A.

PREFACE
This primer began as an attempt to put together some answers to questions commonly asked by beginning
improvisers in the rec.music.bluenote newsgroup on the Internet computer network. In the process of putting the text
together, however, it gradually grew into a more comprehensive treatise hopefully suitable as a beginning guide to the
self-study of jazz improvisation.
As I expanded the scope of this work from the simple question and answer sheet to what it is now, one of
my objectives was to make it also useful to people who have no intention of becoming jazz performers, but who wish to
increase their understanding of the music in order to gain a better appreciation for it. Some listeners delight in not
knowing what goes into the music, considering it in the same vein as sausages in that respect, but I sincerely believe
that one's enjoyment of music can almost always be enhanced by a better understanding of it.
This primer assumes the reader has a certain familiarity with basic concepts of terminology and notation,
but no more than one might have learned in a few music lessons as a child. From this foundation, the primer gradually
delves into relatively advanced theory. The amount of information presented here may appear overwhelming to all but
the most ambitious of non-performing listeners, but I believe the study is well worth the effort.
The theory discussed in this primer could easily take hundreds of pages to cover adequately, and should
be accompanied by transcriptions of musical examples and excerpts from actual solos. However, it is not my intention
here to write the Great American "How To Play Jazz" Manual (but see below for information about the CD-ROM I am
developing). Think of this primer more as an introduction to the subject, or as a survey of the various topics to be
covered by other texts. I also feel that jazz improvisation cannot be understood or mastered without a feel for the history
of jazz, so I have included a section on history. Again, my treatment here is rather cursory, and should be considered
only an introductory survey.
One could argue that instead of reading this primer, one would be better off just reading a history text and
a theory text. There is probably some truth to this. However, this primer tries to relate these approaches in a manner that
cannot be done with separate texts, to give you a broad idea of what jazz improvisation is all about. It also takes a less
pedantic approach than most improvisation texts, encouraging you to find your own voice rather than merely teaching
you how to play the "right" notes. I think you will find that the history, theories, and techniques discussed here go a
long way toward explaining what is behind most of the jazz you hear, but are not necessarily enough on its own to allow
you to reproduce it or even fully analyze it. If it points anyone in the right direction, encourages them to check out more
comprehensive texts, or motivates them to take some lessons or a class, then it has succeeded.
Because this primer was written before the advent of the Web, before the days of on-line graphics and
sound on the Internet, this primer is all text. This is unfortunate, since it makes the sections on chords, scales, and
voicings much more confusing than they deserve to be. It also makes for an overly technical and dry discussion of such
a free and creative art form as jazz. It would be nice to be able to target this primer at the more typical beginning
improviser, the high school or college student who is not necessarily especially technically inclined. Musical examples
would undoubtedly help me make some of my points that are probably being lost now in the bewildering verbiage.
Also, I think using examples to streamline some of the more tedious explanations would help me focus the primer a
little better. To some extent, I have addressed this by making available the printed version of this text, called A Whole
Approach To Jazz Improvisation.
I have begun on a multimedia CD-ROM version of the primer, to be called A Jazz Improvisation
Almanac. This that would include hypertext, graphics, and sound. It will also be greatly expanded; probably on the
order of three times as much text, in addition to all the examples I'll be able to include. However, that project is on hold
as I came to realize I had bitten off more than I could chew. You can check out what there is of it online (and there is
quite a bit).
Anyone interested in helping out with the CD-ROM project may contact me directly. If any readers have
any suggestions for my CD-ROM project or have any other comments or feedback for me on this primer, please let me
know. My electronic mail address is marc@outsideshore.com, and my Web page is at http://www.outsideshore.com. I
can also be reached at the phone number and address found at the bottom of this page. A note posted to
rec.music.bluenote or rec.music.makers.jazz will often get my attention as well.
 The first edition of this primer contained no copyright notice, but was covered anyhow under United
States copyright law and under the international Berne convention. This edition carries an explicit copyright notice. You
may browse this text online, but because the printed version is now published and sold, I ask that you not attempt to
download and print this version.
Finally, I would like to thank some people who contributed to this primer. Solomon Douglas, Jonathan
Cohen, and Sue Raul reviewed the early drafts and gave me lots of good suggestions, most of which were incorporated
into the first edition. Jonathan also contributed some material for the discussions on modal music. Since the first edition
was made available, thousands of people have read it. I have received many comments and have tried to incorporate as
many of the suggestions as possible. While it would be difficult to list everyone who gave me feedback, I would like to
especially acknowledge Russ Evans, Jos Groot, Jason Martin Levitt, Scott Gordon, Jim Franzen, and David Geiser.
 B. GOALS
For the purposes of this primer, we are all musicians. Some of us may be performing musicians, while
most of us are listening musicians. Most of the former are also the latter. I will try to use the term performer and listener
respectively, rather than the terms musician or non-musician, when addressing my audience. This primer is intended
primarily for performers who wish to learn jazz improvisation. It is also intended for listeners who wish to increase their
understanding of the music. I believe that all musicians can benefit from a fuller understanding of jazz, as this can lead
to an enhanced enjoyment of the music.
Some basic knowledge of music, including familiarity with standard music notation, is assumed in many
places throughout the primer. I highly recommend that you have access to a piano and the ability to play simple
examples on it. Performers should already possess basic technical proficiency on your instruments in order to gain the
most from this primer. Listeners should try to bear with the more technical discussions and not get too bogged down
with the details where it seems too far over your head.
There are three main goals of this primer. They are to teach you the language of jazz, to increase your
understanding of jazz as performed by others, and, for performers, to get you started on improvising. The language of
jazz is mostly a language of styles, history, and music theory. It is the language of liner notes, interviews, and
textbooks, and contains terms such as "bebop", "Trane", and "lydian dominant". Learning this language will also
provide a framework for understanding the music itself. While it is certainly possible to enjoy John Coltrane without
understanding anything about music theory, a working knowledge of harmony can provide a new basis for appreciation.
It is also possible to improvise without much theoretic background, but stories of famous musicians who were unable to
read music are generally greatly exaggerated, and I believe any musician's playing can be improved by learning more
theory.
1. OUTLINE
This primer is organized as a series of steps toward becoming a jazz musician, either as a performer or as
a more informed listener. Most of the steps are geared for the performer, but the non-performing listener is encouraged
to try out as many of the playing examples as possible. This should help broaden your ear and help you recognize
aspects of the music you might not have otherwise.
The steps outlined in this primer are:
1. listen to many different styles of jazz
2. understand jazz fundamentals
3. learn chord/scale relationships
4. learn how to apply the theory to jazz improvisation
5. learn how to accompany other soloists
6. play with others
7. listen analytically
8. break the rules
These will each be described in some detail later.
Some of the material presented here is very basic, and some of it is rather advanced. Those of you who
have listened to a lot of jazz but are not performers yourselves will probably find the history discussions to be
simplistic, but find the theoretical discussions overwhelming. Others may grow impatient at the explanations of such
basic concepts as the major scale, but will be bewildered at the number and variety of musicians discussed. You may
wonder why such a broad array of information has been squeezed into this one primer. I believe that, in order to
understand jazz improvisation, it is necessary to understand the history, the theory, and the techniques of jazz. I feel that
it is important to merge these avenues if one is to develop a broad understanding.
2. OTHER RESOURCES
This primer is not the only source of information you can or should be using in learning jazz
improvisation. There are books by Jerry Coker, David Baker, and others that can be used as an aid to learning jazz
improvisation. Some of these are relatively basic and do not cover much more material than this primer. Others are
quite advanced, and this primer will hopefully provide the necessary background to tackle these texts.
 In addition to textbooks, another important resource for performers is the fakebook. A fakebook typically
contains music for hundreds of songs, but it contains only the melody, lyrics if appropriate, and chord symbols for each.
A description of some of the available textbooks and fakebooks can be found in the bibliography.
When practicing, it is often useful to play along with a rhythm section (piano, bass, and drums). This is,
of course, not always practical. Jamey Aebersold has produced a series of play-along albums to remedy this situation.
These records, cassettes, or CD's come with books containing the music, in fakebook form, for the songs on the record.
The recordings contain only accompaniment; there is no melody or solos. Providing them is your job. The piano and
bass are on different stereo channels, so they can be turned off individually if you play one of those instruments. I
recommend all performers pick up a few of these. Advertisements are run in Down Beat magazine.
Another option is the computer program Band-In-A-Box. This program runs on several different
hardware platforms. It allows you to enter the chords for a song in ASCII format, and it then generates rhythm section
parts and can play them via a MIDI port through a synthesizer. It actually does a very good job of generating realistic
parts, and if your synthesizer can generate realistic sounds, you may not be able to tell you are not playing with a
recording of a real rhythm section. Disks are available containing hundreds of songs already entered. Advertisements
are run in Keyboard magazine.
 C. A BRIEF HISTORY OF JAZZ
Listening to other jazz musicians is by far the most important single thing you can do to learn about jazz
improvisation. Just as no words can ever describe what a Monet painting looks like, no primer I can write will describe
what Charlie Parker sounds like. While it is important for a performer to develop his own style, this should not be done
in isolation. You should be aware of what others have done before you.
Having established the importance of listening, the question remains, "What should I listen to?" Most
likely, you already have some idea of jazz musicians you like. Often, you can start with one musician and work
outwards. For example, the first jazz musician I listened to extensively was the pianist Oscar Peterson. After buying half
a dozen or so of his albums, I found I also liked some of the musicians with whom he had performed, such as trumpet
players Freddie Hubbard and Dizzy Gillespie, and started buying their albums as well. Then, upon hearing pianist
Herbie Hancock with Hubbard, I found a new direction to explore, one which lead me to trumpet player Miles Davis,
and thereby to saxophonist John Coltrane, and the process is still continuing.
Part of the goal of this primer is to help direct you in your listening. What follows is a brief history of
jazz, with mention of many important musicians and albums. Note that the subject of jazz history has generated entire
volumes. A few of these are listed in the bibliography.
This primer gives a cursory overview of major periods and styles. There is a lot of overlap in the eras and
styles described. The later sections on jazz theory are based primarily on principles developed from the 1940's through
the 1960's. This music is sometimes referred to as mainstream or straightahead jazz.
Your local library can be an invaluable asset in checking out musicians with whom you are unfamiliar.
Also, you may wish to share albums with friends. Taping records or CD's for use by others is, of course, in violation of
copyright law, however, and it devalues the musicians' economic reward. You should use the library, and other people's
collections, to give you an idea of what you like, and then go out and buy it.
1. EARLY JAZZ
The earliest easily available jazz recordings are from the 1920's and early 1930's. Trumpet player and
vocalist Louis Armstrong ("Pops", "Satchmo") was by far the most important figure of this period. He played with
groups called the Hot Five and the Hot Seven; any recordings you can find of these groups are recommended. The style
of these groups, and many others of the period, is often referred to as New Orleans jazz or Dixieland. It is characterized
by collective improvisation, in which all performers simultaneously play improvised melodic lines within the harmonic
structure of the tune. Louis, as a singer, is credited with the invention of scat, in which the vocalist makes up nonsense
syllables to sing improvised lines. Other notable performers of New Orleans or Dixieland jazz include clarinetist Johnny
Dodds, soprano saxophone player Sidney Bechet, trumpeter King Oliver, and trombonist Kid Ory.
Other styles popular during this period were various forms of piano jazz, including ragtime, Harlem
stride, and boogie-woogie. These styles are actually quite distinct, but all three are characterized by rhythmic,
percussive left hand lines and fast, full right hand lines. Scott Joplin and Jelly Roll Morton were early ragtime pioneers.
Fats Waller, Willie "The Lion" Smith and James P. Johnson popularized the stride left hand pattern (bass note, chord,
bass note, chord); Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis developed this into the faster moving left hand patterns of
boogie-woogie. Earl "Fatha" Hines was a pianist who was especially known for his right hand, in which he did not often
play full chords or arpeggios, playing instead "horn-like" melodic lines. This has become commonplace since then. Art
Tatum is considered by many to be the greatest jazz pianist ever; he was certainly one of the most technically gifted,
and his harmonic insights paved the way for many who came after him. He is sometimes considered a precursor of
bebop.
2. BIG BAND JAZZ AND SWING
Although the big bands are normally associated with a slightly later era, there were several large bands
playing during the 1920's and early 1930's, including that of Fletcher Henderson. Bix Beiderbecke was a cornet soloist
who played with several bands and was considered a legend in his time.
The mid 1930's brought on the swing era and the emergence of the big bands as the popular music of the
day. Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Duke Ellington, and Count Basie led some of the
more popular bands. There were also some important small group swing recordings during the 1930's and 1940's. These
differed from earlier small groups in that these featured very little collective improvisation. This music emphasized the
individual soloist. Goodman, Ellington, and Basie recorded often in these small group settings. Major saxophonists of
the era include Johnny Hodges, Paul Gonsalves, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, and Ben Webster. Trumpet players
include Roy Eldridge, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Cootie Williams, and Charlie Shavers. Pianists include Ellington, Basie,
Teddy Wilson, Erroll Garner, and Oscar Peterson; guitarists include Charlie Christian, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessell, and
Django Reinhardt; vibraphonists include Lionel Hampton; bassists include Jimmy Blanton, Walter Page, and Slam
Stewart; drummers include Jo Jones and Sam Woodyard. Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, and Ella Fitzgerald were
important singers in this era. Most of these musicians recorded in small groups as well as with big bands. The styles of
these musicians can best be summarized by saying they concentrated primarily on playing melodically, on the swing
feel, and on the development of an individual sound. The blues was, as in many other styles, an important element of
this music
3. BEBOP
The birth of bebop in the 1940's is often considered to mark the beginning of modern jazz. This style
grew directly out of the small swing groups, but placed a much higher emphasis on technique and on more complex
harmonies rather than on singable melodies. Much of the theory to be discussed later stems directly from innovations in
this style. Alto saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker was the father of this movement, and trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie
("Diz") was his primary accomplice. Dizzy also led a big band, and helped introduce Afro-Cuban music, including
rhythms such as the mambo, to American audiences, through his work with Cuban percussionists. But it was the quintet
and other small group recordings featuring Diz and Bird that formed the foundation of bebop and most modern jazz.
While, as with previous styles, much use was made of the blues and popular songs of the day, including
songs by George Gershwin and Cole Porter, the original compositions of the bebop players began to diverge from
popular music for the first time, and in particular, bebop was not intended to be dance music. The compositions usually
featured fast tempos and difficult eighth note runs. Many of the bebop standards are based on the chord progressions of
other popular songs, such as "I Got Rhythm", "Cherokee", or "How High The Moon". The improvisations were based
on scales implied by those chords, and the scales used included alterations such as the flatted fifth.
The development of bebop led to new approaches to accompanying as well as soloing. Drummers began
to rely less on the bass drum and more on the ride cymbal and hi-hat. Bass players became responsible for keeping the
pulse by playing almost exclusively a walking bass line consisting mostly of quarter notes while outlining the chord
progression. Pianists were able to use a lighter touch, and in particular their left hands were no longer forced to define
the beat or to play roots of chords. In addition, the modern jazz standard form became universal. Performers would play
the melody to a piece (the head), often in unison, then take turns playing solos based on the chord progression of the
piece, and finally play the head again. The technique of trading fours, in which soloists exchange four bar phrases with
each other or with the drummer, also became commonplace. The standard quartet and quintet formats (piano, bass,
drums; saxophone and/or trumpet) used in bebop have changed very little since the 1940's.
Many of the players from the previous generation helped pave the way for bebop. These musicians
included Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, Charlie Christian, Jimmy Blanton, and Jo Jones. Young and
Hawkins in particular are often considered two of the most important musicians in this effort. Other bebop notables
include saxophonists Sonny Stitt and Lucky Thompson, trumpeters Fats Navarro, Kenny Dorham, and Miles Davis,
pianists Bud Powell, Duke Jordan, Al Haig, and Thelonious Monk, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, bassists Oscar Pettiford,
Tommy Potter, and Charles Mingus, and drummers Max Roach, Kenny Clarke, and Roy Haynes. Miles, Monk, and
Mingus went on to further advances in the post-bebop eras, and their music will be discussed later.
4. COOL JAZZ
Although Miles Davis first appeared on bebop recordings of Charlie Parker, his first important session as
a leader was called The Birth Of The Cool. An album containing all the recordings of this group is available. The cool
jazz style has been described as a reaction against the fast tempos and the complex melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic
ideas of bebop. These ideas were picked up by many west coast musicians, and this style is thus also called West Coast
jazz. This music is generally more relaxed than bebop. Other musicians in the cool style include saxophonists Stan Getz
and Gerry Mulligan, and trumpet player Chet Baker. Stan Getz is also credited with the popularization of Brazilian
styles such as the bossa nova and samba. These and a few other Latin American styles are sometimes collectively
known as Latin jazz.
 Many groups in the cool style do not use a piano, and instead rely on counterpoint and harmonization
among the horns, usually saxophone and trumpet, to outline chord progressions. Pianist-led groups that developed from
this school include those of Dave Brubeck (with Paul Desmond on saxophone), Lennie Tristano (with Lee Konitz and
Warne Marsh on saxophones), and the Modern Jazz Quartet or MJQ (featuring John Lewis on piano and Milt Jackson
on vibraphone), which also infuses elements of classical music. The incorporation of classical music into jazz is often
called the third stream.
5. HARD BOP
