tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089926376300913992.post8793533511617976536..comments2024-03-14T12:56:21.674-07:00Comments on Peter Spitzer Music Blog: “Poor Butterfly” and "What Makes a Good Chart?" - Part 1Peter Spitzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09732697738104648204noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089926376300913992.post-14834259219628278452020-12-30T17:51:12.589-08:002020-12-30T17:51:12.589-08:00Larry, thanks for the comment! Some years ago, one...Larry, thanks for the comment! Some years ago, one of my sax teachers, Eddy Flenner, gave me some arranging lessons. Eddy had been an arranger in the big band years. He showed me how he would write section parts if he wanted each note harmonized. It's just as you mention - if the melody was a chord tone, he would stack the chord downwards from the melody, often using 9 instead of 1 or 13 instead of 5, or leaving out the 5 if it was a perfect 5. For passing tones, he would use a diminished 7 chord stacked below the melody. He mostly showed me 4-part harmony for a sax section, with the bari doubling the lead alto. Of course, there are other ways to handle the bari, and other ways to arrange for a section. We got as far as "drop 2" voicings. I can't say I ever put those arranging lessons to use, but I'm sure it helped me to better understand harmony.<br />Peter Spitzerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09732697738104648204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089926376300913992.post-49479795606551591382020-12-30T02:26:31.705-08:002020-12-30T02:26:31.705-08:00If you must play a chord on the suspension or most...If you must play a chord on the suspension or most any non-chord tone of the basic triad, I would just use diminished, what I think of as a secondary dominant. It works especially well for the fourth whether followed by the third or lowered third as in the case we're citing. Depending on tempo and how you phrase the melody, I would also play diminished for the lowered third. I would of course not expect not want to see any of this written in a lead sheet but would play it anyway to voice the melody. I've not fully studied Bebop harmony but isn't this what Barry Harris and all those guys do? Sometimes piano/guitar charts for big band have reductions of the horn parts which has stuff like this.Larry Chinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11697104676866121899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089926376300913992.post-85254770252971668162017-10-23T10:47:57.436-07:002017-10-23T10:47:57.436-07:00About mm 27-28: I don’t see that as a weak point i...About mm 27-28: I don’t see that as a weak point in the song at all - I think that melodically, it is charming. The problem there is that the melodic movement doesn’t lend itself to the now-common lead-sheet approach, that generally specifies 4 beats or 2 beats for every chord. With a piano arrangement geared to the melody alone, as in the original sheet music, there’s no problem. In 1917, or course, they were writing the chart for a singer with piano acc., or for piano solo, not for jazzers, and not for musicians expecting to play block chords. Heck, they didn’t even get around to using chord symbols for about another decade.<br /><br />I’d just leave the Abmaj7 in the chart. If you are a pianist using a chart that shows Abmaj7 in bar 27, and you don’t like the suspended sound of the Db note, you could just leave out the third, or else play the suspension along with the melody, or leave a rest in the comping for one or 2 beats. During solos, both pianist and soloist can handle this spot any way they like. “Clashes” may happen, but it usually just doesn’t matter.<br />Peter Spitzerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09732697738104648204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089926376300913992.post-79032887252547801192017-10-23T02:55:25.893-07:002017-10-23T02:55:25.893-07:00On Bar 26, Either the Dbm6 or it's inversion, ...On Bar 26, Either the Dbm6 or it's inversion, Gb7 , but not both ( too busy ) works for me. On Bar 27, Its a problem for me, finding just the right chords. The melody is Db, and for me, a Cm7 just doesn't work ( a m7 with b9? Yech) If Ab is the root, and some charts have an Abmaj there, and that doesn't work for me either, because that would make it an maj11 chord, and that's a bad chord to my ears. So possibly an Ab9sus4, perhaps, though it sounds weak. I play a C7b9, it's not great, but the C to Db root movement is good. To my ears, bar's 27 and 28 are a weak spot in the tune, and if were composing the song, I would have kept working on these two bars until I found something that's as great as the rest of the tune. Otherwise a georgeous song. Patrick Lockwood ( www.jazzytunes.com ) Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com