{"id":804,"date":"2017-02-14T01:17:59","date_gmt":"2017-02-14T05:17:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/?p=804"},"modified":"2021-01-22T18:59:35","modified_gmt":"2021-01-22T22:59:35","slug":"simple-paris-dancers-a-bop-style-rhythm-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/2017\/02\/14\/simple-paris-dancers-a-bop-style-rhythm-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"Simple Paris Dancers: a bop-style rhythm changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Simple Paris Dancers\u2019 is a melody line in the bebop style on the \u2018Rhythm Changes\u2019 progression.\u00a0 I encourage you to check out the charts below along with a recent recording of the tune by my quartet Birdcode<\/a>.\u00a0 It is through-composed, in other words, although the chord changes in the first, second and fourth eight-bar sections (which jazz players refer to as the first, second, and last A sections) are quite similar, the melody is different in each section.\u00a0 \u2018Rhythm Changes\u2019 refers to the chord changes from the George and Ira Gershwin tune \u2018I Got Rhythm\u2019, which has been used by jazz players in many eras as a harmonic basis for original compositions. The changes used in my tune reflect the more harmonically intricate approach that bop player-composers like Charlie Parker (in \u2018Anthropology\u2019, \u2018Shaw \u2018Nuff\u2019 and many other tunes) and Benny Harris (in \u2018Crazeology\u2019, aka \u2018Bud\u2019s Bubble\u2019, aka \u2018Little Benny\u2019) took to the form. This contrasts with the approach of swing-era players\u00a0who tended to look at the progression as a series of larger harmonic regions; one example of this is Lester Young’s solo on ‘Lester Leaps In’.<\/p>\n

My tune is based on the bop rhythm changes outline<\/a>.\u00a0 I am posting only the recording of the outline and not notating it in keeping with Barry Harris\u2019 practice of teaching jazz theory concepts by ear and without staff notation. (We do assemble the line slowly in class and use a kind of rap to aid with memorization of it.) In order to give a complete performance of \u2018Simple Paris Dancers\u2019 or any other rhythm changes tune (in other words, a performance that includes an improvised solo), it is helpful to practice some sort of melodic outline of the progression using scales (as in the pre-bop rhythm changes outline we study), or arpeggios, or a combination of both as in the bop rhythm changes outline. Practicing the outline should help with giving you an understanding of the melodic and harmonic context of rhythm changes, both conceptually and in terms of physical memory. For pianists, the scale outline helps map out the B-flat major topography of the progression. Although the scale outline is fairly repetitive, it is intended to prepare you for improvising on rhythm changes in the same way that running laps around the perimeter of a playing field warms you up to play a game. It familiarizes you with the landscape in which you will be playing (largely B flat major, but also the 7th<\/sup> scales in D, G, C and F) and the general pace at which you need to move through the landscape (eighth notes). It also models the 7th<\/sup> chord harmony of the progression through its \u20187 up and down\u2019 patterns which emphasize the structure of the chords by stopping short of the octave and the concept of leaving space in solos with the rests at the end of each scale.<\/p>\n

The title of the tune refers to three of the tune\u2019s melodic sources. I began composing this tune as an eight-bar example for my improvisation class to show how the Shaker hymn tune \u2018Simple Gifts\u2019 has the same basic harmonic and phrase structure as \u2018I Got Rhythm\u2019 and can be converted into a jazz line by adding swing eighth notes, the bop rhythmic approach of emphasizing upbeats as well as beginning and ending most phrases on upbeats (two instances of what Hal Galper calls \u2018forward motion\u2019 in a melodic line), and bop-style chromaticism (or what Barry Harris calls \u2018half-steps\u2019.) I\u2019ve revised the tune a lot since it started life as a class example, but the remnants from \u2018Simple Gifts\u2019 of its bar 1 (\u2018tis a gift to be simple, tis a gift to be free\u2019) and bar 9 (\u2018when true simplicity is gained\u2019)\u00a0 can still be seen in the corresponding measures of my tune. \u2018Paris\u2019 refers a part of my tune where a pattern from John Lewis\u2019 \u2018Afternoon in Paris\u2019 makes an appearance, and \u2018Dancers\u2019 refers to a pattern from Duke Elllington and Billy Strayhorn\u2019s \u2018Dancers In Love\u2019. Both of those patterns are also discussed in my post Give It Up For The Root (Position Pattern)s!<\/a> It also uses in m. 3 what pianist and educator Barry Harris calls the \u2018turnaround lick\u2019 (which can be found in the tune Reets and I by the trumpeter Benny Harris); in m. 10 it uses what Barry Harris calls the \u20184 lick\u2019 (which can also be found at the end of Charlie Parker\u2019s \u2018Shaw Nuff\u2019 solo), and throughout the bridge it uses the half step between the root and the 7th<\/sup> of the \u2018seventh scale\u2019 (a.k.a. mixolydian scale.)<\/p>\n

A live duo recording of ‘Simple Paris Dancers’ that I made with mandolinist Jamie Masefield can be heard here<\/a>.\u00a0 I welcome comments of all kinds, including your favorite tunes and solos on the rhythm changes progression (tunes in the Real Book that use it include \u2018Anthropology\u2019, \u2018Cottontail\u2019 and \u2018Dexterity\u2019, but rhythm changes tunes have also been recorded by artists from Nat King Cole to Phish) or thoughts on practicing scale outlines. I\u2019d also consider posting recordings of \u2018Simple Paris Dancers\u2019 being performed solo or with accompaniment of any kind; you’re encouraged to include a chorus of your own solo as well.\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Simple Paris Dancers\u2019 is a melody line in the bebop style on the \u2018Rhythm Changes\u2019 progression.\u00a0 I encourage you to check out the charts below along with a recent recording of the tune by my quartet Birdcode.\u00a0 It is through-composed, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":865,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/865"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1623,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804\/revisions\/1623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/tgcleary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}