They are used in classical music quite a bit too.
It's a particular trademark of his style since he was the first
to use them so extensively in jazz.
It's like playing filled thirds. That was a real Bill Evans thing to
do and if you do it more than once and a while it will sound like
you are trying to sound like Bill Evans. (A filled third is for
example, the notes C D D# E played as basically C E being eighth
notes with D D # thrown in as grace notes approaching the E. THus
the C and E are a third).
>2)What kind of chord voicings did he use? Sometimes what I transcribe
>for his right hand sounds good, but doesn't really make sense (to me). Is
he
>using a chord voicing that makes the dissonance in the right hand sound
>"right"?
>
> I've been working off of the "Misterioso" album and in particular
>on "All the things you are" and "Well, You Needn't". Getting his
>chord voicings has been tough since 1) I'm not very good at this, and 2)
>I'm a guitarist and am only a mediocre pianist and don't really know the
>stock voicings to start from.
>
Chord voicings are really hard to get exactly.
I can give precise methods for transcribing solos but not for chords.
Unless you have perfect pitch, the process of transcribing chord voicings
is pretty much a pattern matching process.
When the player is playing a voicing that you play, you have the best
chance of getting it correct.
Monk's stuff is really hard because he puts alot of strange notes in
the chords.For example he may add a minor second
next to any note. SOmetimes there is a third and minor third in the
same chord.
I frankly would not have wanted him to comp for me. I've heard that
Miles told him "Don't ever comp while I'm playing".
Some chord voicings are fine for solo piano or say playing the head
of a tune but just create a lot of problems for others while they
are trying to solo.
I hate to add discouraging words, but the only people I've ever
met that can really accurately do chord voicings on piano are people
that have perfect pitch.
However, many people find something that sounds close enough for
their purpose (i.e. they convincingly play the tune) but would not
suffice say for a transcription book.
I mean lots of pianists play monks music and work out "monk like"
chords that don't seem to bother other people.
You'll just have to experiment until you think you've found a voicing
that works for you as far as matching the record.
reed
Reed Kotler
http://www.reedkotler.com