JazzSwing, harmony and improvisation

Time before theory

Feel swing before you put a name to it

Keep the pulse, feel swing eighths, and place notes on, ahead of or behind the beat.

Pulse · Swing · Placement

Then, in Swing Time and the Blues:

• Pulse and subdivision in collective time. Keep a shared beat as the rhythm around it changes. Open
• Straight and swung eighths in context. Hear the difference between straight and swung eighths. Open

The blues

Hear the twelve-bar form

Know where you are in a twelve-bar blues, hear call and response, and find your place again after getting lost.

The twelve-bar form · Call and response · Turnaround

Then, in Swing Time and the Blues:

• Blues form and harmonic landmarks. Follow the twelve bars of a blues and hear its chords move. Open

The rhythm section

Hear who does what

Hear what the bass, the ride cymbal and the piano each do, and how they set up the soloist.

Walking bass · Ride · Comping

Form and chorus

Know where you are in a tune

Hear phrase endings, sections, the bridge and the top of each chorus.

Sections · Bridge · Chorus

Then, in Swing Time and the Blues:

• Transcribing pickups and rhythmic rests. Write down short rhythms by ear, rests included. Open

Hearing jazz harmony

Hear the bass lead the chords

Hear chord quality and function, and hear a ii-V-I before it arrives.

Chord quality · Function · ii-V-I

Guide tones and voice leading

Hear thirds and sevenths move

Follow the third and seventh of each chord as they resolve by the smallest step.

Thirds and sevenths · Resolution · Minor ii-V

Then, in Swing Time and the Blues:

• Guide tones and hearing chord motion. Follow the third and seventh of each chord through a blues. Open

From speech to phrase

Shape a phrase like a sentence

Answer a phrase, repeat it with one change, and leave space.

Call and response · Motif · Space

Then, in Swing Time and the Blues:

• Call and response with motivic development. Answer a short idea and develop it with variation and space. Open

Learning by ear

Hold a phrase and sing it back

Remember a phrase after silence, find its rhythm and shape, and move it to a new key.

Memory · Contour · Transposition

Bebop and the changes

Hear lines that land on the chord

Hear target notes, chromatic approach and enclosure, and lines that cross the bar line.

Target notes · Approach · Enclosure

Standards and repertoire

Hear a tune's skeleton

Hold a standard by its melody, bass line and form, then find it again without the chart.

Melody · Bass line · Form

Modal and open forms

Hear one chord open up

Hear a tonal center, its colors, and motifs that move across the bar.

Mode · Color · Displacement

Comping and conversation

Listen first, then answer

Choose density and register to support a soloist, and trade phrases.

Comping · Density · Trading

Then, in Swing Time and the Blues:

• Comping and listening in the rhythm section. Listen across the band and leave room for the soloist. Open

A chorus of your own

Write a chorus of your own

Design a rhythm, develop a motif, and arrange a short form that leaves room to improvise.

Motif · Form · Texture

The session

Follow a whole tune

Keep time, form and harmony together through a full tune, and recover when you lose your place.

Time · Form · Recovery

Then, in Swing Time and the Blues:

• Playing a chorus over the blues. Play a chorus of your own over the blues in steady time. Open