In what has been described as either an extension of bebop or a backlash against cool, a style of music
known as hard bop developed in the 1950's. This style also downplayed the technically demanding melodies of bebop,
but did so without compromising intensity. It did this by maintaining the rhythmic drive of bebop while including a
healthier dose of the blues and gospel music. Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers were, for decades, the most well-
known exponent of this style. Many musicians came up through the so-called "University Of Blakey". Blakey's early
groups included pianist Horace Silver, trumpet player Clifford Brown, and saxophonist Lou Donaldson. Clifford Brown
also co-led a group with Max Roach that is considered one of the great working quintets in history. Several albums from
these groups are available today and all are recommended. Miles Davis also recorded several albums in this style during
the early 1950's. There were also a number of groups led by or including organists that came from this school, with
even more of a blues and gospel influence. Organist Jimmy Smith and tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine were
popular players in this genre.
6. POST BOP
The period from the mid 1950's until the mid 1960's represents the heyday of mainstream modern jazz.
Many of those now considered among the greatest of all time achieved their fame in this era.
Miles Davis had four important groups during this time. The first featured John Coltrane ("Trane") on
tenor saxophone, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and "Philly" Joe Jones on drums. This group is
sometimes considered the single greatest jazz group ever. Most of their albums are available today, including the series
of Workin' ..., Steamin' ..., Relaxin' ..., and Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet. Miles perfected his muted ballad
playing with this group, and the rhythm section was considered by many to be the hardest swinging in the business. The
second important Davis group came with the addition of alto saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderly and the
replacement of Garland with Bill Evans or Wynton Kelly and the replacement of Jones with Jimmy Cobb. The album
Kind Of Blue from this group is high on most lists of favorite jazz albums. The primary style of this group is called
modal, as it relies on songs written around simple scales or modes that often last for many measures each, as opposed to
the quickly changing complex harmonies of bebop derived styles. The third Davis group of the era was actually the Gil
Evans orchestra. Miles recorded several classic albums with Gil, including Sketches Of Spain. The fourth important
Miles group of this period included Wayne Shorter on saxophone, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and
Tony Williams on drums. The early recordings of this group, including Live At The Plugged Nickel, as well as the
earlier My Funny Valentine, with George Coleman on saxophone instead of Wayne Shorter, mainly feature innovative
versions of standards. Later recordings such as Miles Smiles and Nefertiti consist of originals, including many by
Wayne Shorter, that largely transcend traditional harmonies. Herbie Hancock developed a new approach to
harmonization that was based as much on sounds as on any conventional theoretical underpinning.
John Coltrane is another giant of this period. In addition to his playing with Miles, he recorded the album
Giant Steps under his own name, which showed him to be one of the most technically gifted and harmonically advanced
players around. After leaving Miles, he formed a quartet with pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer Elvin Jones, and a variety
of bass players, finally settling on Jimmy Garrison. Coltrane's playing with this group showed him to be one of the most
intensely emotional players around. Tyner is also a major voice on his instrument, featuring a very percussive attack.
Elvin Jones is a master of rhythmic intensity. This group evolved constantly, from the relatively traditional post bop of
My Favorite Things to the high energy modal of A Love Supreme to the wailing avant garde of Meditations and
Ascension.
Charles Mingus was another influential leader during this period. His small groups tended to be less
structured than others, giving more freedom to the individual players, although Mingus also directed larger ensembles
in which most of the parts were written out. Mingus' compositions for smaller groups were often only rough sketches,
and performances were sometimes literally composed or arranged on the bandstand, with Mingus calling out directions
to the musicians. Alto saxophonist, bass clarinetist, and flautist Eric Dolphy was a mainstay of Mingus' groups. His
playing was often described angular, meaning that the interval in his lines were often large leaps, as opposed to scalar
lines, consist mostly of steps. The album Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus featuring Dolphy is a classic.
Thelonious Monk is widely regarded as one of the most important composers in jazz, as well as being a
highly original pianist. His playing is more sparse than most of his contemporaries. Some of his albums include
Brilliant Corners and Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane. Pianist Bill Evans was known as one of the most sensitive
ballad players, and his trio albums, particularly Waltz For Debby, with Scott LaFaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums,
are models of trio interplay. Wes Montgomery was one of the most influential of jazz guitarists. He often played in
groups with an organist, and had a particularly soulful sound. He also popularized the technique of playing solos in
octaves. His early albums include Full House. Later albums were more commercial and less well regarded. Tenor
saxophonist Sonny Rollins rivaled Coltrane in popularity and recorded many albums under his own name, including
Saxophone Colossus and The Bridge, which also featured Jim Hall on guitar. Sonny also recorded with Clifford Brown,
Miles Davis, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, and other giants.
Other noteworthy musicians of the era include saxophonists Jackie McLean, Dexter Gordon, Joe
Henderson, and Charlie Rouse; trumpet players Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Woody Shaw, and Booker Little;
trombonists J. J. Johnson and Curtis Fuller; clarinetist Jimmy Guiffre, pianists Tommy Flanagan, Hank Jones, Bobby
Timmons, Mal Waldron, Andrew Hill, Cedar Walton, Chick Corea, and Ahmad Jamal; organist Larry Young, guitarists
Kenny Burrell and Joe Pass; guitarist and harmonica player Toots Thielemans; vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson; bassists
Ray Brown, Percy Heath, Sam Jones, Buster Williams, Reggie Workman, Doug Watkins, and Red Mitchell; drummers
Billy Higgins and Ben Riley; and vocalists Jon Hendricks, Eddie Jefferson, Sarah Vaughan, Betty Carter, Carmen
McRae, Abbey Lincoln, and Shirley Horn. Big bands such as those of Woody Herman and Stan Kenton also thrived.
7. FREE JAZZ AND THE AVANT GARDE
During these same decades of the 1950's and 1960's, some musicians took jazz in more exploratory
directions. The terms free jazz and avant garde are often used to describe these approaches, in which traditional forms,
harmony, melody, and rhythm were extended considerably or even abandoned. Saxophonist Ornette Coleman and
trumpet player Don Cherry were pioneers of this music through albums such as The Shape Of Jazz To Come and Free
Jazz. The former album, as well as several more recorded with a quartet that also include either Scott LaFaro or Charlie
Haden on bass and either Billy Higgins or Ed Blackwell on drums, still retains the basic feel of traditional post bop
small group jazz, with alternating soloists over a walking bass line and swinging drum beat. This style is sometimes
known as freebop. The album Free Jazz was a more cacophonous affair that featured collective improvisation.
Another major figure in the avant garde movement was pianist Cecil Taylor. His playing is very
percussive, and includes dissonant clusters of notes and fast technical passages that do not appear to be based on any
particular harmonies or rhythmic pulse.
John Coltrane, as already mentioned, delved into the avant garde in the mid 1960's. Albums such as
Ascension and Interstellar Space show Coltrane absorbing both Free Jazz and the works of Cecil Taylor. Later Coltrane
groups featured his wife Alice on piano and Rashied Ali on drums, as well as Pharoah Sanders on tenor saxophone. He
also recorded an album The Avant Garde with Don Cherry that is interesting for its parallels with The Shape Of Jazz To
Come and other Ornette Coleman quartet recordings. Coltrane influenced many other musicians, including saxophonists
Archie Shepp, Sam Rivers, and Albert Ayler.
Sun Ra is a somewhat enigmatic figure in the avant garde, claiming to be from the planet Saturn. He plays
a variety of keyboard instruments with his big bands that range from 1920's style swing to the wilder free jazz of
Coltrane and others.
8. FUSION
Miles Davis helped usher in the fusion of jazz and rock in the mid to late 1960's through albums such as
Bitches Brew and Jack Johnson. His bands during this period featured Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Joe Zawinul
on electric piano, Ron Carter and Dave Holland on bass, John McLaughlin on guitar, and Tony Williams and Jack
DeJohnette on drums. Tony Williams formed a rock oriented band called Lifetime with John McLaughlin, who also
formed his own high energy group, the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Through the 1970's Miles continued to explore new
directions in the use of electronics and the incorporation of funk and rock elements into his music, leading to albums
such as Pangea and Agharta.
 Other groups combined jazz and rock in a more popularly oriented manner, from the crossover Top 40 of
Spyro Gyra and Chuck Mangione to the somewhat more esoteric guitarist Pat Metheny. Other popular fusion bands
include Weather Report, featuring Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, and bass players Jaco Pastorius and Miroslav Vitous;
Return To Forever, featuring Chick Corea and bassist Stanley Clarke; The Crusaders, featuring saxophonist Wilton
Felder and keyboardist Joe Sample; the Yellowjackets, featuring keyboardist Russell Ferrante; and the Jeff Lorber
Fusion, which originally featured Kenny G on saxophone. In recent years, several fusion bands have achieved much
commercial success, including those of Pat Metheny and Kenny G.
9. POST MODERN JAZZ
While fusion seemed to dominate the jazz market in the 1970's and early 1980's, there were other
developments as well. Some performers started borrowing from 20th century classical music as well as African and
other forms of world music. These musicians include Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, saxophonists Anthony Braxton,
David Murray, and Dewey Redman, clarinetist John Carter, pianists Carla Bley and Muhal Richard Abrams, the World
Saxophone Quartet, featuring four saxophonists with no rhythm section, and the Art Ensemble Of Chicago, featuring
trumpet player Lester Bowie and woodwind player Roscoe Mitchell. Their music tended to emphasize compositional
elements more sophisticated than the head-solos-head form.
Some groups, such as Oregon, rejected the complexity and dissonance of modern jazz and played in a
much simpler style, which has given rise to the current New Age music. On the other extreme are musicians like
saxophonist John Zorn and guitarists Sonny Sharrock and Fred Frith, who engaged in a frenetic form of free
improvisation sometimes called energy music. Somewhere in between was the long lived group formed by saxophonist
George Adams, who was influenced by Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, and pianist Don Pullen, who was influenced by
Cecil Taylor. This group drew heavily from blues music and well as the avant garde. Other important musicians during
the 1970's and 1980's include pianists Abdullah Ibrahim, Paul Bley, Anthony Davis and Keith Jarrett.
Not all developments in jazz occur in the United States. Many European musicians extended some of the
free jazz ideas of Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor, and further dispensed with traditional forms. Others turned toward
a more introspective music. Some of the more successful of the European improvisers include saxophonists Evan
Parker, John Tchicai, John Surman, and Jan Garbarek, trumpet players Kenny Wheeler and Ian Carr, pianist John
Taylor, guitarists Derek Bailey and Allan Holdsworth, bassist Eberhard Weber, drummer John Stevens, and arrangers
Mike Westbrook, Franz Koglman, and Willem Breuker.
10. THE PRESENT
One of the big trends of today is a return to the bebop and post bop roots of modern jazz. This movement
is often referred to as neoclassicism. Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and his brother, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, have
achieved much popular success playing music that is based on styles of the 1950's and 1960's. The best of this group of
young musicians, including the Marsalises and their rhythm sections of Kenny Kirkland or Marcus Roberts on piano,
Bob Hurst on bass, and Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums, manage to extend the art through new approaches to melodicism,
harmony, rhythm, and form, rather than just recreate the music of past masters.
An exciting development since the mid 1980's has been a collective of musicians that refers to its music
as M-Base. There seems to be some disagreement, even among its members, as to what this means exactly, but the
music is characterized by angular melodic lines played over complex funky beats with unusual rhythmic twists. This
movement is led by saxophonists Steve Coleman, Greg Osby, and Gary Thomas, trumpet player Graham Haynes,
trombonist Robin Eubanks, bass player Anthony Cox, and drummer Marvin "Smitty" Smith.
Many other musicians are making strong music in the modern tradition. Among musicians already
mentioned, there are Ornette Coleman, David Murray, Joe Henderson, Dewey Redman, Cecil Taylor, Charlie Haden,
Dave Holland, Tony Williams, and Jack DeJohnette. Others include saxophonists Phil Woods, Frank Morgan, Bobby
Watson, Tim Berne, John Zorn, Chico Freeman, Courtney Pine, Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, Bob Berg, and Jerry
Bergonzi; clarinetists Don Byron and Eddie Daniels; trumpet players Tom Harrell, Marcus Belgrave, and Arturo
Sanduval; trombonists Steve Turre and Ray Anderson; pianists Geri Allen, Mulgrew Miller, Kenny Barron, Gonzalo
Rubalcaba, Eduard Simon, Renee Rosnes, and Marilyn Crispell; guitarists John Scofield, Bill Frisell, and Kevin
Eubanks; vibraphonist Gary Burton; bassists Niels-Henning Oersted Pedersen and Lonnie Plaxico; and vocalists Bobby
McFerrin and Cassandra Wilson. This is by no means a complete list, and you are encouraged to listen to as many
musicians as possible to increase your awareness and appreciation for different styles.
 D. JAZZ FUNDAMENTALS
Now that you are listening to jazz, you need to be more conscious of what you are hearing. The most
important aspects to which you should pay attention are structure, swing, and creativity.
1. STRUCTURE
Most jazz since the bebop era is based on a form that is actually quite similar to the sonata allegro form
from classical theory: an optional introduction, the exposition or theme (possibly repeated), the development section,
and the recapitulation, possibly followed by a coda. The introduction, if present, sets the tone for the piece; the
exposition is the main melody; the development section is where the composer extends the ideas of the exposition; the
recapitulation is a restatement of the theme; and the coda is an ending. In jazz terms, these sections of a piece would be
called the the intro, the head (possibly repeated), the solo section, the head out, and possibly a coda or tag ending. The
intro establishes the mood; the head is the main melody; the solo section is where the soloists improvise on the melody
and/or chord progression of the tune; the head out is a restatement of the theme; and the coda or tag is an ending.
While not every piece follows this form, the vast majority of traditional jazz stays very close to it. During
the solo section, the rhythm section generally keeps following the chord progression of the head while the soloists take
turns improvising. Each time through the progression is called a chorus, and each soloist may take several choruses. In
this respect, the theme-and-variations form of classical music is also a valid analogy. Each soloist plays an improvised
variation on the theme.
The improvisation is the most important aspect of jazz, just as the development is often considered the
most important part of the classical sonata. While listening to a piece, try to sing the theme to yourself behind the solos.
You may notice that some soloists, particularly Thelonious Monk and Wayne Shorter, often base their solos on the
melodic theme as much as on the chord progression. You will also notice that liberties are often taken with the theme
itself; players such as Miles Davis, Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Rollins, and John Coltrane were especially adept at
making personal statements even while just playing the head.
There are two very common forms for a head or theme in jazz. The first is the blues form, which is
normally a twelve bar form. There are many variants on blues chord progressions, but most are based on the idea of
three four bar phrases. In its original form, the second phrase would be a repeat of the first, and the third would be an
answer to that phrase, although this convention is rarely adhered to in jazz. You may wish to check out the blues
progressions listed later to get an idea of what they sound like, so you can recognize blues forms when you hear them.
Liner notes and song titles will also often help identify which tunes are based on the blues. Some well known jazz tunes
based on blues progressions include "Now's The Time" and "Billie's Bounce" by Charlie Parker, "Straight, No Chaser"
and "Blue Monk" by Thelonious Monk, and "Freddie Freeloader" and "All Blues" by Miles Davis.
The other common form in jazz is the AABA song form, used extensively in popular music from the turn
of the century until the dawn of rock and roll. This form consists two sections, called the verse or A-section and the
bridge. The form is verse 1, verse 2, bridge, verse 3. The verses are similar or identical except for the lyrics and perhaps
the last two bars. The song "I Got Rhythm" by George Gershwin, is one example of an AABA form. There are literally
hundreds of tunes based on the chord progression to that tune, including "Anthropology" by Charlie Parker and "Oleo"
by Sonny Rollins. Other songs with the AABA form include "Darn That Dream" by Jimmy Van Heusen, and "There Is
No Greater Love" by Isham Jones. Songs such as these, popular songs from the first half of the century that have been
interpreted by many jazz musicians, are often called standards.
These structures are only guidelines. Musicians such as Cecil Taylor showed us long ago that it is
possible to express oneself without such well defined structures, and indeed this type of expression is often more
personal that any more organized form. I have described these common structures to help you understand the context in
which many musicians work, not to suggest that they are the only way. You should learn to discern for yourself when
listening to other musicians what type of structures they are using, if any. You should also decide for yourself which
structures to use in your own playing.
2. SWING
Understanding the structure of the music is the first step toward an increased appreciation of it. The rest
of this primer will deal mainly with hands-on musical examples. Before you delve into the theory, however, you need to
develop a feel for swing. This is part of the rationale behind doing so much listening, since it is virtually impossible to
teach swing analytically. Nonetheless, I will try to explain what you should be hearing and trying to achieve in your
own playing.
a. Definition
The most basic element of swing is the swing eighth note. In classical music, a set of eighth notes in 4/4
time are meant to take exactly one half of a beat each. This style is called straight eighth notes. Play a C major scale "C,
D, E, F, G, A, B, C" in straight eighth notes. If you have a metronome, set it to 96 beats per minute. Those are quarter
notes, "one, two, three, four". Subdivide this in your mind, "one and two and three and four and".
A common approximation to swing eighth notes uses triplets. The basic beats are be subdivided in your
mind as "one-and-uh two-and-uh three-and-uh four-and-uh", and you play only on the beat and on the "uh". The first
note of every beat will be twice as long as the second. This will sound like Morse Code dash-dot-dash-dot-dash-dot-
dash-dot and is far too exaggerated for most jazz purposes. Somewhere in between straight eighth notes (1:1 ratio
between first and second note) and triplets (2:1 ratio) lie true swing eighth notes. I cannot give an exact ratio, however,
because it varies depending on the tempo and the style of the piece. In general, the faster the tempo, the straighter the
eighth notes. Also, pre-bebop era players often use a more exaggerated swing than later performers, even at the same
tempo. No matter what the ratio, the second "half" of each beat is usually accented, and beats two and four are usually
accented as well. Again, the amount of accent depends on the player and the situation.
There is also the issue of playing behind or ahead of the beat. When Dexter Gordon plays, even the notes
that should fall on the beat are usually played a little bit late. This is often called laying back. It can lend a more relaxed
feel to the music, whereas playing notes that should fall on the beat a little bit early can have the opposite effect.
Bassists often play slightly ahead of the beat, particularly at faster tempos, to keep the music driving forward.
Not all styles of jazz use swing in the same way. Most Latin jazz styles and many fusion and modern
styles use straight eighths, or eighth notes that are only slightly swung. Shuffles and some other rock styles use very
