CHAPTER ONE Intervals and Triads — Review Intervals good definition of an interval is “the space between two notes.” Figure 1-1 shows the A intervals from the half step/minor second up to the octave, all based on middle C. The most commonly used term is shown above each interval, along with any alternate terms. Figure 1-1 minor 2nd major 2nd minor 3rd major 3rd half step whole step & bww ww bww w perfect 4th tritone perfect 5th minor 6th augmented 4th augmented 5th diminished 5th bw & w #w bw w w #w major 6th minor 7th major 7th octave augmented 6th w bw #w w w & w w w w w The chart that follows shows all the intervals, both ascending and descending, as they occur in tunes from the standard jazz repertoire. Unless otherwise noted, the interval in question is the first two melody notes of the song. Play each example and sing the interval. If you can sing an interval accurately, it will be easier to play when improvising. Listen carefully to all the voicings in the examples. All of them will be covered in this book. A footnote reference after each song title lists a great recording of the tune—in many cases, the original recording. 1 CHAPTER ONE Intervals by selected tunes G7b9 CΔ minor 2nd ascending minor second œ w Bob Haggart’s “What’s New?”l & #œ nw ? œ w F7 9 Bb- b minor 2nd descending minor second 2 & bœ w Duke Ellington’s “Sophisticated Lady” œ w ? bœ bw œ b w 3 B -Δ b ascending major second Œ Billy Strayhorn’s “Chelsea Bridge”3 & bœ bœ œ œbœ nww bœmajorœ 2nd w bw ? ∑ w G-7 A7alt. descending major second ˙. œ w Miles Davis’ “Blue In Green”4 & major w 2nd w bw ? bww w l Woody Shaw, Setting Standards, Muse 53l8. 2 Duke Ellington and Ray Brown, This One’s For Blanton, Pablo 23l0-72l. 3 Joe Henderson, The Kicker, Milestone 9008. 4 Miles Davis, Kind Of Blue, Columbia 40579. 2 Intervals and Triads — Review +11 E Δ+4 G-7 C7 9 b minor 3rd b ascending minor third Thelonious Monk’s “Evidence”5 ‰ j j & œ ˙ ˙ œ bœ. œœ ˙˙. b˙˙ œœ œ. j j ? ‰ . ˙ œ œ. bw bœ ˙ ˙ œ CΔ E7alt. descending minor third ˙. Chick Corea’s “Mirror, Mirror”6 3 ˙. & 4 minor ˙. 3rd ˙ ˙. ˙˙. ˙# . ? 43 ˙. B-7 ascending major third œ 7 #œ. Chick Corea’s “Windows” 3 œ J #˙ œ & 4 major 3rd # ˙. ˙. # ˙˙. ˙˙. ? 43 BΔ D7 GΔ B 7 E Δ b b descending major third #˙ j John Coltrane’s # ˙ ˙ ˙ bœ w “Giant Steps”8 & #˙ major ˙ #˙ œœ. n œ w 3rd ˙ œ . œ w #˙ ˙ ? # ˙ #˙˙ ˙ bœ. bœ w bœ. J 5 Thelonious Monk, The Tokyo Concert, Columbia 385l0. 6 Joe Henderson, Mirror, Mirror, Pausa 7075. 7 Stan Getz, Sweet Rain, Verve 8693. 8 John Coltrane, Giant Steps, Atlantic l3ll. 3 CHAPTER ONE Aø D7alt G9sus 3 j ascending perfect fourth Œ œ œ bœ. œ McCoy Tyner’s “Search For Peace”9 & b˙ œ b ˙ ww ˙ 4th w ˙ ? #˙ ˙ w G-7 C7 4th F#-7 B7 œ œ œ. descending perfect fourth œ œ œ Thelonious Monk’s “Ask Me Now”l0 & J b˙˙ #˙ ? œ˙ œ # œ˙˙ #œ C7 ascending tritone j œ Joe Henderson’s “Isotope”ll & j #œ œ J ‰ œtritone œ. b w ? ‰ ww GΔ E-7 A-7 D7 GΔ G#º œ j descending tritone ‰ œ j #œ œ bars l8 and l9 of & œ j œ œ œ œ #œ ˙. Duke Ellington’s œ œ tritone tritone “Sophisticated Lady”l2 ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ? ˙ ˙ ˙ #˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙# 9 McCoy Tyner, The Real McCoy, Blue Note 4264. l0 Thelonious Monk, Solo Monk, Columbia 9l49. ll Joe Henderson, Power To The People, Milestone 9024. l2 Duke Ellington and Ray Brown, This One’s For Blanton, Pablo 23l0-72l. 4 Intervals and Triads — Review ascending perfect fifth Wayne Shorter’s “Angola”l3 D7 E 7 D7 b bœ œ œ œœ & j œ bœ œœ bœ œ œ bœ œ œ bœ œ˙ œ 5th w bw w ? ‰ #w w #w C-7 G Δ 5th b descending perfect fifth l4 œ. œ. j intro to Wayne Shorter’s “Black Nile” ‰ ˙ bœ. bœ ˙ & œb . b œ ˙ w bœ. ? bbw b œ. bbœ ˙ J D-7 G7 ascending minor sixth Woody Shaw’s “In A Capricornian Way”l5 3 j ˙œ˙œ & 4 œ minor œ œ 6th Œ ˙ Œ ˙˙ ? 