[Dixielandjazz] melody vs chords & the importance ofwords

[James Kashishian]

It's gotten very quiet on DJML, so here's something that may start
things up.

I have found that those that play instruments dealing heavier into
chords than us melodic instrument people tend to place more importance
on the chords than the melody.  My argument has always been that...in
most cases....songs spring up from the melody line, or even the words,
and the chords are then added to embellish that line.

I would go further to say that show tunes more obviously flow first from
the written words that must be sung to carry on the story line.  On the
Street Where You Live springs to mind, however, many of OKOM songs came
from shows popular at the time.

This type of discussion usually separates the two sides....the
piano/bass/guitar from the front line, melodic instruments.  I have
found that while the melodic people will bend, the "chord" people are
more stayed in their views.  

I find a tune such as Hoagy's "New Orleans", where the chord
progressions practically DRIVE the melodic line, suggesting that perhaps
the chords came first.  But, generally, I believe songs are la, la,
la...d first on a composers tongue, and later helped out through the
placements of the chords.  

To take a slight detour from the above....I also believe that to play a
tune, particularly a ballad, it is important to know & understand the
words.  This view has been shot down by my Spanish speaking band
numerous times.  I know, however, that they have no idea why the bridge
to "Angel Eyes" suddenly leaps into a happier vein giving it the
optimistic sound needed for the words...."Drink up all you
people"......, and the reason the singer/storyteller drops quickly back
into a melancholy mood, when he realizes his "Angel Eyes is gone".  This
is a particularly important nuance to music, whereas the first part of
my email is just an argument that is so generalized that it is difficult
to come to an agreement.

Jim