exaggerated swing. Listen closely to recordings in different styles, paying attention to the differences. Do not be fooled
into thinking that swing is a universal constant.
b. Practicing Swing
Learning to play natural sounding swing eighth notes is often the hardest part of learning to play jazz,
since it can sound so bad until you can do it well. There are some techniques that can help you overcome this initial
awkward stage.
If you have been listening carefully to other musicians, you may be better at recognizing swing than at
playing it. Therefore, I highly recommend recording yourself playing swing eighth notes at various tempos, and then
listening to yourself on tape. You can judge for yourself whether your swing sounds natural or forced. It has been said
that if you cannot swing unaccompanied, you cannot swing. It is important to work on your own concept of swing in
this way so that your perception of how you sound is not influenced by the sound of your accompanists.
You should work on your swing no matter what you are playing. When you practice scales, work on
swing as well as simply playing the right notes. Try varying the rhythm you use to play the scale. In addition to scales,
you should try practicing swing when playing other exercises or songs. Any practice method book or fakebook will
probably contain several appropriate pieces. Try playing songs with many consecutive eighth notes, but also try songs
with longer notes and rests. Having to play many consecutive eighth notes can make you too self-conscious of your
swing.
While being able to swing unaccompanied is important, it is not easy to do at first, and when developing
your swing concept, it can also help to hear it occasionally in the context of a group performance. One thing that would
help at times is to have a rhythm section accompaniment. If you have Band-In-A-Box, you can program it to play
endless choruses of C major, and then you can practice playing or improvising on your C major scale while working on
your swing. Aebersold records can provide accompaniment as well, but be aware that most of the tunes have many
chord changes and are too complex to use for this purpose. There are a few suitable tracks, however, such as some of
those on Volumes 1, 16, 21, 24, and 54, which are geared toward beginners. The books included with these, especially
the first four, also contain some useful instructional material.
If you have a partner, or a tape recorder, or a sequencer (computer hardware and/or software to record and
play back on a synthesizer) you can create do-it-yourself accompaniment. The basic components of a swing drum beat
are the ride pattern and the hi-hat pattern. The ride cymbal pattern, at its most basic, is "1, 2 and, 3, 4 and"; or,
phonetically, "ding ding-a ding ding-a". The eighth notes on 2 and 4 should be swung, of course. The hi-hat is closed
(with the foot pedal) on 2 and 4. Walking bass lines can be constructed by following a few simple rules. First, play
quarter notes. Second, keep them in the two octaves below middle C. Third, play only notes from the scale on which
you are working. Fourth, most notes should be only a step away from the previous note, although occasional leaps are
acceptable. For instance, a C major bass line might consist of "C, D, E, F, G, E, F, G, A, B, A, G, F, E, D, B, C". You
will need a lot of patience to create your own accompaniment with a tape recorder, since you will want to record many
measures so you do not have to keep rewinding the tape when improvising later. A sequencer will allow you to set up
loops, so you can record only a few measures and have them repeat endlessly.
3. CREATIVITY
The most important aspect of improvisation is creativity. This is the most vital concept for an improviser
to understand. The goal is to hear something interesting in your head and be able to play it immediately. Your
understanding of music fundamentals is one ally in this endeavor. It can help you interpret the sounds you hear in your
head by relating them to sounds you know and understand. Your technical proficiency on your instrument is another
ally. It can help you accurately execute what you conceive. Inspiration, however, is what enables you to hear interesting
ideas to begin with. That creative spark is what distinguishes the true artist from the mere craftsman. While no primer
can show you how to be creative, I can try to shed a little light on creativity as it pertains to improvisation.
a. The Creative Process
Trumpet player Clark Terry summarizes the creative process as "imitate, assimilate, innovate". Listening
to other musicians can give you ideas you may wish to develop further, and being able to successfully duplicate what
they are doing is one step toward being able to express yourself. Next, you must understand why the things you are
playing sound the way they do, so that when you want to create a particular sound, you will know how to achieve it.
The theory presented in the following sections can help you structure your thoughts, and can also help you identify the
sounds you hear. However, analytic processes are an aid to the creative process, not a replacement for it. Two analogies,
one with language and one with mathematics, should help make this clear.
When you began to speak, you learned at first by listening to others and imitating them. Gradually, you
became aware of grammar, and eventually the grammar was codified for you in English classes. Your vocabulary has
probably been growing ever since you spoke your first word. In both writing and conversation, your tools are your
knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, and appropriate subject matter. To write or say anything interesting, however, you
must have a certain amount of inspiration. It is not sufficient to merely string together grammatically correct phrases of
words. What you have to say is generally more important than how you say it, although proper use of the language can
help to get your point across. Similarly, in music, knowledge of theory and fundamentals are the tools of composition
and improvisation, but inspiration plays the most important role in determining your success. It is not enough to merely
play the "right" notes; you must also play interesting music. Jazz improvisation is often likened to "telling a story", and,
like a good story, should be well structured and also convey something interesting to the listener.
In mathematics, creativity can often be crucial as well. Learning the various axioms, formulas, and
equations normally does not tell you how to solve a particular word problem, integrate a certain function, or prove a
new theorem. Some ingenuity is required to be able to apply your knowledge to the problem at hand. Often, knowing
how similar problems have been solved in the past can give you an idea of where to start, and experience working with
a particular type of problem can help direct you. In all but the simplest of math problems, however, some original
thinking is required. Similarly, in jazz, your familiarity with the works of other musicians can help you get started, and
your knowledge of theory can help direct you, but in order to be a successful improviser, you will need to be creative.
Just as long columns of numbers are not particularly interesting, even if they add up correctly, neither is an
improvisation that consists of nothing but scales and patterns based on those scales.
Your listening experience, your knowledge of music theory, and experimentation on your instrument will
define the musical context in which you are able to express yourself. You should continually strive to expand that
context by listening to many different musicians, analyzing what you hear, and practicing as much as possible. Still, the
final ingredient, the inspiration, you will have to find on your own.
 b. Playing
You should by now, if you have not already, be starting to improvise. You should start the same way you
began to practice swing: alone and unaccompanied at first, with a tape recorder if possible, and then with some sort of
rhythm section accompaniment. Again, Band-In-A-Box, Aebersold records, or do-it-yourself accompaniment will be
invaluable.
For your first attempts at improvisation, pick a key with which you are comfortable and then start to play
whatever comes into your head. Invent little melodies that use mainly notes from the selected scale. Do not try to fill all
available space with notes. Instead, concentrate on hearing a short phrase in your head, and then try to play that phrase.
Do not worry if this means there are breaks of several seconds or more between phrases. Miles Davis used this style of
phrasing all the time.
At some point while improvising in a given key, try playing notes that are not in that key. Playing notes
that are not in the current key is sometimes called playing outside. You will find that in many cases, it sounds very
natural, while in other cases, it sounds dissonant, or harsh. The later sections on theory may help you understand why
this is so, but your ear is the ultimate judge. When you finally run out of ideas in one key, you may wish to switch to
another. You may also wish to try improvising without any key center at all. I believe this should be just as natural as
improvising within a key.
Transcribing solos played by other musicians is one way to get some ideas of what to play. You can
examine the structure of the solo, see how they use the various chord/scale relationships discussed later in this primer,
and try to apply what you learn to your own playing. One of the best solos for a beginner to study is Miles Davis' solo
on "So What" from the album Kind Of Blue. The chord structure is simple: sixteen bars of D minor, followed by 8 bars
of Eb minor, and then 8 bars of D minor again. Miles' lines are easy enough to transcribe note for note. The theory
sections below will help you understand the framework in which Miles was working, but transcribing his solo will help
you see what he was doing within that framework.
Another way to get ideas for soloing is by using patterns, or short phrases that you have practiced
beforehand and know will fit the chord changes at a particular point. In general, improvising is much more than simply
stringing together patterns, but pattern practicing can be a good way to develop your technique as well as your ear,
particularly if you practice your patterns in all twelve keys. There are several books, including Jerry Coker's Patterns
For Jazz, that give some useful patterns.
A technique used often in the bebop era and since is quoting, or using a recognizable phrase from another
composition or well-known recorded improvisation as part of one's own improvisation. This is also sometimes called
interpolation. You may have noticed this taking place in solos you have heard. There is usually some humor value in
quoting, particularly if the interpolated work is something silly like "Pop Goes The Weasel".
The most important obstacles for a beginning improviser to overcome are his or her own inhibitions. At
first, when practicing improvisation by yourself, you may feel you have no idea what to play. Once you have reached
the point where you feel comfortable in the practice room and decide it is time to play with other musicians, you may
feel self-conscious about playing in front of your peers. Finally, when you can play with other musicians in private, you
may feel nervous when you first perform in public. I have no miracle cures for these problems. I can only suggest you
play as much as possible at each stage, and continually push yourself to take chances.
 E. BASIC THEORY
Most improvisation in mainstream jazz is based on chord progressions. The chord progression is the
sequence of chords that harmonizes the melody. Usually each chord lasts a measure; sometimes two, sometimes only
half. A fakebook will give the symbol representing a particular chord above the corresponding point in the melody.
Even more important than the actual chords, however, are the scales implied by those chords. An
improviser, when playing over a D minor chord, whose symbol is Dm, will normally play lines built from notes in the D
dorian scale. This section documents the various chords and associated scales used in jazz. Familiarity with note names
and locations is assumed.
If your aim is to become a jazz performer, you should practice improvising lines based on all the scales
presented here, and in all twelve keys. Otherwise, you may stick to just one key per scale, but you should still practice
improvising over each chord/scale relationship in order to better recognize their sounds.
This section reviews the concepts of intervals, scales, keys, and chords from classical theory. Those
readers with basic classical theory training should be able to skip this section if they wish.
1. INTERVALS
There are twelve different notes in traditional music: C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, E, F, F#/Gb, G, G#/Ab, A,
A#/Bb, and B. After the B comes the C an octave higher than the first C, and this cycle continues. This sequence is
called the chromatic scale. Each step in this scale is called a half step or semitone. The interval between two notes is
defined by the number of half steps between them. Two notes a half step apart, like C and C#, define a minor second.
Notes that are two half steps apart, like C and D, define a major second. This is also called a whole step. Expanding by
half steps, the remaining intervals are the minor third, major third, perfect fourth, tritone, perfect fifth, minor sixth,
major sixth, minor seventh, major seventh, and finally, the octave.
Most of these intervals have other names, as well. For example, a tritone is sometimes called an
augmented fourth if the spelling of the notes in the interval appears to describe a fourth. For example, the tritone
interval from C to F# is called an augmented fourth, because the interval from C to F is a perfect fourth. Conversely, if
the spelling of the notes in the interval appears to describe a fifth, then the tritone is sometimes called a diminished fifth.
For example, the tritone interval from C to Gb, which is actually the same as the interval from C to F#, is called a
diminished fifth, because the interval from C to G is a perfect fifth. In general, if any major or perfect interval is
expanded by a half step by changing an accidental (the flat or sharp indication on the note), the resultant interval is
called augmented, and if any minor or perfect interval is reduced by a half step by changing an accidental,
the resultant interval is called diminished.
2. MAJOR AND MINOR SCALES
All scales are simply subsets of the chromatic scale. Most scales have 7 different notes, although some
have 5, 6, or 8. The simplest scale, which will be used as an example for the discussion of chords, is the C major scale,
which is "C, D, E, F, G, A, B". A major scale is defined by the intervals between these notes: "W W H W W W (H)",
where "W" indicates a whole step and "H" a half. Thus, a G major scale is "G, A, B, C, D, E, F#", with a half step
leading to the G that would start the next octave.
The scale consisting of the same notes as the C major scale, but starting on A ("A, B, C, D, E, F, G") is
the A minor scale. This is called the relative minor of C major, since it is a minor scale built from the same notes. The
relative minor of any major scale is formed by playing the same notes starting on the sixth note of the major scale.
Thus, the relative minor of G major is E minor.
A piece that is based on a particular scale is said to be in the key of that scale. For instance, a piece based
on the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, and B is said to be in the key of either C major or A minor. The chord progression of the
piece may distinguish between the two. Similarly, a piece based on the notes G, A, B, C, D, E, and F# is either in G
major or E minor. If the word "major" or "minor" is omitted, "major" is assumed. The collection of flat and sharp notes
in a scale defines the key signature of the associated key. Thus, the key signature of G major is F#.
You should try playing various major and minor scales. You may wish to write out the notes for each, or
buy a book like Dan Haerle's Scales For Jazz Improvisation, which contains many scales already written out for you.
The more complex scales described below should be written out and practiced as well. Listeners should try enough of
each scale to become familiar with the sound. In many cases, just one key will suffice. Performers should practice each
scale in all twelve keys over the entire range of their instruments until they have complete mastery over all of them.
However, do not become so bogged down in the various scales that you become frustrated and never advance to the
next sections on applying the theory. You should start on the applications once you have some command of the dorian,
mixolydian, lydian, and locrian modes discussed below.
3. CHORDS
A chord is a set of notes, usually played at the same time, that form a particular harmonic relationship
with each other. The most basic chord is the triad. A triad, as the name implies, is composed of three notes, separated by
intervals of a third. For instance, the notes C, E, and G played together comprise a C major triad. It is so called because
the three notes come from the beginning of the C major scale. The interval from C to E is a major third, and from E to G
a minor third. These intervals define a major triad. A G major triad is composed of G, B, and D; other major triads are
constructed similarly.
The notes A, C, and E comprise an A minor triad, so called because the notes come from the beginning of
the A minor scale. The interval from A to C is a minor third, and from C to E a major third. These intervals define a
minor triad. An E minor triad is composed of E, G, and B; other minor triads are constructed similarly.
The two other types of triads are the diminished triad and the augmented triad. A diminished triad is like a
minor triad, but the major third on top is reduced to a minor third. Thus, an A diminished triad would be formed by
changing the E in an A minor triad to an Eb. An augmented triad is like a major triad, but the minor third on top is
increased to a major triad. Thus, a C augmented triad would be formed by changing the G in a C major triad to a G#.
Note that a diminished triad can be formed from three notes of the major scale; for example, B, D, and F from C major.
However, there are no naturally occurring augmented triads in the major or minor scales.
A triad can be extended by adding more thirds on top. For instance, if you take the C major triad ("C E
G"), and add B, you have a major seventh chord (Cmaj7 or CM7), so called because the notes come from the C major
scale. Similarly, if you take an A minor triad ("A C E"), and add G, you have a minor seventh chord (Am7 or A-7), so
called because the notes come from the A minor scale. The most common type of seventh chord in classical harmony,
however, is the dominant seventh, which is obtained by adding a minor seventh to the major triad built on the fifth note
of the major scale, also called the dominant. For instance, in the key of C major, the fifth note is G, so a G major triad
(G B D) with a seventh added (F) is a dominant seventh chord (G7).
These three types of seventh chords have a very important relationship to each other. In any major key,
for example, C, the chord built on the second step of the scale is a minor seventh chord; the chord built on the fifth step
of the scale is a dominant seventh chord; and the seventh chord built on the root of the scale, also called the tonic, is a
major seventh chord. Roman numerals are often used to indicate scale degrees, with capital letters indicating major
triads and their sevenths, and lower case letters indicating minor triads and their sevenths. The sequence Dm7 - G7 -
Cmaj7 in the key of C can thus be represented as ii-V-I. This is a very common chord progression in jazz, and is
discussed in much detail later. The motion of roots in this progression is upwards by perfect fourth, or, equivalently,
downward by perfect fifth. This is one of the strongest resolutions in classical harmony as well.
Sevenths can also be added to diminished triads or augmented triads. In the case of a diminished triad, the
third added can either be a minor third, which creates a fully diminished seventh (for example, A C Eb Gb, or Adim) or
a major third, which creates a half diminished seventh (for example, B D F A, or Bm7b5). A minor third can be added
to an augmented triad, although this is a very rarely used chord that does not have a standard name in classical theory.
Adding a major third to an augmented triad would create a seventh chord in name only, since added note is a duplicate
an octave higher of the root (lowest note) of the chord. For example, C E G# C. Technically, the seventh is a B# instead
of a C, but in modern tuning systems these are the same note. Two notes that have different names but the same pitch,
like B# and C or F# and Gb, are called enharmonic. Classical theory is usually very picky about the correct enharmonic
spelling of a chord, but in jazz, the most convenient spelling is often used.
More extensions to all types of seventh chords can be created by adding more thirds. For instance, the C
major seventh chord (C E G B) can be extended into a C major ninth by adding D. These further extensions, and
alterations formed by raising or lowering them by a half step, are the trademarks of jazz harmony, and are discussed in
sections below. While there is an almost infinite variety of possible chords, most chords commonly used in jazz can be
classified as either major chords, minor chords, dominant chords, or half diminished chords. Fully diminished chords
and augmented chords are used as well, but as will be seen, they are often used as substitutes for one of these four basic
types of chords.
4. THE CIRCLE OF FIFTHS
The interval of a perfect fifth is significant in many ways in music theory. Many people use a device
called the circle of fifths to illustrate this significance. Picture a circle in which the circumference has been divided into
twelve equal parts, much like the face of a clock. Put the letter C at the top of the circle, and then label the other points
clockwise G, D, A, E, B, F#/Gb, C#/Db, G#/Ab, D#/Eb, A#/Bb, and F. The interval between any two adjacent notes is a
perfect fifth. Note that each note of the chromatic scale is included exactly once in the circle.

