Mike's Music Musings

Studying how the Coltrane Changes chords connect allows the improviser to create lines which more strongly outline the changes, with better voice leading. This post will only consider the chord movement of I to bIII7 because the other change is a common V-I.  All examples are transposed to the key of C.

This month I'm learning "The Girl From Ipanema" and I've been studying its chord changes so I can better navigate the tune when soloing.  I've discovered a few cool concepts along the way which I'll share here.

Here I'll share my transcription of an awesome, bluesy turnaround played by George Benson in "Frim Fram Sauce."   It pretty much ignores the changes and instead treats the entire thing asa a Bb blues, walking the phrase down chromatically and ending with a nice major blues lick.

Whether you know it or not, you've heard the minor line cliche before.  The progression is a key feature in songs such as: In a Sentimental Mood This Masquerade My Funny Valentine  This device can be an effective way to add harmonic motion to a chord, especially when it's held for an extended period of time.  Over a minor chord, the harmony could be thought of minor - minor/major7 - minor7 - minor6.  The minor line cliche can also imply a ii-V progression, starting from the root of the minor chord and landing on the third of the dominant or major 7th of the I.  T he minor line cliche obvious or obfuscated, weaving other notes through and around it. It's helpful to study famous minor line cliches and come up with your own.  

Playing over a passing diminished chord is tricky and many people (even the greats) feel the need to always arpeggiate it in improvisation, which can sound contrived and disrupt the melodicism of a solo. One effective improvisation strategy is to learn the melodies of famous jazz standards that feature a passing diminished chord and quote the melody- either verbatim or with slight variation.  You instantly get a smooth, melodic line and the jazz fans in your audience may even recognize and appreciate the quotation. Quoting melodies over passing diminished chords Here are a few examples of jazz standards that feature passing diminished chords. Have You Met Miss Jones  (#1 passing dim7) This is the simplest solution- just hang out on one note for the whole bar instead of arpeggiating the chord.  In this case you hit a common tone between the I and the #I dim7: the 5 of the FM7 becomes the #4 of the F#dim7. All the Things You Are (biii passing dim7) In "All ...

They say you can’t dance about architecture.  But can you hear geometry?  I sure think so.  Below are a few examples of "shapes" in jazz music.  The examples below show that John Coltrane heavily explored this concept, but there were some earlier practitioners too.  The examples below are all transposed to the key of C. The Regular Polygons   Equilateral Triangle:  The song "Giant Steps" is based around Coltrane Changes, which rotates around three key centers.  The interval between each of the three key centers spans a major third, which builds an augmented triad.  If you connect the tonalities in the circle of fifths you get an equilateral triangle.  The name "Giant Steps" may come from the fact that the intervals between the three key centers are much larger than the ears are used to hearing in music.  This harmony is used in other Coltrane  songs, like "Countdown," Coltrane's reharm of "But Not For Me," and the bridg...