Bluesette is probably the most famous Toots Thielemans song and certainly a jazz standard. Such a great take on a 3/4 Parker Blues with a few extra twists!
This is a great progression! A Belgian version of the Parker Blues and also in 3/4. I guess that is the Belgian part of it?
This song has a very nice way of travelling through a lot of keys and still end up home in a turnaround. Certainly one of my favourite waltzes, probably no 2 on the list 😀
Yesterdays is a great song with some minor turnarounds and a long dominant chain! The 16 bar form is split in two where the first half is in Dm with some turnarounds and a line cliché. The second half is a dominant chain starting with an A7(b13) with the b13 in the melody.
The song is also a great vehicle for odd meters like 5/4 and 7/4. Scofield has a 7/4 song called last week on these changes.
Great combination of modal and changes in this song.
The form is ABA, the A parts have modal 4 bar G major and minor stretches and the B part is a series of II V I progressions.
The song is not too dificult in terms of the changes but offers some nice opportunities to play in different keys and also make longer melodic ideas on one chord.
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The form is AABA, where the last A has a tag of an extra 4 bars. The song is here in F major. A few things that are special to this song is the #IV in the 2nd bar and that it uses IV IVm to go back to the tonic in bars 5-6 of the A part, so there’s no strong cadence back using a dominant.
Another key feature is the elegant series of modulations in the Bridge taking a trip from Bb to D major and then via C major back to F in the last A.
What is you favourite version of this song?
I think the Tom Harrel/Heyn van der Geyn/Phillipe Catherine is mine? or maybe Chet Baker?
George Gershwins Summertime is certainly one of the most famous jazz standards ever written!
It’s a great 16 bar form that lends itself to both bluesy and more jazzy minor sounds. Summertime is also the chord progression that Wes Montgommery wrote Four on Six on. His version is decorated with a constant II V movement which is typical for the Hard Bop era chord progressions.
I play the song in G major, which is probably the most common key for the tune. This Medium up tempo is also quite common and fits well with the bebop theme written on this
This classic American songbook tune How High the Moon is a ABAC or 16-16 form song. The main point of interest is the use of switching from major to minor to modulate a whole step down.
How High The Moon is also the chord progression used for Ornithology though some chords in the Parker tune are changed into dominants. Coltrane also made a Giant Steps version of this called Satellite.
The form of this song is AB so two times 16 bars. What is a bit unusual is that it does not have the standard V of V to II V ending half way, which is normal for this type of standard.
The beginning detour to Eb is really nice about this song. The first three bars are in fact Giant steps.
