Melodic Comping on a Jazz Blues.Mus

Melody Driven Comping on a Jazz Blues

One of the challenges of playing a supporting role on a short song structure like the 12 bar blues is keeping your comping fresh from chorus to chorus. It can be very uninspiring for a soloist to play over the same stock voicings over and over, so as an accompanist it is worth expanding your harmonic vocabulary as much as you can. Moreover, to make good music you want to be able to play chords that have some connection to the melodies that the soloist is improvising (which is hard to accomplish if you only have a few grips under your fingers). Learning to recognize your soloist's melodies by ear on the spot is a lesson for another day, but with this exercise we can certainly help to fill out our options.

While it is important to learn and memorize all of your chord inversions and spacings, this lesson takes a different alternative approach to finding new voicings. It illustrates how students can learn a lot very quickly just by focusing on the top voice of each chord. In a nutshell, we have taken a shell voicing of each chord found in a 12 bar jazz blues in Bb (Bb7, Eb7, Eo7, G7, Cmin7, F7) and identified what kinds of sounds we'd find by playing each note in the blues scale over each chord. You may be surprised by some of the exotic sounding jazz chords that occur by following this pattern.

First, play each example as if you are playing a scale. Next, try comping for an imaginary soloist over a 12 bar blues, combining these new voicings as you see fit. If you pay close attention to the top note of each chord, you'll realize that not only are you comping, you are also generating melodies of your own. In fact, whenever you've ever comped in your life, you've been generating melodies- but, if they are randomly or illogically connected, they may not sound like melodies to your ear. By putting the blues scale in the top voice, we are giving ourselves the opportunity to hear these melodies clearly in the context of a scale that is very familiar to us, which makes it easier to string together catchy phrases and improvise strong melodies with supporting harmony. Pretty soon, you may notice that you're actually accompanying yourself!

Full disclaimer, there are a few chord voicings here that would be considered "non functional" by the standards of most music theoreticians (especially the ones labeled Dominant Seven add Major 7). These are clearly marked as "NFH" (for Non Functional Harmony). They are dissonant, but I personally believe that in a real musical context you can find a use for pretty much anything, even if the theory books would call you wrong. Try them out for yourself- you may still justifiably avoid these chords because they are especially sour sounding. Personally, though, I can attest that I have found a use for every one of them at some point or another, and so can you. Good luck! -Alex Jazz Blues Progression Bb7 Eb7 Bb7 b 4 & b 4 . ’’’’ ’’’’ ’’’’ ’’’’ Eb7 Ebo7 Bb7 G 7 5 b & b ’’’’ ’’’’ ’’’’ ’’’’ Cmin7 F 7 Bb7 G 7 Cmin7 F 7 9 b & b ’’’’ ’’’’ ’’’’ ’’’’ .

©Alex Moxon 2 Melody Driven Comping on a Jazz Blues

Bb Minor Blues Sale 13 œb œ b œb œ œn œb & b œb œ œb Ó œ œn œb œb œ

9 6 9 6 9 8 6 8 6 8 7 6 9 6

Example 1 Bb7(#9) Bb7 Bb7 Bb7 Bb7(#11) Bb7(add11) Bb7(#11) Bb7sus Bb7(#9) Bb7 17 bœ œ b bœ œ n œ b œ nœ bœ & b bœ œ œ œ b œ œ œ œ bbœ œœ Ó œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

9 6 9 6 5 4 7 7 7 7 7 7 9 8 6 3 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 8 8 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

Example 2 Eb7 Eb7 Eb7(add11) Eb7sus Eb9 Eb7(b9) Eb7 Eb7 Eb 20 bœ œ b bœ œ bœ œ bœ nœœ bœœ œ & b œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ŒÓ

9 6 9 9 6 5 4 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 3 5 5 5 8 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

Example 3 Eo7(addMaj7) E o7 Eo7 Eo7(b4) Eo7(b9) Eo7 Eo7(addMaj7) Eo7 E o 23 œ bœ œ bœ bb bœ œ œ œ bœ nœœ bœœ œ œ ŒÓ & œn œ œ œ œn œ œ œ œnœ

11 9 6 9 6 5 4 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 3 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 5 5 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

