Intro to Jazz Harmony

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Intro to Jazz Harmony Lots of terminology and methods are shared between jazz and (small-c) classical music. Some of the most important differences are: Seventh Chords. Though triads can be used, in most styles of jazz, especially from 1920-1970, every chord will be a seventh chord. We will focus on the four most common types of seventh chords: 1. major 7, abbreviated M7 (Root - Major 3rd - Perfect 5th - Major 7th) 2. dominant 7, abbreviated just 7 (Root - Major 3rd - Perfect 5th - Minor 7th), 3. minor 7, abbreviated m7 (Root - Minor 3rd - Perfect 5th - Minor 7th) 4. half diminished 7 or minor 7 flat 5, abbreviated m7b5 (Root - Minor 3rd - diminished 5th - Minor 7th) Chord Extensions. One defining feature of jazz harmony is the use of chord tones higher than a 7th, which are referred to as "chord extensions." These add color or tension to a chord but do not alter its basic function. If we keep adding thirds above a chord's 7th, we can get a 9th, 11th, and 13th. Just as the default 7th chord identified by the symbol "7" is a dominant 7th chord, the default interval of the 9th is major, the 11th is perfect, and the 13th is major, and all imply a dominant 7th chord underneath unless they specify otherwise. Thus for example a G9 would be G-B-D-F-A: the G-B-D-F dominant 7, plus the major 9th above the root. For our purposes in class we will only deal with the most common chord extensions: the 9, the 13, and the b9 (with a minor 9th). ii-V Progressions. One of the most prominent features of jazz harmony is the ii-V progression, which can be found numerous times in almost every jazz tune. The tricky thing is this: jazz tunes regularly have ii - V progressions that lead to very temporary "tonics" that are not the home key of the piece. When ii-Vs lead to a major key, the ii is a minor 7 and the V is a dominant 7. When they lead to a minor key, the ii is typically a half-diminished 7/minor 7 flat 5, while the V is still a dominant 7. To find ii-V progressions, look for a m7 or m7b5 chord followed by a 7 rooted a fourth above or fifth below. Identifying these progressions will be useful in improvising. One final note: we will use Roman numerals often in our discussions of jazz harmony, but we will seldom worry about inversions. .

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Jazz Harmony Primer General stuff There are two main types of harmony found in modern Western music: 1) Modal 2) Functional Modal harmony generally involves a static drone, riff or chord over which you have melodies with notes chosen from various scales. It’s common in rock, modern jazz and electronic dance music. It predates functional harmony, too. In some types of modal music – for example in jazz - you get different modes/chord scale sounds over the course of a piece. Chords and melodies can be drawn from these scales. This kind of harmony is suited to the guitar due to its open strings and retuning possibilities. We see the guitar take over as a songwriting instrument at about the same time as the modes become popular in pop music. Loop based music also encourages this kind of harmony. It has become very common in all areas of music since the late 20th century under the influence of rock and folk music, composers like Steve Reich, modal jazz pioneered by Miles Davis and John Coltrane, and influences from India, the Middle East and pre-classical Western music. Functional harmony is a development of the kind of harmony used by Bach and Mozart. Jazz up to around 1960 was primarily based on this kind of harmony, and jazz improvisation was concerned with the improvising over songs written by the classically trained songwriters and film composers of the era. These composers all played the piano, so in a sense functional harmony is piano harmony. It’s not really guitar shaped. When I talk about functional harmony I’ll mostly be talking about ways we can improvise and compose on pre-existing jazz standards rather than making up new progressions.
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