Members I. C. Weiner Posted May 15, 2003 Members Posted May 15, 2003 Hi guys, Can any of you help me with some good jazz progressions for a jam session? Thanks.
Members stratmaster48 Posted May 15, 2003 Members Posted May 15, 2003 Originally posted by I. C. Weiner Hi guys,Can any of you help me with some good jazz progressions for a jam session? Thanks. I like the 5/2 or 2/5 progression for classic/contemporary jazz. Look at (Duke Ellington - Satin Doll) for an example.
Members Terje Posted May 19, 2003 Members Posted May 19, 2003 Originally posted by I. C. Weiner Hi guys,Can any of you help me with some good jazz progressions for a jam session? Thanks. For a bebop jam session you should be able to get by on knowing 12-bar blues and Rhythm Changes in all keys. Actually, make that 6 keys (C, Eb, G, AB, F, and of course Bb). As long as someone else knows the "head" you could at least solo and comp along with them. I won't write them out for you now, you should actually know them already. But if you want to come back on this I'll be more than willing to help. These two progressions make up at least 75% of what a bebop jazz group are likely to play on any given evening. And most other jazz bands play these two alot as well. After that you do need to learn some standards. And a few "heads" for the above mentioned progressions so you can actually play the melody too at times. People you jam with will appreciate this, if you do it well. Which standards? Hard to tell. Go check on the list by Jamey Aebersold at his homepage. Or look for books that says "jazz standards" on. My own very short list would include:Autumn LeavesBlue BossaSatin DollTake The A-TrainThere Will Never Be Another YouAll The Things You AreSt. Thomas Blues "heads" that you should know:Tenor MadnessFreddie FreeloaderNow's TheTimeC Jam BluesSolid (not that well known, but a nice melody)Turnaround (a nice blues by Ornette Coleman)Billie's BounceBlues For Alice (different changes)Good Bye Porkpie Hat (different changes, but very beautiful melody) I don't know any Rhythm Changes "heads" myself. Oleo is one that everyone seems to know. Charlie Parker did write many, and most of them are tunes you really need to know if you want to call yourself a jazz player. I have ideas on how to navigate very easily through the two progressions, blues and Rhythm Changes, and sound pretty jazzy, if you want to.
Members ugly steeple fear Posted May 21, 2003 Members Posted May 21, 2003 Terje- Nice list. I'm working on quite a few of these songs myself as a beginner. Can you print your tips on navigating these changes?
Members ugly steeple fear Posted May 22, 2003 Members Posted May 22, 2003 bump for the next generation
Members Terje Posted May 23, 2003 Members Posted May 23, 2003 Originally posted by jkaz Terje-Nice list. I'm working on quite a few of these songs myself as a beginner. Can you print your tips on navigating these changes? Yes! The first thing to know is that these tunes have great melodies, all of them. Learn those melodies really, really well. Then let your creative mind do the work all by itself, use the melodies as a springboard for your improvisations. Ruinning the changes is the most common "mistake" made by jazz players.
Members Terje Posted May 23, 2003 Members Posted May 23, 2003 Then again, why be lazy... Autumn Leaves This is basically two ii-V-I progressions. One in the minor key and the other in its relative major key. The cool thing is that a line that works over a ii-V-I in bb major will also work over a ii-V-i in G minor. Blue Bossa Lots of minor chords here, and they are really open, you can use different minor scales here, and some altered scales too going from the dominant chord to the minor tonic. But really, here you have a beautoiful melody, don'toverlook it. Satin Doll This one is very easy to play a boring solo on. The melody doesn't give you much, the chords kind of dictate what you can do. There's an altered move that you sort of have to do. Take The A-Train Short phrases, watch that D7+4 chord. There Will Never Be Another You Great melody. Simplify the chord progression by looking at which key the different chord are in. All The Things You Are There's asite with Lee Konitz where he shows his way of playing over this tune, the method he uses for different tunes. It's somewhere on the net, search for Lee Konits 10 step method. He improvises around the melody. if you run the changes here you'll sound too busy and stressed out. St. Thomas If you look at the chords the only real change is the Em7 A7 change, and here the really important note is C#. So get that into your phrases at the right time. But otherwise again the melody has a lot to offer. You can also play the C blues scale over the second part of the B section.
Members Terje Posted May 24, 2003 Members Posted May 24, 2003 Originally posted by jkaz excellent.Thank you, sir. It's cool man. We can go deeper on each one of the tunes if you just give this thread some time.
