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Blue note licks

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October 18, 2020

Here are a set of licks which feature the #4, or the blue note. In these licks, the note is used as a passing note. Play fast and with rhythmic displacement for added interest.

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Michael Goldberg

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Passing Diminished Turnaround- Miles Davis "Someday My Prince Will Come"

The May 2019 tune of the month is "Someday My Prince Will Come," originally from the 1937 movie "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" but now a classic jam tune for jazz musicians. The song is also a waltz, written in a time signature of 3/4. The song features several interesting harmonic devices, including passing diminished chords (both a biii dim and a #I dim). This part of the tune can be challenging to solo over, so I've transcribed the improvisational phrases used by Miles Davis in his classic recording to see how he approaches soloing over this tune. Note that I've also posted a blog about quoting the heads of jazz standards as one other possible approach.

"Footprints" "Turnaround"

August 22, 2019

I jammed on Footprints for the first time this week, which was a lot of fun, albeit difficult. The song is a C minor blues with a twist of a turnaround, which I was unprepared for and slogged through. Although I've seen several variants of bars 8-10, I'm using the Real Book vol. 6, where the changes are F#m7b5 F7#11 / E7b5#9 A7b5#9. At first it's hard to make sense of these changes. The usual turnaround to Cm7 would be Dm7b5 G7alt, or Ab7 G7alt. It seems like the turnaround is back cycled up another set of ii-Vs. So it could be thought of as F#m7 B7 / Em A7 / Dm7b5 G7alt Where the F#m7 is a F#m7b5, B7 is subbed for its tritone F7#11, the Em7 is turned to a dominant chord, and the Dm7b5 G7alt is missing. In the practice room, my first approach was to just play all the arpeggios, and try to stick the landing when I got to Cm7, resolving smoothly. After I could do that, I created some more interesting lines of my own.

Minor Line Cliche Over a ii-V

November 15, 2018

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.

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