 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: wjk
Date: 2003-08-07 17:13
I have read that be-bop horn players were fond of modulating up a half step during a solo, and then "riding the circle of fifths" back to the original key. Could someone explain how to do this? How/when can I incorporate this into my playing?
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Author: David
Date: 2003-08-07 17:28
http://www.scroom.com/mus_lessons/tot.5.html
I recognize the individual words, but not in this order. (And this was one of the more accessable Google hits...)
David
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Author: Mark Pinner
Date: 2003-08-07 22:05
In be bop or in fact modern jazz harmony the semitone above the tonic is also a tritone above the dominant, for example in the key of F the chord F# is a substitute for C7 or the dominant 7th. Likewise a semitone above the dominant or C# becomes a substitue for F7 or chord I7 which would allow you to modulate to Bb (IV), Bb7 leads to Eb, Eb 7 to Ab etc and round the clock. By moving a semitone off any diatonic note you can start the cycle from a different place. In a bossa like the Girl From Ipanema, standard key of F, on most occassions the F# chord that occurs can be changed back to a C7, the dominant. In fact you can play a C bass with the F# over it and it sounds fine in context, in doesn't work in the bridge. Other semitone shifts occur in the bass when moveing from chord I to chord ii via a diminished triad, for example in the key of Db a I,ii,V7,I progression (correctly Db,Ebmin,Ab7,Db) can become Dd, D diminished, Eb minor, D7, Db making a neat chromatic bass line and preserving some of the original harmonic integrity but sounding "like" jazz. By incorporating the major 7th in various inversions you can also extend these sunstitutions. The harmonic rhythm is also important as chord changes in be bop can often be four in a bar. I don't know whether you can technically call these substitutions tricks as such. They are valid harmonic tools used from the Baroque period. Whether the boppers were schooled in this kind of harmony or arrived at it by chance is open to debate. The interesting thing is that the tritones in bebop are generally resolved correctly, ie. by tension and release.
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Author: allencole
Date: 2003-08-08 15:21
I think that a lot depends on how comfortable you are following the circle in general.
You might want to spend some time on I've Got Rhythm, since the verse consists primarily of I-VI-II-V turnarounds, and the bridge does a windup from III all the way through VI, II and V.
As for modulating up a half-step, I'm not quite sure what you mean. If you want to use a common up-a-halfstep 'trick', do the following while playing the blues in C: Bar 4 of the C blues should be a C7 chord setting you up for an F chord at bar 5. Rather than using a C7 in bar 4, substitute an F#7 instead. (this is simply an example of tritone substitution as described by Mark Pinner) Once you do and hear this, you will start noticing it EVERYWHERE.
You might also want to analyze a Charlie Parker tune called Confirmation, although in that case I think you start your circle-of-fourths sequence from a half-step down rather than up. It's a more convoluted way to get from I to IV in the blues (Bar 1 to Bar 5) but I have heard a number of players attempt it in solos. The great thing about Confirmation is that this is actually the song's structure, rather than simply being a substitution forced over simpler changes by the soloist.
I'm trying to remember a situation where a soloist actually forces the substitution--possibly Asleep at the Wheel's version of Choo-Choo Ch'Boogie. Gotta think about that. Dizzy Gillespie's original recording of Shaw Nuff, may have a similar sequence in the sax solo. Can't remember whether it's Charlie Parker or Sonny Stitt playing on that.
Anyway, welcome to the world of substitutions. You might also consider purchasing "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory." While it does contain a few errors, it devotes more space to modern chord progressions than anything I have yet seen, and is explained as clearly as humanly possible.
Allen Cole
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