NFH NFH

©Alex Moxon Melody Driven Comping on a Jazz Blues 3

Example 4 G 13 G 7(b13) Gb7(#11) G 7(#9) G 7(b9) G7 G 6 G aug G(#11) 26 nœ bœ bœ œ b œ œ œ œ bœ œ nœ bœ bœ & b nœ œ œ œ nœ œ œ œ œ ŒÓ

12 11 9 11 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 9 8 6 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 8 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

Example 5 Cmin7 Cmin7(b9) Cmin7 Cmin7(b6) Cmin11 C 7(#9) C 7 Cmin7 Cmin7(b9)Cmin7 29 œ bœ œ bœ bb œ œ œ œ œœ nœœœ Nœ Aœ bœ œ Ó & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

11 9 11 9 6 5 8 8 8 8 8 8 9 8 6 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 6 6 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8

Note : since the blue note E natural functions as a natural third on a C chord, it is common to substitute C7 for Cminor7 in a jazz blues, which gives you more options:

Example 6 C 7(#9) C 7(b9) C 7 C 7(b13) C7(add11) C 7 C 7(#9) C 7(b9) C 7 32 œ bœ œ b nœ œ œ bœ nœœ œ bœ & b œ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ œ ŒÓ œ œ œ œ œ œ nœ œ nœ

11 9 11 9 6 9 9 9 9 9 8 8 6 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8

Example 7 F 7 F 7(b13) F7(add11) F7sus F 7(#9) F 7 F7(addmaj7) F 7 F aug 35 œ bœ œ œ bœ b œ œ œ œ œ œœ n œœ bœ bœ & b œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ŒÓ

11 9 6 11 9 6 5 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 6 7 7 7 10 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 NFH ©Alex Moxon 4 Melody Driven Comping on a Jazz Blues Bb Major Blues Scale 38 œ œb œ œ b œ œ œ œb & b œ œ œ œ œ œb œ œ

10 9 8 6 8 6 7 6 5 8 5 8 5 9 8 6

B 7 B 7( 9) B 9 B 7 B 13 B 7 B 7 B 7( 9) B 9 B 7 Example 1 b b # b b b b b b # b b 42 œ bœ œ œ b œ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ & b bœ œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ bœ œœ Ó œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

10 9 8 6 8 6 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 5 3 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

E 7(addmaj7) E 7 E 13 E 7 E 7 E 9 E 7(addmaj7) E 7 E 6 E Example 2 b b b b b b b b b b 45 Nœ bœ œ œ œ bb bœ œ œ œ bœ œ n œœ bœ œ œ Ó & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

10 9 8 6 8 6 3 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 3 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

NFH NFH

Example 3 Eo7(add7) E o7 Eo7(b6) Eo7 Eo7 Eo7(b9) E m7(b5) E o7 E o 48 œ bœ œ œ œ bb bœ œ œ œ bœ œ nœ bœ œ ŒÓ & œn œ œ œ œn œ œ œ œnœ

10 9 8 6 8 6 3 6 6 6 6 6 6 3 6 3 8 8 8 8 8 8 5 8 5 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

G 7 G 7( 11) G7(add11) G 7sus G 7( 9) G 7 G 7 G G(#11) Example 4 # # 51 œ bœ œ œ œ b œ œ œ œœ œ œœ œ & b nœ œ œ œ nœ œ œ œ nbœ Œ Ó

10 9 8 8 8 11 8 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 7 6 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

Cmin9 Cmin7(b9) Cmin7 Cmin7 Cmin7 Cmin11 C 7sus Cmin9 Cmin7(b9)Cmin7 Cmin7 Cmin Example 5 54 œ bœ œ œ œ bb œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ bœ œœ œ & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

10 9 8 11 8 6 8 8 8 8 8 8 10 7 6 5 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 5 10 6 6 6 6 6 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8

F13 F 7( 13) F 7 F7(add11) F 7sus F 9 F 7 F 6 F aug F Example 6 b 57 œ bœ œ œ œ b œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ bœ œ & b œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Ó

10 9 8 6 11 8 6 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 7 6 5 6 5 7 7 7 7 10 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8

Tip for further study: now that you understand how this exercise works in principle, try it on other pieces of music- rhythm changes, modal tunes, 32 Bar forms, etc.