[TPIN] Good or bad,..here it is

[Jeff Helgesen]

On 11/6/06, Jon Trimble <jontrimble at cox.net> wrote:
> No flames here buddy...:)  Man, Saxes seem to be the lion when it comes to
> pressing issues/changes.  I just thought it was cause they didn't have as
> much to work out in the way of chops.  Freakin altered dominant scale
> arrgh!!!

Jon:

That ALT7 thing is just a sound.  It's easier to used a diminished
scale to get most of those notes, in my opinion (though you miss out
on the altered 13).

Any time you see a V7(b9) [really a C13(b9) for our purposes here],
try choosing notes from the diminished scale (half-whole) for that
root.  For C7(b9), that scale would look like this:

C Db Eb E F# G A Bb

(If half-whole diminished makes your head spin, thing of a regular
Bb/Db/E/Gdim7 scale, whatever's easiest to remember, as they're all
the same notes.)

For example, playing a lick over C7b9 might look like this (start on
fourth space Eb and go to the closest interval for the next note):

Eb Db A C Bb F# A G D# F# E C Eb Db etc.

V7b9 is a common dominant sound when it's resolving to a minor chord
change.  Where you might see C-7 / F7 / Bbmaj in a major tonality, the
same sequence in a minor tonality in jazz might look like C-7(b5) /
F7(b9) / Bbmin.

Carl Saunders uses this ALL the time.  Symmetrical scales (diminished,
whole tone) are very useful in jazz improvisation, especially if
you're into constructing sequences (a mini-motive that moves through
or implies different tonalities over a change or changes).

For an example of Carl using this sound, you might look at his solo on
"Stella By Starlight" -- go here and scroll down a little bit for the
PDF file:

http://www.shout.net/~jmh/saunders/

Look at letter C (page 3) - at the top of the chorus, you'll see an
F#-7(b5) / B7(b9) / --- this is a classic ii7(b5) / V7(b9) progression
that, if it resolved would take you to the key of E minor.  Over both
of these changes, Saunders plays a diminished scale based on the notes
as described above.

This is a nice solo to study, it's extraordinarily logical, the lines
are really long, and it's in a register that's fun for guys with lead
chops.  :-)

Cheers,
Jeff


-- 
Jeff Helgesen
Buy our CD at http://cdbaby.com/cd/jazzmayhem