Members Terje Posted May 24, 2003 Members Posted May 24, 2003 OK, let's start with the first one, the classical Autumn Leavves. everyone learns this tune for a reason. The thing is it is a good tune but it's also built up of only ii-V-Is so it's a great learning tool as well. Looking at the chord progression this is what we have: |Cm7|F7|Bbmaj7|Ebmaj7||Am7b5|D7 alt.|Gm7|Gm7||Cm7|F7|Bbmaj7|Ebmaj7||Am7b5|D7 alt.|Gm7|Gm7||Am7b5|D7 alt.|Gm7|Gm7||Cm7|F7|Bbmaj7|Bbmaj7||Am7b5|D7 alt.|Gm7 Gb7|Fm7 E7||Ebmaj7|D7 alt.|Gm7|Gm7 (G7+9)| Looking over a few passing chords and embellishments all you have are these two progressions: |Cm7|F7|Bbmaj7|Bbmaj7| and |Am7b5|D7 alt. |Gm7|Gm7| There are a few ways, actually more than a few, you can navigate through these chords. Let's take the |Cm7|F7|Bbmaj7| progression first. You can make it real easy for yourself and play the F major pentatonic over all three chords. I'll work. Might sound a bit boring on the F7 chord but over the other two it'll be perfect. Wanna spice up tye F7 chord? Play the B major pentatonic over this chord, hitting all the altered notes at once! or try the Gb altered pentatonic (Gb Ab A Db Eb), gets a lot of tension notes but it still has the tritone of the original chord (A and Eb). Now, you could play the exact smae phrases that work over Cm7, F7 and Bbma7 over the |Am7b5|D7 alt|Gm7| progression too but it may not be the best option. Her's apretty good way: Over Am7b5 you play the C altered pantatonic (C D Eb G A), over the D7 alt. chord you play the D# altered pentatonic (D# F F# A# C) and over Gm7 you play the D aletered pentatonic scale (D E F A B). Those chromatic chords there in bars 27 and 28... just overlook/overplay them. Listen to the melody here, it stays fairly still while the chords move, you can do the same when you solo. It actually sounds better than way most of the time. The Ebmaj7 chord that pops up... treat it as a Bbmaj7 embellishment. I don't know if this is "correct" but it works. It doesn't contain any notes that wouldn't work over a Bbmaj7 chord, just ignore it. Now, with this info you can still play a very crappy solo if you overlook the melody. Always have the melody in mind when you play, use these chords/scale tricks to embellish the very beautiful melody to this tune.
Members Terje Posted May 26, 2003 Members Posted May 26, 2003 Blue Bossa... here are the chords: |Cm7|Cm7|Fm7|Fm7| |Dm7b5|G7|Cm7|Cm7| |Ebm7|Ab7|Dbmaj7|Dbmaj7| |Dm7b5|G7|Cm7|(Dm7b5 G7)| It's all in the same tonality except for those four bars in Db. If you want to cheat you can play the C minor pentatonic over Cm7, Fm7 Dm7b5 and G7 and switch to Db major pentatonic over the ii-V-I in Db. And basically that's what I do, but I watch those "important notes" on each chord. On the Fm7 the Ab is a nice addition to the C minor pentatonic scale, as it is for Dm7b5. For G7 you can hit a B, and it's the only time you can do that in this tune. So take your chance when you have it! For the ii-V-I in Db you can do all of the things you can on any ii-V-I. Play the Ab major pentatonic over the Ebm7 and Dbmaj7. Play the A altered pentatonic over Ab7, to spice things up. Note also that Dbmaj7and Dm7b5 share the notes for the 3rd and 7th, although their relationship to their respective chords are the opposite. This can be very useful when comping.
Members ugly steeple fear Posted May 27, 2003 Members Posted May 27, 2003 Very good information Terje. I'm going over the same sort of thing with my teacher right now. We've been through Autumn Leaves, All the Things You Are, Stella, and Blue in Green. With Autumn Leaves, I like using the #4 on the Ebmaj chord, as it gives it a floating haunting quality. Finding new melodies for this song are pretty easy as the progression leads itself to do so. With ATTYA, I try and stick with the melody of the song, embellish it a bit, and expand. Trying to play over all of the chords drives me nuts from time to time. I'm still getting close with Stella. Blue in Green is a very fun and easy song to improvise over, as the ideas seem to come pretty easy on this.The best advice you gave is to think melodically. I find myself, when put to task, straying too much to the technical side of things-which scale, arpeggios, blah blah. Its fun to find things that work nice over it or even outside, but creating little memorable pieces of music withing a composition seems to work the best.
Members J the D Posted May 27, 2003 Members Posted May 27, 2003 Originally posted by jkaz The best advice you gave is to think melodically. Before I even pick up my instrument I learn to sing the melody of a new song. THEN I learn the chord changes.
Members Terje Posted May 28, 2003 Members Posted May 28, 2003 Originally posted by J the D Before I even pick up my instrument I learn to sing the melody of a new song. THEN I learn the chord changes. That's not a bad idea at all. I really should do that more.
Members ugly steeple fear Posted May 28, 2003 Members Posted May 28, 2003 Thats exactly what I was taught to do when copping licks off of records. Be able to sing the phrase in your head before you even touch your instrument.
Members Terje Posted May 28, 2003 Members Posted May 28, 2003 Originally posted by jkaz Thats exactly what I was taught to do when copping licks off of records. Be able to sing the phrase in your head before you even touch your instrument. I've been taught that too. Only done it once though. Cause I'm lazy. It worked well though.
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