I don't want to tell you what kind of music to like but ....
I'll just say that my belief is that your impression of the solo as not
being exciting is most likely a case of intellect overriding reality...
In other words I question whether you would have that opinion if you didnt
have the advanced intellectual knowledge (from my post) that he was playing
in one key but maybe that's just your opinion.... Most people that have=20
knowledge of jazz chord scales,etc usually don't notice that melodies
and solos by the masters usually have this property. We are so conditioned
to see all these different chord scales, one after another that we fail
to see the obvious.
All the great standards by people like Harold Arlen, George Gerswin,
... have this same property. Is "Over the Rainbow" a really dull tune
(when there is no accompaniment) because it only has one non key note (which
BTW doesnt occur until the bridge)? What about "My Romance" which has no
non key notes? etc....
All the great jazz players when playing over standard tunes are
essentially playing in one key (or at least in large key centers).
This is just an easy solo to get ones feet wet so to speak because it
is so simple and yet so brilliant at the same time. The solo on
"Confirmation" is no different from this one and we can look at that solo
next.
Chet is one of the greatest jazz improvisors to ever live and I
wouldnt characterize his playing the way you do at all. His solos=20
are brilliant improvised melodies and his ability to have that
quality on the apparently hundreds or albums he recorded is
amazing and also through such a huge vocabulary of different tunes.
I'm just going to comment on the first 20 bars because that was all
I originally posted (due to copyright considerations) though I know you
did the whole solo yourself.
Here is my analysis of the solo.
He is just improvising a melody in Db. Take a look at the original melody
and you will see that there are only two non key notes, both of which
are half step approaches to key notes. Would you say that "But Not For Me"
is dull without the accompaniment?? What if Chet had been so brilliant
to have just played that melody against the chord changes?
I'll focus on areas where he outlines chords and where chromatic notes
occur. The rest is just an improvised melody. There is nothing more to it
than that.
In Bar 4 he outlines a Bbm triad against the Bbm chord.=20
In bar 9 he outlines a Gb triad agains a Gbmaj7 chord.=20
In bar 10 we see the first non key note, an Fb against the Cb7 chord.
Is it really a b9? Look at what is happening, it is just resolving
to an Eb note.
What is really going on in this bar is an approach to an Eb note.
The most common approach is is half step below, scale tone above.
In this case he uses a half step above and half step below which
gives that blusey sound because it's a b3.
The next chromatic note is the E in bar 11. This is just a half step=
approach
to the next note which is F. SImilarly for the A in bar 12 which is
a half step approch to the Bb. THe exact same usage of an A occurs
in bar 14.
Also note that in bar 14 he essentially ignores the Eb7 and just plays
Bbm7 for the whole ii/V (a common device).
For all the guide tone and/or chord scale devotees, where are they in
this solo? Is chet changing chord scales every other measure or=20
targetting 3rds and 7ths? I don't think so.
This solo is not unique in this regard. As I stated in an earlie post,
the Bill Evans solo for Little Lulu , which I posted a chorus of a while
back, is no different than this as are just about every solo I've
ever transcribed.=20
At 04:51 PM 5/20/97 -0400, you wrote:
>reed wrote:
>>=20
>>=20
>> Well the first thing to notice is that there are scarcely any notes
>> in the whole solo that arent diatonic notes in the key of Db. This
>> situation exists despite the fact that the harmony is changing alot.
>>=20
>Thanks for the advice. Looking over my transcription--and recognizing
>that it probably has some inaccuracies--I see your point. I find just a
>very few points in the solo where he goes out of Db. I see him playing a
>#2/b9 relative(e natural) 5 times (measures 6, 10, 11, 28, 29). There is
>a #5 (a natural) in meas. 12, 14, 26, and 29. The b7 (b natural) is used
>in measure 23. So here's 32 bars, and a total of 11 notes is outside the
>key of Db major. I thought next I'd look at how each "outside" note
>functions in context. Remember, I've never done this before, so don't be
>mean...but then again, if you all aren't incisive, what's the use?=20
>
>In measure 6, he plays E natural (#2/b3) as a kind of ornament on the
>Eb, as is also the case in measure 10. The effect is very different due
>to the chords involved. In meas. 6, the harmony is moving from Ebm7 Ab7
>to DbM7, and it seems to give the phrase, which does move very far
>pitch-wise, a bit of momentum. The phrase itself actually only moves
>from a Db up to Ab in the course of 2 measures, and really only stays
>around the first 3 notes of the scale.=20
>
>In meas. 10, the e natural sets of the Gbm7 chord, since it is the b7 of
>Gbm7. But just playing this on the guitar, one feels all the notes of
>the the whole first section of the solo play comfortably in a Db Major
>Pentatonic (or Bb Minor if you prefer) "box" and the e natural is a well
>known blue note or color tone in that fingering. So in these two places
>I think it is more straightforward to see here not a playing over
>changes but a playing in the key, and then moving out to ornament or
>emphasize a line, or to match the harmony. The same e natural that
>underscored the the GbM7 to Gbm7 in meas. 10 is used as a passing tone
>in measure 11 over the DbM7 chord. The phrase repeats a figure (Bb Db Bb
>Db Eb) used in meas. 9 over the GbM7 chord, but here over the DbM7.
>Moving from Eb to F, Chet plays the E natural as a passing tone. Oddly,
>it doesn't sound bluesy to my ears at that point.=20
>
>In Meas. 28, the line, played against Bbm7, can be analyzed as a Db maj
>scale starting on the 6 and playing diatonically up with the 3rd as the
>target, but the 3rd (f) is embellished by a triplet with e naturals on
>both sides. The Eb also embellishes the F in meas. 29 after an A
>diminished arpeggio (which accounts for one occurrence of the A
>natural/#5 in the solo).
>
>Another thing I noticed, seeing the whole thing in the context of Db
>Major, is how seldom Baker uses the 5th (10 times) as opposed to the 6th
>(27 times).=20
>
<<paragraph move to top>>
>Somehow this process seemed helpful to me. It feels a lot like what we
>do in graduate school when we analyze ancient historical or literary
>texts. But those of you who've been at this longer, is this a path that
>has helped or not?
>--=20
>//////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
>Lawson G. Stone=97Asbury Theological Seminary=97Wilmore, KY 40390
>\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\///////////////////////////////////
>"You know, a long time ago, being crazy meant something. Nowadays,
>everybody's crazy." Charles Manson
>
>
>
>
Reed Kotler
reed@justjazz.com
http://www.justjazz.com