More Isn't Necessarily Better...

Some jazz pianists get caught up in the mentality that the more notes in a voicing the better.  We do our best to cram all the 9s, 11s, 13ths as we have fingers for in every chord we play.  If done correctly, those thick  chords with lots of tensions can have a great sound.  However, more isn't necessarily always better. Less dense voicings have a great sound too, plus we don't have to exhaust all of our mental energy playing them We can focus on what really counts 1) Playing the melody 2)  playing with the a good rhythmic feel 3)  and improvising in a meaningful way.  Tons of great pianists, including Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, and Bill Evans, utilized two-note voicings.  

Two-Note Shell Voicings

Some of my favorite chords to use in my left hand, especially in a solo piano context are shell voicings that contain only two (yes I said TWO!) notes.  Those notes will be:

1) Root + 7      2) Root + 3     or     3) Root + 6

I decide which of these three combinations to play based on where the voicings will lay on the piano.  I don't want it to be too high (interferes with the melody) or too low (gets too muddy).  I'll also think about voice leading too.  For example, If you play a Root + 7 for a ii7 chord, a Root + 3 will work nicely for a V7 chord.  

And a last plug for how great these voicings are, when you are first learning a tune, you don't want to have to think too hard about complex voicings.  You just want the essentials (Root, third, seventh, melody note).  Once you get get the hang of the shell voicings on a particular tune, they leave lots of room to add other voices if that's your thing.  


All The Things You Are

The best way to learn a new concept (in this case, two-note left hand voices) is to apply it to tunes.  A great one to try for this concept is Jerome Kern's All the Things You Are.  It has a lot of changes (just about one per measure!) and there is not a lot of repetition.  In the following video tutorials and sheet music, I take you through ATTYA using this concept.  

Can you come up with different shell voicings to use over this tune?  What about applying the concept to other songs?  

Happy Shedding!


Video Tutorial Part 1

Video Tutorial Part 2

Sheet Music

Someone who is sitting-in on an upcoming gig asked if we could play Recorda Me by Joe Henderson.  Great, I responded, I love playing that tune -- it has fun chord changes to solo over and a funky latin rhythm.  Who could ask for more really?  It's no wonder it gets called so much at jam sessions.  

Others may not have been as happy to play Recorda Me on a gig as I am.  There are certain jazz snobs out there who don't like to play songs because "everybody plays them."  This is not my viewpoint.  On the contrary, these songs get called on gigs and at jam sessions for a reason -- they are great songs!  However, since everyone does play them, we have to make an extra effort to make sure we stand out when we do play them.  One great way to do that is to go to the original recording of the tune, and REALLY LEARN IT off the record.  Take Blue Bossa, another Joe Henderson classic -- it's often used as a beginner/intermediate level tune because it is straightforward to improvise over -- but how many of us seasoned jazz players have scoffed at the idea of playing it on a gig?  The thing is, that tune is killer!  (Killer by the way is a good thing in jazz lingo)  If you really check out the original Joe Henderson version and learn how he played the actual rhythm of the melody and how he soloed over it, you'd realize that Blue Bossa is no tune to scoff it, rather, it's a tune to STUDY!  

The same goes for Recorda Me, you might have played it a million times on gigs, but have you ever played the intro from the recording?  It's such a cool intro that not a lot of people play, probably because it's not written down in the Real Book.  Let's change that right now and learn the intro once and for all!  

Check out my transcription and video tutorial below.  There is a unison left-hand piano and bass line and some simple 3-note right hand chord voicings to go along with it.  Enjoy it and surprise everyone on your next gig when you play the real introduction to Recorda Me!

Happy Shedding!  

The first jazz CD I owned was the Thelonious Monk Ken Burns compilation.  (For those that don't know the music of Monk, this CD is a great place to start).  I remember playing along with it and being fascinated by the "odd" way Monk played the piano.  I never heard anyone make the piano sound the way that he did.  Monk has always been a favorite of mine -- as the years have gone by, I’ve learned to appreciate him for different reasons.   As a player, an improviser, a composer, and even just a personality. 

In today’s lesson, I’m excited to show you an intermediate arrangement I came up with for his tune “Epistrophy.”  This tune was a request from one of my youTube subscribers, and I thank you for that!  Keep ‘em coming! 

Epistrophy is a tough tune to play – the melody has some odd twists and turns and strange chromatic notes (do you expect anything less from Monk?) so I figured I would keep this arrangement fairly simple.  The RH plays just the melody and the LH plays a simplified stride.   In the following video tutorials, I teach you how to play the arrangement step-by-step.  

Here are the steps I take to teach you the tune in the video tutorial.   I divide the tune into 3 sections, I call the A section the first 4 measures (starting on Db7), the B section the second 4 measures (starting on Eb7), and the C section is the bridge of the tune – the 8 measures that starts on an F#-6 chord. 

A SECTION

1.     Learn the melody!  Pay attention to the fingerings – they matter!  It’s also helpful to know the intervals – this will help you memorize and HEAR the tune.  This melody, for example, starts on the root of the Db7 chord (Db), goes up a half-step, up a minor 6, and then down a tri-tone.  Watch the video to get the rhythm. 

2.     For the LH, I did a simplified stride feel.  For the Db7 chord we play Db (root) on beat one and F/Cb (third-seven) on beat two.  For the D7 we play D (root) on beat three and F#/C (third-seven) on beat four.  Loop this until it grooves.  Try to separate the notes (non-legato) so it really has a bounce to it. 

3.     Put it together!  Remember, slow at first, then speed it up. 

B SECTION

Learn this just like you did the A section, melody first in the RH, simplified stride in the LH, and then put it all together, nice and slow.  At first glance, you may think that the B section is just a modulation up a whole step from the A section, but not so fast!  Check it out – remember before I said how the A section melody starts on the root of the chord, goes up a half-step, and then goes up a minor 6?  Now check out the melody of the B section – it starts on the b9 of the chord (E natural on an Eb7 chord), goes up a half-step, and then up a 5th.  I love this!  Such a subtle difference. 

C SECTION

We start on an F#-6 chord split up in the hands.  Root and 6th (F# and D#) in the LH and third (A) in the RH.   For the B7, we play a shell voicing in the LH (B, D#, A).   For the last two measures of the bridge, there is a nice harmonization of the melody.  The melody is on an F, Ab, Cb, and Eb (or the 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th) of a Db7.  We harmonize that in the LH with a Db, F, Ab, Cb (or Root, 3rd, 5th, 7th) of a Db7.  Same thing on the D7, just up a half step!  

THE FORM

 Form is important in this tune.  Getting the big picture will really help you memorize this one.  The way I think of it (remember my A, B, and C sections):

ABBA C BA – on the last A we end on a Gb7 (root and 7 in the LH and 3rd in the RH). 

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

And last, just want to give a recommendation for an excellent book that has great lead sheets for every single one of Monk’s compositions.  It’s put out by Hal Leonard and is called “Thelonious Monk Fakebook.”  These lead sheets are much more accurate and detailed than what you find in the Real Book.  They give you great little Monk-isms (piano voicings, rhythms, etc) that are important to the songs.  Additionally, the book lets you know which recording the lead sheet was transcribed from so you can reference the recording.

Check it out on Amazon here.

Hope this brings you a bit closer to the great music of Thelonious Monk – Happy Shedding!