Re: [Harp-L] Autumn in New York D7b5

[The Iceman <icemanle@xxxxxxx>]

Without access to the composers' original scoring of a tune and also taking the contemporary evolution in harmonic acceptance to more "out there" chords, the editors of these fake books use artistic license and their own harmonic sensibilities to substitute chords. Since there is usually no definitive answer to harmonization of a melody in jazz tunes, for the most part, this opens up the possibilities based on personal preferences. It makes sense to educate oneself to the level of deciding how to voice chords and use chord substitutions in order to understand why a chord such as D7b5 was used in this interpretation and how you can put your own individual spin on tunes by using what pleases your inner ear.


As one poster commented, the b5 being the melody note at this point in time would dictate the spelling out of the voicing as such in this particular version of the Real Book.


In the evolution of jazz, during the be-bop years, more and more changes were added to tunes to give the soloist more possibilities for expression. It was taken to an extreme, where some artists were changing the chords every beat (4 changes/measure). Miles Davis came along and explored the opposite pole - eliminating changes and extraneous notes. His groundbreaking "Kind of Blue" release helped introduce modal harmony to the jazz community - in which long stretches of music were based on one chord - a challenge to those soloists that were used to being fed different chords in order to stimulate their improvisational explorations.





-----Original Message-----
From: JersiMuse @ GMAIL <JersiMuse@xxxxxxxxx>
To: 'michael rubin' <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx>; 'harp-l' <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wed, Mar 9, 2011 10:39 pm
Subject: RE: [Harp-L] Autumn in New York D7b5


Hello Michael,

On my version of the Real Book (5th edition), it is a "C+7" chord at this
place.
To my opinion, both are working well. But you are going to play slightly
differently depending on which choice the band makes.
On the D7b5, resolving on Gm7, you could play the "half-tone / whole tone"
scale (how do you call it in English ? The "half diminished" scale ?).
You could also chose the "Tone - Tone" scale (I definitely need to learn
scale English names ...). 
The nice thing with that one is that it should work in both cases (C+7 and
D7b5).
I don't play this tune, so maybe you should verify I'm not saying stupid
things :-)

I hope that helps,

Regards,

Jerome Peyrelevade
www.youtube.com/JersiMuse


-----Message d'origine-----
De : harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] De la part
de michael rubin
Envoyà : mercredi 9 mars 2011 22:42
à : harp-l
Objet : [Harp-L] Autumn in New York D7b5

I am not used to seeing this chord D7b5, much more used to Dm7b5.
This is in the Real Book Sixth edition page 38 bar 16.  Is this a typo or is
it asking for D F# Ab C?

Harmonica content:  I am learning to sightread rhythm charts on the
harmonetta.
Thanks,
Michael Rubin
Michaelrubinharmonica.com