jazz voicing.docx

7/27/2019 Jazz voicing.docx

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2.2.3 Tritone/4ths chords

Made up of a perfect fourth over a tritone interval, they are akin to quartal chords but have even greater harmonic

potential. A tritone/4th voicing is capable of expressing at least 8 harmonies. Here is a list with A7 13 as the point of

departure:

G C# F# can be: with bass:

1 A 7 13 A

2 Eb- 6 9 Eb

3 E, G, Bb, Db dim E, B

4 Bb #9 13 b13 B

5 Eb 7 #9 E

6 Db- 7 b5 11 F

7 F b9 9 b13 F

8 F# b9 F#

Tritone/4th voicings have a smart, jazzy sound due to their open configuration, the tritone, the fourth and the half-

tone friction between the top and lowest note. Their salient feature is that a half-step slide up or down moves the

harmony 1 step up or down in the Circle.

One-half step

slide moves 1

step up or

down the

Circle:

A cadence

in F:

Note the first 2 entries in the preceding page's

list: the same tritone/4th voicing can stand for II

and V7, here E- , A7 with basses E and A,

respectively.


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With a tritone/4th voicing in the left and 2 fourths

in the right hand, one and the same chord stands

for II7 (11) and V7. Bottom notes are 3rd and

dominant-7th, respectively. Hear it with basses C

and F. Truly minimal motion!

Another great feature of the tritone/4th voicings is that with a parallel slide half-step up or down they switchbetween the key's minor and major mode, here shown in the left hand:

Lowest note is the 3rd.

Another parallel half-step slide of tritone/4th

chords toggles between diminished and

dominant-7th of the same key, but now the

lowest note is the 7th:

This leads to the third entry in the list: tritone/4th voicings can be diminished chords. In diminished harmony,

everything repeats every minor3rd step (see Part 2, section 5).

Therefore tritone/4th

voicings played with theirlowest notes a minor 3rd

apart (plus an octave), or a

multiple of 3rds apart,

render spicy diminished

chords:

The hands' movement need not be

parallel:

See Part Two, Chapter 5 for more on tritone/4th voicings in diminished harmony. Tritone/4ths are truly magic

voicings. Bill Evans favored them in his playing.


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4) || / I7 Idim II | I7 || with variation I bIII6 II7 bIImaj7

These are blues clichs, concluding phrases. The last one is a turnaround | I VI II V | I.

(5) | II7 Idim | I |

A finishing lick

introduced by Count

Basie

(6) | I I7 IV #IVdim | V7

This is a famous turn-

around clich with its

ascending bass line:

(7) | I-/I I-/VII | I-/bVII I-/VI | "Descending Bass" The descending line C B Bb A embellishes the C chord. It can be

stretched over two bars or fit into one. It occurs in many titles such as In a Sentimental Mood, It Don't mean a Thing

..., My Funny Valentine, Feelings, and, in major key, Strings of Pearls.

It can be applied to II7--> II as

well, here A7 13 --> A+ --> A-

7:


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Diminished Voicings

The next figure shows on each quarter beat the same voicings as in the previous figure, here played in one hand. On

each following 1/8 beat the chords "resolve" to basic triads:

The following is the same concept with the voices distributed between the hands:

In the next figure the right thumb plays the roots, the left hand plays the tension tones:

Interpreting these chords as X7 b9, the first bar is F, Ab, B, D7 b9, the second is G, Bb, Db, E7 b9, the third bar is C,

Eb, Gb, A7 b9. Each group of diminished chords is enharmonic to a group of V7 b9 chords one step away in the Circle:

Diminished

Group

V 7 b9

Group

C F

D (F)enharmonic

toG

G C

In the next figure, the upper 2 voices trace halftone-wholetone scales. The RH thumb plays minor 3rd intervals. RH

chord shapes are triads in 1st and 2nd inversion:


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II V I progression

Starting with a tertial II7 chord

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