One application of the circle of fifths is in determining key signatures. The key of C major has no sharps
or flats. As you move clockwise around the circle, each new key signature adds one sharp. For example, G major has
one sharp (F#); D major has two (F# and C#); A major has three (F#, C#, and G#); E major has four (F#, C#, G#, and
D#); and so forth. Also note that the sharps added at each step themselves trace the circle of fifths, starting with F#
(added in G major), then C# (in D), then G# (in A), then D# (in E), and so forth. Conversely, if you trace the circle
counterclockwise, the key signatures add flats. For example, F major has one flat (Bb); Bb major has two (Bb and Eb);
Eb major has three (Bb, Eb, and Ab); and so forth. The flats added at each step also trace the circle of fifths, starting
with Bb (added in F major), then Eb (in Bb), then Ab (in Eb), and so forth.
The circle of fifths can also define scales. Any set of seven consecutive notes can be arranged to form a
major scale. Any set of five consecutive notes can be arranged to form a pentatonic scale, which is discussed later.
If the labels on the circle of fifths are considered as chord names, they show root movement downward by
perfect fifth when read counter-clockwise. This root movement has already been observed to be one of the strongest
resolutions there is, especially in the context of a ii-V-I chord progression. For example, a ii-V-I progression in F is
Gm7 - C7 - F, and the names of these three chords can be read off the circle of fifths. One can also find the note a
tritone away from a given note by simply looking diametrically across the circle. For example, a tritone away from G is
Db, and these are directly across from each other. This can be useful in performing tritone substitutions, discussed later.
5. MAJOR SCALE
A large part of jazz harmony is based on the major scale. As discussed earlier, every major scale has a
relative minor that is formed by playing the same sequence of notes but starting on the sixth step of the scale. In fact, a
scale can be formed using the sequence of notes from a major scale starting on any step of the scale. These scales are
called modes of the scale. The major scale itself is called the ionian mode. The sixth mode, the relative minor, is called
the aeolian mode. The names of these modes, as well as the others discussed below, come from ancient Greece,
although the names are rumored to have been mixed up in translation long ago. While the Greek modes are mainly only
of historical interest in classical theory, they are fundamental to jazz.
The major scale, or ionian mode, should be quite familiar by now. It is associated with major seventh
chords. In the key of C, for example, the C major seventh chord, notated Cmaj7 (or C with a little triangle next to it, or
sometimes CM7), is "C E G B", and these notes outline the C major scale. If a measure in a piece of music is
harmonized with a Cmaj7 chord, then the C major scale is one appropriate scale to use when improvising. The only note
in this scale that sounds bad when played against a Cmaj7 chord is the fourth note, F. You may wish to convince
yourself of this by going to a piano and playing Cmaj7 in your left hand while playing various notes from the C major
scale in your right. The fourth of the major is often called an avoid note over a major seventh chord. This does not mean
you are not allowed to ever play F over a Cmaj7, of course, but you should be conscious of the dissonant effect it
produces.
The chord obtained by adding another third on top ("C E G B D") would be called a Cmaj9, and it implies
the same scale. Adding another third on top would yield "C, E, G, B, D, F", and this chord would be called a Cmaj11.
Because of the dissonant nature of the F in this context, however, neither this chord, nor the Cmaj13 chord obtained by
adding an additional third (A), are used very much.
Dorian Mode
The dorian mode is built on the second step of the major scale, using the same notes. For example, the D
dorian scale is built from the notes of the C major scale, starting on D, and consists of "D, E, F, G, A, B, C". The dorian
mode is a lot like minor scale, but the sixth step is raised a half step. That is, the D minor scale would have a Bb while
the dorian has a B. Because it is so similar to the minor scale, it is natural to play this scale over a minor seventh chord.
In fact, it is used more often than the minor scale itself. If you go to a piano and play a Dm7 chord ("D F A C") in your
left hand, and play notes from the D dorian and D minor scales in your right, you will probably find that the dorian
mode sounds better, because the B is less dissonant against the Dm7 than the Bb is. If you use the dorian mode over a
minor seventh chord, there are no notes to avoid.
Like the major seventh chord, you can add more thirds to the minor seventh chord to obtain Dm9, Dm11,
and Dm13. These chords still imply the same dorian mode. If you use the natural minor scale, the thirteen chord
contains the note Bb, which is somewhat dissonant in this context. This chord is seldom used, but when it is called for,
it is often notated Dm7b6, and is one of the few exceptions to the rule that most chords are written in terms of odd
numbered extensions above the seventh. This rule comes from the fact that chords are traditionally built by stacking
thirds. The notation Dm6 is sometimes as a synonym for Dm13 when the B natural is explicitly meant.
Phrygian Mode
The third mode of the major scale is called the phrygian mode. In the key of C, a phrygian scale is built
on E, and consists of "E, F, G, A, B, C, D". This scale, like the dorian mode, is also similar to the minor scale, except
that the second step in the phrygian mode is lowered by a half step. That is, an E minor scale would have an F# while
the phrygian has an F. If you try playing the phrygian scale over a minor seventh chord, you will probably find it more
dissonant than the minor scale, because of the lowered second. The phrygian mode is used occasionally over a minor
seventh chord, although often the chord is written as m7b9 as a hint to the improviser that the phrygian scale is to be
used. There are certain other situations in which the phrygian scale sounds good. One is over a dominant seventh chord
with a suspended fourth (see mixolydian mode, below) and a lowered ninth, notated susb9. Another is over a particular
chord that I will simply call a phrygian chord. A phrygian chord in E would be "E F A B D". When the phrygian mode
is played over this type of chord, the result is a somewhat Spanish sound, particularly if you add a G# to the scale,
yielding what is sometimes called the Spanish phrygian scale. Several Chick Corea tunes, including "La Fiesta", and
much of the music from Miles Davis' Sketches Of Spain feature this sound extensively.
Lydian Mode
The fourth mode of the major scale is the lydian mode. In the key of C, a lydian scale is built on F, and
consists of "F, G, A, B, C, D, E". This scale is like the major scale except that it contains a raised fourth step. That is, an
F major scale would contain a Bb while the lydian contains a B. Since the fourth step of the major scale is an avoid note
over a major seventh chord, this scale gives the improviser an alternative. While the raised fourth might sound a little
unusual at first, you should find that it is in general preferable to the natural fourth of the major scale. When the symbol
Cmaj7 appears, you have a choice between the major and lydian scales. Often, if the lydian mode is specifically
intended, the symbol Cmaj7#11 will appear instead. Recall that Cmaj11 contains an F as the eleventh; Cmaj7#11
denotes that this note should be raised by a half step.
Mixolydian Mode
The fifth mode of the major scale is the mixolydian mode. In the key of C, a mixolydian scale is built on
G, and consists of "G, A, B, C, D, E, F". This scale is like the major scale except that the seventh step is lowered a half
step. That is, a G major scale would contain an F# while the mixolydian contains an F. Since the seventh chord built on
the fifth degree of the major scale is a dominant seventh, it is natural to play lines based on the mixolydian mode over a
dominant seventh chord. For instance, the G mixolydian scale might be used over a G7 chord.
As with the major scale over a major seventh chord, the fourth step of the scale (C in the case of G
mixolydian) is somewhat of an avoid note over a dominant seventh chord. However, there is a chord called a suspended
chord, notated Gsus, Gsus4, G7sus, G7sus4, F/G, Dm7/G, or G11 over which there are no avoid notes in the G
mixolydian mode. The notation F/G indicates an F major triad over the single note G in the bass. The term "suspension"
comes from classical harmony and refers to the temporary delaying of the third in a dominant chord by first playing the
fourth before resolving it to the third. In jazz, however, the fourth often is never resolved. The suspended chord consists
of the root, fourth, fifth, and usually the seventh as well. Herbie Hancock's tune "Maiden Voyage" consists solely of
unresolved suspended chords.
6. MINOR SCALE
The aeolian mode, or minor scale, has already been discussed. It can be played over a minor seventh
chord, although the dorian or phrygian modes are used more often. It is most often played over a m7b6 chord.
Locrian Mode
The seventh and final mode of the major scale is the locrian mode. In the key of C, a locrian scale is built
on B, and consists of "B, C, D, E, F, G, A". The seventh chord built on this scale ("B D F A") is a half diminished
seventh chord, Bm7b5. This symbol comes from the fact that this chord is similar to a Bm7, except that the fifth is
lowered by a half step. The classical symbol for this chord is a circle with a "/" through it. The locrian scale can be used
over a half diminished (also called a minor seven flat five) chord, but the second step is somewhat dissonant and is
sometimes considered an avoid note.
Melodic Minor Harmony
In classical theory, there are three types of minor scale. The minor scale we have already discussed, the
aeolian mode, is also called the natural minor or pure minor. The two other minor scales were derived from it to provide
more interesting harmonic and melodic possibilities. If you construct a ii-V-I progression in a minor key, you will find
that the seventh chord built on the root is a minor seventh chord, and the seventh chord built on the second step is a half
diminished seventh chord. For example, Am7 and Bm7b5 in the key of A minor. The chord built on the fifth step of this
scale is a minor chord, for example Em7 in A minor. The resolution of Em7 to Am7 is not as strong as E7 to Am7.
Also, the Am7 does not sound like a tonic; it sounds like it should resolve to a D chord. By raising the seventh degree of
the minor scale by a half step (that is, raising the G of A minor to G#), these problems are solved. The chord built on the
fifth is now E7, and the seventh chord built on the root is an A minor triad with a major seventh, often notated Am-
maj7. This creates a much stronger ii-V-i. The resultant scale, "A, B, C, D, E, F, G#", is called the harmonic minor,
since it is perceived to yield more interesting harmonies than the natural minor.
The seventh degree of a major scale is sometimes called the leading tone, since it is only a half step below
the tonic and leads very well into it melodically. The seventh degree of the natural minor scale, on the other hand, is a
whole step below the tonic and does not lead nearly as well into it. Although the harmonic minor scale contains a
leading tone, if you play that scale, you may note that the interval between the sixth and seventh steps (the F and G# in
A harmonic minor) is awkward melodically. This interval is called an augmented second. Although it sounds just like a
minor third, there are no scale tones between the two notes. This interval was considered to be dissonant in classical
harmony, In order to rectify this situation, the sixth can be raised a half step as well (from F to F#) to yield the melodic
minor. In classical theory, this scale is often used ascending only. When descending, since the G# is not used to lead
into the tonic A, the natural minor is often used instead. Jazz harmony does not normally distinguish these cases,
however. The melodic minor scale "A, B, C, D, E, F#, G#" is used both when ascending and descending.
Both the harmonic and melodic minors outline a m-maj7 i chord, for example Am-maj7 ("A C E G#") in
A minor. Either of the harmonic or melodic minor scales can be used on this chord. The melodic minor is also used on
chords marked simply m6, although, as was noted earlier, this symbol can also imply the dorian mode. Several of the
modes of the melodic minor scale yield particularly interesting harmonies and are commonly played in jazz. These
scales are not commonly described in classical theory, so their names are less standardized than the modes of the major
scale.
 Phrygian #6
There is no common term for the second mode of the melodic minor scale. The second mode of A
melodic minor is "B, C, D, E, F#, G#, A". This scale is similar to the phrygian mode except that it has a raised sixth. For
this reason it can be called phrygian #6, although that name is not by any means standard. It is most often used as a
substitute for the phrygian mode.
Lydian Augmented
The third mode of the melodic minor scale is known as the lydian augmented scale. In A melodic minor, a
lydian augmented scale is built on C and consists of "C, D, E, F#, G#, A, B". This scale contains an augmented major
seventh chord "C E G# B". There is no standard symbol for this chord, but Cmaj7#5 is used occasionally, as is Cmaj7-
aug or Cmaj7+. When this chord is called for, the lydian augmented scale is an appropriate choice. The maj7#5 chord is
mostly used as a substitute for an ordinary major seventh.
Lydian Dominant
The fourth mode of the melodic minor scale is often called the lydian dominant or the lydian b7. If you
construct it, you should see why. In A melodic minor, a lydian dominant scale is built on D and consists of "D, E, F#,
G#, A, B, C". This scale resembles the D major scale "D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#" but with two alterations: the raised fourth
characteristic of the lydian mode, and the lowered seventh characteristic of the mixolydian mode. The mixolydian mode
was described as a possible scale choice to use over a dominant seventh chord, but the fourth step was an avoid note.
The lydian dominant scale does not contain this avoid note. As with the lydian scale and the raised fourth over a major
seventh chord, the lydian dominant may sound unusual at first, but it is generally more interesting than the mixolydian
when played over a dominant seventh.
This particular sound, the raised fourth over a dominant seventh chord, was widely used in the bebop era,
and earned the early bebop musicians a lot of criticism for their use of such non-traditional sounds. This sound was also
the genesis of the Thelonious Monk composition "Raise Four", which prominently features the raised fourth in the
melody. The use of this scale is often explicitly indicated by the symbol D7#11. Bebop musicians often called this a
flatted fifth, writing the chord symbol as D7b5, although this normally implies the diminished scale, which is discussed
later.
Fifth Mode
The fifth mode of the melodic minor scale has no common name, and is normally used only over the V
chord in a minor key ii-V-i progression. This usage will be discussed later.
Locrian #2
The sixth mode of the melodic minor is often called locrian #2, since it is actually the locrian mode with a
raised second step. For example, the F# locrian mode is based on G major and consists of "F#, G, A, B, C, D, E", but
the F# locrian #2 scale is based on A melodic minor and consists of "F#, G#, A, B, C, D, E". Since the second step of
the locrian mode is an avoid note over a m7b5 chord, the locrian #2 scale is often used instead. This scale is also
sometimes called the half diminished scale.
Altered Scale
The seventh mode of the melodic minor scale is often called the diminished whole tone scale, because it
combines elements of the diminished and whole tone scales discussed later. Another name for this scale is the altered
scale. To see why, recall the introductory discussion on chords. Chords are constructed by stacking thirds. Triads
consisting of three notes were discussed, as were seventh chords consisting of four notes. In the key of C, G7 is the
dominant seventh chord. It contains a root (G), a third (B), a fifth (D), and a seventh (F). If we add another third on top,
A, we have a ninth chord G9. If we add another third, C, we have an eleventh chord G11. The C is the fourth of the
scale, and is normally an avoid note. This symbol is normally used only when the fourth is explicitly required, as in a
suspended chord. If we then add another third, E, we have a thirteenth chord G13. The C is normally omitted from this
chord. Another third would bring us back to G.
This chord can be altered by raising or lowering individual notes by a half step. The root, third, and
seventh are not normally altered, since they are in large part what define the chord. A change to any of these destroys
the dominant feel of the chord. The raised eleventh has already been discussed. The other interesting alterations are to
the fifth and the ninth. For a G7 chord, this means the lowered or flat fifth (Db), the raised or sharp fifth (D#), the
lowered or flat ninth (Ab), and the raised or sharp ninth (A#).
 So now let us return to the so-called altered scale. A G altered scale can be built from Ab melodic minor,
and consists of "G, Ab, Bb/A#, Cb/B, Db, Eb/D#, F". First note that this scale contains G, B, and F, the root, third, and
seventh of the G7 chord. The rest of the notes, Ab, Bb, Db, and Eb, are respectively, the flatted ninth, the raised ninth,
the flatted fifth, and the raised fifth. In other words, all the possible alterations in a ninth chord are included in this
scale. The chord implied by this scale is often notated simply G7alt, although G7#9#5 is used as well, as is G7#9. The
b9 and b5 symbols are not normally used in this context, despite being present in the scale, because they imply the
diminished scale which is discussed later.
The sound of the altered scale and the chord it implies is much more complex than any other dominant
seventh chord/scale so far presented, and it is one of the most important sounds in post bop jazz. You may wish to
spend more time on this scale to get used to it. Try going to a piano and playing the root, third, and seventh in your left
hand while playing the altered scale, and lines based on it, in your right. You may use this scale even when the chord
appears to be an ordinary dominant seventh, but you should do so cautiously in a group setting, because other members
of the group may be playing mixolydian or lydian dominant sounds, and your altered scale will sound dissonant against
them. This is not necessarily wrong, but you should be conscious of the effect produced.
7. SYMMETRIC SCALES
When a mode of given scale produces the same type of scale as the original, the scale is said to be
symmetric. Several of the important scales used by jazz musicians are symmetric. For instance, the chromatic scale is
symmetric, in that every single mode of it is another chromatic scale. In this case, there is really only one unique
chromatic scale; all others are just modes of it. In general, if N modes of a given scale produce the same type of scale
(including the first mode, the original scale itself), then there are only 12/N different scales of that type.
One thing to watch out for in the scales discussed in this section is that they seem to lend themselves to
playing patterns, and sometimes it is difficult to avoid sounding cliched when using these scales. When you have
several measures of a given chord, a common technique is to play a short figure in the associated scale and repeat it
transposed to several different positions. For instance, a possible pattern in C major would be "C, D, E, G". This pattern
could be repeated several times starting at different positions, perhaps as "D, E, F, A" or "E, F, G, B". For some reason,
many of the scales listed below invite this type of approach, and it is easy to end up with with a few cliches you use
every time you are confronted with these scales. Always be conscious of this. You should not feel that a scale is
dictating to you what you can or should play.
Whole Tone Scale
A particularly easy scale is the whole tone scale, so called because all the steps in the scale are whole
steps. A C whole tone scale consists of "C, D, E, F#, G#, Bb". It has only six notes, and all six of its modes (including
itself) form whole tone scales. There are thus only 12/6 or 2 different whole tone scales. The other one is "Db, Eb, F, G,
A, B".
Since the first, third, and fifth degrees of this scale form an aug- mented triad, this scale can be be played
over augmented chords. This scale also contains the note that would be the seventh in a dominant chord (that is, Bb in a
C7). The chord implied by this scale is written either as C7aug, Caug, C7+, C+, or C7#5.
The Diminished Scales
Another symmetric scale is the diminished scale. This scale is also called the whole step half step scale,
or the half step whole step scale, because it is constructed from alternating half and whole steps. A whole step half step
(abbreviated WH) scale on C consists of "C, D, D#, F, F#, G#, A, B"; a half step whole step (abbreviated HW) scale
consists of "C, Db, Eb, E, F#, G, A, Bb". These scales each contain eight notes. Note that, in addition to the original
scale, the third, fifth, and seventh modes of either a WH or HW scale (in addition to the first mode) form another WH or
HW scale, so there are only 12/4 or 3 different diminished scales of each type. Also, note that the WH diminished scale
is just the second mode of the HW diminished scale, so that in fact, there are only three distinct diminished scales in all.
The WH and HW versions of this scale are used in different situations, however.
The HW diminished scale outlines a dominant seventh chord with a lowered ninth and fifth. For example,
C7b9b5 is "C E Gb Bb Db" and these notes, as well as the sixth, the natural fifth and the raised ninth, are all present in
the C HW diminished scale. The HW scale is thus a good choice to use over dominant seventh b9b5 chords. John
Coltrane used this sound a lot.
 This scale is very similar to the altered scale, which you may recall is also called the diminished whole
tone scale. The C altered scale contains the first five notes of the C HW diminished scale and the last four (overlapping
the E and F#) of the C whole tone scale. Since both scales contain lowered fifths and lowered and raised ninths, they are
sometimes used interchangeably over dominant seventh chords. Try going to a piano and practicing both scales in your
right hand over the root, third, and seventh in your left. They sound very similar. Many fakebooks are inconsistent in
using the symbols alt, #9, b9, b5, #9#5, and b9b5. The lesson here is, you will have to depend on your ears and common
sense to guide you in the use of these two scales.
The WH diminished scale outlines a fully diminished seventh chord and is thus used over diminished
chords. For instance, the C WH diminished scale "C, D, D#, F, F#, G#, A, B" can be played over Cdim or Cdim7. The
classical symbol for diminished, a small circle, is sometimes used as well. Note that this scale is the same as the D#, F#,
and A WH diminished scales, and in fact Cdim7, D#dim7, F#dim7, and Adim7 are all inversions of the same chord.
They may be used interchangeably.
More importantly, this scale is also the same the D, F, G#, and B HW diminished scales. These scales are
associated with their respective b9b5 dominant chords. The C, Eb, F#, and A diminished chords are thus often used as
chord substitutions for the associated dominant chords, and vice versa. In most places where you see a diminished
chord, you can substitute one of the related dominant chords. One particularly common chord progression is | Cmaj7 |
C#dim | Dm7 |. The C#dim chord here implies the C# WH diminished scale, which is the same as the C, Eb, F#, and A
HW diminished scale. In this case, the A7b9b5 chord can be substituted for the C#dim chord. Not only do A7b9b5 and
C#dim share the same scale, but the A dominant chord also resolves well to the D minor chord. Any of the scales
associated with A dominant chords, such as A mixolydian, A lydian dominant, A altered, or A blues, can thus be played
over the C#dim chord in this context.
8. PENTATONIC SCALES
There are a group of five note scales known collectively as pentatonic scales. Intervals in a traditional
pentatonic scale are normally limited to whole steps and minor thirds. Many performers use these relatively simple
scales to good effect, including McCoy Tyner and Woody Shaw. The two basic pentatonic scales are the major
pentatonic scale and the minor pentatonic scale. A C major pentatonic scale is "C, D, E, G, A", and a C minor
pentatonic scale "C, Eb, F, G, Bb". Note that the C minor pentatonic scale is actually the fifth mode of an Eb major
pentatonic scale. Other modes of the pentatonic scales are used as well, such as "C, D, F, G, Bb", which is the second
mode of the Bb major pentatonic scale. This scale can be called the suspended pentatonic scale, although this usage is
by no means standard.
As their names imply, the major, minor, and suspended pentatonic scales can be used over major, minor,
and suspended chords respectively. For instance, the C major pentatonic scale can be used over Cmaj7. Sometimes this
chord is written C6 to imply more strongly that the major pentatonic scale is to be used. The C minor pentatonic scale
can be used over Cm7. The C suspended pentatonic scale can be used over a C7sus chord.
Other five note scales are used occasionally as well. For instance, the scale "E, F, A, B, D" is the
traditional Japanese "in sen scale". It can be used as a substitute for the E phrygian mode (note it in fact defines the E
phrygian chord) to impart an Asian flavor to the music. Useful variations of this scale include the second mode, "F, A,
B, D, E", which can be used over a Fmaj7#11 chord; the fourth mode, "B, D, E, F, A", which can be used over a Bm7b5
chord; and the fifth mode, "D, E, F, A, B", which can be used over a Dm6 chord.
Since there are relatively few notes in a pentatonic scale, one pentatonic scale can often be used over
several different chords with no real avoid notes. For instance, the C major pentatonic scale "C, D, E, G, A" could be
used over Cmaj7, C7, D7sus, Dm7, Em7b6, Fmaj7, G7sus, Gm7, or Am7.
Derived Scales
The scales in this section are mostly derived from chord progressions rather than specific chords. For the
most part, they can be used as bridges between chords, allowing you to play either the same or very closely related
scales over two or more different chords. This is sometimes called harmonic generalization.
The Blues Scale
The blues scale is often the first scale, after the major scale, taught to beginning improvisers, and is in
some cases the only other scale they ever learn. This scale supposedly has its roots in African American music dating
back to the days of slavery, but the exact origins of its modern incarnation are unknown. The C blues scale consists of
"C, Eb, F, F#, G, Bb". The second degree of this scale, which is the flatted third of the minor scale, is called a blue note.
In vocal music, it is often sung somewhere between an Eb and an E. In instrumental music, various techniques are
employed to achieve the same effect, such as stretching the string while playing an Eb on a stringed instrument, lipping
down an E on a wind instrument, or striking both the Eb and E simultaneously on a keyboard instrument. The flatted
seventh and fifth are also sometimes called blue notes, and are not always sung or played exactly on the notated pitch.
Variations on the blues scale that include the natural third, fifth, or seventh can be used as well. Also, note that if the
flatted fifth is omitted, the resultant scale is the minor pentatonic scale. The minor pentatonic scale can thus be used as a
substitute for the blues scale, and vice versa.
The beauty of the blues scale is that it can be played over an entire blues progression with no real avoid
notes. If you try playing lines based on this usage, for instance, a C blues scale over a C7 chord, you get instant positive
feedback, since almost everything you can do sounds good. This unfortunately leads many players to overuse the scale,
and to run out of interesting ideas quickly. There are only so many phrases (licks) that can be played over a six note
scale, and most of them have already been played thousands of times by now. This is not to say you should never use
the blues scale; on the contrary, it is vitally important to jazz. But do not become so enamored of the easy gratification it
can yield that you practice blues licks over and over rather than expand your harmonic vocabulary.
The language metaphor is a good one. It is hard to say interesting things with a limited vocabulary. Often
players like Count Basie are offered as examples of musicians who manage to make a lot out of a little, but there is a
difference between saying few words because you are choosing them carefully, and saying few words because you have
nothing to say or because your vocabulary is too limited to express your thoughts. This advice transcends the blues
scale, of course.
It is not always necessary to vary the harmonic content of your playing if you are sufficiently creative
with other aspects. One way to introduce added interest when using the blues scale is to use any special effects at your
disposal to vary your sound. This can include honking and screaming for saxophonists, growling for brass players, or
using clusters on the piano.
Minor Scales
The harmonic minor scale is sometimes played over m-maj7 chords. Its modes have no common names,
and they are rarely used by jazz musicians except as bridges over a ii-V-i chord progression. For example, consider the
chord progression | Bm7b5 | E7alt | Am-maj7 |. An A harmonic minor scale can be played over all three of these chords,
instead of the traditional B locrian, E altered, and A melodic minor scales. Another way of saying this is that the second
mode can be played over a m7b5 chord, and that the fifth mode can be used over an altered dominant chord. Even when
you are not using the harmonic minor scale over an entire progression, you may wish to use its fifth mode over the V
chord in a minor key ii-V-i progression. The advantage of using this scale in this example is that it differs from the B
locrian and A melodic minor scales by only one note each. The disadvantage is that the root of the scale is an avoid note
in this context.
The melodic minor can be used in this same way; its fifth mode can be used over the V chord in a ii-V-i
progression to keep some commonality between the scales used. Note however that the second mode of the A melodic
minor is not an ideal choice over the Bm7b5 chord, because this scale has F# instead of F. This is the only difference
between the harmonic and melodic minor scales. Your choice of whether to use the fifth mode of the harmonic or
melodic minor scales over a dominant seventh chord may partially depend on the key of the tune. If F# is in the key
signature, then the melodic minor may sound more diatonic. You may choose that scale if this is the sound you are
trying to achieve, or the harmonic minor if you are trying to avoid sounding diatonic. Conversely, if F# is not in the key
signature, then the harmonic minor may sound more diatonic. Another issue to consider is which of these scales is
closer to the scale you are using on the preceding or following chord. Depending on the sound you are trying to achieve,
you may wish to choose the scale that has either more or fewer notes in common with the surrounding scales.
Bebop Scales
The major bebop scale is a major scale with an added raised fifth or lowered sixth. The C major bebop
scale is "C, D, E, F, G, G#, A, B". This scale can be used over major seventh or major seventh augmented chords. The
C major bebop scale can also be used as a bridge between chords in a progression like | Cmaj7 | Bm7b5 E7 | Am |; that
is, the same scale can be played over the entire progression. Another way of looking at this is to say that we are playing
the C major bebop scale itself over the Cmaj7 chord, playing its eighth mode over the Bm7b5 chord, playing its third
mode over the E7 chord, and playing its seventh mode over the Am chord. These modes closely resembly the major,
locrian, altered and minor scales respectively. Note that we are using the C major bebop scale over a ii-V-i progression
in A minor. In general, we can use the major bebop scale in any given key over a ii-V-i progression in the relative minor
to that key.
Other bebop scales include the dominant bebop scale, which is similar to the mixolydian mode but with
an additional major seventh. The C dominant bebop scale is thus "C, D, E, F, G, A, Bb, B". This scale can be used over
dominant seventh chords. The major seventh is not really an avoid note if you use it as a passing tone between the C
and Bb. It also serves as the raised fourth in the Fmaj7 chord that is likely to follow the C7 chord. There is also the
minor bebop scale, which is a dorian scale with an added raised third. The C minor bebop scale is thus "C, D, Eb, E, F,
G, A, Bb". This scale can be used over minor seventh chords, and is often used in minor key blues progressions to give
more of a dominant seventh feel to the chords.
Synthetic Scales
The blues and bebop scales are sometimes called synthetic scales, because they do not fit in well with
classical theory and appear to have been invented to fit a particular situation. In general, any number of synthetic scales
can be constructed using just intervals of minor, major, and augmented seconds. You may wish to try experimenting
with developing your own scales and looking for opportunities to use them.
Chord/Scale Chart
The accompanying chart lists the most commonly occurring chords in jazz harmony along with the scales normally
associated with each. The chords are grouped into the four basic categories of major, minor, dominant, and half
diminished. In a pinch, any scale from any chord in any one of these categories can be used for any other chord in that
category. There is an additional category for miscellaneous chords at the end. There are many more possible scales and
chords. However, these are the most important ones in traditional jazz harmony.
Chord Scale

