voicing of the major ii-V-I (including a scale outline and related melodic patterns)
- Harmonic Moss, Part 2: The ‘B form’ voicing of the major ii-V-I (including a scale outline and various melodic patterns)
- Harmonic Moss, Part 3: Route 37, a voicing-based melodic line
- Harmonic Moss, Part 4: the ‘A’ form voicing of the minor ii-V-i progression
- Harmonic Moss, Part 5: The ‘B’ form voicing of the minor ii-V-i progression
Improvisation
- Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Part 1: the seventh scale, the circle of fifths, melodic patterns from rootless dominant 7th voicings (featuring ‘October Blues’)
- Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Part 2: an exercise and reflections on the circle of descending fifths and the dominant cycle
- ‘Making the changes’ on the blues
- Everybody’s Inside Blues: ‘making the changes’ in a blues line
- Rhythm Changes and Trading Fours
- Simple Paris Dancers: a bop-style rhythm changes
- Charlie Parker and Alan Turing: Cracking the bebop code in ‘Anthropology’
- One half step of separation: Miles Davis and Ray Vega (a.k.a. the half step between the root and the seventh in the seventh scale)
- ‘Now What?’: a modal melody collage
- Midnight Donna and Reets in Paris: anagrams, mirrors and the one bar ii-V
- Six Degrees of Bud Powell, Part ii-V-I
- The neighborhood hang and the history hang (including ‘Monk, Bud and Elmo’, a tune on the changes of ‘In Walked Bud’)
- ‘Ornithology’: the memory palace of two bebop masterminds
- What is this scale called: Charlie Parker, Barry Harris and the minor ii-V progression
Root Systems (root position voicings)
- Root Systems, Part 1: Join the ii-V-I Club
- Root systems, part 2 / 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)
- Root systems, part 3 / outlining the ii-V and ii-V-I progressions with 7-up scales
- Root systems, part 4: Give it up for the root (position pattern)s! – Melodic patterns based on root position voicings
- Root systems, part 5 / Elijah’s Bounce
Pairings (jazz and classical pieces)
- Pairings, part one: left-hand walking bass and right hand lines in Dave McKenna, Bach and Handel
- 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)
- Pairings, part three – Hand-some conversation: Two-handed melodic conversations by J.S. Bach and Oscar Peterson
- Sonatinas and other two-sided stories
- Look who’s Bartok-in’: folk song reinvention from Bela Bartok to Chick Corea and beyond
Conversation Pieces
Comping Trips (examples of comping by great jazz pianists)
One, Two and Three Chord Tunes (New Orleans jazz standards)
Various Other Posts
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Recent Posts
- The Sixth Sense: major and minor sixths in the improvising of Thelonious Monk and Ella Fitzgerald (Emulate, Assimilate, Innovate part 5)
- A swingin’ dialogue: two choruses of Emmet Cohen’s intro solo on Joe Lovano’s ‘Big Ben’ (State Of The Blues, #11)
- Emulate, Assimilate, Innovate, part 4: Taking the fifth – melodic phrases using perfect 5ths
- Leading with the left: Blues solos by Tommy Flanagan and Wynton Kelly that use hand-to-hand conversation (State of the Blues, part 10)
- Broken Heart for Sale: a tune based on the changes of ‘All of Me’ and a glossary of melodic root position chord patterns – also, a history of the ‘All of Me’ chord progression
Recent Comments
- tgcleary on Emulate, Assimilate, Innovate, part 4: Taking the fifth – melodic phrases using perfect 5ths
- Joe Les on Wall, cardboard and paper pianos as practice tools
- Catherine on ‘You Need To Lift It’: A Visit From Henry Butler
- rambaye on Tonight these chords belong to me: a history of the ‘Cherokee’ progression
- Pigeon Purdue on Tonight these chords belong to me: a history of the ‘Cherokee’ progression
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Author Archives: tgcleary
The Sixth Sense: major and minor sixths in the improvising of Thelonious Monk and Ella Fitzgerald (Emulate, Assimilate, Innovate part 5)
The melody of Thelonious Monk’s blues Misterioso is based entirely on ascending major and minor sixths. For most of the tune, Monk maintains perpetual motion by building ascending sixths off ascending and descending three-note major and minor scales. The last … Continue reading
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A swingin’ dialogue: two choruses of Emmet Cohen’s intro solo on Joe Lovano’s ‘Big Ben’ (State Of The Blues, #11)
Below is my transcription of the first two choruses from Emmet Cohen’s intro piano solo from the version of Joe Lovano’s tune ‘Big Ben’ played on Episode 56 of the YouTube series Live From Emmet’s Place. Cohen’s solo follows a … Continue reading
Emulate, Assimilate, Innovate, part 4: Taking the fifth – melodic phrases using perfect 5ths
The ‘Cool Blues’ lick was a phrase Charlie Parker used in multiple improvised solos, including his March 1946 recording of Yardbird Suite and his May 1947 recording of Cheryl. In February 1947 he recorded an entire composition titled ‘Cool Blues’ … Continue reading
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Leading with the left: Blues solos by Tommy Flanagan and Wynton Kelly that use hand-to-hand conversation (State of the Blues, part 10)
In a Keyboard Magazine article from 2011, George Colligan uses the term ‘hand-to-hand conversation’ to describe an aspect of Horace Silver’s style on piano. He demonstrates this with an example from Silver’s solo on ‘Cape Verdean Blues‘ where Silver alternates … Continue reading
Broken Heart for Sale: a tune based on the changes of ‘All of Me’ and a glossary of melodic root position chord patterns – also, a history of the ‘All of Me’ chord progression
The song ‘All of Me’ by Seymour Simons and Gerald Marks is a jazz standard which has been recorded by countless artists. Two versions which show the multiple possibilities the tune contains for improvisers are the studio version by Count … Continue reading
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Wall, cardboard and paper pianos as practice tools
In 1947, the great jazz pianist and composer Bud Powell was sent to Creedmoor State Hospital, ‘one of the largest and most highly populated psychiatric facilities in New York State at the time’, writes Powell biographer Peter Pullman in Wail: … Continue reading
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‘Blue Mercy Line’: doubletiming bop language on a I-IV vamp
Blue Mercy Line is a tune I composed on a chord progression in the key of A which could be described as A7-D7 or I7-IV7. I wrote this tune as an exercise in using the melodic language of Charlie Parker, … Continue reading
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‘You have to take a breath’: Bertha Hope’s inspired internal conversation (State of the Blues, part 9)
Recently I’ve been lucky to have connected with the great pianist and composer Bertha Hope. She has recorded three stunning albums as a leader, ‘In Search of Hope’ (1990) , ‘Elmo’s Fire’ (1991), and ‘Nothin’ But Love’ (1999). Her first … Continue reading
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Afternoon River Bop: a line on the changes to Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson’s ‘Tune Up’
‘Tune Up’, by the alto saxophonist Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson, is one of a number of tunes which Miles Davis claimed to have written but which were actually composed by others. Other tunes in this category include ‘Four’ (also by Vinson), … Continue reading
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One Time Only (in memory of Ellen Powell)
In memory of my friend, mentor and musical colleague, the great Vermont jazz bassist Ellen Powell, I wrote ‘One Time Only’, a tune based the changes of the jazz standard ‘There Will Never Be Another You’. Here’s a link to … Continue reading
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