[Dixielandjazz] Melody and Chords

[Rob McCallum]

Hello all,

Here's my 2 cents on this.  Melodies and harmonies are both essential
components of a tune, but I think which is emphasized is more part of the
style of the individual player and even group.  Isn't improvising from
chords nothing more than the creation of new melodic lines?  I do agree that
OKOM tends to place more emphasis on improvising out of the original melody
than straight ahead groups that tend to use a melody line as an introduction
and a coda, but I think it's relative and can vary even from song to song
within a set.

I, respectfully, disagree with Dan Spinks regarding altered chords.  Though
they may sound out of place with most OKOM, I believe that they add tonal
color to more modern styles and make the improv more, rather than less,
interesting.  I don't know of any player that goes out of their way to play
classic 12 tone rows without repeating before the cycle is over (which
probably would be redundant), but certainly adding alterations makes things
a bit more interesting.  Confessing that I play mostly bop and post-bop
styles, one of my favorite little cliches is to start on the b9 of a major
dominant chord and play up a diminished scale.  I'm also a sucker for
augmented chords and whole tone scales.

All the best,
Rob McCallum