Five tips and reflections on Rythm Changes.
Here are some thoughts and tips on the famous rythm changes.
Playing Rythm changes can be quite challenging due to the number of chords in every bar and the speed at which it is usually played, so it might be a good idea to check out what great musicians play!
Let us focus on the first bars of the tune.
Tip#1:
Try playing with rythm, using one or two notes and building up a pattern.
See how Pat martino uses a 3/4 against a 4/4 time signature ( cross-rythm).
Pat Martino on oleo ( "Desperado" album).
Wes Montgomery on cottontail ( « the artistry of wes montgomery »)
Tip#2:
Try playing the blues scale
Brandford Marsalis on Moose the mooche with the dirty dozen brass band « Jazz moods-hot ».
Ulf wakenius on "moose the mooche"(live avec M.Brecker,Chris Min doky,Ray Brown on Youtube)
Miles davis on' oleo' (M.davis/S.Rollins quintet « jazz anthology »)
Tip#3:
Try playing the Bb major scale.
Despite the numbers of chords that may be chromatic at times (secondary dominants etc...), a beautiful and simple melody can come out great throughout the A section.
Miles davis on "Oleo" (M.davis/S.Rollins quintet « jazz anthology »)
Charlie Parker on « Anthroplogy »
You can easily combine different approaches.
In the line below, Wes Montgomery starts out with the Bb major scale and concludes with a blues feel.
Wes Montgomery on "cottontail" (album « the artistry of wes montgomery »)
Tip#4:
Try learning classic bebop lines.
The more you want to outline the chords the more you will use chromatic notes.You will then go from an horizontal way of thinking to a vertical approach.
The discourse becomes more stereotyped and the idiomatic lines from the bebop area come in handy.
Please compare those two lines:
Bill Cunliffe on" moose the mooche" (album « soaring with bird » de james zollar)
Ulf wakenius sur moose the mooche(live avec M.Brecker,Chris Min doky,Ray Brown sur Youtube)
Learning bebop heads may be a good advice if you want to quote some bits here and there...
In the example below, the great bruce forman quotes " Blues walk" and "rythm-a-ning" on the A section
Bruce forman on « Alto Acres »(Richie Cole... Alive at the village vanguard)
Tip#5:
Try to explore more modern sounds using the altered scale or playing a half step above the original key center (Bb).
It's all about tension and release, dissonance and consonance...the art of resolution.
In those examples, Mike brecker outlines a new key center a half step above BbMajor:
Mike Brecker « suspone »(from the album « don't try this at home »)
In those last two examples, you can notice the use of the altered scale over several bars.
John Scofield « flat out »( title track)
Mike Stern on « suspone »( « don't try this at home » album)
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