C major, C lydian, C major bebop

Cmaj7, Cmaj9, C6, C C major pentatonic, G major pentatonic

Cmaj7#11 C lydian, B in sen

C dorian, C minor bebop, C minor pentatonic

Cm9, Cm11, Cm F major pentatonic, Bb major

Cm7,
pentatonic
Eb major bebop, C blues, C minor

C dorian, C melodic minor, C minor pentatonic,

Cm6, Cm F major pentatonic, Bb major pentatonic,

C minor bebop, Eb major bebop, D in sen

Cm-maj7 C melodic minor, C harmonic minor, Eb major bebop

Cm7b6 C minor, Ab major pentatonic

Cm7b9 C phrygian, C phrygian #6

C mixolydian, C lydian dominant, C dominant bebop,

C7, C9, C13, C C blues, C major pentatonic

C7sus, Csus, C11 C mixolydian

Bb/C, Gm7/C C suspended pentatonic, F major pentatonic

C7#11, C7 C lydian dominant

C7alt, C7#9#5, C7#9 C altered, F harmonic minor, F melodic minor
C7b9b5, C7b9 C HW diminished, F harmonic minor, F melodic minor

C7aug, C7+, C7#5 C whole tone

Cm7b5 C locrian #2, C locrian

Cdim7 C WH diminished
C phrygian, C phrygian #6, C Spanish phrygian

Cphryg C in sen
Cmaj7#5 C lydian augmented, C major bebop

C7susb9 C phrygian #6, C phrygian

 F. APPLYING THE THEORY TO
IMPROVISATION
The basis of traditional forms of improvisation is to create spontaneously and play melodies that are built
on the basic chord progression of the song. At the most basic levels, the notes you choose for your improvisation are
partially dictated by the scale associated with each chord. This is called playing changes. More advanced forms of
improvisation give the performer more melodic and harmonic freedom, either by reducing the number of chord
changes, or by making the chords progressions more ambiguous in tonality, to the point of eliminating these structures
entirely. These approaches are discussed separately below.
Pianists, guitarists, or other instrumentalists who accompany themselves while improvising should read
the section on accompanying along with this section and try to apply both sets of concepts at once when improvising.
1. MELODIC DEVELOPMENT
One of your prime concerns should be playing melodically. This does not necessarily mean playing
prettily, but there should be some sense of continuity to your lines, and they should be interesting in themselves. You
should also be conscious of the rhythmic and harmonic development of your improvisations; I include these concepts in
the term "melodic development". This is hard to teach, and is probably the aspect of improvisation that requires the
most creativity. Anyone can learn chord/scale relationships; it is what you do with this knowledge that determines how
you sound. Hal Crook's book How To Improvise has a lot of information on melodic development, especially on
rhythmic variation, geared toward the intermediate player, while George Russell's The Lydian Chromatic Concept Of
Tonal Organization For Improvisation and David Liebman's A Chromatic Approach To Jazz Harmony And Melody
contain advanced and very technical discussions on harmonic development.
Pacing
You should be aware of the contour of your solo. A common way to structure a solo is based on the
model of telling a story. You start simply, build through a series of smaller peaks to a climax, and then come to a
concluding phrase. This works well in most situations. However, you may wish to vary from this format occasionally.
You can decide to start more strongly to introduce your solo, or you may wish to finish right at the climax and forego
the denoument. You may wish to keep the entire solo at a low intensity level to convey a lazy feel, although you
probably don't want to bore the listeners, either. You may wish to keep the intensity level at a controlled simmer. Much
like a standup comic working a room, you may want to alter your strategies as you assess the mood of the audience.
You should strive to be in control of the emotional response you generate in your listeners.
There are some common devices that can be used in structuring your solo. One of the most important is
repetition. After a soloist plays a phrase, he often repeats it, or a variation of it. Often the phrase, or a variation of it, is
played three times before moving on to something else. The variation might be to transpose the phrase, or to alter key
notes within it to conform to a new chord/scale. The variation might consist simply of starting the phrase at a different
point in the measure, such as on beat three instead of on beat two. The phrase itself may be altered rhythmically, either
by playing it faster or slower.
Related to the idea of repetition is the concept of call and response. Rather than repeat the original phrase,
you can consider the phrase as a question or call, and follow it up with an answer or response. This is the musical
analogue to asking, "did you go to the store today?", and then responding "yes, I went to the store today".
On most instruments, you can increase intensity by playing louder, higher, and faster; playing softer,
lower, and slower usually reduces intensity. Playing simple rhythms such as quarter notes and eighth notes where the
accents fall on the beats is usually less intense than playing more complex rhythms such as syncopated rhythms, where
most accents fall off the beat. A hemiola is a particular type of rhythmic device where one meter is superimposed on
another. An example of this is the use of quarter note triplets when playing in 4/4 time.
One long held note can also generate intensity on most instruments, although pianists may have to use
trills or rollings octaves to achieve this type of sustain. A single note or short lick repeated over and over can generate a
similar sort of intensity. You have to use your judgement in deciding how much is enough.
 Phrase Construction
The relationships between chords and scales should not be seen as limiting or determining your choice of
notes. They are merely an aid, a way to help you relate ideas you may have to fingerings on your instrument. Your ideas
should not be dictated by the scales, however. Note that very few jazz singers use scales extensively; they generally are
able to translate an idea more directly into their voices. For this reason, instrumentalists should practice improvisation
by singing, in addition to practicing their instruments. No matter how untrained your voice may be, it is more natural to
you than your instrument, so you may find you are able to develop ideas better by singing them than by attempting to
play them. Singers also are usually limited in their ability to sing complex harmonic ideas, however, because they do
not have well-practiced fingerings to fall back on. Scale theory can indeed be a source of ideas; just make sure it is not
your only source.
Try playing scalar lines that are based mostly on steps, angular lines that are based mostly on leaps, as
well as lines that combine these approaches. In addition to being concerned over your choice of notes, you try to vary
the rhythmic content of your ideas. Beginning improvisers often unwittingly play almost all their phrases with just a few
underlying rhythms. Try playing lines that are based mostly on half notes and quarter notes, lines that are based mostly
on eighth notes and triplets, as well as lines that combine the two approaches.
2. MODAL IMPROVISATION
A typical modal tune may have only two or three chords, and each may last 8 or even 16 measures. In one
sense, modal playing is much easier than playing changes, since it does not require your brain to do as much fast
computation to constantly change scales. In another sense, however, it is more challenging, since you cannot merely
string together rehearsed ii-V licks, nor can you rely on clever scale use and chord substitution to cover up basic
problems thinking melodically.
Some music is often considered modal even though it follows traditional chord progressions such as the
blues. The concept of modality has as much to do with what is done with the harmony as with its rate of change. In
bebop derived styles, a soloist may sustain interest by his choice of notes over the harmony, including dissonances,
tensions, and releases. For example, bebop players often enjoyed ending phrases on the raised fourth over a dominant
chord, just for the effect that one note had. When soloing over modal music, there is less emphasis on harmonic choices,
and more on melodic development. The ballad "Blue In Green" from Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue has as much harmonic
motion as many other tunes, and the chords themselves are relatively complex chords such as Bbmaj7#11 or A7alt. Yet
the solos on this track do not exploit the harmony; instead they focus on melodicism of individual phrases. Bebop
improvisers may emphasize the chordal extensions in their solos, whereas modal improvisers tend to emphasize basic
chord notes. Bebop players are often more inclined to fill up all spaces with notes to completely define the harmony,
whereas modal players are more likely to use rhythmic space as a melodic structuring element. Both approaches are
valid, but it is important to understand the differences between them.
The Miles Davis tune "So What" on the album Kind Of Blue is the classic example of a modal tune. It
follows a basic AABA structure, where the A section consists of the D dorian mode, and the B section consists of the
Eb dorian mode. This yields 16 consecutive bars of D dorian at the beginning of each chorus; 24 counting the last 8 of
the previous chorus. You may find yourself running out of ideas quickly if you limit yourself to just the seven notes in
the D dorian scale, but that is the challenge. You cannot rely on the consciously hip sound of an F# over a C7 chord;
you must play melodically with the notes you are given.
You are not completely restricted to the notes of the scale, however. As with ii-V progressions, there are
some devices that you can use in a modal setting to add tension. One of the most popular of such devices is called
sideslipping. Over a D dorian background, try playing lines based on Db or Eb scales for a measure or two. This
dissonance creates a tension, which you can release by returning to the original scale. You can also use chromatic
passing tones. For instance, over a D dorian scale, you might try playing "G, G#, A", where the G# is a passing tone.
You can also vary the scale used. For instance, instead of D dorian, try a D natural minor, or a D minor
pentatonic, for a few measures. You can also alternate a tonic chord with the dominant seventh chord in that key. For
example, the chord associated with D dorian is Dm7. If you treat that as a i chord, the V7 chord is A7. So you can use
lines from any of the scales associated with A7, A7b9b5, A7alt, or other A dominant seventh chords, at points in your
improvisation. This will create a kind of tension that you can resolve by returning to the original D dorian scale.
 For the most part, however, you should try to stick to the modal philosophy when playing modal tunes,
and concentrate on being as melodic as possible with the basic chord and scale tones. Pentatonic scales are an especially
appropriate choice in modal playing, since they narrow your choices to only five notes instead of seven, and further
force you to think about using space and playing melodically. A similar sound is achieved by playing lines built from
the interval of a fourth. This is called quartal harmony. It is particularly effective in modal tunes with few chord
changes, although these types of lines can be used in other situations as well.
3. CHROMATICISM
Bebop styles were characterized above as exploiting the harmonies by choosing scales with a lot of color
tones, whereas modal playing was characterized as emphasizing the basic chord tones. Both of these approaches still
use chord/scale relationships in the traditional manner of choosing a scale that implies the sound of the chord to some
degree, and playing mostly within that scale. Another approach is to maintain the sense of chord progressions but play
lines that lie largely outside the associated scales. This is sometimes called chromaticism. Eric Dolphy used this
approach when playing with Charles Mingus and on some of his own albums such as Live At The Five Spot and Last
Date. Woody Shaw and Steve Coleman are also chromatic players.
You have by now probably played some outside notes, say an Ab against a Cmaj7 chord, possibly by
accident. These notes may sound wrong when played in the context of an otherwise inside melody. By playing a melody
derived from a scale, you establish a particular sound, and one wrong note will sound out of place. However, when
playing a melody that lies mostly outside the scale, the same notes may fit in much more logically. That is to say, non-
scale tones used melodically can often sound consonant (the opposite of dissonant).
The aforementioned musicians often play very angular melodic lines, meaning they consist of large or
unusual intervals and change direction often rather than being primarily stepwise and scalelike. This often seems to
establish a sound in which wrong notes sound perfectly natural. Interestingly, the opposite approach works as well: lines
that contain a lot of half steps often sound right even though they consist of many wrong notes. These lines are
sometimes called chromatic.
You can continue to use your knowledge of chord/scale relationships when playing chromatically. For
example, you know that a Db lydian scale is not normally an appropriate choice to play over a Cmaj7 chord, and you
probably have some idea why. These same wrong notes, however, if used melodically over the chord, create a sound
that is not all that dissonant and has a harmonic richness that is very modern sounding. In fact, even simple melodic
ideas like arpeggios and scales can sound complex in this context.
You can practice these ideas with Aebersold albums, or Band-In-A-Box, or your fellow musicians,
although you should be prepared for some strange looks. It has been said that there are no wrong notes, only wrong
resolutions. This certainly explains why passing tones and enclosures sound consonant, but I feel it still places too high
a value on playing the notes suggested by the standard chord/scale relationships. I would restate this; the only wrong
notes are notes you didn't intend to play. Any note you play is right if it is in a meaningful context and it does not sound
like an accident. There is even value in making mistakes. The trick is in forming a coherent whole.
4. NON-TONAL IMPROVISATION
The terms pan-tonal, non-tonal, and atonal all describe the blurring or elimination of traditional tonality.
The distinction between these terms is not always clear, so I will use most general of these, "non-tonal", to describe
music that has no specific key center, or over which standard chord/scale relationships do not always apply.
Although non-tonal music may appear to have chord progressions, the individual chords are often chosen
for their overall sound rather than for their resolutions. Any chord from any key is likely to be used if it has the right
sound. For example, many of the tunes on Miles' albums E.S.P., Nefertiti, Miles Smiles, and Sorcerer have no specific
key centers, nor do they contain many traditional ii-V's that would indicate temporary key centers. Many of the chords
are relatively complex, for example Abmaj7#5, and each chord is chosen for its individual sound, not because the
previous chord resolves to it naturally or because it resolves to the next chord. A traditional functional analysis of the
harmony (that is, analyzing chords in terms of their relationship to the key) is not always the best way to approach this
sort of music.
You may wish to treat this music modally, and let the chords themselves dictate the scale choices. You
should be careful in doing this, however. Many of the standard chord/scale relationships were established with
traditional resolutions in mind. Your phrases may seem random and disconnected if you blindly change scales
according to the chord progression in non-tonal music. You should be prepared to treat the chord/scale relationships
more loosely than you would when simply playing changes.
In tonal music, alterations to a chord are often considered merely color tones that do not affect the basic
function of a chord, and improvisers are free to make their own alterations to the basic chord. For example, a G7b9
chord is likely to be a dominant chord, resolving to Cmaj7. Any other chord that serves this function, such as G7#11, or
even a tritone substitution like Db7, can be used instead without radically changing how the phrase is perceived, so
tonal improvisers will often make this sort or alteration freely, either explicitly, or implicitly by their scales choices. In
non-tonal music, however, a chord is often specifically called for because of its unique sound, and not because of how it
functions in a progression. The same G7b9 chord may have been chosen because of the particular dissonance of the G
against the Ab, or because that happened to be the most convenient way to spell the chord voicing the composer
intended (a voicing is simply a way of specifying the particular notes to be played for a given chord). Changing this
chord to G7#11 may change the sound of the chord more radically than substituting an otherwise unrelated chord that
has the same G/Ab dissonance, such as Abmaj7, or one that may be voiced similarly, such as E7#9. You may find scale
choices associated with these chords to be more appropriate substitutions than ones based on the traditional dominant
function of G7b9.
The real intent of non-tonal music, however, is to free you from the specifics of chord/scale relationships
and allow you to concentrate on the sounds themselves. The lines you play need not be analyzed in terms of their
relationships to the notated chords, but may instead be thought of in terms of how they fit the sound of the phrase at that
point. If the chord in a given measure is a maj7#5 chord, then you should hear the sound of that chord, and feel free to
play any lines that imply that sound. This is as much an emotional implication as a rational one. For me, that particular
chord has an open, questioning, sound that I associate with wide intervals and the use of rhythmic space. I would
probably tend to play lines that reflect this feeling, regardless of the actual notes involved. Furthermore, the sound of
that chord may also be affected by its context in the piece itself. For instance, a chord played for two measure in a
ballad may sound entirely differently from the same chord used as an accent in a driving up-tempo piece. Chord scale
relationships may still help define which notes tend to be more or less dissonant against a given chord, but you should
try organize your thinking along lines of sounds, and use the chord/scale relationships only as tools to help you achieve
the desired sounds.
Even in tonal music, of course, chord/scale relationships can be considered as tools, and one could claim
the goal is always to represent sounds. However, you may find tunes with many ii-V's in them tend to "sound" the same
in this respect. Non-tonal music was created to provide a more varied palette of sounds, to encourage thinking along
these lines. As with chromaticism in tonal music, you can deliberately play lines that contradict the sound of the chord,
if that is the effect you desire. The important thing is that you perceive a non-tonal chord progression as a recipe of
sounds over which you improvise, not as a specific pattern of chord resolutions.
5. FREE IMPROVISATION
The next of level of freedom in improvisation is to eliminate chords entirely. Depending on how far you
are willing to go, you can also dispense with traditional melody, rhythm, timbre, or form. There are many different
approaches to free playing, but by its very nature, there are no rules. Instead of technical details, examples of other
musicians will be used for the most part.
Many of Ornette Coleman's compositions have no chords at all. Most of his freebop quartet recordings
with Don Cherry for Atlantic fall into this category. The head consists of a melody only, and the solos are variations on
the melody or on the feel of the piece in general, not on any chord progression. For the most part, these recordings still
show a very melodic approach and are accessible to many listeners. A walking bass line and 4/4 swing drum beat are
constant throughout, and the forms are the standard head-solos-head forms.
Ornette's album Free Jazz, featuring a double quartet including Eric Dolphy and Freddie Hubbard, is
decidedly different. Here Ornette is not only putting aside traditional concepts of harmony, but also of melody. There is
no definable head to the one performance that comprises this album, and the improvisations are less melodic than on the
quartet albums. The double quartet also experiments with form on this album, often having several improvisers playing
at once. This idea is as old as jazz itself, but was largely forgotten with the advent of the swing era. The free players'
idea of collective improvisation is much less structured than the dixieland players', and the results are more
cacophonous.
 John Coltrane made similar advances late in his career, in albums such as "Ascension". Coltrane also
experimented with rhythm, especially in albums like "Interstellar Space" that do not feature any definable pulse. Both
Coleman and Coltrane, as well as musicians influenced by them such as Archie Shepp and Albert Ayler, also
experimented with timbre, finding new ways to get sounds out of their instruments, even to the extent of playing
instruments on which they had little or no training, as Ornette did with the trumpet and the violin.
Cecil Taylor plays the piano in a completely free manner, utilizing it as much as a percussion instrument
as a melodic or chordal instrument. His performances generally do not contain any traditional harmonic, melodic, or
rhythmic structuring elements. He creates his own structures. When playing free music in a solo setting, you have
complete freedom to change the directions of the music at any time, and are accountable only to yourself. You can
change tempo, you can play without tempo, you can vary the intensity of your performance as you see fit. When playing
music with no set form in a group setting, communication becomes especially important, because there is no automatic
frame of reference to keep everyone together. Cecil Taylor does play in a group setting as well, and other groups such
as the Art Ensemble Of Chicago are known for this type of freedom.
It is hard to analyze these styles of music in terms we are accustomed to using. The music must reach us
on an emotional level in order to be successful, and each person's emotions may be affected differently. It often seems
to be that the more free the music, the more intensely personal the statement. You will need to decide for yourself how
far you are willing to go in your own playing, as well as in your own listening. You should also be aware that this type
of music is often more fun to play than to listen to for many people. The challenge of the communication and the
excitement of the free exchange of ideas are things that some listeners are unable to appreciate. This a gentle way of
saying that your experimentation may alienate some of your original audience. However, there are audiences that do
appreciate this music. You should not be discouraged from playing as freely as you desire.
 G. ACCOMPANYING
Accompanying, or comping as pianists often call it, is a vital skill for rhythm section players, because
they usually spend more time comping than soloing. An understanding of accompanying is also useful for other
instrumentalists, because it can foster better musical communication between the soloist and the accompanists. Pianists
are in the unique position of providing much of their own accompaniment, which allows especially tight interaction.
Some of the musical devices used by accompanists can also be adapted to be used more directly in solos by any
instrumentalist.
1. CHORDAL INSTRUMENTS
The main concerns for polyphonic instruments, or instruments that can easily play more than one note at
time, such as piano, organ, guitar, and the various mallet instruments, are voicing chords, reharmonizing, and playing
rhythms.
a. Chord Voicings
In jazz, when the music calls for a Cmaj7 chord, this almost never implies a pianist should play "C E G
B". Usually, the pianist will choose some other way of playing the chord, even if it is simply an inversion of the basic
root position chord. There have been entire books written on the subject of chord voicings. The discussion here only
scratches at the surface of the possibilities. I have loosely categorized the voicings described here as 3/7 voicings,
quartal voicings, polychord voicings, close position and drop voicings, and other scale based voicings.
3/7 Voicings
It is somewhat of a shame that the most common type of voicing used by most pianists since the 1950's
has no well established name. I have seen these type of voicings called Category A and Category B voicings, Bill Evans
voicings, or simply left hand voicings. Because they are based on the third and seventh of the associated chord, I call
them 3/7 voicings.
The basis of these voicings is that they contain both the third and seventh of the chord, usually with at
least one or two other notes as well, and either the third or the seventh is at the bottom. Because the third and the
seventh are the most important notes that define the quality of a chord, these rules almost always produce good
sounding results. Also, these voicings can automatically produce good voice leading, meaning that when they are used
in a chord progression, there is very little movement between voicings. Often, the same notes can be preserved from one
voicing to the next, or at most, a note may have to move by step.
For instance, consider a ii-V-I progression in C major. The chords are Dm7, G7, and Cmaj7. The simplest
form of the 3/7 voicing on this progression would be to play the Dm7 as "F C", the G7 as "F B", and the Cmaj7 as "E