43 ‰ ˙ ˙ ˙. ˙. descending minor sixth intro to Freddie Hubbard’s Happy Times”l6 G 7+11 F-7 E7alt minor 6th b j œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ & bœ bbœ œ œ bœ œ. œ ? bbœœ œ œ bœœ œ. #œœ Ó J l3 Wayne Shorter, The Soothsayer, Blue Note LT-988. l4 Wayne Shorter, Night Dreamer, Blue Note 4l73. l5 Woody Shaw, Stepping Stones, Columbia 35560. l6 The Griffith Park Collection, The Griffith Park Collection #2, Elektra/Musician 60262. 5 CHAPTER ONE B E 7 bΔ b ascending major sixth Thelonious Monk’s “Misterioso”l7 & œ œ bœ bœ œ œ bœ œ œ bœ œ bœ œ majorœ 6thœ œ ? +11 bw bw C7 9 FΔ bmajor 6th œ. descending major sixth #œ. l8 & Ó‰b œ. œ Dizzy Gillespie’s “Ow!” bœ. œ ? Ó‰ œ GΔ E-7 A-7 D7 GΔ G#º j ascending minor ‰ œ j œ œ seventh & j œ œ œ œ #œminor #œ ˙. second bar of the bridge œ œ œ 7th of Duke Ellington’s “Sophisticated Lady”l9 ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ? ˙ ˙ ˙ #˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙# F -7 B7alt B-7 E7 # minor 7th #œ œn descending minor seventh œ œ #œ nœ œb ˙. fourth bar of the bridge of & J J œ #œ Billy Strayhorn’s “Chelsea Bridge”20 # œ n œ ##œœ œ ? # œœ n#œœ œ ##œœ #œ œ œ œ l7 Thelonious Monk, Live At The Jazz Workshop, Columbia 38269. l8 The Gifted Ones, Pablo 23l0 833. l9 Duke Ellington And Ray Brown, This One’s For Blanton, Pablo 23l0 72l. 20Joe Henderson, The Kicker, Milestone 9008. 6 Intervals and Triads — Review major Dø G7alt 7th ascending major seventh œ œ. œ 2nd and 3rd notes of j j‰ bœ ˙ bœ 2l & œ bœ œ J œ. Joe Henderson’s “Serenity” œ ‰ b œ. nœ. ? ‰Œ Œ‰bœœ Ó ‰ œ. J D 9sus descending major seventh b 22 major bar l7 of Wayne Shorter’s “This Is For Albert” 7th 3 b œ bœ bœ & bb œ œ œ œ œ bœ œ bb˙. ˙ ? bœ b˙œ . ˙ FΔ G 7+11 octave b ascending octave j Billy Strayhorn’s “Daydream”23 bœ ˙ & œ. bb œœ ˙˙ ? Œ œ Œ bœb œ ˙ œ b˙ F7 B 7 b descending octave 2nd and 3rd notes of œ œ j œ 24 J ‰ ‰ bœ bœ Freddie Hubbard’s “Birdlike” & octaveœ œ œ œ . œ ˙ ? bœœ ˙˙ œœ. bœœ ˙˙ J J 2l Joe Henderson, In ‘n Out, Blue Note 4l66. 22 Art Blakey, Thermo, Milestone 47008. 23 Steve Lacy, Soprano Sax, Fantasy/OJC l30. 24 Freddie Hubbard, Ready For Freddie, Blue Note 4085. 7 CHAPTER ONE Melodic intervals greater than an octave in minor tunes are rare, but a few examples are shown here: 9th B +5 E 9sus bΔ b ascending minor ninth 3 j bœ ˙. bars 53-54 of Wayne Shorter’s “Wild Flower”25 & 4 #œ. œ bnœ ˙. œ. œ bbœ ˙. ? 43 b˙ œ bœ ˙. minor 9th Aø D7alt G-7 C7alt descending minor ninth b˙ œ œ bœ œ œ bœ œ bar l8 of Benny Golson’s & ˙ œ bœ œ œ b œ œ 26 b˙ œ œ œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ “I Remember Clifford” œ bœ ˙ ? ˙ œ #œ N˙. ˙ œ œ ˙. B major G- bΔ 9th œ œ ascending major ninth bbœ œ bœ œ œ 2nd and 3rd notes of Duke Ellington’s & œ œ œ œ œbbœ n œ “I Got It Bad And That Ain’t Good”27 bœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ ? #œ œ #œ œ œ D Δ+4 11th b descending eleventh j j œ . œ . l5th bar of Joe Henderson’s . 28 & j œ bœ. œ œ œœ. œœ. j “Inner Urge” œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ ? j bw ˙œbœ. w 25 Wayne Shorter, Speak No Evil, Blue Note 4l94. 26 The Jazztet, Meet The Jazztet, Argo 664. 27 Donald Byrd, Mustang, Blue Note 4238. 28 Joe Henderson, Inner Urge, Blue Note 4l89. 8 Intervals and Triads — Review G-7 D 7+11 descending major thirteenth bmajor 3 3 bar 24 of Billy Strayhorn’s 13th 3 “Chelsea Bridge”29 bœ & bœ œ œ œ œ œ b œ œ#œ œœ bœ œœ #œ œœ œ bœ œ bœ bœ œ b œ ? œ œ bœ œ œ bb œœ œ 3 ŒÓ 3 Inverting intervals Figure 1-2 ne of the skills a pianist must have is the ability to invert intervals quickly. When you O major 3rd minor 6th major becomes minor invert an interval, you take the bottom note an 3 + 6 = 9 put it on top, or vice versa. A new interval results, and the rules for inverting intervals w are simple. & w w When you invert an interval: • major becomes minor Figure 1-3 • minor becomes major minor becomes major • perfect remains perfect major 7th minor 2nd 2 + 7 = 9 • tritone remains tritone and the old and new intervals add up to “nine.” & w Look at figure 1-2. If you invert a major third, bww wb C with E on top, it becomes E with C on top, a minor sixth.