[Dixielandjazz] Modern Chords...

[Patrick Cooke]

Was it Duke Ellington, or was it Oscar Peterson...or maybe some one else
said
   "There's no such thing as a bad chord."
It may not fit where you're putting it, but it still makes a unique sound
that will be useful someplace.
  Pat Cooke

----- Original Message -----
From: "Edgerton, Paul A" <paul.edgerton@eds.com>
To: "DJML (E-mail)" <dixielandjazz@ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Monday, October 14, 2002 4:19 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Attention, would-be analysts...


> Remembering certain posts from last week, be mindful that music exists
first
> and our analysis and discussion of it follows...
>
> That said, one must endeavor to distinguish between the root of a chord
and
> its bass voice. One of the aspects of musical art is selecting a bass
voice
> that makes a certain amount of linear sense in its own right. Most often
the
> bass voice is the root of the current chord but that is by no means always
> the case. Sometimes you will find the third in the bass, sometimes even
the
> seventh. It is not unusual to have a descending bass beneath a minor
chord.
> (e.g. It Don't Mean A Thing)
>
> In the current discussion of chords for the twelfth bar of Charleston, it
> has been stated that the "definitive" chord is a Gmi6 with the E in the
> bass. It has also been observed that this chord is could be seen as an
> Emi7(b5). While that is technically true, it doesn't jibe with what our
ears
> hear. We (most of us anyway) hear this as a G minor tonality. The E in the
> bass makes logical sense since it supports stepwise movement, and adds
color
> to the voicing, but the G dominates. This is also consistent with the more
> commonly used root progressions. It is colorful, but it's not weird.
>
> There is also nothing magical or "forbidden" about the use of flatted
> fifths. Chords can be constructed on each note of the scale. The diatonic
> chord built on the seventh degree of a major scale just happens to have a
> minor third, a diminished fifth and a minor seventh. In the Key of C it is

> spelled B-D-F-A and we call it Bmi7(b5). Used in the proper context, this
> chord sounds colorful but correct. If you were to change the naturally
> occurring diminished fifth to a perfect interval, the resulting
> minor-seventh chord would sound distinctly out of place because of its
> non-diatonic fifth.
>
> The issue of context is further complicated by the fact that many tunes
> contain temporary modulations into new keys, sometimes even a series of
> them. This bring into play notes that are not diatonic to the home key,
but
> colorful and interesting. (e.g. the second chord in Five Foot Two) In some
> modulations, a given chord can have a harmonic function in both the old
key
> and the new one. We call these "pivot" chords because the harmony seems to
> turn on them.
>
> One of the goals of analysis is to determine the current prevailing
> tonality. Another of the goals is to determine the function of a given
chord
> with that tonality. There can be some room for disagreement, but typically
> one's ears will sort it out. Thus it is always important to hear the
music,
> and keep track of tonality and modulations.
>
> Is everybody clear on this now? Good. And Steve, there are other
> considerations than "What Did Monk Do?"
>
> {O.O}
>
> Analytically yours,
>
> Paul (and ain'tcha glad ya brought it up?) Edgerton
>
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