B". Note that in the first chord, the third is at the bottom; in the second chord, the seventh is at the bottom; in the third
chord, the third is at the bottom. Also note that, when moving from one voicing to the next, only one note changes; the
other notes stay constant. This is an important characteristic of 3/7 voicings: when they are used in a ii-V-I progression,
or any progression in which root movement is by fourth or fifth, you alternate between the third and the seventh at the
bottom. An analogous set of voicings is obtained by starting with the seventh at the bottom: "C F", "B F", "B E".
Normally, you would use more than just the third and seventh. Often, the added notes are the sixth (or
thirteenth) and ninth. For example, the C major ii-V-I could be played as "F C E", "F B E", "E B D", or as "F A C E",
"F A B E", "E A B D". The added notes are all sixths or ninths, except for a fifth in the first chord of the second
example. When playing these four note voicings on guitar, any added notes will usually be added above the third and
the seventh, or else your voicing may end up containing several small intervals, which is usually possible to play only
with difficult hand contortions. Thus, the C major ii-V-I might be played with four note voicings on guitar as "F C E
A", "F B E A", "E B D A".
Note that none of these voicings contain the roots of their respective chords. It is assumed that the bass
player will play the root at some time. In the absence of a bassist, pianists will often play the root in their left hand on
the first beat, and then one of these voicings on the second or third beats. Actually, you can often get away with not
playing the root at all; in many situations, the ear anticipates the chord progression and provides the proper context for
the voicing even without the root. It is not forbidden to play the roots in these voicings, but it is neither required nor
necessarily better to do so.
 These basic voicings can be modified in several ways. Sometimes, you may wish to omit either the third
or the seventh. Often, a minor of major chord that is serving as a tonic will be voiced with the third, sixth, and ninth,
and these voicings might be interspersed with regular 3/7 voicings. Also, voicings with the fifth or some other note at
the bottom can be interspersed with true 3/7 voicings. This might done for any of several reasons. For one thing, when
played on the piano, note the voicings described thus far all tend to slide down the keyboard as the roots resolve
downward by fifth. The normal range for these voicings is in the two octaves from the C below middle C on the piano
to the C above middle C. As the voicings settle downward, they will start to sound muddy, at which time you might
want to jump up. For instance, if you have ended up on a Dm7 as "C F A B" below middle C, and need to resolve to G7
and then Cmaj7, you might want to play these two chords as "D F G B" and "E A B D" respectively to move the voicing
upward while preserving good voice leading. Also, roots do not always move by fifths; in a progression such as Cmaj7
to A7, you might want to voice this as "G B C E" to "G B C# F#" to preserve good voice leading.
One thing to note about these voicings in the context of a diatonic ii-V-I is that, because the chords imply
modes of the same scale (D dorian is the same as G mixolydian is the same as C major), a given voicing can sometimes
be ambiguous. For example, "F A B E" might be either a Dm7 with the seventh omitted, or a G7. In the context of a
modal tune like "So What", it clearly defines the Dm7 or D dorian sound. In the context of a ii-V progression, it
probably sounds more like a G7. You can use this ambiguity to your advantage by making one voicing stretch over
several chords. This technique is especially useful when applied to the more general scale based voicings discussed
later.
Another thing you can do with 3/7 voicings is alter them with raised or lowered fifths or ninths. For
instance, if the G7 chord is altered to a G7b9 chord, then it might be voiced as "F Ab B E". In general, the notes in the
voicing should come from the scale implied by the chord.
These voicings are well suited on the piano for playing in the left hand while the right hand is soloing.
They can also be played with two hands, or with all strings on a guitar, by adding more notes. This provides a fuller
sound when accompanying other soloists. One way to add more notes is to choose a note from the scale not already in
the basic voicing and play it in octaves above the basic voicing. For instance, on piano, for Dm7 with "F A C E" in the
left hand, you might play "D D" or "G G" in the right. In general, it is a good idea to avoid doubling notes in voicings,
since the fullest sound is usually achieved by playing as many different notes as possible, but the right hand octave
sounds good in this context. The note a fourth or fifth above the bottom of the octave can often be added as well. For
example, with the same left hand as before, you might play "D G D" or "G D G" in the right hand.
The 3/7 voicings are perhaps the most important family of voicings, and many variations are possible.
You should try to practice many permutations of each in many different keys.
Polychord and Upper Structure Voicings
The basis of a polychord voicing is to play two different chords at the same time, such as one in the left
hand and one in the right on a piano. The relationship between the two chords determines the quality of the resultant
chord. These are always two handed voicings on a piano, or five or six string voicings on the guitar. They produce a
very rich, complex sound compared to the voicings presented so far.
The simplest style of polychord voicing is to play two triads; for instance, a C major triad in the left hand
on a piano, and a D major triad in the right. This will be notated D/C. This notation is overloaded in that it is usually
interpreted as meaning a D triad over the single note C in the bass; it is not always clear when a polychord is intended.
Polychords are seldom explicitly called for in written music, so there is no standard way to notate them. You must
normally find your own opportunities to play polychords.
If you take all the notes in this D/C voicing and lay them in a row, you will see that this describes either
the C lydian or C lydian dominant scales. Therefore, this voicing can be used over any chord for which those scales are
appropriate. If you experiment with other triads over a C major triad, you will find several combinations that sound
good and describe well known scales. However, many of these combinations involve doubled notes, which can be
avoided as described below. Among the polychords that do not involve doubled notes are Gb/C, which produces a C
HW diminished scale, Bb/C, which produces a C mixolydian scale, Dm/C, which produces a C major or C mixolydian
scale, Ebm/C, which produces a C HW diminished scale, F#m/C, which also produces a C HW diminished scale, and
Bm/C, which produces a C lydian scale. These polychords may be used as voicings for any chords that fit the
corresponding scales.
 You may have noticed that Db/C, Abm/C, Bbm/C, and B/C also involve no doubled notes and sound very
interesting, although they do not obviously describe any standard scales. There are no rules for when these polychords
may be played as voicings. When your ear becomes accustomed to the particular nuances and dissonances of each, you
may find situations in which you can use them. For example, the last polychord listed, B/C, sounds good when used as a
substitute for Cmaj7, particularly in the context of a ii-V-I progression, and especially at the end of a song. You may
resolve it to a normal Cmaj7 voicing if you wish.
You can construct similar polychords with a minor triad at the bottom. Db/Cm produces a C phrygian
scale; F/Cm produces a C dorian scale; Fm/Cm produces a C minor scale; A/Cm produces a C HW diminished scale;
Bb/Cm produces a C dorian scale; and Bbm/Cm produces a C phrygian scale. In addition, D/Cm produces an
interesting, bluesy sounding scale.
I mentioned before the desire to avoid doubled notes. One way to construct polychords that avoid doubled
notes is to replace the triad at the bottom with either the third and seventh, the root and seventh, or the root and third of
a dominant chord. Voicings constructed in this fashion are also called upper structures. They always imply some sort of
dominant chord.
For example, there are several possible C7 upper structures. A Dbm triad over "C Bb" yields a C7b9#5
chord. A D triad over "E Bb" yields a C7#11 chord. An Eb triad over "C E" yields a C7#9 chord. An F# triad over "C
E" yields a C7b9b5 chord. An F#m triad over "E Bb" yields a C7b9b5 chord. An Ab triad over "E Bb" yields a C7#9#5
chord. An A triad over "C Bb" yields a C7b9 chord.
You will find it takes a lot of practice to become familiar enough with these voicings to be able to play
them on demand. You may wish to choose a few tunes and plan ahead of time where you will use these voicings. It is
well worth the effort. The richness and variety introduced by these voicings can add a lot to your harmonic vocabulary.
Close Position and Drop Voicings
The simplest voicing for a four note chord is the close position voicing, in which all the notes in the chord
are arranged as close together as possible. For example, a C7 chord might be voiced in close position as "C E G Bb".
This is referred to as root position, since the root, C, is at the bottom. The chord might also be voiced in close position
as "E G Bb C", which is also called the first inversion, since the bottom note has been inverted to the top. The second
inversion is "G Bb C E" and the third "Bb C E G".
A drop voicing is created from a close position voicing by dropping one of the notes down an octave. If
the second note from the top is dropped, the voicing is called a drop 2 voicing; if the third note from the top is dropped,
the voicing is called a drop 3 voicing. For a C7 chord in root position, "C E G Bb", the corresponding drop 2 voicing is
"G C E Bb". The second note from the top, G, has been dropped down an octave. The corresponding drop 3 voicing
would be "E C G Bb". Drop 2 and drop 3 voicings can be constructed from any of the inversions of the chord as well.
On the piano, the dropped note must normally be played in the left hand, so these are almost always two handed
voicings. The intervals in these voicings make them perfectly suited for guitar.
Close position and drop voicings are effective when used to harmonize a melody, particularly in a solo
setting. Each melody note may be harmonized by a different drop voicing, with the melody note on top. Pianists and
guitarists often use this type of approach in their own solos. A phrase in which every note is accompanied by close
position or drop voicings is said to be harmonized with block chords. Red Garland, Dave Brubeck, and Wes
Montgomery all regularly played block chord solos.
Other Scale Based Voicings
There are other logical ways of constructing voicings; too many to describe individually here. Most
approaches are similar in that they they associate a scale with each chord and construct the voicing from notes in that
scale. By using a scale approach, you can devise your own patterns for voicings. For instance, a second with a third
stacked on top is a somewhat dissonant but not too cluttered sound that many pianists use extensively. For a chord such
as Fmaj7, you can apply this format at any position in the associated F lydian or F major scale. Since the F major scale
contains an avoid note (Bb) in this context, one would normally opt for the lydian scale and the B natural, so that none
of the generated voicings would contain any avoid notes. The particular pattern described above yields "F G B", "G A
C", "A B D", "B C E", "C D F", "D E G", and "E F A" over the F lydian scale.
Most of these voicings are very ambiguous, in the sense that they do not readily identify the chord. As
with the 3/7 and quartal voicings, however, you will find that the presence of a bass player, or just the context of the
chord progression being played, will allow almost any combination of notes from a given scale to make an acceptable
voicing for the associated chord.
You may wish to experiment with different patterns and different scales to see if you can find any
voicings you particularly like. Often, the goal is not to find a voicing that completely describes a given chord, but rather
to find a voicing that conveys a particular sound without seriously corrupting the chord. You may find that at a given
point in the music, you may wish to hear the characteristic authority of a perfect fifth, or the characteristic dissonance of
a minor ninth or of a cluster of several notes a second apart, but without the characteristic wrong note sound of a
completely random selection of notes. Thinking of the associated scale and putting your sound into that context gives
you a logical and reliable way to get the sound you want without compromising the harmony.
b. Reharmonizing
An accompanist may occasionally reharmonize a chord progression to sustain interest, introduce contrast,
or create tension. This involves replacing some of the written or expected chords with other unexpected chords.
Substitutions such as the tritone substitution are one type of reharmonization.
Some musicians spend a lot of time trying different reharmonizations when working on a tune. However,
unless they tell the soloist what they doing beforehand, many of the reharmonizations they may come up with are not
suitable for use in accompanying, since the soloist will be playing from a different set of changes. There are some
simple reharmonizations that can be used without disturbing the soloist too much. The tritone substitution is one
example; at any time a dominant seventh chord is called for, the accompanist may substitute the dominant seventh
chord a tritone away. This creates exactly the same type of tension that is created when the soloist performs the
substitution. Another simple reharmonization is to change the chord quality. That is, play a D7alt in place of a Dm, and
so forth.
Another common reharmonization is to replace a dominant chord with a ii-V progression. This was
already demonstrated when discussing the blues progression; one of the progressions replaced the F7 chord in bar 4
with a Cm7 - F7. This is especially common at the end of a phrase, leading to the tonic at the start of the next phrase.
Most of the scale choices the soloist may have been using over the F7 chord will also work over the Cm7 chord, so this
reharmonization doesn't usually create too much tension. This technique can be combined with the tritone substitution
to create a more complex reharmonization. Rather than replace the V with a ii-V, first replace the V with its tritone
substitution, and then replace that with a ii-V. For example, in bar 4 of the F blues, first replace the F7 with B7, and
then replace that with F#m7 - B7.
Another type of reharmonization involves the use of alternation. Rather than play several measures of a
given chord, the accompanist may alternate between it and the chord a half step above or below, or a dominant chord a
fifth below. For instance, on a G7 chord, you might alternate between G7 and Ab7, or between G7 and F#7, or between
G7 and D7. This is especially common in rock based styles, where the alternation is performed in rhythm. If the
alternation is performed regularly, such as throughout an entire chorus, or even the whole tune, the soloist should be
able to pick up on it and control the amount of tension produced by playing along with the reharmonization or by
playing against it. That is, the soloist can lessen the tension by changing scales as you change chords, or increase
tension by keeping to the original scale.
c. Comping Rhythms
Once you have decided what notes you want to play, you must decide when to play them. You do not
want to simply play whole notes or half notes; your accompanying generally should be rhythmically interesting,
although not distracting to the soloist or listener.
There are few guidelines that can be given for playing comping rhythms. Because there is very little
theory to fall back on, the first piece of advice I can give is to listen to other accompanists. Too often we tend to ignore
everyone but the soloist anyhow. Be sure to choose albums that have solo instrumentalists other than the accompanist
on them. Pianists to listen to include Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Herbie
Hancock, and McCoy Tyner. Pianists should also listen to guitarists and mallet players; often the constraints of those
instruments can lead to ideas you might not have thought of otherwise.
Guitarists should listen to pianists, but also to guitarists such as Herb Ellis, Joe Pass, and Wes
Montgomery. Often, guitarists work in tandem with pianists, and their style when there is a pianist in the group may
differ from how they play when they are the only chordal accompanists. For instance, some guitarists play only short
chords on every beat if there is a pianist providing most of the rhythmic interest. Others will lay out (stop playing)
entirely. For this reason, it is especially important to listen to guitarists in several different types of settings.
You should also listen to recordings that do not have any chordal accompaniment, such as any of several
Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, or even Ornette Coleman quartet albums. Try to play along with these. This will often be
difficult, since the music was recorded with the knowledge that there was no chordal accompaniment, so the soloist and
other accompanists generally left little room for a piano or guitar. Practicing accompanying in this type of situation can
help you avoid over-playing. Most beginning accompanists, like many beginning soloists, tend to play too much. Just as
space can be an effective tool while soloing, it can be even more so when accompanying. Let the soloist work with only
the bassist and drummer for a few measures, or longer, every so often. Laying out and leaving the soloist with no
chordal accompaniment is sometimes called strolling. McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, and Thelonious Monk often laid
out for entire solos.
Sometimes it helps to imagine yourself as a background part in a big band arrangement. When you are
comfortable with a particular chord progression, and no longer are having to concentrate fully just on playing the "right"
notes, you can concentrate on the rhythmic and even melodic content of your comping. Listen to the horn backings in
some big band recordings, such as those of Count Basie, to see how melodic accompaniment can be.
Certain styles of music call for particular rhythmic patterns. For instance, many forms of music before the
bebop era used the stride left hand pattern, which consists of alternating a bass note on one and three with a chord
voicing on two and four. Many rock based styles also depend on rhythmic patterns, often specific to the individual song.
While the Brazilian derived styles such as the bossa nova and samba, as played by most jazz musicians, do not have
well-defined comping patterns, other Latin jazz styles, particularly the Afro-Cuban forms sometimes collectively
referred to as salsa, use a two measure repeating motif called a montuno. A typical rhythmic pattern is "and-of-one, and-
of-two, and-of-three, and-of-four; one, two, and-of-two, and-of-three, and-of-four". These two measures may be
reversed if the underlying drum pattern (see below) is reversed as well. A full description of the role of the piano in
Latin jazz and other styles is beyond the scope of this primer. A good discussion can be found in Mark Levine's The
Jazz Piano Book.
The most important aspect of accompanying in most styles is to communicate with the soloist. There are
several forms this communication can take. For instance, there is call and response, in which you essentially try to echo
back or answer what the soloist has played. This is particularly effective if the soloist seems to be playing short, simple
phrases, with pauses between them. If the soloist is working on a repeated rhythmic motif, you can often anticipate the
echo and actually play right along with the soloist. Sometimes you can also lead the soloist in directions he might not
have tried otherwise. For instance, you might start a repeated rhythmic motif, which might encourage the soloist to echo
you. Some soloists like this type of aggressive comping, and others do not. You will have to work out with each soloist
how far you may take him.
2. BASS
The function of the bass in a traditional rhythm section is somewhat different than that of a chordal
instrument. Like a pianist, a bassist must normally outline the chord changes, but the bass usually emphasizes the roots,
thirds, and fifths rather than any extensions or alterations. In traditional jazz forms, the bass player also has a very
important role as a timekeeper; as much as a drummer, if not more so. That is why bass players so often play walking
bass lines that consist almost exclusively of quarter notes or rhythms that strongly emphasize the beat.
In this respect, learning to play bass lines is often easier than learning to solo or play voicings. You do not
have to worry much about what rhythms to play, and your note choices are more limited as well. When you listen to
great bass players like Ray Brown or Paul Chambers, you will see that a large part of their playing is quarter notes and
scale based lines.
When a pianist plays in a solo setting, he must often provide his own bass line accompaniment, so
pianists should learn how to construct good bass lines as well.
Walking Bass Lines
There are some simple guidelines you can use to produce good sounding bass lines. First, you generally
should play the root of the chord on the first beat of that chord. The previous beat should be a note a step away. For
instance, if the chord F7 appears on beat "one" of a measure, then you would normally play F on that beat. You would
normally play E, Eb, G, or Gb on the last beat of the previous measure, depending on the chord. If the chord was C7,
then you might play either E or G, since they are in the associated mixolydian scale. Or, you might think HW
diminished or altered scale for the C7 and play the Eb or Gb. The Gb is also the root of the dominant chord a tritone
away, which has already been described as a good substitution, so Gb makes a particularly good choice. The note does
not necessarily have to be justifiable in the context of the chord; it can be thought of as a passing tone to reach the first
beat (the downbeat) of the next measure.
These first two guidelines take care of two beats for each chord. In some tunes, such as any song based on
the rhythm changes, that is all you get for most chords, so your bass line can be almost completely determined by the
chord progression. Of course, you will probably want to vary your lines. You are not required to play the root on the
one, nor are you required to approach it by step. Remember, these are only guidelines to get you started.
If you have more than two beats to fill for a particular chord, one way to fill the remaining beats is to
simply choose notes from any associated scale in mostly stepwise motion. For instance, if your chord progression is C7
to F7, and you have already decided to play "C, x, x, Gb" for the C7 chord, then you can fill in the x's with D and E,
implying the lydian dominant scale, or Bb and Ab, implying the altered scale. Either of these choices might also imply
the whole tone scale. Another popular pattern would be "C, D, Eb, E", where the Eb is used as passing tone between the
D and the E. You will probably discover other patterns that you will tend to use a lot. Playing patterns is generally
frowned upon when soloing, where you are expected to be as creative as possible. When accompanying, however,
patterns, like those given for voicings, can be an effective way to outline the harmony consistently. As a bass player,
you are expected to play virtually every beat of every measure for the entire piece. It is usually more important to be
solid and dependable than to be as inventive as possible.
Pedal Point
The term pedal point, often shortened to simply pedal, refers to a bass line that stays on one note over a
changing harmony. Certain songs, such as John Coltrane's "Naima", from the album "Giant Steps", are written with
explicit pedal point, either with the notation "Eb pedal" over the first four measures, or through the notation of the
chords as
| Dbma7/Eb | Ebm7 | Amaj7#11/Eb Gmaj7#11/Eb | Abmaj7/Eb |.
When you see a song explicitly call for pedal point, that is usually an indication to stop walking and
instead play only whole notes.
You can also find your own opportunities to use pedal point. In a ii-V-I progression, the fifth can often be
used as a pedal note. For example, you can play G under the progression | Dm7 | G7 | Cmaj7 |, or just under the first two
bars. Under the Dm7 chord, the G in the bass makes the chord function as a G7sus chord. The resolution to the G7
chord then mimics the traditional classical use of suspensions, which always resolve in this manner. This is also
commonly done in progressions that alternate between the ii and the V, as in | Dm7 | G7 | Dm7 | G7 | Dm7 | G7 | Dm7 |
G7 |.
Counterpoint
Scott LaFaro started a small revolution in jazz bass playing in the early 1960's through his use of
counterpoint. His bass lines had almost as much rhythmic and melodic interest as the melody or solo he was
accompanying. This can be distracting to some soloists, and to some audiences, but many find the effect exciting.
One opportunity to use counterpoint is in ballads or medium tempo swing tunes where the melody has
long notes or rests. One of the most famous examples of Scott LaFaro's counterpoint is on the version of "Solar"
recorded by Bill Evans, Scott LaFaro, and Paul Motian on the album Sunday At The Village Vanguard. The melody is
mostly quarter notes, with whole notes at the end of each phrase. Scott plays long notes while the melody is moving,
