> At 04:31 PM 5/7/97 -0700, you wrote:
> >
> >Could somebody post the be-bop changes or Charlie Parker changes to th=
e
> >standard 12-bar blues; and, I guess more importantly, could someone
> >explain how they are derived from the standard 12-bar blues progressio=
n?
> >
> >Thanks.
> >
> >-Arjun Mendiratta
> >
> >
> >
> >
> Someone may have more to add, but there are several posts on this
> in the editted archives.
> =
I'm not going to go into detail, but one thing that has helped me a lot
with the bebop approach to blues is simply selecting a few harmonic
targets and then moving toward them by means of certain standard
devices. For example, practically every blues in the universe lands on
the IV7 chord on bar 5. So beboppers started approaching that IV7 chord
via a minor to dominant movment. So in C blues, the F7 got approached by
playing Gm7 C7 in bar 4.
But why stop there? you can approach the Gm7 C7 by playing Am7 D7 in bar
3, and those can in turn be approached by Bm7b5 E7 in bar 2. Since all
this implies the harmonized major scale in some way, bebop players often
play not the I7, but the IMaj7 or I6 chord in bar one. The opening 5
measures then end up looking like "Blues for Alice." This technique is,
I THINK, called back cycling and can be used on any appropriate harmonic
target.
Once you have that progression in place: Cmaj7/Bm7b5 E7/Am7 D7/Gm7
C7/F7... you can then apply substitutions like tritones, and it can
become a chromatic progression: CMaj7/Bm7b5 Bb7/Am7 Ab7/Gm7 Gb7/F7. This
shift sometimes happens deep into the open solo section. The dominant
seventh chords will, of course, get extended and altered in different
ways, and sometimes the minors get played as dominants.
If I've not got something right here, I would appreciate any correction
or additional insight. The list's archive contains a very fine
collection of discussions about this, but sometimes a "live" brief
rehash can be helpful.
-- =
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"You know, a long time ago, being crazy meant something. Nowadays,
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