and moving parts where the melody is staying still.
Bob Hurst has a different approach to counterpoint. Rather than playing lines that sustain their own
melodic or rhythmic interest, he plays lines that create rhythmic tension in their interaction with the beat. One technique
he uses often is playing six notes against four beats, or two quarter note triplets per measure. It sounds like he is playing
in three while the rest of the band is in four. This type of rhythmic counterpoint is difficult to sustain for any length of
time, and may confuse inexperienced musicians.
When experimenting with counterpoint, remember your role is usually still that of an accompanist. Your
goal is to support the musicians you are accompanying. If they are being thrown off by the resultant complexity, or are
producing enough rhythmic tension on their own, then this may not be a good technique to use. You will have to use
your own judgement to decide when the music will benefit from the use of counterpoint.
Other Bass Patterns
The techniques described above are applicable to most styles of jazz. Some particular styles impose their
own particular requirements on the bassist, however. A two-beat or half-time feel means playing only on beats one and
three in 4/4 time. A two-beat feel is often used on the head for standards. When playing in 3/4 time, you may either play
walking lines or just play on the first beat of each measure. Many of the Latin Jazz styles use a simple pattern usually
based on alternating roots and fifths. The bossa nova, a Brazilian derived style, uses the root on "one" and the fifth on
"three", with an eighth note pickup on the "and-of-two" and either another pickup on the "and-of-four" or a quarter note
on "four". The samba, another Brazilian derived style, is similar, but is played with a double-time feel, meaning it
sounds as if the basic beat is twice as fast as it really is. The root is played on "one" and "three" while the fifth is played
on "two" and "four", with a sixteenth note pickup before each beat. The mambo and other Cuban derived styles use the
rhythm "and-of-two, four". The latter beat is tied over to the "one" of the following measure.
A full description of all the different styles is beyond the scope of this primer. There are a few books that
can help you in constructing patterns for various styles; one such book is Essential Styles For The Drummer And
Bassist. For now, all I can do is repeat Clark Terry's advice, "imitate, assimilate, innovate". Listen to as many different
styles as you can and learn from what you hear.
3. DRUMS
As with the bassist, one of the roles of the drummer in traditional forms of jazz is to play a steady beat in
the style of the song. By steady, I mean with regards to tempo, and do not mean to imply that you should not be creative
and vary your patterns. I cannot shed much light on the specifics of drum techniques, but I can describe some basic
patterns and styles, and give you some hints on other aspects of the role of the drummer.
The basic 4/4 swing beat consists of two components: the ride pattern and the hi-hat pattern. The
fundamental ride pattern is the "1, 2 and, 3, 4 and" or "ding ding-a ding ding-a" pattern played on the ride cymbal with
swung eighth notes. The hi-hat is normally closed sharply on "two" and "four". This is what most simple drum
machines will play when the "swing" setting is selected. This pattern is appropriate for many jazz songs, especially
medium or up-tempo standards or bebop tunes. Slower songs like ballads often call for the use of brushes on the snare
drum rather than sticks on the cymbals as the main pattern. There are a few books that can help you in constructing
patterns for other styles; one such book is Essential Styles For The Drummer And Bassist. The most important of the
styles you may be expected to play are described below.
The basic shuffle beat consists of eighth notes on the ride cymbal and possibly snare. The second and
fourth beats are usually more strongly emphasized as well. The basic jazz waltz or 3/4 swing pattern consists of "one,
two, and-of-two, three" or "ding ding-a ding" on the ride cymbal, with the hi-hat on "two". Other variations include
using the hi-hat on "two" and "three", or on all three beats; adding the snare on the "and-of-two" or on the "and-of-one"
and on "three".
Three forms of Latin jazz you should be able to play include the bossa nova, the samba, and the mambo.
The essence of most forms of Latin jazz is the clave, which is a type of rhythmic pattern. The basic clave is two
measures long, and consists of "one, and-of-two, four; two, three". There is also an African clave or Rumba clave in
which the third note is played on the "and-of-four" rather than on the beat. The bossa nova uses a variation of the basic
clave in which the last note falls on the "and-of-three" rather than on the beat. These clave patterns can also be inverted,
meaning the two measures are swapped. The clave would usually be played as hits on the rim of the snare on a
traditional drum set, although it is often not played explicitly by the drummer at all, in which case an auxiliary
percussionist may play it.
The clave is supplemented with other patterns on other drums. The bass drum may play on "one" and
"three" with eighth note pickups. The hi-hat is closed on "two" and "four". Other patterns may be played on a cymbal or
on a cowbell. Typical mambo patterns include "one, two, three, and-of-three, and-of-four; one, two, and-of-two, and-of-
three, and-of-four" or "one, two, three, and-of-three; one, and-of-one, and-of-two, and-of-three, four". A simple pattern
consisting of "two, four, and-of-four" is played on the snare rim and the mounted tom instead of a clave. Bossa novas
may use a pattern consisting of straight eighth notes on the ride cymbal. Sambas have a double-time feel. The cymbal
pattern is usually straight eighth notes, and is often played on a closed hi-hat. The snare drum may be simply hit on
"four" instead of playing the clave.
Certain compositions, such as Lee Morgan's "The Sidewinder" or Tony Williams' "Sister Cheryl", have
unique drum patterns that are indelibly associated with the particular song. Listening to recordings of a song to be
performed before trying to play it is probably more helpful for drummers than for any other musicians, since fakebooks
generally do not provide many hints for the drummer.
A good drummer will not simply play the same pattern over and over for an entire song. For one thing,
you may vary the pattern, perhaps by playing only quarter notes on the ride cymbal, or occasionally varying the rhythm
to "ding-a ding ding-a ding". Or, you could play the hi-hat on every beat. You may also want to use the other drums,
such as the toms, as part of your basic beat for a song. Tony Williams is a master at varying his patterns in this way.
Often, a drummer will play a simple two-beat during the head, and switch to straight four for the solos.
One of the easiest ways to change the feel of a piece is to simply switch cymbals for the ride pattern, for instance when
there is a change in soloist, or to mark the bridge of a song. Marking the form of a tune is another important role of the
drummer. Most typical song forms have 4 or 8 bar phrases. At the end of each phrase, the drummer often plays a more
complex pattern or fill to lead into the next phrase. Another tactic is to change the basic beat from phrase to phrase. As a
drummer, you should always be conscious of the form of the song, and know where any breaks, special introductions,
or codas are. You should be able to sing to the melody to yourself during solos if necessary, so that you can outline the
form for the soloist. This will help the soloist keep his place, by allowing him to recognize when you have reached the
bridge, for example. Also, the soloist is usually structuring his own phrases along the lines of the original form. By
adhering to that form yourself, you will usually be supporting the development of his ideas. Art Blakey is a master of
playing the form and supporting soloists in this way.
During a solo, an instrumentalist may leave deliberate breaks in his phrases. As with the pianist and
bassist, the drummer may decide to fill those spaces with some sort of answering phrase or counterrhythm. Drummers
may also create tension through the use of polyrhythm, which is two or more different rhythms superimposed on each
other; for instance, three against four. A drummer can either try to play two different rhythms himself, or work with the
bassist or another accompanist, or the soloist, to create a polyrhythm between them. As with the use of counterpoint in
bass lines, however, you need to balance the desire for rhythmic variation with the realization that clutter or chaos can
result if you go too far.
Since everyone depends on the drummer to keep accurate time, rhythmic stability is essential. However,
the rhythmic interest of the drum part is also important, and it is vital during drum solos. Percussion is not only about
rhythm, either. As a drummer, you cannot play lines that are interesting in a traditional melodic or harmonic sense, but
you can vary the timbre of your lines by playing across drums or cymbals of different pitches. You should still think
melodically when playing the drums.
4. OTHER INSTRUMENTS
The use of other instruments, such as brass or woodwind instruments, as accompanying instruments is
usually limited to a few background riffs, or repeated phrases. This type of accompaniment is popular in blues bands.
Usually one horn player will play a simple line based on the blues scale, and other horn players will pick it up and
repeat it.
Free jazz forms allow for less structured accompaniment. If you listen to Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz, or
John Coltrane's Ascension, you will notice that the horn players who are not soloing are free to play whatever
background figures they want. The result is often cacophonous, but if that is the desired effect, then that is not bad in
itself.
At the other end of the spectrum are big band arrangements, which often have intricate written out horn
backgrounds for solos. Arranging for horn sections is similar to accompanying on piano in that the parts generally form
voicings of chords and are used in a rhythmically interesting way. The parts are generally smoother and more melodic
than a typical piano accompaniment, however, both because the piano part is usually improvised whereas the horn
arrangement can be preplanned, and because it is easier for a horn section to play melodic lines voiced in chords than it
is for a pianist. Horn section arrangements often emphasize articulation, or variations in attack and dynamics, more so
than a piano is normally capable of. Commonly used devices in horn section arranging include the use of sforzando, or
notes of sudden loudness; alternating staccato, or short note, and legato, or long note, passages; bent notes, or notes in
which the player alters the pitch briefly while playing, and falloffs, or notes in which the player rapidly lowers the pitch,
sometimes by an octave or more, usually to end a phrase.
You do not have to play in a big band or be an accomplished arranger to use horn section accompaniment.
Often two or three horns are enough to play interesting background figures. Most of the same principles used in piano
voicing can be used in horn section voicing. Drop voicings are especially effective. When there are only two horns,
lines moving in parallel thirds often work well. Listen to Miles Davis' The Birth Of The Cool, or any of Art Blakey's
recordings with the Jazz Messengers, for ideas on how one can arrange for relatively small ensembles. David Baker's
book Arranging And Composing can help get you started as well.
5. PLAYING WITH OTHERS
As soon as you can get an appropriate group of musicians together, you should begin to play in a group
setting. This is helpful for many reasons. First, if several players are at approximately the same level of ability, then
they can learn together. If one member is more advanced than the others, he can help them along. A good rhythm
section can often give a soloist ideas or help provide the confidence to allow him to take more chances. On the other
hand, you should avoid the temptation to have too many horn players, as you will find the tunes dragging out longer and
longer as everyone gets their solos in. The rhythm section will tire of the chord progression, and the soloists will grow
impatient waiting their next turn. It is probably counterproductive to have more than eight or so players together at once
for this purpose.
a. Organization
Once an appropriate group of people has been assembled, you must decide what to play. It helps if
everyone in the group has access to the same fakebooks. That way, when a person calls out a tune, you can be
reasonably sure everyone will have it in their books. The New Real Book by Chuck Sher is recommended, since it is
available in transposed versions for most wind instruments, and contains a good variety of tunes. You may wish to
agree in advance on the tunes to be worked on, so everyone has the chance to familiarize themselves with the changes.
Although it is not necessary to designate a leader for a group, it does help if there is someone to choose
songs, decide on the order of soloists, pick a tempo, count the song off, and generally keep things moving along. It is
not essential that this person be the best musician in the group, but it should be someone with some leadership or
organizational skills.
b. Beginnings
Once you have selected a song to play, you need to keep in mind the things we have observed about form.
Normally, the group would play the melody first. While learning a song, you may decide to have everyone play it in
unison, but you should eventually give each performer a chance to play a head by himself, to allow everyone to work on
making a personal statement even while simply playing the melody. In performance situations, it is also usually more
interesting for the listener to hear a melody interpreted by one individual, rather than stated in unison. This is
particularly true for ballads. Fast bop tunes are normally played in unison, however.
For songs with 32 bar forms, the head is usually played only once. For blues tunes or other shorter forms,
it is often played twice. The melodies of many songs end on the second to last measure of the form. For instance,
Clifford Brown's twelve bar blues "Sandu" ends on the first beat of the eleventh measure. Usually the rhythm section
stops playing for the last two bars of the form to allow the first soloist an unaccompanied two measure lead in, or solo
break. In some tunes, such as John Coltrane's "Moment's Notice", this break is traditionally observed on every chorus,
but usually it is done only as a lead in to the first solo, or at most as a lead in to each solo.
c. Middles
Once you are into your solo, you are largely on your own, although you should listen to what everyone
else is doing around you, feeding off what they are playing, and leading them with your own playing. This is your
chance to apply the techniques you have learned so far. Think melodically. Take chances. Have fun!
I have said several times that a solo should tell a story. This means it should have a clear exposition,
development, climax, and release. If you were to chart the intensity level of a good solo, you would often find that it
starts at a low level and slowly builds to a climax, after which it tapers off quickly to lead into the next soloist or
whatever else comes next. Beginners often have difficulty deciding how many choruses to play. This is something that
varies for each performer. Charlie Parker normally took only one or two in recordings, although this was partially
because of the limitations of the 78 RPM format. John Coltrane often took dozens of choruses, particularly in live
performances. When there are many soloists, you probably should try to keep it on the short side, to keep everyone else
from getting bored. In any case, when you are approaching the end of your solo, you should somehow convey this fact
to the other musicians so they can decide who goes next, or whether they want to trade fours, or take the head out.
If you intend to trade fours after the last solo, someone usually indicates this by holding out four fingers
where everyone can see them. Usually, you will go through the soloists in the same order in which they originally
played, giving them four measures each. The bass player is often skipped; sometimes the pianist is as well. Often, the
drummer will take four measures in between each of the other soloists. More so than during the original solos, the
intensity of the four bar phrases will usually be at a consistently high level, and the soloists should try to develop and
build upon each other's ideas. This cycle may be repeatedly as long as is desired; someone will usually tap their head to
indicate when to return to the head.
d. Endings
The endings of songs are, without question, the most difficult to keep together. When you have played a
given song several times with the same group of people, you may have planned and rehearsed endings. But when
playing a song for the first time with a particular group, chaos almost always results at the end. There are a few standard
tricks you can use to end songs, however. Once you are familiar with the basic endings, then all it takes is one person to
act as leader to get everyone to follow along.
The easiest ending, used in fast bebop tunes, is to simply cut the tune off short after the last note. This
works for rhythm changes tunes such as "Oleo", and other bop forms such as "Donna Lee". As a variation, you may
wish to hold the last note out. Or, you may cut the last note short, but then repeat it and hold it out after a few beats rest.
This is done especially on 32 bar forms in which the melody ends on the first beat of measure 31. This note is cut short,
but then repeated and held on the first beat of measure 32, or as an anticipation on the fourth beat or on the "and" of the
fourth beat of measure 31.
Another ending commonly used on ballads and slow swing songs is the ritardando. Simply slow down
over the last two or three measures, and end on the last note of the melody, which may be held out as long as desired. A
variation on this technique is to stop on the second to last note, or on any note near the end that falls on the penultimate
chord, and have one soloist play an unaccompanied cadenza, signaling the rest of the band to rejoin him for the last
note.
When playing medium tempo or faster tunes, a popular ending is to play the last several bars three times
before the last note. In a 32 bar form in which the last note is the first beat of measure 31, you would play the form
through the end of measure 30, then play measures 29 and 30 again, and then once more, before finally playing measure
31. This can be combined with the ritardando or the cadenza approaches, or the last note can simply be played short.
Another approach is the III-VI-ii-V turnaround. If the song ends with a ii-V-I cadence in the last four
bars, then you can replace the final I chord with the four bar progression III-VI-ii-V, which may be repeated several
times. For instance, in the key of F, if the song ends
| Gm7 | C7 | F | F |,
then you can replace this with
| Gm7 | C7 | A7alt | D7alt | Gm7 | C7 | A7alt | D7alt | Gm7 | C7 |...
You can also use tritone substitution on any of the dominant chords. In addition, you can use the I chord F
instead of the A7alt chord. You may continue this chord progression as long as you like, soloing or collectively
improvising on top of it. This is called a vamp. The song is finally ended with a I chord, usually preceded by frantic
hand waving to ensure that everyone ends together.
Another popular ending is sometimes called the Duke Ellington ending, because it is associated with
arrangements of tunes like "Take The A Train" that were written by Duke or performed by his band. This ending
assumes the song ends on the first beat of the second to last measure of the form, that the last chord is a I chord, and that
the last note is the root of that chord. Assuming the piece is in C major, you simply replace the last two measures with
"C, E, F, F#, G, A, B, C", where the second note is a sixth below the first, not a third above. If you try to play this line, I
think you will recognize the intended rhythm, so I will not try to notate it.
e. Dealing With Problems
You should be prepared for any number of things to go wrong. If you lose your place in the form, or
sense that someone else has lost theirs, do not panic. If you have become lost, stop playing for a little while to see if you
can hear where everyone else is. This should not be too difficult if you are familiar with the song and the other
musicians are reasonably secure about their own places. Someone who is sure of where they are may wish to call out
changes, or shout out "BRIDGE!" or "TOP!" at the appropriate times, to get things back on track. If one person is
clearly in the wrong place, and everyone else is sure of where that person is, they can attempt to move over to match the
out of place performer, but this is difficult to coordinate. Also, it is better to try to correct the person who is out of step
than to have everyone be out of step together, because ideally, you want the form to continue uninterrupted.
Another thing that can go wrong is an unintended tempo change. Some people tend to rush, some tend to
drag. Sometimes the interaction between two musicians with good time may cause the tempo to shift. For instance, if a
pianist and bassist both play behind the beat, this may make the tempo appear to drag, and the drummer may slow down
to not appear ahead of them. If you are convinced the tempo is moving, you may wish to try to conduct a few measures
to right the tempo. A metronome can help keep you honest, but playing with a metronome will usually be hopelessly
frustrating, because it is virtually impossible to keep a group synchronized with one. For one thing, it is often difficult to
hear a metronome when several people are playing. For another, it is difficult to get everyone in the group to adjust at
the same time and in the same way should the group collectively get ahead or fall behind. Nonetheless, practicing with a
metronome can be a useful way to solidify your concept of time. One particularly sadistic band director I know used to
start us off with a metronome, turn the volume down after a few measures, then turn it back up a minute or so later to
see if we had drifted.
6. LISTENING ANALYTICALLY
Now that you have some idea of what it takes to play jazz, you should have a much more critical ear. You
will be less likely to be impressed with mere technical facility, and can listen for melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic
sophistication. On the other hand, if the music still reaches you emotionally, do not worry that it does not seem
particularly adventurous when scrutinized closely. Do not let your analysis of the theoretical aspects of music interfere
with your reaction on an emotional level. The theoretical knowledge should be a tool to help you understand music you
might not have otherwise appreciated; it should not detract from your enjoyment of any music.
As a performer, now that you have some idea of the things a jazz musician is expected to do, you can
listen to the great ones and learn from them. You can listen to the early Bill Evans trios and see examples of interplay
within a rhythm section, and try to develop ears as big as theirs. You can listen to Thelonious Monk and analyze the
way he used dissonance and syncopation, and see if you can achieve the same effects. You can listen to the emotional
outbursts of John Coltrane or Cecil Taylor and expand your concept of how directly you can express yourself.
7. BREAKING THE RULES
Charles Ives was a composer who wrote music that was considered avant garde in its day. His father is
rumored to have taught him, "you must learn the rules first so that you will know how to break them". This is especially
true in music like jazz, where you are constantly expected to be creative. Following the rules all the time would lead to
predictable and boring music. Paying no attention whatsoever to the rules could easily lead to music that was ultimately
boring in its randomness.
There are many rules and conventions that have been presented here. There are no criminal penalties
associated with breaking any of them, however. You should experiment as much as possible to find new ways of doing
things. The rules of harmony presented here form a framework, but it is not a rigid one. I have already suggested that
the manner in which you utilize these rules will shape how you sound. How you break the rules will similarly help
define your own style. Experimenting with the rules of harmony is just the beginning of individuality, however. Look
for other non-traditional ways to express yourself. Try hitting the piano keys with your fist. Try overblowing your
saxophone. Try removing the first valve slide on your trumpet. There are an infinite number of possible things you can
do with your instrument.
Also, expand your listening to include other types of music such as classical or reggae, and see if you can
learn from them and apply those lessons to whatever you play. It is severely limiting to think that all jazz music should
consist of 32 bar songs, walking bass lines, swing ride cymbal patterns, and head-solos-head forms. The world does not
beat in four-four time.
 H. ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
My personal experience with other books on jazz improvisation is limited; my ears have been my best
teachers. Here is a listing of some of the books with which I am somewhat familiar, or which have been recommended
to me. Most of the instructional books and legal fakebooks are available at any well-stocked music store, or can be
ordered through Jamey Aebersold. The ordering information can be found in his ads in Down Beat magazine.

1. FAKEBOOKS
• Chuck Sher, The New Real Book, Sher Music. This is probably the most popular legal jazz
fakebook around today, and perhaps the best in terms of broadness of selection, accuracy, and readability.
Many of the most commonly played tunes from other popular fakebooks are included here. It is available in Bb
and Eb editions for transposing instruments, and like all of Chuck Sher's books, it contains lyrics where
appropriate. It contains standards like "Darn That Dream", jazz classics like Sonny Rollins' "Oleo", and some
contemporary pieces such as Michael Brecker's "Nothing Personal". It also contains some pop songs like
Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly". Because of its diversity, it does not contain as much straightahead jazz as
most of the other books listed here and therefore, while this book is still highly recommended, you may need to
find something else to supplement it to fill out the selection of mainstream jazz.
• Chuck Sher, The New Real Book Volume 2, Sher Music. This is a good companion to the first
volume, since there is no overlap, and this book adds a good helping of classic jazz from the 1950's and 1960's,
including several tunes each by John Coltrane and Horace Silver. There are also arrangements of complex
modern compositions by Michael Brecker and others, as well as a few standards. It is available in Bb and Eb
versions.
• Chuck Sher, The World's Greatest Fakebook, Sher Music. This was Chuck's first fakebook, but it
was not as well received as The New Real Book since it contains even fewer jazz standards. It still makes a
good companion to his other books.
• Herb Wong, The Ultimate Jazz Fakebook, Hal Leonard Publishing. This has hundreds of tunes
in it, but is printed in very small typeset to fit them all in, and as a result is very hard to read. Many of the
songs are old Tin Pan Alley songs not commonly played any more, so the selection of true jazz standards is not
as broad as it looks at first. It is available in Bb and Eb editions, and contains lyrics.
• The Real Book. This was the standard for many years. It contains a broad selection of standards
and jazz classics, and indeed helped define those terms over the last couple of decades. There are many errors
in this book, and many of the recordings I hear of tunes from this book over the last twenty years duplicate
these errors, which shows that the Real Book has been a primary source of tunes for many professional
musicians. It is only recently that The New Real Book has begun to supplant it. The original Real Book is not
legal, however, since the authors did not obtain copyright permission for the selected songs, and they do not
pay royalties to the copyright owners. For the most part, the original authors do not make any money
themselves from this book; most people obtain copies by photocopying a friend's copy, or from someone who
photocopies the books and sells them at a small profit under the counter. If you can find a copy, and your
conscience does not bother you too much, it is worth picking up. There are versions in Bb and Eb, and also a
vocal version. There are several slightly different editions, with the Pacific Coast Edition and the Fifth Edition
being most common. Being of questionable origin, it is hard to tell how these differences evolved, or what
exactly the differences are between them, but be forewarned that not all copies will contain exactly the same
set of tunes.
• The Real Book Volume 2. This book, like the original, is illegal. It is not nearly as popular as the
first volume, but it does contain a lot classic jazz.
• Spaces Bebop Jazz. This book is actually available in several forms, none of which are legal as
far as I know. The one I have is spiral bound and is printed on standard sized paper, although the music itself is
printed small. I have also seen it printed on half size paper and separated into two or three volumes. It contains
mostly songs from the swing, bebop and cool eras.
 • Think Of One. I have no idea where this book came from, but someone apparently decided
Thelonious Monk, Wayne Shorter, and Horace Silver were shortchanged in the original Real Book and
produced this rather sloppily transcribed book that is equally illegal and consists almost exclusively of tunes
not in the Real Book, many by the aforementioned composers. Very few people seem to know of this book,
which is too bad, because there are a lot of wonderful compositions here that are not in any other fakebook I've
ever seen.
2. INSTRUCTIONAL BOOKS
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of books on practice methods, theory, and analysis methods out there.
I've only seen a handful of them, and no good, holistic, general purpose introduction to improvisation, which is why I
wrote this primer. The comments below vary in amount of detail included. Predictably, I have more to say about the
books with which I am more familiar, while the ones with one sentence summaries are, for the most part, books that I
have never seen but that have been recommended to me.
The books below are listed in the following general order: background material; basic, intermediate, and
advanced general instruction; instrument specific instruction; and composing/arranging.
• Jerry Coker, How To Practice Jazz. This is not so much how-to book as a how-to-learn book. It
has many practice tips, as the name implies, as well as many pointers to other books, mostly by David Baker or
Coker himself, that contain more specific information on improvisation.
• Jerry Coker, How To Listen To Jazz. This book is a good introduction to jazz from a listener's
perspective. There is discussion of history, the roles of the various instruments, various styles and forms of
jazz compositions and performances. There is a straightforward discussion of common techniques and devices.
Coker also walks the listener through several famous recordings, pointing out how particular techniques or
devices he has described are used. Since most of the available theory texts do a poor job of putting their
instruction into a broad context, this volume is recommended as a companion to whatever other beginning or
intermediate method books you may read.
• Dan Haerle, The Jazz Language. This book is concerned with the theory and terminology used in
jazz, and is not necessarily organized as a how-to book.
• Jerry Coker et al, Patterns For Jazz. This book presents a series of patterns based on particular
chords and scales, and has you practice them in all keys. The patterns are related to specific chord
progressions.
• Dan Haerle, Scales For Jazz Improvisation. This book lists most of the scales used by jazz
musicians and writes them out for practice purposes. It is useful if you wish to see all the scales in one place,
but really does not contain that much information that cannot be found in most of the basic or intermediate
instructional texts, or in this primer, for that matter.
• Jerry Coker, Improvising Jazz; David Baker, Jazz Improvisation. These are probably the most
widely used introductory texts on improvisation. Coker and Baker are among the most respected authorities on
jazz pedagogy. They write from similar perspectives. The emphasis in both of these texts is on basic scale
theory and melodic devices.
• Mark Boling, The Jazz Theory Workbook. This is primarily a beginning and intermediate text.
• Scott Reeves, Creative Jazz Improvisation. This book has been recommended as one of the most
useful texts on improvisation. Like this primer, it places an emphasis on historical context, rather than simply
presenting the theory.
• David Baker, How To Play Bebop. This actually consists of three volumes that are mostly
dedicated to developing the melodic line. The bebop scales are emphasized.
• Hal Crook, How To Improvise. This is an intermediate to advanced level text in that it assumes
some knowledge of scale theory. It stresses the use of harmonic and rhythmic devices in melodic development.
• Steve Schenker, Jazz Theory. This is an intermediate to advanced text.
• Jerry Coker, Complete Method For Improvisation; David Baker, Advanced Improvisation. These
are more advanced versions of their introductory texts.
• Walt Weiskopf and Ramon Ricker, Coltrane: A Players Guide To His Harmony. This is an entire
book dedicated to the Coltrane changes.
 • Gary Campbell, Expansions. This intermediate to advanced text goes through various scales,
including some rather esoteric ones, and shows how to construct lines that take advantage of them over
specific chords. It assumes familiarity with the basic scales described in this primer.
• John Mehegan, Jazz Improvisation. This is a series of several volumes published in the 1960's.
At the time, they were considered quite comprehensive, but they contain very little information on
developments since that time, or even on advances that were being made at that time, like the Coltrane
substitutions and quartal harmonies.
• George Russell, The Lydian Chromatic Concept Of Tonal Organization For Improvisation. This
is an advanced theory text that describes some unique applications of scale theory to improvisation. It uses
some unusual scales, and shows how to construct complex chromatic melodic lines using these scales as a
basis. The process is rather involved, and involves the use of a slide-rule-like device for associating scales with
chords. It was considered a landmark when it first came out in the 1960's, although the direct application of the
theories never really gained widespread usage except among a relatively small group of musicians, perhaps
because they are so complex. Still, they form of the basis of much of the scale theory as taught by most others,
including this Primer.
• David Liebman, A Chromatic Approach To Jazz Harmony And Melody. This is a thorough
discussion of melodic chromaticism and what I have called non-tonal music. It contains many examples of
lines from recorded solos by John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, and other modern players.
• David Baker, The Jazz Style Of .... This is a series that include volumes on Miles Davis, John
Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly, Sonny Rollins, Fats Navarro, and Clifford Brown. Each volume includes a brief
biography and summary of the musical style of the subject. Several transcribed solos and analyses of them
make up the bulk of each volume.
• Martin Mann, Jazz Improvisation For The Classical Pianist. This is an introduction to jazz
improvisation aimed at the musician accustomed to a structured approach to learning. There is a lot of
emphasis on scales and exercises.
• Mark Levine, The Jazz Piano Book. This is the most complete book I have ever seen for jazz
pianists. It covers scales, voicings, comping, and other topics also discussed in this primer, but it is able to go
into greater depth. It contains many useful musical examples, which makes it much more readable. It also
contains a very good discussion of Latin jazz, including information that is of use to bassists and drummers.
However, it does have its shortcomings. It glosses over the blues, not even listing the blues scale or describing
a blues progression except in passing. Also, while it does attempt to put some of its content into a broad
context of history and playing situations, this is done in a somewhat haphazard manner.
• Dan Haerle, Jazz Improvisation For Keyboard Players. This was my favorite book on jazz piano
until Levine's came along a few years ago. Although it claims to flow logically from the beginner level to the
advanced level, most of the information is really oriented toward the intermediate. It is not, to me, as
entertaining as Levine's book, and it does an even less convincing job of putting its instruction into con- text. It
is available either as three separate volumes (Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced) or as a complete set.
• Dan Haerle, Jazz/Rock Voicings For The Contemporary Keyboard Player. Most of the
information here is duplicated in his book on keyboard improvisation, or in Levine's, but there is some value in
having everything you wanted to know about voicings all laid out in detail in one place. However, it really
does not cover as wide a variety of voicings as one might expect for a book dedicated to that purpose.
• Frank Mantooth, Voicings. The emphasis on this book is on voicings one would use when
comping, as opposed to voicings one might use when soloing. Most attention is given to quartal and other
more contemporary voicings. It also has more explanatory material than Haerle's book on voicings.
• Garrison Fewell, Jazz Improvisation. This is fairly broad text that covers some basic chord/scale
theory, chord progression analysis, and construction of melodic lines. It contains many examples, and attempts
to explain why the examples sound good. It is geared toward guitarists, but its methods can be applied to any
instrument, as they are not concerned with techniques specific to the guitar, such as voicings, picking, or
fretting.
 • Paul Lucas, Jazz Chording For The Rock/Blues Guitarist. This book is intended for the musician
who knows how to play the guitar, but is familiar only with the five common open string chords used in rock
music (C, A, G, E, and D). Other common jazz chords are then presented as variations on these patterns. Some
more advanced material on voice leading, chord substitution, quartal harmonies, polychords, and scales is
included as well.
• Joe Pass and Bill Thrasher, Joe Pass Guitar Style. This book covers harmony and applications to
improvisation, including chord construction, voicing, substitution, and voice leading.
• Chuck Sher, The Improvisor's Bass Method. This book starts with the most basic instruction on
playing the bass, including fingering charts and how to read music, and progresses to conventional jazz music
theory with applications to playing the bass. It also contains several transcribed bass lines and solos by well-
known bass players such as Scott LaFaro, Charles Mingus, Paul Chambers, Ron Carter, and others.
• Steve Houghton and Tom Warrington, Essential Styles For The Drummer And Bassist. This
book is a recipe of basic patterns for 30 styles of music, from pop to funk to reggae to Latin to jazz. It includes
a CD.
• Peter Erskine, Drum Concepts And Techniques. This book explains the basics of drum set
technique.
• Frank Malabe and Frank Weiner, Afro-Cuban Rhythms For The Drum Set. This book describes
the various African and Latin American percussion styles and how to play them on the drum set.
• Ed Thigpen, The Sound Of Brushes. This book explores techniques of brushwork for drummers.
• Andy Laverne, Handbook Of Chord Substitutions. This book, useful for pianists and arrangers,
discusses various ways to reharmonize songs. The substitutions are much more advanced than the tritone and
Coltrane ii-V types discussed in this primer.
• Paul Rinzler, Jazz Arranging And Performance Practice: A Guide For Small Ensembles. This
book is geared more toward group performance than individual improvisation.
• David Baker, Arranging And Composing. The emphasis is on arranging for small groups, from
trios to groups with four or five horns.
3. HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY
As with the instructional literature, my knowledge of the history and biography literature is also limited.
The following books are listed roughly from the more general to the more specific.
• Bill Crow, Jazz Anecdotes. This book contains short stories told by and about jazz musicians.
• Nat Hentoff, Jazz Is, The Jazz Life, Hear Me Talkin' To Ya. Nat Hentoff is a noted jazz historian
and critic. These books include stories from his personal experience and anecdotes told to him by other
musicians.
• Brian Case, Stan Britt, and Chrissie Murray, The Harmony Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Jazz.
This book contains short biographies and discographies of hundreds of musicians.
• Joachim Berendt, The Jazz Book: From Ragtime to Fusion and Beyond. This book organizes its
discussions by decade, by instrument, and by major musicians and groups. Each section can be read
independently.
• Ian Carr, The Essential Jazz Companion. This covers the history of jazz throughout the 20th
century, discussing many artists and styles, and describing specific recordings. Carr has also written
biographies of Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett.
• James Lincoln Collier, The Making Of Jazz. This is an in-depth survey of jazz history.
• Frank Tirro, A History Of Jazz. This is a relatively technical survey of jazz history.
• Gunther Schuller, Early Jazz, The Swing Era. These books by noted his- torian, critic, and
composer Schuller are considerably more detailed than most, as they are more focused on specific periods.
There may be more volumes in this series as well.
• Richard Hadlock, Jazz Masters Of The .... There are volumes in this series for different decades.
Each contains biographies of twenty or so major musicians of the era.
• Leonard Feather, Inside Bebop. Feather wrote this book to try to explain bebop to skeptics back
in the days when the music was new and controversial.
 • Valerie Wilmer, Jazz People. This book contains interviews with various legends of the 1950's
and 1960's.
• Valerie Wilmer, As Serious As Your Life. This book concentrates on the avant garde and new
music of the subsequent decades. It is highly political in nature.
• Ross Russell, Bird Lives. This is an anecdotal biography of Charlie Parker.
• Gary Giddens, Celebrating Bird. This book contains many photographs.
• Dizzy Gillespie, To Be Or Not To Bop. This is Dizzy's autobiography.
• J.C. Thomas, Chasin' The Trane. This is an anecdotal biography of John Coltrane.
• Miles Davis and Quincy Troupe, Miles. This is a colorful historical perspective by the man who
was perhaps the most influential jazz musi- cian ever, with a career marked by innovations spanning almost
half a century. However, be forewarned that the language is often crude.
• Charles Mingus, Beneath The Underdog. Mingus' biography is even cruder than Miles', and is
less interesting as a historical document, except in as much as it documents Mingus' sexual history.
• Graham Lock, Forces In Motion. Lock provides a fascination insight into the music and
philosophy of Anthony Braxton.
a. Annotated Discography
The best readily available jazz discography of which I am aware is the Penguin Guide To Jazz On
Compact Disc, which contains listings and reviews of virtually all jazz albums that were in print in the early 1990's. The
book was edited in the United Kingdom, and there is a slight European avant garde slant to the ratings, but it is still the
most complete, accurate, and generally useful discography of all types of jazz available to the general public.
The following discography is included to supplement the history discussion. Many of the specific artists
and albums mentioned there are listed here, with a brief description of each. The albums listed are from my personal
collection, and are listed in roughly chronological order, organized by style. I have tried to include mainly albums that I
know are readily available, especially those that have been reissued on CD.
b. Basic Recommendations
I encourage you to check out any album mentioned more than once by name in the text of this primer.
These albums include Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue and John Coltrane's Giant Steps. These two albums illustrate many of
the ideas and techniques discussed in this primer, and are considered among the most important jazz albums of all time.
To supplement these classic albums, you should consider some recordings by the remainder of the
musicians in the "Top Ten List". Most of Louis Armstrong's important recordings were made before the advent of the
LP, so any album of his you buy today is probably a compilation. Look for something that contains recordings made in
the 1920's with the Hot Five or the Hot Seven. Duke Ellington led one of the greatest big bands ever, but also made
many recordings in small group settings. Look for recordings that feature Cootie Williams, Johnny Hodges, Ben
Webster, or Jimmy Blanton. Billie Holiday's voice developed and changed over her career; you may wish to check out
something from early and late in her life. Charlie Parker's greatest and most influential recordings were as the leader of
a quartet or quintet; there are hundreds of compilations to choose from.
Art Blakey was the first musician on this list to record extensively in the LP format. Any of the albums by
the Jazz Messengers from the late 1950's or early 1960's, such as Moanin' or Ugetsu, are good choices. The
quintessential Charles Mingus album is Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus, which features Eric Dolphy. For
Thelonious Monk, the compilations on Blue Note are excellent, as are albums from the 1950's and 1960's such as
Brilliant Corners and Monk's Dream. For Ornette Coleman, try one of the early quartet albums like The Shape Of Jazz
To Come, and when you are feeling braver, Free Jazz. Ornette also leads a fusion oriented group called Prime Time;
you may wish to check out some of their albums as well.
Miles Davis can hardly be fairly represented by only Kind Of Blue; you should also consider The Birth
Of The Cool, Miles Smiles, Sketches Of Spain, and Bitches Brew at the very least, as they represent very different
periods in his career, all of them innovative. Similarly, John Coltrane is not sufficiently represented by only Giant
Steps; you should supplement this with something from the classic quartet like A Love Supreme, and, if you are feeling
adventurous, one of the later albums such as Ascension.
 c. Listing
• Louis Armstrong, The Louis Armstrong Story, Columbia - several volumes, including records
with the Hot Five and the Hot Seven, as well as recordings with Earl Hines and others
• Art Tatum, The Complete Capitol Recordings, Capitol - solo and trio recordings
• Bix Beiderbecke, Bix Beiderbecke, Columbia - several volumes, including recordings with
various big bands
• Duke Ellington, Duke Ellington, Laserlight - a sampler including record- ings from the 1930's
through the 1960's, featuring Johnny Hodges, Cootie Williams, Ben Webster, and Paul Gonsalves
• Errol Garner, Concert By The Sea, Columbia - this was for a long time the best selling jazz
album ever
• Charlie Parker, Bebop & Bird, Hipsville/Rhino - several volumes, includ- ing sessions with Bud
Powell, Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, J.J. Johnson, Art Blakey, and Max Roach
• Charlie Parker, The Quintet, Debut/OJC - a famous live concert with Dizzy Gillespie, Bud
Powell, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach
• Bud Powell, The Amazing Bud Powell, Blue Note - trio and small group recordings with Fats
Navarro and Sonny Rollins
• Thelonious Monk, The Best Of Thelonious Monk, Blue Note - early boppish recordings
• Miles Davis, The Complete Birth Of The Cool, Capitol - nine piece group with Lee Konitz, J.J.
Johnson, Gerry Mulligan, and John Lewis
• Lennie Tristano, Wow, Jazz - a sextet with Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh
• Dave Brubeck, Time Out, Columbia - featuring Paul Desmond and "Take Five"
• Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers, A Night At Birdland, Blue Note - featuring Horace Silver
and Clifford Brown
• Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers, Moanin', Blue Note - featuring Lee Morgan and Bobby
Timmons
• Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers, Ugetsu, Milestone - featuring Wayne Shorter, Freddie
Hubbard, and Curtis Fuller
• Clifford Brown, Study In Brown, EmArcy - the quintet with Max Roach
• Horace Silver, The Best Of Horace Silver, Applause - several of his most well-known
compositions
• Miles Davis, Walkin', Prestige - one of Miles' favorite albums; hard bop with J.J. Johnson and
Horace Silver
• Lee Morgan, The Sidewinder, Blue Note - hard bop
• Miles Davis, Workin' With The Miles Davis Quintet, Prestige - the first great quintet with John
Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones
• Miles Davis, Kind Of Blue, Columbia - the quintessential modal album, with John Coltrane,
Cannonball Adderly, Bill Evans, and Wynton Kelly
• Miles Davis, Complete Concert 1964, Columbia - the forerunner to the second great quintet,
with George Coleman, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams, playing standards
• Miles Davis, Miles Smiles, Columbia - the second great quintet with Wayne Shorter, at its peak
• Miles Davis, Sketches Of Spain, Columbia - with the Gil Evans Orchestra
• John Coltrane, Soul Trane, Prestige - one of Coltrane's favorites of his early albums, with Red
Garland and Philly Jo Jones
• John Coltrane, Giant Steps, Atlantic - the album that established Coltrane as one of the most
important improvisers of his day
• John Coltrane, My Favorite Things, Atlantic - the forerunner to his long lived quartet with
McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones
• John Coltrane, A Love Supreme, Impulse - the crowning modal achievement of the quartet
• Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus, Candid - the classic album with Eric
Dolphy
 • Charles Mingus, Mingus Ah Um, Columbia - contains his most well-known compositions
• Charles Mingus, Let My Children Hear Music, Columbia - supposedly Mingus' favorite of his
own albums; his music arranged for a large ensemble
• Thelonious Monk, Monk's Music, Riverside - with John Coltrane, Coleman Hawkins, and others
• Thelonious Monk, Monk's Dream, Columbia - his long-lived quartet with Charlie Rouse
• Bill Evans, Sunday At The Village Vanguard, Waltz For Debby, Riverside - available as a
combined set; a live recording from the trio with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian
• Wes Montgomery, Full House, Riverside - an early hard boppish recording
• Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige - one of his most popular albums
• Sonny Rollins, The Bridge, RCA - with Jim Hall
• Chick Corea, Inner Space, Atlantic - an album of mostly straightahead jazz with Woody Shaw
• Herbie Hancock, Maiden Voyage, Blue Note - modal, non-tonal, and avant garde compositions
with Freddie Hubbard, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams
• Wayne Shorter, Speak No Evil, Blue Note - some of his best compositions, with Freddie
Hubbard and Herbie Hancock
• VSOP, The Quintet, Columbia - live recording with Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, Herbie
Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams
• Eric Dolphy, Eric Dolphy At The Five Spot, Prestige - with Booker Little and Mal Waldron
• Eric Dolphy, Out To Lunch, Blue Note - influential avant garde
recording
• Andrew Hill, Point Of Departure, Blue Note - with Eric Dolphy and Joe Henderson
• Max Roach, The Max Roach Trio Featuring The Legendary Hassan, Atlantic - Hassan Ibn Ali is
a little known pianist who combines aspects of Thelonious Monk, Cecil Taylor, and Don Pullen; this is his
only known recording, and is highly recommended
• Ornette Coleman, The Shape Of Jazz To Come, Atlantic - one of his best freebop quartet albums
• Ornette Coleman, Free Jazz, Atlantic - a collective free improvisation with Don Cherry, Freddie
Hubbard, and Eric Dolphy
• John Coltrane, New Thing At Newport, Impulse - live concert; half of this album is the Archie
Shepp quartet
• John Coltrane, Interstellar Space, Impulse - free duets with Rashied Ali
• John Coltrane, Ascension, Impulse - free large ensemble improvisation
• Albert Ayler, Witches & Devils, Freedom - avant garde
• Pharoah Sanders, Live, Theresa - similar in style to Coltrane's A Love Supreme, but more free
• Cecil Taylor, Jazz Advance, Blue Note - relatively straightahead music, including some
standards, but with Taylor's sense of harmonic freedom
• Cecil Taylor, For Olim, Soul Note - free solo piano
• Cecil Taylor, Spring Of Two Blue J's, Unit Core - free group improvisation
• Sun Ra, Out There A Minute, Restless/BlastFirst - avant garde big band
• Miles Davis, Bitches Brew, Columbia - early, relatively free fusion with Chick Corea, Joe
Zawinul, John McLaughlin
• Mahavishnu Orchestra, Inner Mounting Flame, Columbia - heavy rock oriented fusion with John
McLaughlin
• Tony Williams' Lifetime, Emergency, Polydor - heavy rock oriented fusion with John
McLaughlin
• Herbie Hancock, Headhunters, Columbia - funk oriented fusion
• Weather Report, Heavy Weather, Columbia - pop oriented fusion with Wayne Shorter, Joe
Zawinul, Jaco Pastorius
• Chick Corea and Return To Forever, Light As A Feather, Polydor - Latin oriented fusion with
Stanley Clarke and vocalist Flora Purim
• Pat Metheny, Bright Size Life, ECM - esoteric fusion with Jaco Pastorius
 • Steps Ahead, Modern Times, Elektra Musician - tight modern fusion with Michael Brecker
• Miles Davis, You're Under Arrest, Columbia - funkier modern fusion
• Ornette Coleman and Prime Time, Virgin Beauty, Portrait - free modern fusion
• Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Nice Guys, ECM - post modern jazz, world music, and freebop with
Lester Bowie and Roscoe Mitchell
• World Saxophone Quartet, Dances And Ballads, Elektra Nonesuch - a capella (unaccompanied)
saxophone quartet with David Murray
• David Murray, New Life, Black Saint - octet with Hugh Ragin on trumpet
• Anthony Braxton, Composition 98, hat ART - a post modern suite featuring Marilyn Crispell,
Hugh Ragin, and Ray Anderson
• John Carter, Castles Of Ghana, Gramavision - a suite of post modern compositions
• Willem Breuker, Bob's Gallery, BVHaast - avant garde big band
• Don Pullen / George Adams Quartet, Don't Lose Control, Soul Note - blues oriented post
modern jazz
• Improvised Music New York 1981, MU - energy music with Derek Bailey, Sonny Sharrock,
Fred Frith, and John Zorn
• Oregon, 45th Parallel, Portrait - New Age pioneers
• Paul Bley, Floater, Savoy - harmonically liberated trio doing compositions by Paul and Carla
Bley as well as Ornette Coleman
• Abdullah Ibrahim, African Dawn, Enja - solo piano with South African influences
• Keith Jarrett, Mysteries, Impulse - quartet with Dewey Redman doing relatively free post bop
with world music influences
• Wynton Marsalis, Think Of One, Columbia - adventurous neoclassic quintet with Branford
Marsalis, Kenny Kirkland, and Jeff Watts
• Wynton Marsalis, Marsalis Standard Time, Columbia - standards with rhythmic twists, featuring
Marcus Roberts
• Branford Marsalis, Crazy People Music, Columbia - adventurous neoclassic quartet with Kenny
Kirkland and Jeff Watts
• Steve Coleman, Motherland Pulse, JMT - acoustic M-Base
• Steve Coleman, Drop Kick, Novus - electric M-Base
• Gary Thomas, The Kold Kage, JMT - electric M-Base
• Cassandra Wilson, Jump World, JMT - vocal and electric M-Base with Steve Coleman, Gary
Thomas, and Greg Osby
• Dave Holland, Extensions, ECM - mostly acoustic modern quartet with Steve Coleman, Kevin
Eubanks, and Marvin "Smitty" Smith
• Tim Berne, Pace Yourself, JMT - frenetic post modern jazz
• Michael Brecker, Michael Brecker, Impulse - modern acoustic and electric post bop
• Charlie Haden, Paul Motian, Geri Allen, Etudes, Soul Note - modern acoustic post bop
• Steve Lacy, Live At Sweet Basil, Novus - modern acoustic post bop
• Phil Woods, Heaven, Blackhawk - post bop with Tom Harrell
• Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Discovery, Blue Note - post bop with Cuban influences
• Don Byron, Tuskegee Experiments, Elektra Nonesuch - post modern, post bop
• Don Pullen, Kele Mou Bana, Blue Note - post modern with world music and blues influences
• David Murray, Shakill's Warrior, DIW - post modern blues with Don Pullen on organ
d. Jazz Standards
The following tunes are among those most commonly played by jazz musicians. I have made an attempt
to categorize them based on how they are usually played. Most of the compositions are by jazz musicians, except for the
ones marked "standard".
You should try to become familiar with as many of these tunes as possible. Most of them can be found in
the Real Book or in Chuck Sher's books.
All Blues blues, modal
All Of Me standard
All The Things You Are standard
Anthropology rhythm changes, swing
Au Privave blues, swing
Autumn Leaves standard
Beautiful Love standard
Beauty And The Beast rock
Billie's Bounce blues, swing
Black Orpheus Latin
Blue Bossa Latin
Blue In Green ballad, modal
Blue Monk blues, swing
Blue Train blues, swing
Blues For Alice blues, swing
Bluesette 3/4, swing
Body And Soul ballad, standard
C Jam Blues blues, swing
Caravan Latin, swing
Ceora Latin
Cherokee swing
Confirmation swing
Darn That Dream ballad, standard
Desafinado Latin
Dolphin Dance modal, non-tonal
Donna Lee swing
Don't Get Around Much Anymore swing
E.S.P non-tonal
A Foggy Day standard
Footprints 3/4, blues, modal
Freddie Freeloader blues, modal
Freedom Jazz Dance non-tonal
Four swing
Giant Steps swing
The Girl From Ipanema Latin
Goodbye, Pork Pie Hat ballad, swing
Have You Met Miss Jones standard
I Mean You swing
I Remember Clifford ballad, swing
I Thought About You standard
If I Were A Bell standard
Impressions modal
In A Sentimental Mood ballad, swing
In Walked Bud swing
Joy Spring swing
Just Friends standard
Killer Joe swing
Lady Bird swing
Lullaby Of Birdland swing
Mr. P.C. blues, swing
Maiden Voyage modal
Mercy, Mercy, Mercy rock
Misty ballad, standard
Moment's Notice swing
My Favorite Things 3/4, modal, standard
My Funny Valentine ballad, standard
My Romance standard
Naima ballad, modal
A Night In Tunisia Latin, swing
Nica's Dream Latin, swing
Nostalgia In Times Square swing
Now's The Time blues, swing
Oleo rhythm changes, swing
On Green Dolphin Street Latin, swing, standard
Ornithology swing
Recorda Me Latin
Red Clay rock
Round Midnight ballad, swing
St. Thomas Latin
Satin Doll swing
Scrapple From The Apple swing
The Sidewinder blues, swing
So What modal
Solar swing
Some Day My Prince Will Come 3/4, standard
Song For My Father Latin
Speak No Evil modal, non-tonal
Stella By Starlight standard
Stolen Moments blues, modal
Straight, No Chaser blues, swing
Sugar swing
Summertime standard
Take Five 5/4, modal
Take The "A" Train swing
There Is No Greater Love standard
There Will Never be Another You standard
Up Jumped Spring 3/4, swing
Waltz For Debby 3/4, swing
Wave Latin
Well, You Needn't swing
When I Fall In Love ballad, standard
Yardbird Suite swing